NEW VINEYARD — For 45 and a half years, Arlene Davis has worked in the Town of New Vineyard Town Office.

She said that she is resigning on July 3 from her positions of town clerk, tax collector, and treasurer because she can no longer work under the current board of selectmen for the disrespectful way they have treated her over the past few months. In an interview last week, she explained that the amount of work she was expected to take on under the limited hours she was given was simply too much.

“Four hours a day is not enough time to get the work done,” Davis said, noting the Town Office is open Monday and Friday from 2-6 p.m. and Tuesday and Thursday from 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m.

Davis, who will turn 80 in August, said she regrets that it has come to this. She began working for the town in 1969 as an excise tax collector. After a few years, she ran for the town clerk’s job and was elected, and then ran for treasurer and tax collector.

Up until 1988, those positions were elected. An Administrative Assistant Ordinance was passed, stating that the duties of tax collector, treasurer, excise tax collector, and clerk would fall under the Administrative Assistant’s title and would be appointed by selectmen.

The ordinance requires the Administrative Assistant to manage town affairs, conduct normal administrative duties at the town office, and make recommendations for items to be included on the agenda at the Board of Selectmen’s meetings.

This April, Davis was working without a contract, but was still getting paid, she said. Several weeks later, selectmen called and said they wanted to meet with her. She said that she met with them and the board stated they weren’t going to sign the contract.

“I have never learned the computer,” she admitted. “We used to do everything by hand. They (selectmen) didn’t make a big issue out of it, but I told them that I my age, I just can’t learn the computer.”

Selectmen wanted her to start doing new registrations for vehicles, said Davis. The town is currently set up to re-register cars and collect excise tax, but not do license plates.

She had said that she would no longer do concealed weapons permits, but selectmen insisted she perform that duty, she said. Davis noted that New Vineyard doesn’t have the programs available in its computer to perform these tasks “and it costs a lot of money to get it.”

According to Davis, at the end of the meeting, selectmen told her, “We’ve had reports that you’re too chatty. I said, ‘I don’t understand that,'” she said.

Davis thought about what to do. She said that her family had been pleading with her for a year to quit, and after further consideration, she decided it was time to resign.

“I like people. I love talking to people,” said Davis. “That’s my biggest asset. I guess I’m not a loner. I like to be around people.”

She said that she had never had any trouble with selectmen signing her contract every year until this year. “I don’t know where it came from.”

Some days, she regrets her decision to resign, and noted “You don’t just get it out of your system after 45 and a half years.”

Davis’ husband, Guy Davis, passed away four years ago. Without him around, she was glad to be able to get out and work as the administrative assistant. Now, she is thinking about becoming a visitor at nursing homes.

“I also have a good singing voice, so I could sing them songs,” she said. “I’m in the choir at church.”

Her other activities include reading and she said she keeps a puzzle going on her card table all the time.

Attempts to contact the New Vineyard selectmen for comment were unsuccessful.

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