RANGELEY – Voters will be asked Wednesday at a special town meeting if they will authorize the Board of Selectmen to appropriate and expend $145,000 from the town’s unreserved fund.
The purpose is to pay a lawsuit settlement, Town Manager Tim Kane said Monday.
The special town meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Nov. 28 at the Rangeley Lakes Regional School. Town attorney Steve Langsdorf will be at the meeting to answer questions.
The town has an estimated $1.5 million in its unreserved fund account, Treasurer Karen Olivieri said Monday.
Town officials, former Town Manager Perry Ellsworth and former public works foreman Everett Quimby are all prohibited from talking about the details of the agreement reached on Nov. 8 between the parties.
Quimby, who had worked for the town for 14 years prior to being fired in 2008, filed a lawsuit in 2010, claiming he was terminated without due process, in violation of town policy and in violation of the Maine Whistleblowers’ Protection Act and the Maine Human Rights Act.
The agreement calls for the town to pay Quimby $145,000 and Ellsworth to pay $30,000 before Dec. 3. The town’s portion was initially to come out of undesignated fund, but now, according to the town meeting warrant, is to come out of unreserved funds, if voters approve it.
The town and Ellsworth denied any liability to Quimby in the settlement, and the parties agreed that the settlement is a compromise of disputed claims.
dperry@sunjournal.com
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