Dover-Foxcroft town manager candidate withdraws

DOVER-FOXCROFT — The Dover-Foxcroft town manager search will continue after a candidate for the position withdrew her candidacy following a 3-3 vote by the select board on the appointment last week.

Lois Jones, a resident of Dover-Foxcroft who has been town manager in Bradford, Sangerville and more recently in Corinna, has withdrawn her candidacy during a special select meeting on Monday, Select Board Chair Tom Lizotte announced. The board had been scheduled to consider the town manager appointment that evening.

Jones withdrew her candidacy “due to the uncertainty and confusion resulting from the stalemated vote at March 26’s board meeting,” Lizotte said. “She feels that the lack of a strong support from the select board puts any candidate in an untenable position and I agree totally with her assessment.”

On March 26, at a meeting that was pushed back two days due to inclement weather, a motion to appoint Jones as town manager ended in a 3-3 tie. Select Vice Chair Steve Grammont was not present to break the tie, being out of state for work, but the board still had a quorum.

Emery Cox, Cindy Freeman Cyr and Lizotte voted in favor of the appointment and Jane Conroy, Tracy Redmond and Joel Vail voted against..

“This action is in no way a reflection of her qualifications for this position,” Lizotte said. “Lois Jones conducted herself with professionalism and maturity throughout the hiring process. I respect her decision and regret how this process played out.”

He said at the end of the meeting the board would go into executive session to discuss next steps in the town manager search process.

The board held an emergency meeting on March 27, the day after the 3-3 tie.

At that session, with six board members present in person and Grammond attending via Zoom, Lizotte said the previous night’s item “failed to either be defeated or be passed because we were down one member and it ended up a 3-3 stalemate so that means we have to reschedule the consideration of that vote at another time.”

The original intention was to vote on Jones’ appointment March 27 but a couple of board members expressed unease doing so so close to the previous meeting, Lizotte said. He said that Jones understood and the board moved the vote to March 31 for transparency, with the meeting posted with several days’ notice. The 3-3 vote was set to be formally rescinded in favor of a new motion and vote on the appointment.

“We’re not aware of any existing problems with this individual, she has sterling references,” Lizotte said on March 27.

Dover-Foxcroft contracted with the Maine Municipal Association to help with the town manager search process. An association consultant reviewed what the town is looking for and conducted initial interviews to find candidates for the select board to interview.

A contract was negotiated with Jones and signed by her with April 14 as the start date. She would have had a $100,000 salary plus benefits, which would have increased to $104,000 after a six-month probationary period. The employee agreement was for three years with several out clauses included for Jones and the town.

“The fact that three board members voted not to move ahead with the appointment last night is not indicative that all three of those members are against this candidate,” Lizotte said. “It was more of a procedural question that they wanted to look at some other issues about what the to-do list would be for this individual coming for the first six months.”

Redmond cited procedures in explaining his vote. “I felt like we were putting a cart before the horse so I would like to have that piece in place so that’s clear when she starts day one,” he said.

Vail said it is a challenge to find people to work in municipalities and the board wants the next town manager to have success, which would be done with the assistance of defined guidelines. 

“That is why two of us said no, because we haven’t had time to get that document done yet,” he said.  

Conroy repeated a prepared statement she made the night prior, which said she believes “the select board needs to continue its work and look further for a better fit considering the size of our town and the upcoming needs for Dover-Foxcroft.”

The town manager is the only position directly hired by the select board, Lizotte said.

“We have spent the last five months on the search process looking at multiple candidates,” he said. “We feel very comfortable that Lois Jones is the best we found, we’re not taking someone just to fill an empty chair.”

Interim Town Manager Alsina Brenenstuhl is currently leading Dover-Foxcroft.. She was appointed as interim town manager in late January following the departure of Jack Clukey after he had been town manager for two decades. Last summer, Brenenstuhl was hired to fill the then newly created communications director/project manager position.