DOVER-FOXCROFT, Maine — Piscataquis County Manager Marilyn Tourtelotte and the county commissioners reached an agreement last week to terminate her employment, effective 4 p.m. Oct. 15.
The surprise announcement came after a short executive session with Tourtelotte, the county commissioners and attorney Erik Stumpfel.
The vote was 2-1 with Chairman James Annis and Commissioner Eric Ward in favor and Commissioner Fred Trask opposed. Trask declined to comment on the reason for his opposition.
The agreement includes a severance package of six months salary and “all health insurance, life insurance, other insurance benefits and retirement benefits” for the same period of time.
Tourtelotte’s annual salary, according to the most-recent payroll warrant, was $67,184, and her employment contract was scheduled to expire on Dec. 31. An estimate of her insurance benefits was not readily available, but sources in county government estimate that the entire package could be worth as much as $50,000.
Tourtelotte also agreed not to file any claims against the county “in connection with her employment or termination of employment.”
In a letter of recommendation for Tourtelotte, commissioners listed her accomplishments during the past five-and-a-half years, including overseeing the $5 million expansion of the county courthouse, reducing the unorganized territory summer roads budget by $155,000 per year, reducing the unorganized territory winter road maintenance cost by $20,000 annually and dropping the solid waste outlay in the unorganized territory by $131,000 per year.
She was described as “conscientious, organized and a hard worker who has proved to be an asset to Piscataquis County during her tenure.”
Tourtelotte, who lives in Willimantic, was hired as county manager in 2009.
She had previously worked for the Chewonki Foundation in Wiscasset, International Paper Company, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife as a game warden and as manager of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway.
Tourtelotte also served as a commissioner of Maine’s Land Use Regulation Commission from 1994-99 and as chairwoman for three years. She was on the Willimantic Board of Selectmen and planning board for a while.
The Piscataquis County Commissioners appointed Thomas Lizotte as interim county manager after an executive session Tuesday morning.
Lizotte served as county commissioner from 2003-12 after six years on the Dover-Foxcroft Board of Selectmen. Until recently, he was the vice-president of marketing and community relations for Mayo Regional Hospital.
Lizotte spent more than 20 years with the Central Maine Morning Sentinel as a sports and news editor before moving to his wife’s hometown of Dover-Foxcroft in the 1990s. He was editor of the Piscataquis Observer and the Moosehead Messenger before accepting the position at Mayo Regional.
Lizotte will stay on the job “for the next couple of months until we get through the budget process,” said James Annis, chairman of the Piscataquis County Commissioners.