Millinocket Town Manager John Davis was fired Thursday amid months of controversy within the town’s police department.
With Councilor Gilda Stratton opposing, the Town Council voted 6-1 during a meeting to terminate Davis’s contract immediately after holding an executive session. Chairman Cody McEwen was the only councilor to speak about Davis before the vote, saying that he respected Davis but that “for reasons discussed in executive session we have this order on today.”
Davis departs as the police chief he hired in 2019, Craig Worster, is the subject of a complaint filed by Deputy Chief Janet Theriault this year wherein she claims that Worster had created a hostile work environment. But Davis recently dismissed the complaint against Worster and decided against disciplining the chief, according to CBS affiliate WABI.
Davis could not be reached for comment immediately after the vote and did not appear to be attending the meeting, where someone else read Davis’ usual meeting report and he was not visible on camera via the internet service the town uses.
Davis became Millinocket’s town manager in February 2015 after working as Frenchville’s town manager since October 2013. The Frenchville position was his first in local government for Davis, who earned a bachelor’s degree in public administration from the University of Maine at Augusta after working as a paper mill worker for 35 years and being laid off from the East Millinocket paper mill and going back to school both in 2004.