By Ryan Michaels | Editor-in-Chief, The Maine Mirror
September 3, 2026

BERWICK, Maine — Newly obtained public records from the Town of Berwick reveal that Maine Rep. Thomas Lavigne played a previously undisclosed role in Berwick Police Chief Timothy Towne’s reconsideration of whether to pursue a seat in the Maine House of Representatives while remaining police chief.

The records also expose unanswered questions about how the Berwick Select Board ultimately approved the dual-role arrangement—including how Towne’s municipal work hours, legislative obligations, compensation and absences from Berwick would actually be handled.

The documents trace a previously unseen sequence: Towne initially believed holding both positions was not viable. Lavigne then relayed information involving two Select Board members. Towne reconsidered what was possible, sought guidance from Town Manager Arthur Capello and developed a plan for performing both roles.

But the records also show that concerns existed about how Towne could actually perform both jobs—and leave unanswered how those concerns were resolved before the Board ultimately approved the arrangement.

“A Recent Conversation With Representative Thomas Lavigne”

On April 15, Towne sent Capello a memorandum titled “Clarification on State Representative Candidacy and Continuity of Service.”

Towne wrote that he was revisiting previous discussions about running for the Maine House.

According to Towne, his initial decision not to seek office was based on his understanding that the Select Board was not receptive to him holding both positions.

Then something changed.

Towne wrote:

“However, a recent conversation with Representative Thomas Lavigne has introduced some conflicting information.”

Towne said Lavigne reported that, during a recent social encounter, two Select Board members had expressed potential support for Towne’s candidacy.

According to Towne, Lavigne also relayed that the Board had not yet seen a formal plan explaining how Towne would manage the responsibilities of both roles.

( April 15, 2026 memorandum from Berwick Police Chief Timothy Towne to Town Manager Arthur Capello. Towne says a recent conversation with Rep. Thomas Lavigne introduced “conflicting information” and reports that two Select Board members had expressed potential support for his candidacy.)

Towne told Capello the new information left him “at a crossroads.”

He wrote that he would strongly consider running—with the intent to win—if he could do so while remaining Berwick’s police chief.

Another record produced by the Town provides an even more direct description of the effect that information had on Towne’s thinking.

“After Tom’s Interaction It Appears That I Possibly Could”

In an April 15 email exchange, Capello asked Towne whether he was now planning to run.

Capello wrote that he had been under the impression Towne’s name was only a “placeholder.”

Towne responded:

“Nothing has changed. The problem is that I’ve told them that I was only able to help as a placeholder and after Toms interaction it appears that I possibly could.”

Towne continued:

“So, I have people asking me which is it? I can or I can’t.”

(April 15, 2026 email exchange between Towne and Capello. After Capello asks whether Towne has changed his plans to run, Towne writes that he had told people he was only a “placeholder,” but that “after Toms interaction it appears that I possibly could.”)

Taken together, the records establish a sequence that had not previously been visible to the public.

Towne believed holding both positions was not viable.

Lavigne had an interaction involving Select Board members.

Lavigne relayed information from that interaction to Towne.

Towne then reconsidered what was possible.

The records do not establish that Lavigne orchestrated Towne’s candidacy, nor do they establish improper conduct by either man.

What they do establish is that information Lavigne conveyed to Towne played a consequential role in Towne’s reconsideration of what was possible.

Towne’s own words document that.

And that raises an obvious question:

What exactly was “Tom’s interaction”?

Who were the two Select Board members?

What did Lavigne say to them?

What did they say to Lavigne?

Who initiated those conversations?

And precisely what did Lavigne subsequently communicate to Towne?

The records produced thus far do not answer those questions.

The Town Manager Identified a Specific Concern

The records also reveal that Towne’s ability to perform both jobs was not merely a hypothetical concern raised later by members of the public.

Capello raised it directly.

In another April 15 email, Capello encouraged Towne to discuss the issue with the entire Select Board.

He then described what he had heard about Board members’ thinking:

“I will say, from the limited things I have heard, they feel you would be great, but they worry about you doing it while you are the police chief, given the time you would be out of town.”

