PARIS – Selectmen approved a new five-year contract for Town Manager Sharon Jackson at their regular meeting Monday night, and a selectman announced he would resign at the end of his first term.
Although all five selectmen approved Jackson’s contract, Selectman William Merrill grumbled a little. “I have no issue retaining Sharon Jackson,” he said, “but I’m not in favor of the large payment and benefit increases.”
Selectman Gerald Kilgore shot back: “If I had it my way, it would have been more.”
Selectmen’s Chairman Raymond Glover said Jackson’s salary will increase by more than 10 percent next year “because of her job performance.”
He added that her salary will be more on par with other town managers in comparable towns.
The town will raise Jackson’s pay to $55,000 in 2006-2007, $57,600 in 2007-2008 and $60,200 in 2008-2009. For the final two years of the contract, the salary will be negotiated. The contract year runs from July 1 to June 30.
Medical and health benefits will be paid 100 percent, and Jackson’s family will receive 80 percent coverage.
When she began the job Jan. 3, 2005, her salary was $42,900.
Jackson beamed after the meeting Monday. She said, “I really love my job. It’s been totally wonderful.”
Selectman Kenneth West, who was elected selectman last summer for a three-year term, announced he will step down in July because of his workload.
“Basically I would like to go to classes to further my education on town laws or whatever,” West said. “Something is coming up in May, the dos and don’ts of selectmen, but I don’t have time … I don’t have time to devote to classes.”
He said he works 45 to 50 hours at Maine Machine Products Co. in Paris, and then from January to May, he helps his wife with her income tax business.
Jackson said residents may pick up nomination papers to run for the remaining two years of West’s term.
In other news, Paris, Norway and Oxford bought a vehicle this month with homeland security grant money, according to Glover. The new 2006 Ford F350 truck will deploy a hazardous material trailer and team to toxic accident sites.
Selectmen also approved the Conservation Committee’s request to buy a black granite panel for $225 to install on a boulder at Cornwall Preserve in memory of Alice Cornwall, who pledged this land near Paris Hill to the town.
Selectmen also agreed to dedicate the town report to longtime town employee Joan Bean who retired last year, and in memory of Albert Soule, who died last year and left approximately $80,000 to the town.
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