MINOT – Selectmen voted unanimously Monday night to not renew Town Administrator Gregory Gill’s contract.
Making the motion, Selectman Ralph Gilpatrick said, “The board finds that the town is headed into a new direction and facing new challenges and growth, and that it is in the best interests of the town to seek and hire a new town administrator with similar or more experiences and qualifications that can start fresh with the board and assist the board in meeting these new challenges.”
Selectmen also accepted a settlement agreement with Gill. Gill will receive his normal salary and medical and dental benefits for the next 60 days plus three accrued vacation days.
Selectmen did not elaborate beyond referring to Gilpatrick’s motion.
Present at the meeting and helping to develop the agreement were the town’s attorney, James Belleau, and Gill’s attorney, Stephen Hayes.
Gill was hired a year ago to be the first town administrator. He is a Jay resident who was town manager in Readfield before coming to Minot.
Selectmen also met in executive session with town Treasurer Connie Taker to discuss her letter of resignation, which the board accepted Dec. 6.
At that time, Taker named Jan. 31 as the effective date for her resignation. Her stated intent was to stay until the end of the town’s fiscal year, Jan. 31, so she could help wrap up work on the annual town report and have all accounts and budget requests ready for March town meeting.
When the board accepted Taker’s resignation, it did so with deep regret. Selectman Eda Tripp had abstained from voting, saying she was most unhappy with the resignation.
Following Monday night’s executive session, the board announced the effective date of Taker’s resignation had been extended another two weeks and was under reconsideration.
Efforts to resolve an impasse over whether developer Chuck Starbird’s work on Pottle Hill School Road meets the town’s minimum requirements for street acceptance devolved to the point where Starbird indicated he was ready to go to court.
“You’ve done your job,” Starbird said to selectmen, “You’ve delayed (consideration of the road’s acceptance) until the March 2006 town meeting.”
Last fall when Road Manager Arlan Saunders refused to accept Starbird’s engineering report on the road’s sub-base, selectmen and Starbird agreed to obtain an opinion from a second engineer they both agreed on.
Starbird has complained that he found an engineer, but Saunders objected to him debating the town’s standards. Starbird came up with another, a retired MDOT employee, who selectmen and Saunders opposed because he does not carry proper liability insurance.
“I’ll hire three or four engineers and get their results and present them directly to you guys,” Starbird told the board.
Belleau, the town’s lawyer, consistently reminded Starbird and his lawyer, Scott Lynch, that the town ordinance requires a recommendation from the road manager.
On Belleau’s advice, selectmen tabled action on Starbird’s request to recommend Pottle Hill School Road for town meeting approval.
Selectman Dean Campbell told the board that Maine Department of Transportation studied traffic on Verrill Road and will allow the town to drop the speed limit on it to 35 miles per hour.
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