David Daigle, the embattled town manager of Madawaska, resigned Thursday night, ending his monthlong suspension over the financial mismanagement of a music festival that overran its budget.
Daigle’s resignation came during an evening Select Board meeting. The meeting’s sole agenda item was an executive session for personnel matters, which was anticipated to be used to schedule a public hearing that would allow testimony regarding Daigle’s suspension as the board moved to fire him with cause.
Daigle had requested the hearing last week — as is his right under Maine municipal law, which requires a strict process for a manager to be fired. That hearing will no longer be held.
“Dave tendered his resignation last night and the Board has accepted it,” Select Board Chair Renee Deschaine said. “The town is looking forward to the future.”
Deschaine said the board and Daigle had reached an agreement, the terms of which she declined to discuss. The Bangor Daily News has filed a Freedom of Access Act request to obtain the agreement.
Daigle had been on paid leave since Sept. 3. The Select Board has cited his handling of a music festival in late August as the reason for his removal.
The former town manager was one of two lead organizers for Northern Maine Summerfest, a single-day festival that brought a handful of relatively unknown artists to perform on the shores of Long Lake.
The festival ran $15,000 over budget and generated significantly less revenue than expected, leaving the town short more than $41,000 that the Select Board opted to cover using funding from an economic development reserve account.
The move avoided taking money from the town’s undesignated fund, which would have required calling a special town meeting for the public to vote.
“There was a number, and it was exceeded, and that’s a problem,” Deschaine said during a Sept. 15 meeting.
Daigle also faced a separate controversy from allegations that he used his Facebook account to send unwanted sexually explicit messages and video clips to people, though Deschaine has said the board’s decision was not related to that.
The Select Board hired retired former town manager Dan Foster to serve as the town’s manager as the board searches for a permanent replacement. Foster spent 15 years at the helm of Fort Fairfield and worked as Madawaska’s interim manager for several months before the town hired Daigle in 2024.
