HOWLAND, Maine — Former Millinocket Town Manager Peggy Daigle will serve as Howland’s interim town manager starting Monday at $500 per day plus expenses, according to the chairman of the board of selectmen.
Selectmen voted 4-0 on Monday to hire Daigle until a permanent replacement could be found. Selectman Will Lloyd was absent. She will work one to three days per week, chairman Glenn Brawn said Friday. The search for a new town manager is ongoing.
“We feel very fortunate that we were able to get her to come to town. Her wealth of knowledge will help the town immensely given the town’s situation,” Brawn said Friday. “We are still in our budget process so she will help that along.”
Daigle said the contract was arranged through Eaton Peabody Consulting Group, which is part of a Bangor-based law firm of the same name.
“I feel blessed to be able to help these folks out,” Daigle said Friday. “It is a very limited time period that I will be available for. Hopefully they will get an applicant who can take over.”
Daigle replaces Tracey Hutton, who resigned for undisclosed reasons in late March after being placed on administrative leave with pay on March 16.
Daigle will be the town’s representative to the Penobscot River Restoration Trust‘s efforts to dig a fish bypass adjacent to town-owned land near the Piscataquis River’s junction with the Penobscot, Brawn said.
Daigle also will work with a private consultant to identify the town’s economic assets as part of an ongoing study, Brawn said.
Daigle has served as an interim city manager in Caribou and was town manager in Enfield, Houlton, Old Town and Patten. She had served as the part-time executive manager of the Bangor Target Area Development Corp. from October 2011 to March 2013, when she began work for Millinocket. The regional economic development agency has helped to develop successful business parks in Bangor, Hampden and Hermon.
Brawn said he hopes Daigle will get the chance to help develop Howland’s economy. Her contract specifies she will work for the town for as long as four months, Brawn said.