The town of Somerville is down the entirety of its town office staff, a road commissioner, and select board chair after four officials resigned concurrently during a meeting of the Somerville Select Board on Wednesday, Sept. 18.
Town officials blamed a “toxic” and “hostile” environment at the town office and within the community at large for two of the four resignations.
“We shouldn’t have to put in the job description that you have to be willing to accept people swearing at you, yelling at you, slamming doors, and calling you names when they don’t get their way,” Sandra Devaney said.
Devaney has worked for Somerville since 2020 and until Sept. 18 was serving as treasurer, tax collector, and grants/projects officer for the town. She announced her resignation from the tax collector and projects officer positions and gave two weeks’ notice for her role as treasurer on Sept. 18.
Somerville Town Clerk Samantha Peaslee also resigned on Sept. 18, announcing her departure was immediate via a letter read by board Chair Donald Witmer-Kean. Peaslee was not present at the Sept. 18 meeting.
In addition to serving as clerk, Peaslee served as general assistance officer, registrar of voters, deputy tax collector, and assistant treasurer, all of which are now vacant roles.
Witmer-Kean announced his resignation from the select board at the meeting, effective Oct. 13, attributing his decision to a change of employment. He has served on the Somerville Select Board since Aug. 1, 2022, and has held the role of chair since July 10 of this year.
The fourth resignation received by the select board on Sept. 18 came from Road Commissioner Nicholas Fortune, who said via letter that he was resigning immediately for medical reasons. Fortune has been unable to attend select board meetings for the past month due to illness.
“Due to a recent and unexpected health issue that has left me with ongoing complications and a lengthy recovery, I need to step back and focus on getting my health back in order,” Fortune said in the letter.
Fortune was appointed to fill the vacant position of road commissioner on Nov. 1, 2023. He was officially elected to the office at Somerville’s annual town meeting in June.
Witmer-Kean said the resignations of Peaslee and Devaney pointed to the effects of increasing division among townspeople.
“We have miserable people in town who are rude, condescending, and made a toxic environment for our staff,” he said. “Pure and simple, these people did their best. They put up with all kinds of unpleasantries: Yelling, cursing, et cetera. No one has a right to do that to other people. So, congratulations – you don’t have staff.”
Devaney said that the treatment of town office staff by townspeople had pushed out the current staff and alleged it had been done knowingly.
“Some of the people are in this room. They know who they are, and they don’t care,” she said. “They got exactly what they wanted … they have certain people that they want working in this office, and working on the board, and they will do everything in their power until they can have certain people doing the job and having people doing their bidding.”
An audience of about 17 residents responded emotionally to the announcements. Some expressed sympathy for Devaney, while others expressed dismay over the departures or asked her not to leave.
Devaney said she found it disheartening that action hadn’t been taken sooner.
“It breaks my heart,” she said. “You’ll wait until half the officials in town leave before you guys decide to work together.”
The departure of town staff raises a number of concerns about how the town will continue to operate, Witmer-Kean said, from not knowing who will administer general assistance benefits to creating uncertainty around who will oversee the general election on Nov. 5. There is also the daunting task of finding and hiring replacement staff.
Remaining town officials will work with the Maine Municipal Association and town attorney Mary Denison to determine what options are available to them immediately, Witmer-Kean said. Advertisements about the open positions will be posted online and in the newspaper, Devaney said.
Devaney plans to help in the interim, she said.
“I have offered, I can do all three roles, but it’s a lot to do,” she said. “I will do what I can to help out until the town finds people to do these positions.”
The select board seat will remain unfilled until an election can be held. The select board opted to schedule that election for Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, after extensive discussion over whether the nomination process should be accelerated.
Devaney said combining the election with the general election on Tuesday, Nov. 5 would save the town additional election costs totaling about $600. The town has used an accelerated election timeline in the past to fill select board seats after they became vacant, including in the election that saw Witmer-Kean elected to replace former select board member Jarad Greeley.
Greeley resigned on June 26, 2022, and was succeeded by Witmer-Kean just over one month later on Aug. 1, 2022. Witmer-Kean was the only candidate to return nomination papers for that special election.
Some residents and select board member Willard Pierpont said repeating the accelerated election timeline would not allow potential candidates enough time to return nomination papers or campaign.
Resident Roy Miller said following the typical election protocol, which requires 100 days’ notice, would avoid opening the town up to criticism.
“I think it’s probably simpler not to create another chance for conspiracy,” he said.
Until a new select board member is elected, the board will operate with two members. The pair must elect a new chair at their first meeting without Witmer-Kean. However, having only two members may make operations difficult, as a majority vote is needed for the board to take action, Devaney said.
Regarding the office of road commissioner, the select board can assume those responsibilities during the search for Fortune’s replacement, said select board member Don Chase. Pierpont said he had a few candidates in mind for a replacement.
The next meeting of the Somerville Select Board will be held at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 2, at the town office.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)