Cape Elizabeth Town Manager Mike McGovern has pulled himself from police contract negotiations, and said the police union should consider replacing its representatives as well.

“It’s important to have fresh faces,” McGovern said, “on one if not both sides.”

Cape Elizabeth Detective Paul Fenton, a member of the police union negotiation team, doesn’t think new representation is necessary on his side.

“We can continue to negotiate in good faith; if he feels that he can’t do that, it’s big of him to step down,” said Fenton.

Fenton said he hasn’t spoken with McGovern and only heard “via the grapevine” of McGovern’s decision to pull out of negotiations. “I’m still unsure of why he’s stepping down,” said Fenton.

McGovern declined to discuss his reasons beyond saying “The process is not served with the same faces at the table.”

The debate over retirement benefits of officers in the new contract became heated in the past month, following failed mediation sessions in September. Union officials expected to wrap up negotiations after what they felt was a successful mediation process.

Police Union President Mark Dorval was not surprised that Mcgovern pulled himself from negotiations.

“I don’t think he’s been doing a good job,” said Dorval, who felt McGovern should have been advocating for the union.

The union wants to buy back into the Maine State Retirement System, with a 25-year, two-thirds pay package.

McGovern has said the cost to buy back into the Maine State Retirement System is nearly $750,000. The town still has an account with the Maine State Retirement System with a roughly a $600,000 surplus. The union argues this surplus could be used to defray the initial investment, but McGovern has said that the maintains that the surplus doesn’t really exist.

The town has hired a lawyer who will take McGovern’s place. Though McGovern won’t be sitting at the table, he said he plans to remain a part of the process.

Union officials are angered at what they feel is the town wasting money on mediation and lawyers, rather than agreeing to the union’s request to enter the Maine State Retirement system.

“He’s wasting money-tax dollars,” said Dorval, adding that many communities are moving back toward the state retirement system. “They ignore that-blatantly.”

Of eight neighboring towns comparable to Cape Elizabeth, five currently offer some from of the Maine State Retirement System.

Fenton said McGovern and the town point to trends only when it benefits them. “They’ll compare us to other communities when they’re taking away,” said Fenton of the recent decrease in health insurance coverage for non-union employees.

McGovern said that the decrease in coverage from 100 percent to 90 percent does not affect the police union.

McGovern said he’s looking at national trends, which are turning away from defined benefits plans and toward defined contribution plans such as 401k accounts.

The Maine State Retirement System is a defined benefit plan, which means that a program participant would receive a certain amount of benefits regardless of the economy. With defined contribution plans, like the ICMA, the investment risk is absorbed by the employee rather than the town.