WATERVILLE — At least two city councilors said Monday that they will vote against a proposal to create a part-time code enforcement officer/city planner position, a move that City Planner Ann Beverage fears could put her out of a job.

The council Tuesday will consider a proposal by City Manager Michael Roy to change Beverage’s job description to allow for creating the new position.

Most members of the seven-member council contacted Monday said they aren’t sure how they’ll vote on the proposal Tuesday , but Councilors Nathaniel White, D-Ward 2, and Karen Rancourt-Thomas, D-Ward 7, both said Monday they will not vote to change her job description.

Roy cut Beverage’s work week from 40 to 20 hours starting Jan. 1, eliminating her health benefits.

Beverage, 62, has been city planner more than 26 years and says she enjoys her job and has no plans to retire.

Roy said last month that Beverage’s job does not require 40 hours of work, and since she’s in her early 60s, he is trying to plan ahead for when she will retire. Beverage would train the person in the new job to learn her duties, he said.

But Beverage said Monday she thinks Roy will eliminate her job with the new hybrid job. She said if the position of city planner/code enforcement officer is created, it will leave her with no job description.

“That’s his intention — the question is, will the council let him do it,” Beverage said.

She said she has received a lot of email, messages, phone calls and visits from people who support her since the story broke last month.

“It’s been wonderful — I’ve really appreciated it,” she said.

COMMITTEE MEETS

On Monday afternoon, a finance subcommittee of the City Council met to discuss the proposal and other financial matters, but Roy initially said the meeting was not public.

Roy said because it was a subcommittee meeting, it wasn’t subject to the state’s open meeting law.

The Morning Sentinel objected, citing state law regarding open meetings, which determines any “board, commission, agency or authority of any county, municipality, school district or any regional or other political or administrative subdivision” is subject to the law.

The subcommittee met privately for 13 minutes to discuss the objection before announcing that a reporter could attend.

At the meeting, Council Chairman Fred Stubbert, D-Ward 1, said he did not like the idea of creating the part-time code enforcement officer/city planner position and recommended the city hire a second full-time code enforcement officer. Also attending the meeting were Mayor Nick Isgro and the city’s finance director, Chuck Calkins.

Roy said recently that Code Enforcement Officer Garth Collins has more work than one person can handle and while that office costs about $100,000 a year to operate, the revenue from the office last fiscal year was $275,000. The city had the equivalent of 2.5 people in that office at one time, but that was cut to one person in 2004, he said.

Roy, who has authority under the city charter to hire and fire employees, reduced Beverage’s hours by half before getting approval from the council, which must approve a change in the job description.

Roy and Calkins said at Monday’s meeting that the person in the new position would earn $40,000 a year. Stubbert questioned whether the city could find a qualified person for that pay.

Stubbert said after the meeting that he is not sure how he will vote Tuesday night on Roy’s proposal.

Councilor John O’Donnell, D-Ward 5, who also is a member of the subcommittee, said he supports the plan and thinks Roy has the best view of how the city works.

“Financially, it just seems to make sense at this point,” O’Donnell said. “He’s told us planning can be done without a 40-hour position, and Garth certainly needs help and he can train somebody for his position. He’s told us he is not going to do it forever. I support Mike’s position. It’s a tough thing. Hard decisions have to be made during tough times.”

Councilor Sydney Mayhew, R-Ward 4, also a subcommittee member, said he did not know how he would vote Tuesday but was leaning toward supporting Roy’s position.

PLAN OBJECTIONS

Contacted after the meeting, White said another code enforcement officer is needed in the city, but was adamant that Beverage’s hours should not have been cut.

“I’m opposed to reducing an employee from full time to part time after 26 years,” White said. “If this is a question of, does she have enough work to do, we should have known this years ago. She’s been with us 26 years. This is something that should have been planned out years ago, not just all of a sudden.”

White said a lot of his constituents in Ward 2 asked him if this was a way to “push her out before retirement.”

“They’re concerned,” he said. “If it’s a question of her ability, she’s been working for us for 26 years, and we haven’t heard anything about Ann Beverage so we know she’s doing her work. I just don’t see enough information to justify getting rid of her position, but do I agree we need another code enforcement officer in the city of Waterville? Absolutely.”

White, a former Planning Board member, said he believes Beverage has the skills to work on grant writing, economic development and other city issues to make up for 40 hours if her current job does not require 40 hours a week.

Rancourt-Thomas said the whole proposal “just doesn’t feel right,” and she’s voting against it.

“I don’t like how it was presented to the council,” she said. “I think it was just put out there — so, you’re changing this, and why?”

Rancourt-Thomas said Collins has several times said publicly that he plans to retire in a year or two, but she has never heard Beverage say she wants to retire.

“I just don’t like the feel of it,” she said.”It just doesn’t feel right. There’s just something about this that I think there needs to be more discussion.

“Just to vote on something to pass it through — I don’t think it’d be frugal for us. My own opinion is that I think once Ann has this person trained, I think her job will be eliminated and that’s what I don’t really like.”

Councilor Dana Bushee, D-Ward 6, was not ready to say how she will vote Tuesday night.

“I think this is an important enough matter for us to take our time to discuss and make sure that Ann Beverage has a voice,” Bushee said when contacted Monday. “I think as a city manager, there are definitely some decisions that he’s going to make that we may not technically agree with, but I think we also have to make sure that Ann Beverage’s voice is also heard. I don’t think there’s anybody that will disagree we need more code enforcement, but I’m not sure if this is the way to do it.”

Councilor Rosemary Winslow, D-Ward 3, said Monday she is not sure how she will vote.

“I think there are still a lot of questions,” Winslow said. “I want to see how this weighs out and how other people are looking at this. I understand what needs to be done, but it’s a tough one at this point in time, so I’m not sure.”

Amy Calder — 861-9247

acalder@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @AmyCalder17

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