Milton Town Admin Thibodeau will be leaving job soon

Heather Thibodeau (Courtesy photo)

MILTON - Milton's Town Administrator told The Rochester Voice on Wednesday she has given her notice and expects to be leaving the position she has held almost two and a half years soon.

Heather Thibodeau said she had enjoyed working with selectmen, the various boards and volunteers but was making the switch to a new position for professional reasons,

She declined to say what position she was taking or where the job is located.

She confirmed the current Board of Selectmen is working out a transitional plan and that they have asked her to work through next month's deliberative session. Thibodeau said she would work with selectmen as best she can.

She said her final day is still unclear.

"They are hiring an interim town administrator, but they have asked me to be here for deliberative session," she said.

She said selectmen will be hiring an agency to handle the search for a new permanent town administrator, and contract with a temp agency for any interim services as needed.

Thibodeau, of Newmarket, was hired in June 2016 from a large pool of candidates, with the two most controversial applicants being former interim town administrator Jeremy Bourgeois, who was fired in May 2016; and then Selectmen Chairman Tom Gray.

The abrupt firing of Bourgeois and the pursuit by Gray for the permanent position stoked controversy in the town that was not calmed until Thibodeau's hiring.

Thibodeau, who always shunned the limelight, was thrust back into it again in the fall of 2017 when former selectmen Mike Beaulieu criticized her job performance during an open meeting.

The brouhaha began at a Nov. 2, 2017, workshop during which Beaulieu said he wanted to change his vote on the town administrator budget from "yea" to "nay" because he was "not comfortable paying $70,000 a year to someone who hasn't really put in a full week's work since she started."

Selectmen's comments that can injure the reputation of town employees and/or private citizens are mandated to be only taken up in executive session per state statute.

Thibodeau later told The Rochester Voice she had no inkling that such a condemnation was coming from Beaulieu, and that she was surprised, shocked and saddened by his comments.

Beaulieu resigned about two weeks later under pressure from fellow selectmen.

None of Milton's selectmen were immediately available for comment regarding Thibodeau's departure.