By Nicholas Brown
Staff Writer

In the past few weeks, the town of Weare has lost five town employees, including, most recently, Town Administrator Robert Christensen.

The board of selectmen announced Christensen's resignation . effective June 30 - at its Monday, June 20, meeting.

Christensen's departure comes in the wake of the board's June 1 firing of the town's finance administrator, Elayne Pearson.

Also recently departed are three employees of the public works. Transfer Station Manager Dennis LeBlanc and Transfer Station Attendant Fred Johnson were both released in late May. Mike Potvin, a truck driver in the highway department, resigned.

At the Monday meeting, selectmen seemed uneasy with sudden personnel losses.

"I don't want to run on panic," said Chairman Laura Buono. "It's not really a good feeling sitting in this seat and not knowing what's going to be coming up tomorrow."

The board agreed to find short-term solutions to the understaffing to allow due diligence in filling the open positions, especially the key roles of town administrator and finance administrator. Several board members agreed a review of the specific job functions of the two positions is necessary.

"I think it's an opportunity for us to look outside the box a little bit," said board member Heleen Kurk.

In the meantime, many of the town administrator's duties will be shared by two town employees: Land Use Coordinator Naomi Bolton and Police Chief Gregory Begin.

Begin, at the meeting, offered to assume some of Christensen's responsibilities, though he said he would still be in charge of the police department, adding that Deputy Chief William Quigley would take on extra responsibilities. Begin praised Quigley's interim leadership of the department after the removal of former chief Myles Rigney.

Bolton, a town employee for the last 10 years, said she has begun "shadowing" Christensen.

Board member Leon G. Methot suggested the board establish a citizens. committee of three people to review applications for the town administrator job, and eventually present a pared-down list of applicants to the board.

Methot added he has already spoken to one interested citizen, and that he had others in mind. He said the committee would also work to define the new town administrator's job responsibilities.

The board also discussed finding an interim administrator, perhaps someone recently retired.

Buono drew some laughs when she suggested finding a retired municipal attorney who needed a "summer job."

The town administrator job has not yet been posted.

The absence of a finance administrator also caused the board some consternation, especially considering the due date for tax bills and that town employees. summer vacations are fast approaching.

Buono said the town has neared a contract with Mason & Rich, an independent auditing firm, to review the town's current finances. She said the review is in lieu of Pearson's removal, in order to get a "clean point" from which a new finance administrator can begin.

Methot said the contracting of an independent auditing firm is typical for towns replacing finance employees, and said there's no reason to suspect the town's finances are not in order.

The board discussed outsourcing payroll and accounts payable duties, though Methot and Christensen both expressed concern that finding a company to perform both duties on a shortterm basis would be difficult.

"We need to find out how we're going to make this work," said Buono.

Also discussed was the possibility of hiring a part-time, temporary office employee to lighten the load of current town hall employees who have already taken on additional duties.

"I don't want to see, at the end of the day, that everybody's burned out," said Kurk.

Carl Knapp, Weare's director of public works, said the situation at the town office resembles his own.

"We.ve been going through this same thing," he said to the board. "You make due and you cover the bases you have to cover."

Knapp said regular employees of the highway department have been substituting at the transfer station. He requested the board allow him to hire a part-time attendant for the transfer station, since the highway department is now falling behind.

With town employees temporarily taking positions normally filled by people making less money, Knapp suggested department heads scrutinize their spending.

Methot also mentioned fiscal responsibility.

There's the concern of "overlooking our taxpayers," he said, adding that the board is doing the best it can to survive the personnel changes.