The Town of Dixfield and the Teamsters Union are engaged in a dispute over Dixfield’s treatment of long-time employee Darlene Brann, who served as an administrative assistant in Dixfield’s Public Works Department and the Shop Steward for the union. According to the Teamsters, Dixfield has spent over $29,000 in legal fees in an effort to eliminate Ms. Brann’s position. The Teamsters allege that Dixfield went so far as to negotiate with the Mexico Water District, behind the union’s back, to subcontract Ms. Brann’s duties to the Mexico Water District and on December 9 notified Ms. Brann that her employment with the Town of Dixfield would be terminated as of December 31.
The Dixfield Town Manager, Linda Pagels-Wentworth, has said that Maine law prohibits her from discussing the town’s pending negotiations with the Teamsters and, so, she refused to speak to the media about those ongoing negotiations. She did say, however, that removing Ms. Brann from her employment with the town “made fiscal sense” because it was “an opportunity for regionalization.