The Bethel Select Board is scheduled June 3 to respond to a letter resident and Recreation Board member Lindsay Gardner sent this month questioning the town manager’s compensation, employment contract and related governance processes.

Town Manager Sharon Jackson, of Oxford, was hired as interim town manager after former Manager Natalie Andrews abruptly resigned in October 2023.

A year later, in October 2024, the select board rehired Jackson for another year.

“Benefits expanded,” Gardner wrote, including Maine Public Employees Retirement System, mileage and professional dues. “Still hourly. No competitive process,” Gardner, a human resources professional, wrote in her letter to the board. MEPERS stands for Maine Public Employees Retirement System.

In 2025, the board retained several of the “temporary contractor” terms, including the $75-an-hour rate, when it extended Jackson’s contract for two years.

“Now a multi-year commitment — still no competitive search, no performance evaluation clause,” Gardner wrote.

In a town-by-town salary comparison compiled in April, Bethel’s town manager rate was determined to be the highest of those cited from around western Maine, with Jackson’s yearly compensation at $156,000. Before leaving, Andrews was earning $100,655 a year, including benefits.

Newry Town Manager Loretta Powers, who preceded Andrews as Bethel town manager, said her earnings were $83,000 when she worked for the town.

Gardner points out that Jackson’s actual 2025 salary was $172, 894. “Her salary is hourly with no cap on wages, so the actuals run higher,” said Gardner.

In data provided to the select board, Gardner cited the town manager of Scarborough, who earns $177,944 and oversees a population of 24,010. Bethel has an estimated population of 2,500.

Gardner said she would like the select board — Chair Michele Cole, Sarah Southam, Patricia McCartney, Andy Whitney and Faye Christoforo — to commission a formal compensation benchmarking review using Maine Municipal Association salary survey data and present the results publicly before any further contract extension or salary adjustment.

After filing Freedom of Information requests for town manager salaries across Maine, Gardner said, “In my ideal world we would at least consider whether we are able to renegotiate the fact that we pay her for time to drive to her office, which is a wild clause found in no other contract ever viewed.”

Gardner also questioned how the permanent town manager appointment was made and whether town code requirements were met. She asked the board to establish a formal performance evaluation process and share it with residents before the end of the calendar year.

She further requested that a clerical position Jackson is proposing “include a written job description, defined deliverables, a projected end date, confirmation of Budget Committee review, and an open posting before any hire is made.”

The letter follows several recent disagreements between recreation officials and Jackson over staffing, recreation spending and municipal protocol. In recent months, Recreation Board Director Nate Crooker and Jackson have clashed over budget requests for an additional part-time position and a shade structure for the Davis Park playground.

Recreation committee members, which include Gardner, also said Jackson had canceled the Mt. Abram Middle School ski program, though Jackson said that was not the case. She said a 2024 donation of $6,000 should not be carried forward because it was designated specifically for ski program transportation, and the town attorney advised spending down the donated funds.

Gardner stressed that her concerns center on the select board’s contract negotiations, not Jackson’s job performance.

In her letter, Gardner said, “I want to be clear and direct on one point: these questions are about the Board’s processes and the Town’s governance practices. They are not a personal judgment on the Town Manager’s performance, her commitment to the Town, or her fitness for the role. I ask that they be received in that spirit.”

Editor’s Note: This story was updated to clarify that Jackson’s compensation is hourly.