David Daigle

Introduction

David Daigle resigned as town manager of Madawaska, Maine, on the night of October 8, 2026, ending a monthlong paid suspension that had begun when the Select Board voted to start removing him over his handling of funding for the town’s first music festival. The festival, which he co-organised, ran roughly $15,000 over budget and left the town more than $41,000 short — a sum the board covered from a reserve account. Daigle forfeited the public termination hearing he had requested by resigning, and separately faced allegations that he used his Facebook account to send unwanted sexually explicit messages and video clips, which he attributed to hackers. The board said the firing case was not related to the messages.

Background Information

Daigle was hired as Madawaska’s town manager and chief administrative officer in 2024, in the St. John Valley town of about 4,000 on the Canadian border. Before that he had run a heating-oil business, and his 2024 hiring followed an interim period under retired manager Dan Foster — the same man the board brought back as interim manager after Daigle’s suspension. Beyond the budget, Daigle’s tenure included a role no other town official had: he was one of the two lead organisers of the Northern Maine Summerfest, a single-day festival on the shores of Long Lake in late August 2026 featuring a handful of relatively unknown artists.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Fired-over process and resigned; the funding findings are board determinations and the messaging claims are unproven allegations he denies. The spending account comes from the Select Board’s public resolution; the Facebook allegations were never adjudicated, were not the stated basis for his removal, and Daigle has claimed his account was hacked.

At an emergency meeting on September 3, 2026, the Select Board voted to begin the process of removing Daigle and placed him on paid leave. In a lengthy resolution read by Chairperson Renee Deschaine, the board alleged that Daigle disregarded its instruction not to exceed $75,000 in town funding for the Summerfest event. “The manager’s decision to commit far more than $75,000 of town monies for Summerfest was a blatant disregard for the authority and direction of the select board,” Deschaine said, reading the resolution. The festival ultimately ran about $15,000 over budget and generated significantly less revenue than expected, leaving the town more than $41,000 short; the board chose to cover the gap from an economic development reserve account rather than the undesignated fund, which would have required a special town meeting and a public vote.

“There was a number, and it was exceeded, and that’s a problem,” Deschaine said at a September 15 meeting. Daigle requested the public hearing that Maine municipal law entitles him to before a for-cause firing — a hearing the board was expected to schedule at its October 8 meeting. Instead, that night, he resigned: “Dave tendered his resignation last night and the Board has accepted it,” Deschaine said. The board and Daigle reached an agreement whose terms she declined to discuss.

The removal case ran alongside a separate controversy that surfaced days before the suspension: allegations that Daigle used his Facebook account to send unwanted sexually explicit messages and video clips to people. Daigle posted that his account had been hacked, hours before images of the alleged messages were shared publicly online. Deschaine publicly stated that the board’s removal decision was not related to the Facebook allegations, and no criminal charge arising from them has been reported.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The financing of the festival shortfall became the town’s central grievance: the board’s decision to quietly absorb more than $41,000 from a reserve account, rather than put the overrun to a public vote, drew the scrutiny that turned a music festival into a removal proceeding. The emergency September 3 meeting, the resolution language about “blatant disregard,” and the month of paid leave that followed made Daigle’s position untenable in a town-manager form of government where the manager serves at the board’s pleasure. His resignation — with an agreement whose terms remain non-public, though the Bangor Daily News filed a Freedom of Access Act request for it — closed the case without the testimony a public hearing would have produced.

Current Status

David Daigle is out of office as of October 8, 2026. The board hired interim manager Dan Foster — who had held the job before Daigle’s 2024 hiring — while it searches for a permanent replacement. The settlement agreement’s terms are not public, the festival-funding case ended without any finding by a court, and the Facebook allegations were never adjudicated; Deschaine said they played no part in the removal.

Impact on Their Career/Life

A town-manager dismissal for cause is effectively the end of a municipal-administration career in Maine’s small-town world, and Daigle’s exit — resignation in lieu of a public hearing, with a confidential agreement — leaves the funding findings as a board resolution rather than a courtroom record. The Summerfest episode stands as the defining event of his two-year tenure: a town of 4,000 left covering a $41,000 shortfall for a festival he both ran as manager and organised privately. His hacking claim about the Facebook messages remains an unproven counter-narrative to allegations that were never tested anywhere.

Sources

• The County (Cameron Levasseur), “Embattled Aroostook town manager resigns and forfeits public hearing,” October 9, 2026 — source
• The County (Chris Bouchard), “Madawaska suspends town manager and looks to fire him over Summerfest funding,” September 4, 2026 — source
• WGME (CBS 13), “Madawaska town manager accused of sending sexually explicit messages,” September 2026 — source