St. Albans officials take time on manager contract

ST. ALBANS – Negotiations are still under way with Larry Post regarding a new town manager’s contract.

Almost two months of closed-door negotiations have been held, but Post joked Thursday that “there is no screaming and yelling going on.”

Post said the delay is simply the Board of Selectmen taking their time with the process.

“This is their initial time working on such a contract,” Post said. “They are comparing my contract with other town managers’ and taking their time.”

Post’s contract, under which he had been working for 27 years, was not renewed last fall by the previous Board of Selectmen. They repeatedly refused to give reasons for their action, despite state law that requires the reasons for nonrenewals to be stated and publicly on file in writing.

Post filed an appeal of their decision in Somerset County Superior Court. He said the appeal would be dropped once he was rehired.

As of Thursday, a few signatures, including insurance company representatives, were still required to complete dropping the legal action, Post said.

The appeal was based on Post’s assertion that the former board violated due process when he was not rehired. By reinstating him, the town would avoid the lawsuit.

The new Board of Selectmen, comprising Perley Martin, Peter Denbow and Curt Lombard, took several weeks to investigate claims of misconduct by Post before they voted in March to reinstate him. During that time, the board found that no evaluations of Post’s job performance had ever been conducted by the previous board, and therefore due process had not been followed when Post was terminated.

Post has been working under the terms of his 2005 contract since late March when the newly elected selectmen reinstated him under the terms of that contract while a new contract was negotiated.