NORRIDGEWOCK — A petition asking the Board of Selectmen not to renew Town Manager Michelle Flewelling’s contract has gathered more than 100 signatures at two businesses in town, but Flewelling says it won’t affect her position.
The petition urges the board to “not renew the current town manager’s (Michelle Flewelling’s) contract and to give her notice that when her contract lapses she will no longer be working for the town of Norridgewock in any capacity.”
Flewelling, whose two-year contract is up in December, said Wednesday the petition “is just continuing drama, and it needs to stop because it’s not doing anybody any good.” That drama includes recent skirmishes between Flewelling and the town’s sewer commissioners, some of whom have clashed publicly with her.
She said there are some changes related to her contract that she plans to announce soon.
“After tomorrow, chances are that petition will never even go to the Board of Selectmen,” Flewelling said, declining to describe the pending changes.
Flewelling was first hired as town manager in 2008.
Selectwoman Sallie Wilder said she had heard of the petition but had not heard any complaints from residents.
“I think she’s the best town manager this town has ever had,” Wilder said. “I’m really happy we have her here. She’s very professional and has done a lot of good for the town.”
Chairman of the Board of Selectmen Ron Frederick could not be reached for comment Wednesday. Vice Chairman Matt Everett would not comment on the petition except to say that this is not the first time a petition has circulated about the town manager’s job.
“I think it was maybe four years ago,” he said. “It should be an interesting week.”
Flewelling said she first learned of the petition Sept. 21, two days after the Morning Sentinel ran a story about an audio recording she had made of a sewer commissioners’ meeting in which Vice Chairman Ron Currier attempted to hold an illegal executive session to discuss her performance.
“It’s just a statement,” Flewelling said of the petition. “It doesn’t mean anything. It doesn’t force a vote.”
About 55 signatures were on the petition Wednesday at York’s Market on Main Street. Store Manager Kelly Shields said “a citizen” had dropped the petition off a few weeks ago, but she wasn’t sure who it was.
At Triple D Redemption, an employee who did not want to give her name said the petition had been in the redemption center for about a week. She said she knew who had created it but would not give a name. She said she got the person — a man — on the phone Wednesday afternoon at a reporter’s request, but he declined to talk to the reporter or give his name.
There were 62 signatures on the petition at the redemption center, and the woman said she had another sheet with 15 names on it.
Flewelling said the petition is worded almost verbatim like a statement that was made in a recent executive session of the Board of Selectmen. She would not say who she thinks might have started the petition.
“It seems funny that it happened right after all of this stuff with the sewer commissioners. It just seems weird,” she said. “It doesn’t make any sense. And a petition with regards to someone’s employment in the community doesn’t do anything.”
In August, the vice chairman of the sewer commissioners, Ron Currier, made a motion to prohibit Flewelling from speaking during a meeting in which she attempted to advise the commissioners of penalties they could face related to potential malfunctions at the aging wastewater treatment plant.
Earlier this month, Currier also called for an illegal executive session to discuss Flewelling’s performance. When the motion for the executive session was not seconded, Currier and another commissioner, Bruce Obert, began discussing Flewelling’s performance anyway and claiming that she had an “attitude.”
The details of the meeting were revealed in a recording Flewelling had made on a personal audio recorder after the chairwoman of the sewer commissioners raised concerns about the accuracy of handwritten meeting minutes at sewer commissioners’ meetings.
Currier said Wednesday that he signed the petition, but that he did not start it and did not know who did. Obert declined to comment.
Flewelling said Wednesday neither the Board of Selectmen nor anyone else has complained to her in person about her job performance.
At a third store, Ainslie’s II, an employee said the petition was in the store earlier this week but was gone when she came in for her shift Wednesday.
The petition was not at Bridgeside Market, although an employee there said someone had come in recently looking to sign it, or at the Oosoola Country Market.
Employee Kaylee Wheeler said the store had not been approached about having the petition.
“I don’t have any issues with the town manager,” she said. “I wouldn’t want her job, though.”
Rachel Ohm — 612-2368
Twitter: @rachel_ohm
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