The executive director of the Maine Turnpike Authority is planning to step away after 13 years leading the agency.

Peter Mills announced at a turnpike authority board meeting Thursday that he won’t seek reappointment when his current term expires in September.

In an interview after the meeting, he said that the decision is related to his age and health, and not an internal report made public in May that accused the agency’s former chief financial officer of workplace harassment and intimidation.

Mills, 81, had bladder cancer about three years ago, which prompted him to think about stepping down, he said. He also underwent abdominal surgery a few months ago.

“If I allowed them to reappoint me again in September it would be for a 14th year,” Mills said. “I said, ‘Look, I will help you with the transition and with whatever you need to help the organization move along, but I don’t think I want to be reappointed to another full year.’ ”

Mills, the brother of Gov. Janet Mills, has served as executive director of the turnpike authority since 2011. He earns a salary of $133,016 and does not receive additional benefits.

The Maine Turnpike Authority is a quasi-governmental agency that operates the 109-mile Maine Turnpike from Kittery to Gardiner, has an annual operating budget of about $133 million and employs about 350 people.

Mills’ decision comes at a busy time for the turnpike authority, which is working on a controversial proposal for a 5-mile, more than $200 million toll road from South Portland to Gorham known as the Gorham Connector, among other projects. The agency has faced strong resistance to the project, including from the family-owned Smiling Hill Farm in Gorham.

Last month, an internal report presented to the turnpike’s board and obtained by the Press Herald described Doug Davidson, the former chief financial officer for the Maine Turnpike Authority as having threatened, intimidated and humiliated employees for years and have used his close relationship with board members and his institutional knowledge to insulate himself from accountability. Davidson said he was surprised by the allegations and attributed them to making unpopular decisions as the leader of a large agency.

Davidson had left the agency before the workplace review was conducted, but the report has prompted leadership to look at making a number of recommended changes to increase accountability.

The report concluded that neither Mills nor the board was fully aware of the behavior, but that the problems had caused employees to lose trust in Mills and in the board.

Mills said he is confident in the employees who are doing the work Davidson used to do, including his successor, John Sirois.

“I’m happy with the people who are doing the work now. … I would have some pause about leaving if I felt otherwise,” Mills said.

Dan Wathen, chair of the turnpike authority board, said at Thursday’s meeting that the board will begin a search for a new executive director and will lay out details of the plan shortly. “It will be a nationwide search that will also include anyone locally who wishes to participate,” he said.

The board voted unanimously to appoint Peter Merfeld, the turnpike authority’s chief operations officer, to serve as acting deputy executive director, to assist the board and Mills in overseeing operations and advancing existing projects during the transition period.

Wathen said in an interview after Thursday’s meeting that he is grateful for Mills’ years of leadership at the authority, citing his work on a high-speed toll plaza in York that opened in 2021, the widening of the turnpike in Portland and navigating the challenges of COVID-19, which led to a traffic slump and revenue shortfall.

“Peter has had a long service to us,” Wathen said. “He has done well and I appreciate all he’s done.”

The executive director is typically appointed by the board on an annual basis. The first time an executive director is appointed, the appointment is also subject to confirmation by the Legislature’s transportation committee and the Maine Senate.

FIRST APPOINTED IN 2011

Mills was first appointed to lead the turnpike authority on an interim basis in March 2011, taking over from Paul Violette, who lost his job and spent three and a half years in prison after he was caught stealing over $150,000 from the agency in the form of credit card purchases and gift cards for personal use.

Peter Mills also served 16 years in the Maine Legislature before taking charge of the turnpike authority. He ran in the Republican primaries for governor in 2006 and 2010.

He and his wife, Nancy Mills, an active retired justice of the Maine Superior Court, have homes in Portland and Cornville.

And while he plans to step away from the turnpike authority, Mills said he doesn’t plan to completely retire and he anticipates returning to work at his Skowhegan law firm, Mills, Shay, Lexier & Talbot.

“I will never retire,” he said. “I like having something to do and a place to go each morning to talk to intelligent people.”

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