BUCKFIELD — Selectmen accepted, with regrets, the resignation of Town Manager Dana Lee at their meeting Tuesday night and voted to hire Town Clerk Cindy Dunn as interim town manager.
Board Chairman Warren Wright said Lee advised that a part-time town manager would suffice.
Lee has been named the first town manager for Eliot in York County.
The board voted to release him from his contractual 30-day notice so he could leave Jan. 31 to start in Eliot by Feb. 1.
Lee said he enjoyed his time in Buckfield, was glad that Public Works was functioning well and happy that the new fire station soon would be under construction.
In a discussion with the Budget Committee at Tuesday’s meeting, Wright said he wished to increase revenues by adding more fees at the Transfer Station. His suggestion did not get board support.
Selectman Martha Catevenis said she did not wish to see more fees for residents.
Budget Committee member Glen Holmes said he would like to see summaries of each department budget rather than the entire breakdown of expenditures.
Dunn said she could prepare the full budget figures for them and prepare summaries for the committee.
Catevenis said they need to provide more information at town meetings on what the money is spent on in the departments rather than just showing figures. “We need to tell the people why the money is needed,” she said.
A long discussion followed a memorandum from the Buckfield Withdrawal Committee asking to suspend its meetings until it had further direction from selectmen.
The committee was appointed last year and charged with providing the town with information on leaving the 12-town district.
The board did not agree to the request and asked the committee to do what voters asked them to do by gathering more information.
Homes reported that lawyers who had helped town with school withdrawal plans said it would take $40,000 to $60,000 to complete the process and the Buckfield committee had asked the town for only $20,000.
Selectman Cheryl Coffman said that an advertisement for more school withdrawal consultants produced none.
Catevenis said the committee had to do more work.
The board did not vote to put the question on the annual town meeting warrant.
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