THETFORD — Serena Bemis-Goodall, Thetford’s first town manager, announced her resignation on Friday night, telling the Selectboard she was “set up deliberately to fail” and faced hostility since taking the position about five months ago.
Reading from a letter just before the Selectboard was scheduled to go into executive session, Bemis-Goodall said she knew the job would come with “many challenges.”
“I knew when I arrived to no office, no cellphone and no computer that this was going to be an interesting start, but the hostility that I have endured I did not see coming,” she said.
“My position as town manager was set up deliberately to fail, and I hope you have learned a hard lesson in setting up your next candidate,” Bemis-Goodall added.
The board went into executive session for less than 30 minutes before voting, 3-1, to accept the resignation. Chairman Nick Clark and members Mike Pomeroy and Li Shen voted in favor, while Doug Stone was opposed.
Bemis-Goodall briefly attended the executive session before leaving via a side door.
“I did not expect Serena’s resignation, but I recognize that transitioning to a new form of government was never going to be easy,” Clark said in an email after the meeting. “I believe that the Selectboard is committed to serving the best interests of the town and we will find a way forward.”
“Our first priority is to keep town government functioning. We have a town manager form of government with no town manager,” Clark added, saying the Selectboard’s next step will be to discuss the matter with its attorney and the Vermont League of Cities and Towns.
Her resignation comes a week after Stuart Rogers, the town’s longtime Selectboard chairman, resigned, accusing three of his colleagues of attempting to circumvent Vermont’s Open Meeting law and oust Bemis-Goodall.
The three Selectboard members — Clark, Pomeroy and Shen, the same three members who voted to accept the resignation Friday night — have asserted that they legally communicated via email to set a meeting to evaluate Bemis-Goodall.
Rogers said Friday night that he was not surprised by Bemis-Goodall’s announcement, adding that he’s lost “all confidence and trust” in the board.
“They’ve already had their decision; they’ve been meeting outside of (posted meetings),” he said via phone.
“I am saddened by it. I find it an embarrassment to the town,” Rogers added. “It gives the town a reputation. I fear it causes irreparable harm.”
Bemis-Goodall started working in Thetford in early August after serving as a town manager in Maine. Her salary was set at $72,500 a year but was slated to increase to $75,000 in early February, at the end of a six-month probationary period.
She asked the Selectboard on Friday to compensate her remaining vacation and paid time off, as well as three months’ salary, per her contract.
The Selectboard is next scheduled to meet at 7 p.m. Monday at Town Hall.