Interim Town Manager Alicia Conn listens to Dixfield Board of Selectmen Chairman Norman Mitchell at the Nov. 22 board meeting. From left are Selectmen Peter Holman and Ricky Davis, Conn, Mitchell, and Selectman Richard Pickett. Bruce Farrin/Rumford Falls Times
DIXFIELD — Deputy Town Clerk Alicia Conn has been named interim town manager by the Board of Selectmen.
Board Chairman Norman Mitchell made the announcement at the Nov. 22 meeting.
Conn, who is also deputy treasurer and deputy tax collector, said she has been handling some of the town manager duties since the end of October.
“I think she’ll do a great job keeping the wheels on the bus for us,” Mitchell said.
Former Town Manager James McLamb was terminated Nov. 5 after six months of service. The former Oxford County Sheriff’s deputy has been named in a wide-ranging conspiracy involving an illegal marijuana grow and distribution and money laundering operation in the Franklin County area that also implicates a dozen people, including a county prosecutor, two other former sheriff’s deputies, and a police officer.
Conn told the board, “I’d like to thank the town for trusting me to take this on and I look forward to continuing to serve Dixfield in a greater capacity.”
Ads for a town manager have been placed and 24 online responses received, but none by mail.
“That’s a pretty good response for a short time,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell suggested the board look at the applications and consider which people to interview. He said the search could take about four months.
The board also discussed having the town clerk assistant, Theresa Hemingway, look at the applications to avoid any potential conflict should Conn apply for the position.
Mitchell said if Conn does seek the job and doesn’t get it, she will be able to go back to her prior position.
Conn said she stepped in “to move things along, keep things functioning. I fully feel that I’m capable. If I don’t know it yet, I’ll learn it or figure it out, or find somebody to ask.”
She started work in the Town Office on March 1. “My duties have been very broad and I’ve been drawing on my previous municipal experience. In an office as small as this, everybody has to be able to do everything.”
She said she’s been utilizing all resources, including previous town managers who have experience with Dixfield, specifically, who have encouraged her to contact them when needed. She also Maine Municipal Association, of which Dixfield is a member, is an excellent resource.
“We’ve got a lot of in-office resources that I’m utilizing as well,” she said, including manuals and guides.
Conn said she looking at this as a trial run to decide whether or not to apply for the position.
“I had considered becoming a town manager, but I assumed it would be later in my career. But where this has happened so quickly, I’m looking at this as an opportunity and if things don’t work out, I’ll go back to the front office.”
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