BLUE HILL, Maine — The town has filled many of the open positions left after several key staffers, including Town Administrator Julie Atwell, resigned this year. As an almost entirely new staff gets up to speed, members of the Blue Hill Planning Board say staffing issues have hampered their ability to review permit applications for development in town.
While each left at different times, the town administrator, clerk, deputy clerk and code enforcement officer all tendered their resignations in 2025. The staffing shortage meant the town office reduced its hours from five to three days a week.
Right now, the town office is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Wednesday. But, with some recent hiring, Select Board member Scott Miller said the board hopes to once again open for five days in the coming weeks.
“It’s certainly inconvenient for us to be open only three days a week,” Miller said. “We want to be back open five days.”
The town administrator position remains open, and Miller said, in the short-term, the board intends to keep it that way. Atwell, who now works for School Union 93, resigned her position in July. She was the third town administrator since the position was created by a town meeting vote in 2019.
“We decided, for the moment, we don’t want to advertise for a town administrator,” Miller said. “My preference is to let the dust settle, staff these other positions, then see what’s missing and what we need from a town administrator.”
The town employs five full-time staff: a town administrator, town clerk, two deputy clerks and a treasurer. The code enforcement officer, tax collector and accessors agents work part time.
The Select Board recently hired a new treasurer and a code enforcement officer. Only the town administrator and a deputy clerk positions remain unfilled, according to Miller.
New code enforcement officer
At an Oct. 6 Select Board meeting, Planning Board Chair Matthew Martin said lapses in staffing, particularly with the code enforcement officer, have caused delays and errors that hold up permit applications.
Blue Hill’s former code enforcement officer, Bryce Emerson, resigned in July. Until recently, the position has been filled by Martin Conant, an interim code enforcement officer who worked on a very limited basis, sometimes only one day a week.
Martin said the Planning Board has had to, among other things, reschedule meetings or push back public hearings on permit applications because Conant hadn’t sent proper notices to abutters. The delays and errors have frustrated both planning board members and applicants.
“We expressed our sincerest gratitude to Mr. Conant for stepping up in a time of need for the town,” Martin said. “That said, clearly the amount of work is overwhelming, given the time he is able to spend on it.”
Errors in the planning process are not only inconvenient, but may have legal ramifications for the town, Martin said. The Planning Board has been at the center of several high-profile applications in the past five years, including a dispute over a proposed solar farm on South Street and the recent proposed housing development near the Salt Pond. If similar applications end up in court, Martin said errors on the town’s part could cost them the case and cost taxpayers a lot in legal fees. “If we’re not following the law, we’re toast,” Martin said.
Shortly after Martin expressed his concerns, the Select Board hired a new code enforcement officer, Zavier Alvavrez, to replace Conant. But Alvavrez has no experience and will be taking the state-mandated code enforcement officer certification classes on the job.
Miller said the Select Board intends to temporarily hire the town of Sedgwick’s certified and more experienced code enforcement officer to work alongside and train Alvavrez. Eventually, Miller said the town hopes to have two code enforcement officers, a primary code enforcement officer and a deputy.
“That way, when we have turnover, we still have someone who can do the job when we need them to,” Miller said.
Many of the town office staff are new to their positions. On Oct. 6, Select Board Chair Ellen Best told Martin that hiring staff and getting them trained was “one of many top priorities.”
“The Select Board has been stressed to the max at this point,” Best said.