RUMFORD – Following a four-hour executive session Wednesday night, River Valley Growth Council directors unanimously approved a leadership change for both the council and its technology center.
Assistant Executive Director Rosie Bradley, hired in 1998 by the nonprofit River Valley-area economic and commercial development corporation, was named its executive director and center administrator Wednesday night in Rumford.
She replaces council founder and past President Joseph P. Derouche and River Valley Technology Center Director Norm MacIntyre, who retired earlier this year.
At the board’s June 13 meeting, a majority voted not to extend or renew Derouche’s probationary contract, which expired by day’s end Thursday.
“Rosie Bradley has really done an excellent job, more or less, as acting executive director, and I and the board feel she has earned the position by what she has done this year,” acting council President Dick Lovejoy said late Thursday night.
Lovejoy said Bradley is to take over administrative duties of the Joseph P. Derouche Advanced Technology Development Center, also called the River Valley Technology Center.
He said the center’s board of directors had authorized the council to take over its administrative duties. That includes finding tenants to fill the center and create much-needed jobs in the area.
“There is a lot of work to do, and I think the board is totally behind Rosie Bradley to do the job that’s ahead of us,” Lovejoy said.
The center, at 60 Lowell St., is a public/private partnership dedicated to nurturing small technology and precision manufacturing businesses during the start-up stage.
When directors emerged about 10 p.m. from Wednesday’s closed-door session in the center, a motion was made to accept the Personnel Committee’s recommendation to hire Bradley, a Rumford resident.
On Thursday afternoon, Bradley declined to divulge her salary or negotiated contract, saying the council is a private corporation, not a public organization.
Lovejoy also declined to say how much Bradley is to receive. He wasn’t sure of the council’s legal status.
Lovejoy and Director John Madigan, town manager of Mexico and Dixfield, said the council board approved a negotiated contract with Bradley without divulging its contents.
Council treasurer and committee Chairman Bill Hine of Peru said Thursday afternoon that Bradley’s new salary is “comparable to what Joe would have made if he stayed on.”
Derouche, who was hired in January, began the job Feb. 1 with a prorated salary of $40,000 through June 30. He had asked for a three-month extension.
Hine said the council had offered family health insurance to Bradley, who begins her new job today, but wasn’t sure if she had taken it yet. He said the council had offered Derouche the same benefit package, but Derouche didn’t take it, because he was getting it from the town of Mexico. That coverage, Derouche said, ended Thursday.
Hine said Bradley’s annual salary as assistant executive director was $38,100 after she received a 25 percent raise on Jan. 1.
“She’s going to be getting more than $38,100,” was all Hine would say of her new salary.
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