BUCKSPORT, Maine — Bucksport town councilors voted 6-0 on Wednesday night to hire Hampden’s outgoing town manager to serve as their town’s interim manager for the year ahead, Council Chairman David Keene said Friday.
Susan Lessard, who served as Hampden’s manager for nearly 15 years, announced in March she was not going to renew her contract, citing a family health matter and a desire to simplify her life.
“My plan after retiring was to find interim work or work helping towns get ready for audits, etc.,” Lessard said in an email Thursday night. “I am living in Belfast, and this is also close to home.”
Lessard said she will assume her new position Monday.
“The plan is to do three days a week,” Lessard said. “They hired Eaton Peabody [Consulting Group] to provide an interim. I will be working for Eaton Peabody. The contract is for up to June 30, 2016, which gives them time to figure out when they want to find a new manager.”
The council’s 6-0 vote to obtain Lessard’s services came one day after the council’s 4-2 decision to terminate Town Manager Derik Goodine, invoking a clause in Goodine’s three-year employment contract that allowed them to fire him without citing a reason.
Goodine, a former town manager in Naples, Maine, was hired for the Bucksport position in April 2014.
Town Council Chairman David Keene said Friday that Lessard would be paid a flat rate of $500 per day and that the employment agreement allows for her to work for the town beyond June 30 of next year.
“We’re looking forward to working with her,” Keene said, noting that finances are among Lessard’s strength, which will be helpful, given that the town is facing the demolition of the former Verso paper mill that closed in December and the construction of a $13 million wastewater treatment plant.
Bucksport, he said, also is in the midst of overhauling its comprehensive plan.
More than 500 Verso employees lost their jobs at the 84-year-old mill when it shut down last December.
Goodine replaced Michael Brennan, who abruptly resigned in January 2014 after fewer than two years on the job. Brennan replaced Roger Raymond, who held the position for 27 years. Goodine’s salary was approximately $82,000 annually.