SANGERVILLE, Maine — Citing a desire to enjoy more personal time, Town Manager Dave Pearson announced his resignation at the Sept. 25 Sangerville Board of Selectmen’s meeting.
“I will be turning 66 next month, and I’m looking forward to retirement,” Pearson wrote. “Since my mid-teens, I cannot remember a summer when I wasn’t working, and I frankly find the prospect of having enough time to pursue my many interests to be very attractive.”
Pearson, who has been town manager for three years, praised Selectmen Tom Carone, Bill Rowe and Melissa Randall as “some of the finest elected officials I have worked with over the years, and the town of Sangerville should be proud of you.”
He also said he owed Town Clerk Alvina Church a “debt of gratitude” for her help when he came on board. “I do not want to add anything to her burden,” he said, adding that, while he plans to step down by the end of the year, he would stay longer if necessary to help train his successor.
He concluded Sangerville, “despite its beauty and fine folks, has some dynamics that make the manager’s job challenging on occasion. But by that same token, the work is always interesting and the accomplishments — when they occur — all the sweeter for it.”
Before working in Sangerville, Pearson worked for the town of Dexter for more than 25 years as code enforcement officer, tax assessor and town manager. He also is the Democratic candidate for Maine House District 104, currently held by Republican Ray Wallace of Dexter.
The Sangerville Board of Selectmen briefly discussed a previously tabled suggestion to expand the three-member board to five. After some public comments and deliberation, they dropped the idea for the time being.
Virginia “Dinny” Wark said the proposal concerned her.
“We haven’t settled this year’s election yet,” she said. “It’s still in litigation, and we’ve been told it won’t be on the (Superior Court) docket until 2015.”
Irving McNaughton, who lost a race to be a selectman at the annual town meeting by one vote, filed a civil lawsuit against winner Melissa Randall.
Part of McNaughton’s claim stemmed from the status of three spoiled ballots. Town officials and the Maine Municipal Association said they didn’t need to be counted as “ballots cast,” but McNaughton said state law clearly states a winner in a municipal election needs to be elected by a majority — not a plurality — of votes cast.
Wark said she “personally doesn’t have anything against a five-man board. I just feel that having it now isn’t appropriate.”
Diane Boretos agreed with Wark.
“I don’t see where the great emergency is … particularly where we now have to look for a new town manager,” Boretos said. “It seems more appropriate to bring this up before a larger crowd at the annual town meeting.”
Later in the meeting, the board decided to shelve the plan, though Chairman Bill Rowe said anyone who wanted to circulate a petition to force a special town meeting on the proposal was free to do so.
The Board of Selectmen chose a nine-member selectmen committee to screen applications for the town manager’s position: Joseph Ranagan, Virginia Wark, Alvina Church, Diana Bowley, Peter Gorman, Diane Boretos, Pam Smith, George Nuite and Rhonda Taylor.