BUCKFIELD — The Board of Selectmen accepted, with regret, the resignation of Town Manager Glenn Holmes Tuesday night.

Holmes has taken the position of director of the Western Maine Economic Development Council in South Paris.

His last day at Buckfield will be Feb. 3, he said Wednesday evening.

Holmes has been the town manager for seven years and said Buckfield’s employees are the best he’s ever worked with.

“I have had the pleasure of meeting hundreds of other employees from towns all across this great state and can say without reservation Buckfield has by far the best group of people I could ever hope to be a part of,” he said in his letter.

“The volunteers in this community give so much more than the average resident knows,” he said. “We should celebrate these individuals for what they do for us without thought of the time and energy it takes from their own families.”