Capello offered to place Towne on the May 5 Select Board agenda. Towne agreed.

(April 15, 2026 email from Town Manager Arthur Capello to Chief Timothy Towne. Capello says that, based on what he had heard, people believed Towne “would be great” but were concerned about him remaining police chief because of the time he would be out of town. Capello offers to place the matter on the May 5 Select Board agenda.)

That sentence is important.

The concern wasn’t simply whether Board members liked Towne or supported his candidacy.

It concerned the practical reality of simultaneously serving as Berwick’s police chief and a state legislator.

Towne Developed a Plan

The records show Towne attempted to address that concern.

His proposed chain-of-command structure called for the captain—or a designated sergeant—to command the department while Towne was in Augusta.

Towne proposed retaining direct command during his regular days in Berwick, during legislative off-session periods and for critical incidents.

(Towne’s proposed Berwick Police Department chain-of-command plan. The document states that a captain or designated sergeant would assume command during Towne’s physical absence in Augusta on Tuesdays and Thursdays, while Towne would retain direct command on his regular days in Berwick and during critical incidents.)

His proposed legislative-day schedule was specific.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, Towne proposed:

8 a.m.–10 a.m.: Check in with the Police Department by telephone.

10 a.m.–12 p.m.: Legislative session in Augusta.

12 p.m.–1 p.m.: Check in with the Police Department by telephone.

1 p.m.–5 p.m.: Committee work in Augusta.

5 p.m.–7 p.m.: Check in with the Police Department by telephone.

Towne also proposed remaining accessible by telephone around the clock and wrote that he would suspend legislative activities and return to Berwick following notification of a critical incident.

(Towne’s proposed Tuesday-and-Thursday legislative schedule and critical-incident protocol. The plan places Towne in legislative session or committee work in Augusta for six hours during the day, with telephone check-ins before, between and after those periods. Towne states that he would suspend legislative activities and return to Berwick for a critical incident.)

Those provisions answer part of the question.

They explain how Towne proposed to make the arrangement work.

But proposing a solution and establishing the final terms under which that solution will operate are not necessarily the same thing.

The Formal Plan Presented to the Board

On May 5, Towne submitted an “Operational Continuity & Dual-Role Management Plan” addressed to Capello and the Berwick Select Board.

Towne described it as a formal management plan intended to eliminate operational gaps while allowing him to serve as a state representative.

The plan said that when Towne was in Augusta, the captain would manage immediate operational needs. Towne would maintain a physical administrative presence at the department on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and remain available around the clock by phone and email for critical command decisions.

It also addressed potential conflicts of interest, including a commitment by Towne to recuse himself from State House votes specifically and uniquely affecting the Berwick Police budget or local ordinances.

(Page one of Towne’s May 5, 2026 “Operational Continuity & Dual-Role Management Plan” submitted to Town Manager Arthur Capello and the Berwick Select Board. The plan addresses command delegation, Towne’s physical presence in Berwick, emergency availability, legislative recusals and regulatory compliance.)

But another section of that formal plan leaves one of the most concrete questions unresolved.

The Plan Leaves the Compensation Question Open

Under “Financial Transparency,” Towne wrote:

“I am committed to a ‘neutral cost’ approach for the Town.”

He then said he was “open to discussing a prorated salary or leave-without-pay structure for hours spent in session” so the Town budget would not be negatively affected by his dual service.

(Final section of Towne’s May 5 dual-role plan addressing financial transparency. Towne says he is “open to discussing a prorated salary or leave-without-pay structure” for legislative hours and states that the Berwick Police Department would remain his primary professional priority.)

But “open to discussing” is not a finalized compensation arrangement.

So what arrangement was ultimately reached?

Would Towne receive his full police-chief salary on days when his own proposed schedule placed him in legislative session from 10 a.m. until noon and in committee from 1 p.m. until 5 p.m.?

Would those six hours be unpaid?

Would his salary be prorated?

Would he use accrued leave?

