The Millinocket town council terminated the contract of its interim town manager on Thursday, just four months after the council fired the previous town manager.
The council unanimously voted to terminate the contract of Town Manager Annette Padilla, who took over the interim role after previous town manager John Davis was fired by a 6-1 council vote in late September.
Millinocket Code Enforcement Officer Richard Angotti was sworn in as the new interim town manager Thursday. The council is continuing its search for a permanent town manager.
In explaining the change, council chair Steve Golieb said “the council has felt that having an in-house person filling the role would best serve us at this time.”
Angotti, who will continue in his role as code enforcement officer while taking on the interim position, said the town “needs to work at repairing the goodness that is in Millinocket.”
Golieb thanked Padilla, adding that she “certainly came into quite a lot of issues all at once.”
In December, Padilla fired former police chief Craig Worster, who had been accused of harassment and creating a hostile work environment by members of the Millinocket police department, including chief deputy Janet Theriault. Later that month, Millinocket disbanded its police department and signed a contract with East Millinocket to provide policing services.
Worster has appealed his firing to Millinocket’s personnel board, which is expected to rule on his appeal Friday.
Last summer, Davis, the previous town manager, came under fire for hiring Worster in 2019 as Millinocket residents started a petition calling for the removal of both Davis and Worster. Davis dismissed an 85-page harassment complaint against Worster shortly before he was terminated.
Padilla is from California and has lived in Millinocket for two years, according to an introduction video posted on Millinocket’s YouTube channel in late October. She has a PhD in Public Policy from Walden University, according to her LinkedIn page.