Eastport renews city manager’s contract

At a special meeting held the evening of April 27, the Eastport City Council renewed City Manager Kathryn "Kate" Devonshire's contract for three years. It was the date of her review for a full year of work in the position. The April 27 discussion was held as an open meeting rather than as an executive session for employee review with the consent of Devonshire. The vote to renew her contract was a 3-2 vote in favor, with President William "Billy" Boone and councillor Floyd "Bub" Andrews opposed. Councillors Ross Lawrence, David Oja and Jeanne Peacock were in favor.
  During the review, all councillors noted the importance of Devonshire working on increasing her communication skills. The three councillors in favor of renewal all mentioned the city manager turnover rate during the last five years, with Lawrence saying that it would be "crazy" to not renew and have to hire a new one. Peacock and Oja said much the same.
  Andrews got straight to the point of his concern, noting that he had received an email from Devonshire stating that the police chief, who has been working on getting certified in Maine since he was hired a year ago, was certified and ready to go. Andrews explained that he called the Maine Criminal Justice Academy for confirmation and was told that the police chief had received a waiver that would allow him more time to get certified. The city manager "led me to believe he was qualified and ready to go -- that he could patrol." He added that he was concerned about having a city manager that had to be fact checked.
  Boone, as president, was last to speak. He, too, had issues with the lack of communication about the police chief's status as well as the hiring of personnel for city grounds keeping. Devonshire defended herself by saying that when it came to grounds keeper hiring she had been very careful with her word choice when speaking with the cemetery committee about the committee's hiring recommendation. "At the end of the day, the charter says that spouses, siblings can't be working for each other," she said. The restriction actually is in the city's personnel policy, not the charter. Boone noted that it had been clearly spelled out in a previous council meeting in a motion made by Lawrence that Devonshire would be the grounds keeping supervisor. After more discussion, Boone said that a manager should be a leader and "someone you can trust, someone you can work with." He added, "I'm sorry, Kate."
  Andrews made the unsuccessful motion to not renew Devonshire's contract. After a few false starts with wording, Lawrence made the successful motion to renew for three years. Her contract calls for 3% increases in salary each year. Her salary last year was set at $56,000, so this year it would be $57,680.