Last month, the town of Westbrook officially welcomed a new member: full-time Zoning Enforcement Officer (ZEO) Eric Salmon.

At a Board of Selectman meeting on Aug. 8, First Selectman John Hall announced that the town had an interested candidate for the vacant ZEO position. Later in the month, Eric’s hiring was official, and he started in the role on Sept. 5.

“It seemed like a great community, and being closer to the water was something my family and I were looking for,” Eric says.

According to a job description, as ZEO, Eric will be responsible for “… inspections, investigative, enforcement and administrative duties to assure that residential, commercial and other properties comply with the Zoning, Flood Plain, Aquifer Protection and Coastal Area Management Regulations of the Town and with related State Statutes. The ZEO serves as the primary staff to the Zoning Commission and Zoning Board of Appeals.”

In his own words, Eric says he will be assisting the community with questions and zoning issues.

“I will be working with the community hand-in-hand, making sure things are going well, and everything is going according to how it should be,” he says.

Since he’s only been in the role for about a month at this point, Eric says he’s still getting settled with how the town operates.

“I’m trying to learn the ropes and how everything works around here,” Eric says with a laugh.

Prior to coming to Westbrook, Eric served in a variety of land use capacities such as code enforcement and, most recently, as the NPDES coordinator for Clarksville, Tennessee.

“Basically, I dealt with water pollution issues. Keeping the city in compliance with the Clean Water Act and regulations like that. I had to make sure water was getting treated before it left sites so that it was clean, things like that,” he says.

While not the exact same as a ZEO, Eric says he sees a lot of overlap between his current position and the work he did in Clarksville.

“I did a lot of looking over all kinds of plans for compliance. For example, if a new development was going up, I reviewed it to make sure everything was up to standards,” he explains.

Eric says he has long been interested in planning initiatives that help the environment. He studied environmental sciences at the University of Maine as an undergrad and says he enjoys being able to help municipalities with their environmental goals.

“Being able to work in a community and make them better and help make sure the community is environmentally sound is something that really interested me about working in government,” says Eric.