NEW GLOUCESTER – Selectmen voted 4-0 Thursday night to accept the resignation of Town Manager Rosemary Kulow that was submitted earlier this week.

The board immediately went into executive session, which Chairwoman Lenora Conger said was to discuss whether to use the Maine Municipal Association or other services to search for a new manager. The board said the secret meeting was required because it was reviewing applications from a pool of manager candidates from five years ago.

Maine law allows municipal officials to hold executive sessions for discussions about hiring and firing and contract negotiations, among other things.

There was no space to accommodate the public or media during the closed session, except a bathroom which the board ruled not available and a closet deemed not soundproof.

Those attending the executive session were Selectmen Conger, Steve Libby, Pam Slye and Nat Berry. Selectman Linda Chase was absent.

The meeting was not televised by the town’s cable committee as it usually is.

Conger said by phone Thursday night that the board came out of the secret session at 8:45 p.m. and passed motions to place ads with MMA for the job, to run ads in Sunday papers around New England and to contract with MMA for $2,500, plus expenses, to help with the search.

Kulow resigned Monday evening, handing selectmen a memorandum toward the end of their regular meeting.

“It is with mixed feelings and some sadness that I am announcing my resignation from the position of New Gloucester Town Manager effective Sept. 19, 2008,” Kulow wrote in the memo. “For the most part, I have enjoyed my tenure with the Town of New Gloucester and am honored to have served its citizens as Town Manager for nearly five years.”

Kulow said by phone from Bar Harbor on Thursday that she had no future plans and had been preparing for this decision for some time.

“This certainly came as a surprise to me,” Conger said by phone earlier Thursday. “As far as I know, we haven’t had any disagreements or problems.”

David Lunt, who served as chairman until last February, said by telephone Thursday, “I think (Kulow) is a class act. I think she made a very good town manager. I think she did a major turnaround in that office with the staff. She did her best to carry out requests of the Board of Selectmen. In my estimation, it’s a loss for this town.”