ROCKLAND, Maine — The status of the standoff between the City Council and city manager remains in limbo after a two-hour closed-door meeting Thursday evening.
Mayor Louise MacLellan-Ruf said no action was taken as a result of the executive session. She said the council is not negotiating a separation agreement with City Manager James Chaousis and he has not submitted a resignation.
The council met with attorney Linda McGill of Portland, who specializes in labor law. Chaousis also went into the meeting, but he said after the session that he only “briefly participated in the meeting.”
“I’m not sure I’m the correct person to comment on the meeting,” he said.
MacLellan-Ruf said that no other meeting has been scheduled by the council. Chaousis has been out on sick leave this week, and the mayor said he would be off next week on vacation.
The meeting comes a little more than a week after Chaousis sent the mayor a letter calling for the council to terminate the contract of city attorney Kevin Beal. The manager said if the council would not follow through on his recommendation, councilors should consider a separation agreement with him.
In last week’s letter, Chaousis references the claims he made to the council in December 2015 that the city attorney had demonstrated insubordination and participated in unethical and illegal activities. The city manager did not elaborate, and no details of any allegations against the city attorney have ever been made public.
Beal’s attorney, Daniel Nuzzi, and the city’s outside attorney, McGill, both said that Beal was not under investigation. City councilors also defended the attorney in comments made after the letter became public.
“I am requesting that the City Council update me regarding this situation or consider a separation agreement regarding my position. Further delays in addressing this issue will only aggravate the relationship further,” Chaousis concluded in last week’s letter.
Councilor Larry Pritchett told the public this week that a final decision has not yet been made on the city attorney position. The manager had proposed eliminating the full-time staff attorney. The most recent council action was preliminary approval of the 2016-17 budget on June 8 that included $130,000 to be divided between contractual legal and planning services.
The final vote on the 2016-17 municipal budget is scheduled for June 27.