WESTBROOK – Westbrook City Councilor Michael Foley has just recently recovered from a severe case of jet lag that followed a weeklong trip to Greater Portland’s Russian sister-city of Archangel, which is ahead of our Eastern Standard Time by eight hours.

However, the few days of recovery were well worth it, according to Foley, who represented Westbrook at a 25th anniversary celebration of the sister-city relationship during the first week of April.

The delegation, which also included Phillip Spiller Jr., the son of former Westbrook Mayor Phil Spiller, and Portland City Councilor Ed Suslovic, joined Archangel officials in marking the first trip by a Russian delegation to Westbrook in April 1989.

The trip took place just four months after a Russian delegation visited Greater Portland to celebrate the anniversary of an American delegation, led by then-Mayor Spiller, in 1988, which resulted in the eventual establishment of the sister-city program.

Foley and Spiller Jr. were charged with giving speeches during the celebration in Archangel, and the pair spoke with Russian news media daily, often being pulled out of meetings or events.

Spiller Jr. said Tuesday the most touching part of the trip for him was reconnecting with the former mayor of Archangel, Stanislav Potyomkin, whom he had met at his home (where he still lives) in Westbrook in 1989, when he was just 15.

“He (Potyomkin) remembered that dinner, and remembered the house, where I’m standing right now,” Spiller said. “At the time I didn’t realize the ramifications of what was going on, with countries that had been apart for years, getting together.”

Spiller added that he provided Potyomkin with a few photos from the dinner in 1989, which were taken by his mother.

Given the tense political atmosphere currently surrounding Russia, Foley said some people were apprehensive about making the trip, but the delegation was not overly concerned.

“In my mind, it seems like it would have been tenser 25 years ago when Russia was part of the former Soviet Union,” Foley said this week, referring to the first trips.

Spiller added that if more municipalities had sister-city relationships as successful as this one, “perhaps our governments would be getting along and seeing eye to eye. This relationship kind of put Westbrook on the map in an international sense, and is keeping Westbrook on the map,” he said. “It’s my hope, and I think it would’ve been my father’s hope, to see this relationship continue to grow.”

Foley spoke with the American Journal this week about the differences between the sister-city governments, sharing Westbrook pride and why the trip was important.

Q: How did it feel to be a part of something with so much history in Westbrook? Did Phil Spiller serve as a reminder of that history?

A: It was great to be there representing the city and following in the footsteps of Mayor Spiller, who started this 25 years ago. I was honored to be accompanied by Phil to help us celebrate those 25 years and we were able to meet the former mayor of Archangel who worked with Mayor Spiller to form this bond. Archangel has 11 sister cities, but we’re the oldest of the friendships. It was a tremendous benefit to have him (Spiller) there. In his speech, he talked about the connection of when his dad first came here. Phil has his dad’s diaries, photographs and other items to reference, and Phil and I gave a photo of his dad and the former mayor of Archangel 25 years ago to the current mayor.

Q: As a longtime city councilor, did you go to Russia with any specific goals to concentrate on?

A: Due to my representation in Westbrook, we focused on finance, talked about facilities, public services and public safety, including their equivalent of a fire department. Their fire department is the equivalent of our U.S. Coast Guard, Maine Warden’s Service and fire department all in one, where they do search and rescue in the ocean and on land, as well as provide fire rescue.

Q: What did you gain in terms of knowledge of their local government? What are some things Archangel does that you found interesting?

A: Because schools were celebrating “America Week,” we learned a lot about their schools and education system. Most of their schools are multi-aged schools. For instance, we visited two schools that had our equivalent of grades 2-11. They also have a six-day school week, and students are required to study a lot of foreign language, with many students speaking English as well as we do.

We also met with the City Council, which has 30 members – 15 are popularly elected while 15 are appointed. They operate similarly, but they utilize some parliamentary procedure. We learned about their tax system, which utilizes some property tax, but also has different systems, such as using a base value for cars, and anything over and above that value is almost like a luxury tax. They also have a lot more federal oversight of their budgets, with federal auditing, because they receive a lot more federal funds for their municipal budgets than we do.

Their government is serving over 300,000 residents, so their City Hall is the size of Disability RMS. One department we spent time with was called the Administrative Department, which oversees international relations, a lot of what code enforcement does, and applications for public events. That one department had tons of employees.

Q: Of the knowledge you brought back, have you talked to fellow councilors or the mayor about what you learned?

A: I made a presentation to the City Council earlier this month, but I hope to someday soon make a more in-depth presentation. I know that coming up, I’ll be speaking to the Westbrook Kiwanis and Westbrook Rotary, where I hope to give a more extensive presentation. It’s difficult to fit an eight-day trip into a 15-20 minute presentation, but I’d like to share with the City Council what I learned about specific city departments.

Q: What part of your travels stood out to you?

A: There is so much history there. Westbrook is about to celebrate its bicentennial but Archangel is celebrating their 430th anniversary. On our way to Archangel, we stopped for two days in Moscow, so we got to see their national capital, the Kremlin. We saw a lot of unique chapels, and buildings that kind of show you how much history is there. We were also able to see the St. Petersburg ballet, which is world famous. It was really amazing to spend time with students, who were so eager to learn, and had tons of questions about America. They love America. We felt like a combination of celebrity rock star, and dignitary, because when we arrived places, people cheered for our arrival.

Q: Why do you think it was for the benefit of Westbrook that you made the trip?

A: It’s always important for us to have positive relationships, and I think this one is significant. It was started by one of the former leaders of our community, and out of respect to them I think it’s important to keep some of these things going. We have our share of controversy in the community and I think this is a positive thing that people can gain knowledge from. It proves that regardless of the situations between our governments, we can still be friends with people all around this world.

Westbrook City Councilor Michael Foley presents the mayor of Archangel, Russia, Viktor Pavlenko, with a flag representing Westbrook, Maine, during a trip in early April to celebrate the 25th anniversary of a sister-city relationship.