MADAWASKA, Maine — Madawaska officials voted to begin the process of removing Town Manager David Daigle during an emergency meeting called earlier this week.
The primary reason is related to Daigle’s handling of funding for the town’s recent “NoMa Summerfest” event. The board, in a lengthy resolution read by Chair Renee Deschaine during the Thursday meeting, alleged that Daigle disregarded the board’s instructions to not exceed $75,000 in funding for the event.
“The manager’s decision to commit far more than $75,000 of town monies for Summerfest was a blatant disregard for the authority and direction of the select board,” Deschaine said, reading the resolution.
The resolution continued, stating that this undermines the town employees’ confidence in the town government.
The town announced the emergency meeting Wednesday, the same day when Daigle faced accusations that he used a personal social media account to send sexually explicit messages and video clips to other people. But Deschaine said the board’s decision was not related to that, which is a personal matter. Daigle wrote on his Facebook account Wednesday that he had been hacked, and for people to not accept friend requests from him.
Daigle is currently suspended with pay while the removal process for how he handled funding for Summerfest is pending.
“Under State law, the Town must provide Mr. Daigle the opportunity to respond to the issues raised in the Preliminary Resolution,” Deschaine said in a statement to the Bangor Daily News after the meeting. “Once Mr. Daigle is given a copy of the Preliminary Resolution, he will have 20 days to respond. Until that time, the Town will not be issuing further comment on the situation.”
Daigle was the primary project manager for Summerfest, an event that promised to not use tax dollars and to be completely funded via ticket sales and private donations. But at a meeting just 10 days before the event, the town had just $48,201 in confirmed revenue and the event’s price tag was $89,025.
This caused concern among board members as well as the town’s finance department. If not enough money is raised from the event, the town will need to hold a special meeting to ask taxpayers to fund the remainder.
As of Thursday morning, the town’s economic development director said final tallies for money raised from the festival are not yet available.
The town’s resolution also cited a May job performance review with the manager in which the board “expressed significant concerns with the manager’s performance.”
The first item was discussed in a private, executive session and involved consulting with legal counsel about an employment matter. The board skipped the second executive session, which involved directly discussing a public official’s employment, as Daigle was not present during the meeting.
The third item, which was held publicly, involved the board reading the resolution to begin the termination process.
Daigle was hired as town manager in June of 2024, serving Madawaska for just over two years. The town’s three-year agreement with Daigle included a starting salary of $97,500 per year. Daigle served as the town manager of St. Agatha from 1989 to 1998, spent 22 years as director of financial aid for York County Community College in Wells, and most recently worked as the operation manager for Autotronics LLC in Frenchville.