SKOWHEGAN — Selectmen on Tuesday night directed Town Manager Christine Almand to research and write a townwide policy for their review on the hiring of family members to work in town government, a policy that could have a direct effect on her.

The need for a nepotism policy arises at a time when the Fire Department is hiring an additional full-time firefighter and Almand’s husband, Joseph Almand, a call firefighter who works in construction, is interested in applying for the position.

While selectmen agreed that it would be unfair for someone to be excluded from advancement because of a relationship with an employee or department head, there are pitfalls to consider. Labor negotiations for wages and benefits involve the town manager, and if Almand had to recuse herself from the bargaining table because of her husband’s job, then the town would “lose you as someone we need in that position,” Selectwoman Darla Pickett said.

Board Chairman Don Skillings pointed out that “we’re already doing that now” with Pickett’s daughter, Trisha Austin, being the town’s finance and human resource director.

Pickett said she would “step back” or be skipped over if any issue arose involving her daughter’s office, as could be done at any level of town government and employment.

That’s why a nepotism policy is needed, Selectman Paul York said, because of the public perception of favoritism.

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“We don’t want the public to think we’re doing something shady,” York said. “If it’s out there and we’re up front with it, I think we’re good.”

Skillings agreed, noting that the idea behind such a policy would be to avoid any potential of a conflict of interest.

“I do get it — I understand,” Skillings said. “I do think in a small community we are confronted with these things. I definitely agree that Christine would have to step out of those (labor) negotiations and we’re losing the person that runs the town to do that. It definitely is difficult.”

The town of Skowhegan does not have a nepotism policy.

Almand had written in a letter to the selectmen that she previously had been opposed to her husband applying for a full-time position with the town because of “potential conflicts of interest and public perception issues.”

“However, with my husband’s efforts to become a better firefighter and with his passion for the service, I have had to reconsider my stance on the matter,” she wrote. It was that memo that spurred the nepotism policy discussion.

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Almand said other towns in Maine have nepotism policies that do not allow full-time employment by someone in the same department in which he or she would be directly supervised by a member of the family. That would not be the case at the Fire Department, she said.

Fire Chief Shawn Howard would be Joseph Almand’s direct supervisor and there are two fire captains to whom the new firefighter would report.

Christine Almand said the hiring process would be impartial, with a written examination, a physical agility test and an oral board, or interviews with chiefs and staff from other departments, none of which would include her input.

Howard told selectmen that in the case of hiring a firefighter, the applicant is just a number during the screening process, not a name, and the applicants would be assessed on their merits, not their connections to town government.

Doug Harlow — 612-2367

dharlow@centralmaine.com

Twitter:@Doug_Harlow


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