CAMDEN, Maine — In late May, Camden officials were bracing for two impending deadlines: The expiration of the town manager’s contract and an election that could see her critics take power.
Publicly, officials have said the town and manager decided to split amicably. But internal documents obtained by the Midcoast Villager show the board’s chair considered negotiating a new contract with Audra Caler — before backing down out of concern about “blowback” from the public.
After voters installed a new Select Board in the June 9 election, it met behind closed doors and decided to offer Caler a separation agreement. She is now scheduled to leave Dec. 31 after nine years leading the town.
Under the agreement, neither Caler nor the town can disparage each other for six years beyond the Dec. 31 date. She is allowed to search for a new job, and the town is beginning the search for her replacement. If she leaves the position earlier than Dec. 31, she is still entitled to 50% of her salary through Dec. 31.
Emails and other records obtained under Maine’s Freedom of Access Act provide the clearest account yet of how Camden reached that outcome. They show that the timing and legality of Caler’s renewal were contested before the election and that incoming Chair Chris Nolan, who has long been a critic of Caler’s, took an active role in arranging her departure and beginning the search for a successor.
Still, the records leave a key question unanswered: What reasons did board members discuss in private for ending Caler’s tenure? The discussions took place behind closed doors in executive sessions, leaving little public record.
Caler’s contract was due to expire June 30. On May 7, then-Chair Susan Dorr told board members that one of their remaining tasks was Caler’s annual evaluation. She said members Ken Gross and Nolan wanted to use a different process, which they considered more objective.
Gross opposed evaluating Caler or renewing her contract before the election. In a May 20 email, Camden residents Ray and Wendy Andresen asked Gross about rumors they heard that the board was considering extending Caler’s contract before the election.
“Yes, that is their goal,” Gross replied. “Even though it is flatly against the orders of the town’s Charter. I will vote against the process, because it is not legal and because it gives the current board a second ‘annual review.’ We already did the review less than a year ago.”
On May 27, town attorney Bill Kelly emailed Dorr with a more nuanced legal assessment. There were two key aspects to the Select Board’s approval of a town manager, he said. One is the contract negotiation and the other is the formal appointment of the town manager, a process governed by the town charter. Kelly explained that the Select Board can negotiate the contract at any time independent of the appointment.
However, the charter requires the board to appoint the town manager by “no later than the third regular meeting and after the organizational meeting of the Select Board.” In this case that would be July 21.
Kelly also warned that Caler had the legal right to a 120-day notice if she was not going to be renewed, though he noted the enforcement mechanism for that provision was not clear.
“[T]he contract is silent as to any damage that could be claimed by Audra for the failure to receive the notice of non-renewal,” Kelly wrote. “It seems the better argument here is that there is no damage that may be successfully claimed by Audra, and instead the 120-day notice would be considered a procedural requirement, and not substantive term in the contract.”
Two days later, Dorr argued that despite Kelly’s advice that they were within their rights to renegotiate with Caler, the perception in the town was already against the board renewing her contract before the election.
“This has been a complex issue to unravel given how heated many people in town have become over this,” Dorr wrote. “It will be impossible to undue [sic] the misperception out in the community and I for one am not prepared to take the blowback that an executive session this coming meeting would create.”
The contract discussions unfolded as Camden approached a consequential Select Board election on June 9. Nolan was seeking reelection, while Bobbi Oxton Blake was running for an open seat vacated by outgoing Select Board member Alison McKellar, who had been seen as a Caler defender. Both Nolan and Oxton Blake had publicly criticized town policies advanced during Caler’s tenure, including paid parking and changes to the Police Department.
Nolan and Oxton Blake handily defeated Sara Skrivanich and Geoffrey Scott, shifting control of the Select Board away from those who had served with Caler.
At the June 16 organizational meeting, Nolan was elected chair of the board and Gross was named vice chair. Generally, this is the meeting each year when town officials also appoint or reappoint town officials. But Nolan had emailed Dorr ahead of time specifically asking her not to include appointments of the town manager, town attorney or police chief, and she left those items off the agenda.
Caler was out on medical leave and did not attend this meeting.
The next morning, Dorr thanked board members for their “very considerate and in-depth conversation” and said she had relayed the terms of a possible separation agreement to Caler.
“She sees it as the best outcome she is likely to be offered and is going to consult with some people before giving us her response,” Dorr wrote.
Caler was “non-committal about the scope of her medical leave,” Dorr added, noting that Caler had appointed Finance Director Jodi Hanson as interim manager in her absence. Caler also emailed Nolan saying she would be out of the office for a few weeks, though did not mention a specific health issue.
The resulting agreement, dated June 26, calls for Caler’s employment to end Dec. 31 and acknowledges her “professional service and leadership” over nine years. It bars Caler and the town from disparaging each other for six years after her departure. Caler may seek another job, and if she leaves before Dec. 31, she remains entitled to half her salary for the remainder of the year
Now, the board just had to figure out how to share the news with the public.
“One statement I am definitely not sure about is: The Camden Select Board has decided that,” Nolan wrote in a June 29 email to Kelly, the town attorney. “We never voted publicly, so how can we say that?”
That day, Nolan also emailed the rest of the Select Board with guidance from Kelly on what to do if asked questions about Caler. It noted that board members should not substantively respond to questions about what the board could or should have negotiated and added that negotiations are not for public discussion. It also noted that the topic of medical leave was entirely unrelated and was a confidential personnel matter that could not be discussed at all.
As Nolan began working on the search for Caler’s replacement, Kelly reminded him that he could not act alone, such as in signing an agreement with the Maine Municipal Association to aid the search.
“You do not have authority to act independently of the Select Board,” Kelly wrote on July 8. “It will have to be an Agenda Item and a vote. Generally speaking, no individual Select Board member has authority to bind the Town; the Select Board is required to take action as a group in public.”
The public first learned of Caler’s planned departure when the agreement appeared in the packet for the July 7 board meeting. The board approved the consent agenda without a separate vote or discussion of the agreement.
Asked about the process, Kelly said in an email, “A Consent Agenda item approved is a 5-0 vote telegraphed in advance on the Agenda. Transparent to me. The Employment Agreement is detailed and speaks for itself. It’s otherwise a personnel matter with a person on medical leave. No secrets, just respecting the confidentiality laws.”
However, there was apparently some housekeeping and misgivings. During the July 21 Select Board meeting, the board voted unanimously to appoint Audra Caler town manager until Dec. 31, 2026.
At its July 7 meeting, the Select Board faced criticism from Caler’s supporters. Dorr said she regretted not pushing through a renewal of Caler’s contract before the election, but feared it would make an already volatile situation worse.
“I regret not having pushed that through, but it really felt like it would have created a situation in town that was more explosive than it needed to be,” she told residents in the French Conference Room. “And we are creating a dumpster fire of a situation where we will not be able to find leadership that will guide us through the important things that we need to do.”
“I’m retired. I’ve got grandchildren. I don’t need to do this,” she continued. “I do not need to be public enemy number one over a vote. And it’s because of a very loud, negative group in this town that has created an environment that was hostile to Audra, that was hostile to us as a board.”
This story appears through a media partnership with Midcoast Villager.