Knox County commissioners move to fire administrator

The Knox County Commission voted 2-0 Friday to start the process of firing County Administrator Richard “Lance” Govang for what it described as an “unnecessarily harsh and heavy-handed management style.”

Govang is just a few months into the job. He was appointed in May after previously living in Boothbay and holding various other types of jobs.

Commissioners made the decision during a special meeting on Friday afternoon, with Ed Glaser and Richard Parent voting to begin the removal process.

A third commissioner, Sharyn Pohlman, was absent from the meeting. Govang recently said that Pohlman has led the effort to remove him from his role, according to The Courier-Gazette . The commission has not confirmed or denied this.

However, three area fire chiefs — Chris Whytock from Rockland, Steven Hallett from Owls Head and his assistant chief, Jeff Benner — spoke in favor of keeping Govang in office during the meeting on Friday afternoon. In Whytock’s remarks, he referred to a recent six-month period in which the county had to outsource its 911 answering service because of staffing shortages.

“I’m troubled in the thought of what this could look like if he’s let go; you won’t get anybody of any quality back in here to fill that position,” Whytock said. “My concern based around the dispatch center, if that starts to go south again, we’re going to be right back to where we were.”

Glaser said the firing process could take some time. The commission has 10 days to hand-deliver the resolution to Govang. Govang will then have 20 days to respond and request a public hearing, followed by more time for that to take place.

The commission can stop the process at any time, Glaser said. The resolution states that if Govang requests a public hearing, the commission will provide him with a “statement of specific incidents and events” that led to its decision to remove him. The resolution says Govang will be afforded a “full and fair opportunity” to respond to the allegations.

The reason for removal, outlined in the resolution, is Govang’s management style.

“The cause for removal is what the Commission believes to be an unnecessarily harsh and heavy-handed management style which was and is negatively impacting County employees, and a demonstrated refusal to accept suggestions and recommendations to correct these behaviors,” the resolution reads.

At the meeting, Glaser said he can’t comment on the specific incidents that led to the decision because they’re part of a personnel matter.

“It involves an employee, and they deserve a certain amount of privacy and respect,” Glaser said.

For now, Govang is on suspension, Glaser said. Govang was not in the office on Friday. A message sent to his email address returned an automatic response that he was away without access to the account.

Govang has said that Pohlman previously spoke with him about his decision to place a county department head on a professional improvement plan, as well as discomfort that an employee reported with his leadership style, according to The Courier-Gazette.

Correction: A previous version of this report did not correctly attribute statements about Commissioner Sharyn Pohlman’s role in the removal of Richard Govang from the administrator role. Govang himself provided those statements to The Courier-Gazette; the Knox County Commission did not confirm or deny them.