CANTON — Selectmen accepted Deputy Clerk Nicki Girard’s resignation during their meeting Thursday. Her last day is Tuesday.
The Town Office will close Wednesday “for an indefinite period of time,” Selectman Carole Robbins said.
Girard is the third town office employee to leave in the past four months. Clerk Carol Buzzell resigned in March to become town manager of Greene and Treasurer Vernice Boyce left in February. None of them gave negative reasons for why they were leaving.
Girard wrote in her resignation letter, “I appreciate the opportunity to work for the town of Canton. I’m going to miss the citizens of this town.”
She became deputy clerk in April 2021 and recently filled in as interim town clerk after Buzzell left. Buzzell was interim treasurer after Boyce left.
Selectman Carole Robbins thanked Girard for her work for the town. “Your dedication and your work ethic is second to none. We appreciate it,” she said.
Selectmen will handle accounts payable and “checking voicemails, checking the lockbox (and) taking payments,” Robbins said. “And we’ll keep everyone updated as far as when we’re going to open again.”
Residents may go to the Hartford Town Office to register their vehicles.
Besides losing office employees, selectmen have had difficulties finding a code enforcement officer since Scott Mills resigned in January to work as a part-time CEO in Hartford.
At Thursday’s meeting, Selectmen Gail Belyea and James Dolloff of Peru and Selectmen Lee Holman and Cathy Lowe of Hartford attended by invitation to discuss the possibility of hiring a CEO to cover the three towns. The group will continue the discussion later.
In another matter, Lake Anasagunticook Association member Diane Ray and Jeff Stern of the Androscoggin River Watershed Council updated selectmen on the work being done in the town watershed with grant money.
Last year, voters authorized $5,000 for the Lake Anasagunticook Association in support of a 2020-21 watershed mitigation grant to assist in protecting water quality in Anasagunticook Lake, also known as Canton Lake.
“The federal grant has been conditionally awarded and actual amounts will depend on the amount of match that is raised,” Ray said at that time.
Stern said 2021 “actually ended up being a pretty productive year for us. We did some big erosion control projects.”
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