Hartland officials abruptly fire town manager

HARTLAND – Hartland officials held an unpublicized, unannounced selectmen’s meeting Tuesday morning and terminated 32-year-veteran Town Manager Peggy Morgan.

Just an hour before she was “fired on the spot,” Morgan had told the Bangor Daily News that she would be heading back to work Monday after being out for about 21/2 months to be treated for an undisclosed cancer. She also had praised the support selectmen showed her during her medical leave.

After the meeting, however, Morgan said, “My heart is just beating. It’s just unbelievable to me, but they blame me for everything.”

Morgan said she had told the selectmen she was coming into the town office with a note from her physicians allowing her to return to work.

“They obviously were all prepared,” she said, and all three met her at the town office. “They said ‘You’re to blame for everything wrong here. We’ll not bring you back.’ I was never so shocked in my life.”

Neither First Selectman Harry Gould nor Second Selectman Greg Tasker returned telephone calls for information Tuesday. A formal request by the Bangor Daily News for a written explanation of Morgan’s termination, as required by state law, has not been acted upon yet.

Interim Town Manager Susan Frost confirmed Tuesday that the meeting, attended by all three selectmen, was not posted or made public, as required by state law. According to Maine’s Right To Know Law, the board could have entered executive session with Morgan to discuss her termination, but the actual board vote to fire her and their reasons for doing so must be made in a public session.

“I’m going to fight this,” Morgan vowed, adding that she would be contacting the Maine Department of Labor.

Blaming Morgan for Hartland’s current financial woes was a complete turnaround by selectmen. Hartland is being sued by SAD 48 for more than $400,000 in overdue school payments.

At past meetings the selectmen have publicly supported the manager and said that, if anything, she was too compassionate and had not raised enough taxes to cover expenses, not wanting to burden Hartland residents. First Selectman Harry Gould, in recent interviews with the Bangor Daily News, said the town’s cash flow was strong and that the only bills unable to be paid were the school payments.

Over the past two weeks, the town unsuccessfully attempted to secure two $200,000 loans to pay off SAD 48. Gould said officials now were attempting to enter into a payment arrangement with the school district.

Just three weeks ago, Gould told residents at a well-attended selectmen’s meeting that Morgan was not guilty of any wrongdoing or mismanagement.

If anything, he said, Morgan was too compassionate. Gould said that Morgan did not want to raise taxes too high and may have misjudged the town’s financial needs.

“We have the money for everything else, just not for the school,” he said. “If we were current with the school right now, we would not have to borrow any money.”

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