Bangor’s finance director cited a recent “unjust personal attack” and a “hostile” work environment in his letter of resignation, which he submitted to the city on May 12.
David Little’s resignation came five days after Joe Leonard, a Bangor city councilor, accused Little of lying and misallocating resources in a May 7 council budget workshop.
“The recent unjust personal attack and defamatory statements made against me during a public meeting have impacted my reputation and my personal well-being by questioning my professionalism, integrity and ethics,” Little wrote in his letter, which the Bangor Daily News obtained through a Freedom of Access Act request.
The resignation letter is the first evidence that Leonard’s comments and accusations played a role in Little’s decision to leave the city. His departure will also come shortly after Debbie Laurie, Bangor’s previous finance director and current city manager, retires at the end of the month. Little and Laurie will take with them more than six decades of institutional memory and knowledge of city finances.
In his letter, Little also noted that the work environment within City Hall has “become steadily more hostile and aggressive.”
Life is “too short and too precious to continue in a stressful and uncertain situation waiting for the next aggressive comment to be directed at a fellow staff member or myself,” Little’s letter said.
Little did not return requests for comment Wednesday.
Little’s last day, which will be no later than July 11, will come after nearly 32 years in the city’s finance department, according to the resignation letter. He became finance director in 2022 when Laurie assumed the city manager role.
In his confrontational comments on May 7, which lasted nearly 10 minutes, Leonard accused Little of not contracting with a company that answered a request for proposal another city department issued because Little didn’t like the bidder.
Leonard also accused Little of lying about an auditing process, among other critiques of the finance department’s work in the last fiscal year.
“What is going on in the finance department?” Leonard said. “I have massive, massive concerns with this department and I think it needs a massive, massive overhaul.”
Cara Pelletier, the City Council chair, told the BDN this week that she believes Leonard’s comments may have violated state statute, which grants municipal employees the right to have complaints against them heard in private.
Because Leonard didn’t make his comments in executive session — when a meeting moves behind closed doors — that could make the city liable to legal repercussions.
Little wrote that he intends to “pursue and investigate” legal rights he has regarding the situation.
Leonard later apologized for his comments in a City Council meeting on May 12, the same day Little submitted his letter of resignation.