Eastport police chief fired from position

After less than a year on the job, Eastport Police Chief Michael Donahe was fired by City Manager Ross Argir on April 23 -- the city's second firing of a police chief in just a year and a half. Officer Peter Harris has been appointed interim chief, and a search for a new police chief will begin immediately. The city manager declines to make any further comment on the firing.
Donahe also has no comment on his termination or whether he will proceed with any legal action. "I'm not sure what I will do yet," he says. The firing occurred the day he and his family returned to Eastport from a vacation in Mexico. Donahe had previously served as an officer on the Eastport and the Pleasant Point police departments and also as a corrections officer for the Cumberland County Sheriff's Department.
According to Argir, Donahe does not have the right to a hearing before the city council, since he was still under a one-year probationary contract, having been hired in May 2018 by the former city manager, Elaine Abbott. The city council had voted 3-1 to approve the hiring of Donahe from a pool of three applicants, which included two former Eastport police chiefs, Matt Vinson and John Preston. Under the city charter, the police chief is appointed by the city manager with the consent of the city council.
Donahe had replaced Dale Earle, who had been fired by Abbott in October 2017. Earle had requested a hearing before the city council, and following a four-and-a-half hour, contentious hearing, the council voted to uphold the firing. Officer Mark Emery then served as acting chief until Donahe was hired.
Earle served as chief for two years, having replaced Frances LaCoute, who had resigned in September 2015. Since Matt Vinson resigned in March 2011, the city has had seven police chiefs in eight years.
According to Argir, any interested candidates in the police department will be considered first for the position of chief, but if no suitable and willing candidate is found from within the department an external search will be conducted.
Argir states, "The city has full confidence that the police department will continue to provide excellent service to the community during this transition."