By Terry Karkos,Staff Writer

DIXFIELD – Selectmen are expected to begin searching for a new town manager on Valentine’s Day in the wake of Monday night’s board meeting.

After a brief executive session that night, Town Manager Nanci Allard asked selectmen not to renew her contract, but declined to specify why.

Selectmen were to start discussions Monday night to renew her 3-year contract, which expires June 2. That date will now be her last day of work.

When contacted Tuesday afternoon, Allard said she resigned when she did to give selectmen time to find a new town manager and to bring that person up to speed on town affairs.

Board of Selectmen Chairman Eugene Skibitsky said the news came as a surprise.

“I think Nanci knew that we had to talk about her contract, which was coming up for renewal, and we needed to make a move, and that’s what we were going to do, start that process, and then she let us know last night that she wanted to move on,” Skibitsky said Tuesday afternoon.

Allard, a former New Hampshire legislator, was hired by selectmen on Dec. 3, 2001, and signed a 3-year contract. She replaced Richard E. Robinson, who retired.

Reflecting on her hiring, Allard said Tuesday that selectmen then had tasked her with getting job descriptions completed for each municipal position, and with updating the personnel policy.

Allard said she did that and more.

“What the town didn’t have at all, and it’s required by OSHA, is a safety and health program for its employees, and I got that in place,” she said.

Allard said she also streamlined the town’s accounting system from 44 departments to 16, and helped selectmen to restructure the town library system, saving the town more than $10,000.

She said the town has “come a long way” toward straightening out the municipal water system, through her applying for and getting grants to begin the comprehensive planning process.

“We’ve needed to improve the water system. In several places, we’ve only got 2-inch water mains and have to have 8-inch lines for fire suppression,” Allard said.

She has applied for a hefty Community Development Block Grant to jump-start work to replace the town’s old, lead-jointed piping system.

“I hope we can get the CDBG to help our low-income folks replace their old pipes from the property line in. Part of the grants will also enable people to replace their service lines,” she said.

Allard said she also recovered more than $300,000 of Dixfield’s share in the Maine State Retirement System last year.

The town had opted out of the system many years ago by town meeting vote, but no one remembered to recover the money, which sat in the state account accruing interest, Allard said last February. That money went into the town’s surplus.

“So, I increased surplus by 96 percent, and that’s a pretty good note to leave on,” she said.

Skibitsky echoed her comments.

“I think she was fiercely loyal to the town of Dixfield, and everything she did was for the betterment of Dixfield, and she brought really good budgeting and financial skills to the town,” he said.

As for what effect Allard’s exit would have on the town, Skibitsky said it presents a unique, “but weird” situation.

“Within the first few weeks in 2005, Rumford had a successful transition with a new town manager, Mexico had a successful transition, and now it’s on us. But Nanci is leaving us in pretty good financial shape,” he said.

Selectmen are to begin discussing the processes needed to search for a new town manager at their 4:30 p.m. meeting on Monday, Feb. 14, in the community room of Ludden Memorial Library.