Stephen Gould, Livermore Falls town manager, is returning to nursing. Contributed photo

LIVERMORE FALLS — Town Manager Stephen Gould told selectmen Tuesday that he will be returning to work as a nurse but would not leave until the town found someone to replace him.

He has accepted a nursing position at Redington-Fairview General Hospital in Skowhegan, he said.

Gould, who lives in Fayette, became interim town manager on Aug. 14, 2017, after former Town Manager Kristal Flagg left to take a job as business manager at Regional School Unit 73 in Livermore Falls.

He was named full-time manager a year later and has held the position since then.

Gould worked 20 years in security at the Wausau Paper Corp. Otis Mill in Jay until the mill closed in 2009. He has been a registered nurse since 2011 and a police officer for more than 30 years. Most of those years were with the Livermore Falls Police Department, which he is still part of.

“The town of Livermore Falls has always been special to me,” he said. Even when he lived in Jay he rooted for Livermore Falls, the underdog.

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“I just feel for (this job) to be done and done right, someone else should be in this position,” Gould said.

Then don’t go, board Chairman Rodney Heikkinen said.

He will be listing the job with the Maine Municipal Association on Wednesday. He will also be notifying town staff.

In other business, selectmen voted 4-0 to not let the Area Youth Sports organization use the Recreation Field for practices because of COVID-19 concerns. AYS didn’t plan to have games this year.

Selectman Nixon Ortiz said that most of the area’s summer sports and recreation programs have been canceled because of the state restrictions. Livermore Falls is not putting up its new playground equipment until it is safe to do so, he said.

The town of Farmington has canceled its summer sports, kids camps and swimming lesson programs, and closed its town-owned playground equipment, baseball fields, tennis and basketball courts, and its picnic areas in mid March.

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The open areas in town parks is still open but people are asked to not have groups of more than 10 and to practice physical distancing.

“We are trying not to bring people together in groups,” Gould said. If practices were held, you would most likely have groups of more than 10 including coach and other adults, he said.

Heikkinen said that if somebody gets sick, “they would blame us.”

Others disagreed.

“Being outside and being active is the healthiest thing we can do,” Selectman Sarah Flagg said. She has been to other playgrounds that have been open, she said.

Being active and being outdoors is healthy but “being in groups is not the healthiest thing to do,” Selectman Heather Bronish said.

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“You can keep your town closed. I am moving. Your town isn’t working. Bye,” Flagg said before she hung up on the teleconference meeting and prior to the vote. Flagg had planned to move prior to making that statement and did not seek reelection to another term. Her term would have ended June 9 but with the restrictions in place, the annual town meeting was postponed until July 14.

The new coronavirus is a respiratory virus and if kids were playing baseball or softball, the kids would be touching the same bats and balls and other equipment, Selectman Jeff Bryant said.

The open area of the recreation field and the walking path are still open for families and others to enjoy.

“I don’t think we are being unreasonable,” Bryant said, mentioning that he saw that Farmington’s playground equipment was taped off.


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