OLD ORCHARD BEACH — Town Manager Mark Pearson has been fired, following hours of heated discussion and a late night vote by the town council.

The council Tuesday night voted 4-3, with Council Chairwoman Sharri MacDonald and Councilors Linda Mailhot, Laura Bolduc and Dana Furtado voting in favor of ending Pearson’s employment with the town.

The vote came after 11:30 p.m., a few hours after an original motion to go into executive session to discuss personnel matters for the town manager failed.

Mailhot made the motion to terminate Pearson without cause on April 3, and put him on paid administrative leave in the interim. She said she was “dismayed and disheartened” that the council did not vote to go into executive session, where it could have had “healthy discussion.” She said she did not want to discuss the issue because of a lawsuit that Pearson filed.

John Richardson, Pearson’s attorney, said that Pearson had filed a declaratory judgment for a judge to determine whether Pearson has the authority not to renew Public Works Director Bill Robertson’s contract.

“Can’t we find some middle ground?” he asked.

Robertson was put on administrative leave in December, and Pearson later sent him a letter stating that he would not renew Robertson’s contract, and Robertson’s last day of employment would be April 5. Last month, the town council voted to rescind Pearson’s decision, and there have been differing opinions since on whether the council had the authority to do so.

There was a contentious feel in the air Tuesday, with members of the public giving emotional statements on both sides of the issue. One resident was escorted out of the meeting by police.

Councilor Bob Quinn said when campaigning for re-election last year, he knocked on 1,500 doors, and heard many concerns from residents, but not one negative comment about Pearson. About three weeks after the new council was seated, three new councilors decided they were going to “dump the town manager.” Quinn said he hadn’t heard any “substantial reasons” why the town manager should be fired.

He said in order to go into executive session, he needed a good reason, and he didn’t have one. He said executive sessions tend to be “b.s. sessions” where things get out of hand, and noted that Pearson had requested that any discussions about him be in public.

Furtado said there was a lack of communication between the council and the town manager, and in his four months in office as a town councilor, he had received only four emails from Pearson.

Councilor Michael Coleman said he thought the council’s decision could cost the town a lot of money.

“Who will want to work in this town knowing that they are here today and gone tomorrow?” he said.

Pearson is the third town manager since former town manager Jim Thomas left in 2007.

— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be contacted at 282-1535 Ext. 325 or egotthelf@journaltribune.com.