BETHEL — Code Enforcement Officer Randy Thurston said he is leaving his job after 18 months to be CEO in Naples where he will hold an equal position with another CEO. His last day is June 14.

He said he’ll be making 20-25% more money, “A lot of the townspeople [here] don’t think that we deserve it. It’s us versus the town, so we are real tight and supportive of each other,” he said of his fellow staff in town office.

The town has lost three department heads and five people overall in the past year in part due to better wages offered elsewhere. There are about 15 full-time town employees all together.

Town Manager Natalie Andrews said as a small town they try to remain competitive. Part of retention is remaining competitive but she is also cognizant that in order to do so, it comes with a higher price tag.

“I will severely miss all of my office staff here and my regular contractors,” said Thurston. He said he has built relationships with contractors whose work he inspects. He said he also has felt isolated in western Maine having lived mostly on the coast.

Thurston said he came into the job thinking it would be different. “I built houses for 20 years I wanted to be a building inspector.”

He explained that the state has a building code not enacted in Bethel. It is called Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code (MUBEC). If a town has a population of under 4,000 they do not have to adopt MUBEC. Some towns are so small they don’t have the administration money to do so.

He said MUBEC enaction would require a town meeting vote and because, “a lot of the players in town are in real estate or are builders that would end up affecting them.”

He said in Windham, a MUBEC town, they do at least 11, if not more, inspections on a new home. “They inspect the footers of the foundation and the rebar.” He said he is only required to inspect three times in Bethel: twice for septic systems, a rough-in plumbing inspection and a quick “around the building,” fire safety inspection.

He said all the things we should be looking for they don’t have to be accountable for. “And we are in such a rapid-build type of climate. The other thing that people have a problem with is the energy code which requires additional insulation and certain numbers of insulation … Most people buying their second home seem to not really care about fuel cost.”

Certificates of occupancy are not required in Bethel. If a bank or other financial institute asks for one,  “I literally have to write them a bypass letter saying we don’t do that here.” He said a certificate of occupancy would insure that things are buttoned up properly and that buildings would be safer.

Further, procedure for a violation takes so long that often the house is built before he can be effective.

“The Bethel codebook is not set up well for my position,” said Thurston. He feels that a lot of procedures need to be updated for the scope of what’s happening.  “Nobody likes change. I feel like the town is changing and they don’t see it because they are not sitting in my office every day, seeing what’s happening.”

His new job is full time, but a four-day work week. He told Andrews he could return on Fridays to help train a new CEO.

He said Andrews wrote him a letter of recommendation, “that brought tears to my eyes.” She told him, a good leader does not hold their people down.

Referring to Select Chair Meryl Kelly and to Andrews he said, “I wish I could stay and fight with them. Both of them have [fought] for me.”