A new school committee member has been appointed to fill the spot after a former member resigned a month after his election.
Al Avery was appointed to the Dr. Lewis S. Libby School Committee at a meeting Thursday night. His term runs through June and he replaces Morgan Gunnell who resigned in August.
The board 3-0 to accept the appointment.
Avery has worked for the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office for a long time and said he looks forward to working with the school committee.
“I’ll give you all my best,” Avery said. “I know I wasn’t voted, but the overwhelming support that I’ve gotten from my community, I’m just so grateful.”
Gunnell’s resignation came days after the Bangor Daily News first reported that Gunnell was convicted of assault in 2015. He said he wrote in his name during the June election “as a joke,” but vowed to take the position seriously once elected.
Gunnell pleaded guilty to an assault charge after a grand jury found that he knowingly or recklessly caused bodily injury or offensive physical contact to his son who was less than a year old at the time, according to court records. Gunnell entered an Alford plea, meaning he maintained that he was innocent but acknowledged that the prosecution had enough evidence to convict him.
The school committee was supposed to hold a public vote on its budget Thursday as well. It was canceled after the town said the warrants were not legal. The school’s legal team said the warrants were legal, Superintendent Trish Clark said.
