THOMASTON, Maine — Within the course of a month this year, townspeople saw the longtime town manager resign citing a “toxic work environment.” That was followed by the resignation of a selectboard member and a townwide vote on whether or not to dismantle the town’s police department.
That was more than six months ago. In recent months, officials now say they’re working toward a monumental 2020, with a growing police force and a long-planned move to a modern municipal building.
“The town has definitely calmed down,” Thomaston Selectboard Chair Peter Lammert said. “The number of meetings the board has had this year is record setting with all of the building work we’re doing.”
The town still has not hired a permanent replacement for former Town Manager Valmore Blastow, who unexpectedly resigned in May after 26 years. In his resignation letter, Blastow took aim at a new member of the select board, Beverly St. Clair, who was elected in June 2018. St. Clair was trying to “get rid” of Blastow, according to the resignation letter.
St. Clair denied those accusations and said that from the day her name appeared on the ballot she felt that people within town government ― specifically Blastow ― did not want her to be there. After a petition circulated to recall her from the selectboard, St. Clair resigned just two weeks after Blastow.
Since the resignations, two new members have joined the selectboard.
“Everyone is working together really well,” Interim Town Manager Kara George said. “Things are calmer and our meetings are actually shorter.” George served formerly as town clerk.
Amidst this political drama, the town’s police department was fighting for its survival. With the force having a difficult time recruiting and retaining officers, a vote was held in June on whether the town should maintain its own department or rely on coverage from the local sheriff’s office.
In June, residents overwhelmingly voted in support of keeping the Thomaston Police Department . Lammert said that vote gave confidence to the town’s government.
“The turn was the vote to keep the police department. That was a positive turn,” Lammert said.
In September, George was selected to serve as interim town manager while the town’s personnel board finds a permanent replacement. Two candidates were reviewed but rejected, and George said the board will renew its search in 2020.
Since George was familiar with the governmental duties while serving as town clerk, she said the transition into her new role hasn’t been too difficult.
“It was easier to pick up the pieces when you know where the town had left off,” George said. “I’m never bored. As you can see from my desk, I have a lot of different projects going on.”
A major one of those projects is the town office’s impending move to the former Lura Libby School, just across Route 1. It’s a project that began about two years ago, when voters approved borrowing $1.1 million to turn the former school into a modernized municipal building that would house the town office, police department, the parks and recreation department and the food pantry.
The move is tentatively scheduled for mid-January, according to Lammert and George, though a final name for the new building hasn’t been decided on.
Since the late 1990s, the Thomaston Town Office has been located in a former restaurant on Main Street. It’s small and doesn’t have a heating system, leaving office workers to rely on space heaters during the winter.
The move is one of several initiatives that will help modernize how town government functions. Last year the town office began accepting credit and debit cards as payment, rather than just cash or check. A new town website is also in the works, which will offer more online services to residents.
“The staff has put up with not having some of the normal niceties,” Lammert said. “We’ve been doing the best we can with what we have.”
The move is also a boon for the “rejuvenated” police department, according to Thomaston Police Chief Tim Hoppe. Currently, the police department is located next to the town office in cramped and outdated quarters.
But the new building will offer the police department more space, with more secure facilities for evidence and department property, according to Lammert, along with facilities for both men and women officers.
Hoppe will be making the move to the new facility with more officers than he had earlier this year. The department recently hired two full-time officers, bringing the roster up to three full-time officers plus Hoppe, leaving only one full-time vacancy.
“We’re rebuilding the department. I just want to give the citizens what they deserve after the vote of confidence,” Hoppe said.