Harrison has seen a major shake-up in its town government following the resignation of Town Manager Cass Newell.
Newell’s resignation was announced at a Select Board meeting on Jan. 9, effective Feb. 4. Newell, who served as town manager for three years, worked in a hybrid situation due to a medical condition, leading to accusations from some residents that she wasn’t “really working” or responsive to the town’s needs. Select Board Vice Chair Philip Devlin felt that the main reason for Newell’s resignation was because of this criticism, primarily through social media, which ultimately wore her down over the long run.
Devlin said that he sees social media as an uncontrolled environment, where the conversation around Newell was unmoderated and impossible to react to. He noted that the people pushing for Newell’s resignation were a vocal minority, and most of the town had hoped that there was another way to resolve the issue. Nevertheless, Devlin said that most people were just hopeful that Newell no longer being in the picture could remedy some of the animosity.
In addition to Newell’s departure, the Select Board has seen some restructuring of its own, with two members, including Chair Matt Frank, resigning on Jan. 23. According to Devlin, Frank expressed hope that his resignation would help “reset” the town, changing the tone of the dialogue to make it more productive. Board member Colleen Densmore also resigned.
In the wake of the resignations, the three remaining members of the board – Devlin, Nathan Sessions and Debora Kane – have recently completed a workshop with the Greater Portland Council of Governance, where they agreed on some core principals that they hoped would frame the tone of the governance going forward in Harrison. These principles include transparency, accountability and responsiveness to the community.
Devlin expects the search for a permanent replacement for Newell to take up to five months, describing the marketplace for town managers as “tough,” with several other towns also looking to fill that position. Regarding the search, he said that the town is working with Portland-based law firm Eaton Peabody and taking its time to make sure that the process of finding a new town manager is as thorough as possible.
While the search for a permanent manager is ongoing, on Feb. 3, the Select Board voted unanimously for Bradley Plante, who had previously served as Harrison’s town manager from 2008 to 2010, to fill Newell’s position during the interim. The vote was followed a few hours later by a public meeting in which citizens were allowed to express their opinions on what qualities the town should look for in a future town manager.
Regarding the future of discourse within Harrison, Devlin said that he was beginning to see a sense that the community wants to come together and move forward. The Select Board has started to work with a community group that helps facilitate and approve communication between the board and the community, and Devlin was optimistic that this would change both the tone of the dialogue and the medium of discussion from social media to face-to-face dialogue with the board.
“We’ve had problems in the past,” said Devlin, “but I think we’re putting the pieces together to move forward in a good way.”
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