Update: Winslow Town Manager Ella Bowman resigns, citing 'hateful' rhetoric from residents, councilors

Nov. 7—WINSLOW — Town Manager Ella Bowman has tendered her resignation after about a year on the job, citing increased vitriol in municipal politics and what she described as hateful rhetoric from social media posts and some members of the Town Council.

Bowman, 64, was hired as Winslow's top administrator in October 2023 after serving as nearby Oakland's manager for nearly a decade.

She is among the only openly transgender town managers in the nation, having begun her gender transition two years ago.

Bowman, who is paid an annual salary of about $115,000, has been at the center of a tumultuous year in Winslow's politics fueled by a sharply divided town council, social media acrimony and tension at the town office.

Her resignation will take effect on Feb. 5, 2025, although the Town Council can vote to waive her contract if members want her to depart sooner.

Asked for comment on Thursday, Council chairman Jeff West said, "Honestly, I have nothing to say or add. This is a huge loss to the town of Winslow."

In a resignation letter sent Wednesday night, Bowman cited "hateful" rhetoric from sitting councilors and social media agitators as the primary reason for her departure. The Morning Sentinel obtained the letter Thursday through a public records request.

"I was the victim of a smear campaign when councilors started saying negative and harmful things about me to not only our citizens, but my staff as well," Bowman's letter states. "I've accumulated several very powerful and eye-opening written statements to this effect."

Bowman's letter cites one instance in August when Councilor Mike Joseph filed for a protective order against her.

Joseph said he feared for his safety when Bowman "started to yell at me and putting her finger in my face" after a July 8 Town Council meeting, according to Joseph's written complaint. Joseph said at that meeting Bowman was conspiring with others to "embarrass" and "undermine" him in a tirade during public comment. A judge ultimately denied his request.

Bowman's letter says the harassment order was not the end of the ordeal.

"Councilor Joseph went as far as requesting a police escort when he entered the Town Office because he stated that he feared for his safety around me," she wrote. "I've never had a speeding ticket, let alone physically harmed someone."

Joseph did not respond to requests for comment on Thursday.

Joseph, who owns Joseph's Flooring in Winslow, was one of three first-time councilors elected to Winslow's council last year, along with Fran Hudson and Adam Lint, whose victories were powered by social media campaigns and anti-incumbent sentiments.

Hudson is the founder and moderator of the "What's Happening in Winslow, Maine?" Facebook group, which has accumulated nearly 7,000 members since she began it in 2014.

In posts to the group, Hudson has called sitting councilors "shameful," attacked transgender students at Winslow schools and told residents to "point your anger where it belongs," though she would later tell members of the group to "refrain from personally attacking fellow community members."

A widening divide has formed between the council's old and new guard in the months since their election. The three newcomers voted down Winslow's school budget for the first time in town history last year, though voters ultimately approved the budget by a nearly 20-point margin.

Joseph and Hudson also drew controversy in June after emails surfaced showing the duo questioning the cognitive function of Councilor Lee Trahan and requesting a list of medications he was taking as he recovered from a coma he briefly entered in April.

While the three new councilors have been a vocal minority for their terms so far, that balance was upset in September when longtime councilor Ray Caron abruptly resigned, citing personal reasons but declining to elaborate.

Bowman's resignation letter alludes to the environment in the town office that prompted both her and Caron's resignations.

"Winslow's department heads have had to work in a political environment like none of us have ever experienced before," she wrote. "We came together by standing beside one another and working to protect those of us who were being criticized through hateful social media posts by some citizens, and some councilors as well as their families."

Before taking the job in Winslow, Bowman had been placed on administrative leave without an explanation by Oakland's Town Council in August 2023, prompting questions and protest from residents.

She would formally resign her post in Oakland a week later, citing what she says was transphobia among town employees as the reason for her departure.

Bowman's letter acknowledged the public outcry over both her hiring process last year and the budget process this year as factors in her resignation from Winslow.

Bowman joined Winslow at a contentious moment, just months after an investigation into claims of "secret meetings" among councilors prompted Bowman's predecessor, Erica LaCroix, to resign from her post.

Shortly afterward, Bowman was hired without public input or a formal search committee. Many residents spoke in opposition to the hiring process at the meeting where Bowman's contract was signed. Some said she shouldn't be hired until Oakland's investigation was completed.

"Many town citizens and council members (before being elected) were angry by the way I was hired," Bowman wrote. "I'm still hearing this rhetoric today, over a year later."

Residents have also voiced anger over Winslow's budget this year, which came without a tax increase for residents as Bowman dipped into the town's savings to offset rising costs — drawing scorn from residents and councilors alike.

"Typically, preventing a tax increase would be met with celebration, especially in today's financial climate," Bowman wrote. "Certain Council members and a few very vocal members of the public have turned this achievement into a nefarious and underhanded move."

Communities across Maine have been facing an increasing shortage of municipal servants, workers and candidates, who have been battered by political anger and social media vitriol for years.

Winslow's council voted to remove their ability to fire the town manager without cause in September to assuage concerns that Bowman would be removed over political or social disagreements rather than serious misconduct, Bowman said at the time.

With Bowman's resignation, Winslow will become the latest central Maine community without a top administrator. Managers in Skowhegan, Oakland, Pittsfield, Clinton and beyond have all stepped down for a myriad of reasons, though Bowman appears to be the first to cite public opinion as the cause for her departure.

"Historically, I've always enjoyed being challenged," Bowman wrote. "But with the wrath of people's deafening opinions on the four community social media pages and a dysfunctional council, working as a Town Manager in Winslow has turned out to be more than I'm capable of."

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