NORWAY – Town Manager David Holt has resigned from his seat on the Oxford Hills Growth Council’s Board of Directors, saying he felt personality clashes impeded his continued participation.

Selectman Les Flanders agreed to take his place, and the rest of the board supported him.

Council directors accepted Holt’s resignation and approved Flanders as successor Tuesday, Vice Chairman William Hanger said.

Holt was part of the founding board and has served for most of the organization’s 10-year history.

Holt said Tuesday that at last week’s meeting, a discussion about the Odd Fellows Hall on Main Street in Norway, already a somewhat heated issue, led to a statement he said touched on the story of Deborah P. Wyman, the former Norway town employee sent to jail earlier this month for stealing more than $100,000 from Norway.

“At last week’s Tuesday meeting, I became angry and left,” Holt said, without going into more detail about the discussion that precipitated his exit. “I’ve had a tough year, and probably if I hadn’t, I would have continued on.”

He admitted he is struggling with how to deal with the Wyman situation professionally, as it has led to questioning and criticism. “I am very sensitive to that,” he said, even to jokes.

Holt also said that he often took on a critical voice in the board’s discussions.

“I think Les will do better. I don’t think he is viewed as a critic, and I became viewed as critic,” he said. “I viewed it as my job to be critical. I think that is healthy.”

Hanger said the issue was a personal matter and he would not comment in depth.

“I have a great deal of respect and admiration for David Holt. I think he has been a long-serving and capable director, and it was with regret today that we did accept his resignation,” Hanger said Tuesday. “And I look forward to having Les join the group.”

There are 11 directors, including town managers of Paris and Oxford, and four officers on the council’s board. The council’s mission is to spur economic development in the Oxford Hills.

Flanders said he attended the first meeting Tuesday morning. “It is very important that Norway is represented on the board,” he said. “I am very encouraged with what the board is telling me now, and how the board will be more open with all the towns in Oxford Hills. The lack of communication, it was terrible.”

Holt and the Norway selectmen openly disapproved of the way the council communicated with town officials about the Odd Fellows Hall, a building on Main Street that has stood empty for several years.

The council bought the building in 2002 and had been working to restore it for new occupants. But this summer it announced it was abandoning the project.

While Holt said he understood the project could not continue because it was too expensive, he said the town should have been more involved in the project.