How would benefits, retirement contributions and leave accrual be handled?

Would travel between Berwick and Augusta count as municipal work time, legislative time or personal time?

If another member of the Berwick Police Department assumes additional command responsibilities during Towne’s absence, would that employee receive additional compensation?

Those are not minor administrative details.

They determine what taxpayers would actually be paying for under the arrangement.

And the plan produced by the Town does not provide those final answers.

What Happens When Both Jobs Need the Same Person?

There are operational questions, too.

Towne’s proposal states that temporary delegation would terminate during a critical incident and identifies examples including major felony crimes, fatal crashes, officer-involved incidents, natural disasters and events requiring extended multi-agency mutual aid.

But what about serious matters that don’t reach that threshold?

Who determines whether something occurring in Berwick requires the chief’s presence?

What happens if that determination occurs while Towne is participating in a House vote or committee proceeding?

How quickly can Berwick reasonably expect its police chief to return from Augusta?

What happens when a significant legislative obligation and a significant municipal obligation occur simultaneously?

And who is ultimately accountable for deciding which responsibility takes precedence?

These aren’t arguments that the arrangement cannot work.

They are questions about how the Town determined that it would.

From Concern to Unanimous Approval

That brings the chronology back into focus.

On April 15, the Town Manager documented concern about the amount of time Towne would be away from Berwick.

Towne subsequently developed a formal plan.

At the May 5 meeting, the Select Board did not immediately approve the arrangement and indicated it wanted additional time to consider the questions surrounding it.

At a subsequent meeting approximately two weeks later, the Board unanimously approved Towne continuing as police chief if elected to the Legislature.

That creates perhaps the most important question in the chronology:

What Changed?

What questions remained after May 5?

Who answered them?

Was additional information provided to the Board?

Did Towne modify his proposal?

Did the Town Manager perform additional analysis?

Was legal advice sought?

Was a final compensation arrangement established?

Did anyone calculate how many municipal work hours Towne would actually miss during a legislative session?

Did the Board establish a mechanism for distinguishing and documenting time spent working as Berwick’s police chief from time spent performing legislative duties?

If the Board remained concerned enough on May 5 to wait before deciding, but approximately two weeks later was prepared to approve the arrangement unanimously, something presumably satisfied those concerns.

What was it?

And if those questions were answered before the vote, where are those answers documented?

The Difference Between a Proposal and an Agreement

Towne concludes his May 5 memorandum by saying his commitment to the Berwick Police Department would remain his “primary professional priority.”

That is Towne’s commitment.

The larger public-accountability question is what Berwick actually agreed to.

The records obtained by The Maine Mirror provide Towne’s proposed schedule, delegation structure, emergency-response framework, ethical commitments and a possible approach to compensation.

What they do not appear to provide is a final written agreement establishing precisely how salary, municipal work hours, legislative hours, leave, benefits, travel, delegated responsibilities and competing obligations would actually be handled.

If such a document exists, it could answer many of these questions.

If no such document exists, that raises another:

What exactly did the Select Board unanimously approve?

Another Public-Records Question Emerges

There is another reason these records matter.

Towne’s documents don’t merely describe his own thought process.

They identify communications involving a sitting state representative and unnamed Select Board members as part of the sequence that brought the proposal back before the Town.

If written or electronic communications exist surrounding Lavigne’s interaction, the two Select Board members referenced by Towne, the development of the dual-role proposal or the period between the May 5 discussion and the subsequent approval, those records could provide important context that these documents presently lack.

The newly released records provide some answers.

But perhaps their greatest value is identifying where the public record remains incomplete.

What exactly was Thomas Lavigne’s interaction with the two Select Board members, and what did he subsequently communicate to Towne?

What happened between the Select Board’s initial concerns and its eventual unanimous approval?

What final arrangement governs Towne’s compensation, work hours, legislative time, absences and competing responsibilities if he is elected?

And if those questions were resolved before the Board voted:

Where is that resolution documented?

None of those questions presume wrongdoing.

They ask something considerably simpler of public officials:

Show the public how the decision was made.

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