After spending more than an hour of my working day driving to and from The Citizen the past three years, my commute this week suddenly became considerably shorter.

Now it takes about three to five minutes each way, depending on the traffic lights.

As much as I love the short drive and saving on gasoline, though, the reason I relocated my family from Camillus to Auburn was to help me be a better editor for this newspaper.

I knew when this position became available last summer that Rick Emanuel, The Citizen's publisher, wanted the next editor to live in the coverage area. As much as I hate moving, I didn't hesitate to apply for the job because I fully agree with the concept. As the person in charge of the coverage our staff provides this area, I can only benefit by living in this community.

We had a few things to take care of first - having a baby in December, finding and buying a new home, selling our old home. But it's finally all behind us now.

The bonus for my family and me is that we've moved to a community we really like. Having worked here since January 2004 as news editor and managing editor, I've come to appreciate what it has to offer: friendly people, clean air, low crime, abundant recreational opportunities, growing arts and entertainment offerings, tremendous historical resources - among many other “quality of life” advantages.

So now there's a good chance you'll see me out and about at some point, perhaps shopping for groceries, eating at a restaurant or just taking a walk with the dog and the baby.

I'll confess that this weekend will probably be an exception. My guess is we'll be tackling those unpacked boxes that seem to be covering 80 percent of the floor space in our new home.

But when you do see me, feel free to say hello, ask a question or offer some feedback (but let's keep it civil - we don't want the baby learning any bad words). Many times it's those informal conversations that produce the best insight for how we can better serve readers.

I recently attended a newspaper conference with the publisher and our advertising director, Mike Rifanburg, in which the speaker challenged us to get out of the office and find out what our readers - and non-readers - truly want from us. We learned of a concept called “jobs to be done,” which essentially says we should be figuring out what everyday tasks we can help our customer base do more easily or effectively.

To get the best “jobs to be done” list assembled, though, we must seek your input. For me, being here beyond the work day is doing just that.

Executive editor Jeremy Boyer's column appears Saturdays in

The Citizen and he can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 231

or jeremy.boyer@lee.net