TURNER — Town Manager Kurt Schaub is set to serve until 2027. The decision comes after he notified the board of selectmen of his initial plan to step down this July.

“I had given notice to the selectmen here last month that I wanted this to be my last year with the town, that I was looking to retire in July,” Schaub said Monday. The town started to seek a successor for the veteran administrator, but selectmen wanted to hear what it would take for Schaub “to stick around a little bit longer,” he said.

A four-day workweek was the answer.

For Schaub, the taxing nature of his job was starting to become too much.

“I spend weekends just really getting ready to come back to work on Monday morning. I’ve hit a stage where I prefer a little less of that,” he said. “We’re working together to find ways of lightening the burden a little bit so that I can get things done in four days a week instead of five.”

Schaub wants to pass on his nearly 11 years worth of town knowledge to whomever might take over the job.

“In my giving notice to the selectmen so early, the idea was that it would give someone an opportunity to participate in the budget process and town meetings and that sort of thing, and give me an opportunity to share some of the institutional knowledge I’ve picked up over time,” Schaub said. “Certainly, that offer still stands.”

“The thing that I care about most — and I think the selectmen do as well — is the well-being of the town. A smooth transition is one way to ensure that,” Schaub said. “But recognizing that nobody is irreplaceable, myself included.”

Schaub said comprehensive planning was how he got to know the Turner community after 14 years in municipal administration in Livermore and a different career before that.

“There was a very forward-thinking group initially that was working on (comprehensive planning.),” he said. “When it came time to vote and have the citizens adopt the new plan, not everyone agreed with all the provisions of the plan. They felt the plan were perhaps a little too aggressive in terms of attracting development, but it was very obvious in the end that people care very deeply about maintaining the character of the community, the rural flavor.”

“They like the scenic vistas,” he said. “They like the waterfronts pretty much the way they are. They appreciate the (Androscoggin Riverlands) state park that’s here. There are many things that they wanted to make sure did not change in any kind of a radical way. They recognize that the town is going to continue to grow, particularly along the Route 4 corridor. They’re pretty much okay with that as long as some of the special features are maintained.”

Schaub said rezoning the now-defunct poultry farm may be up for vote in this year’s annual town meeting, despite a rejection from last year.

In 2024, Hillandale Farm’s request to have its poultry farm rezoned from agriculture/industrial to rural 1 was rejected during the annual town meeting.

“Right now, it’s zoned in what’s called ‘agricultural-industrial,’ which allows for some more aggressive industrial type uses than are permitted in other parts of the community,” Schaub explained.

“I don’t think anyone has the political appetite just yet because of the vote that was taken just a year ago. But I don’t think it’s off the table,” he added.

“It’s an awful lot for somebody to acquire and turn into a different kind of an operation,” he said. “It would take some work to make things different. The building values are now at more or less a salvage type level, as is what’s called personal property, which is the production equipment, the conveyor systems, and that sort of thing. That’s all pretty much a salvage value.”

Planning ahead for the farm’s expected closure seems to have paid off, Schaub said. “There were a number of hits that the town absorbed over the years. I don’t want to say in preparation for this time, but in some ways it was.

“Last one was last year when the farm did request a reduction in the value of the buildings and selectmen agreed that it made sense. It took about a $100,000 of tax revenue to to accommodate that,” Schaub said.