MANCHESTER — Manchester Select Board member Robert Gasper on Friday resigned from the board and as a volunteer at the Manchester Fire Department, citing concerns with the direction of the town and the need to spend more time with family.

Robert Gasper in 2020. Andy Molloy/Kennebec Journal file

Gasper, 70, was the vice chair of the board. He will remain on the town’s road committee and will facilitate a short transition period at the fire department.

Gasper said in a press release that he resigned partly because he saw “changing attitudes from citizens as to the way volunteerism and business has been conducted in recent years and how it should be conducted into the future.”

“I don’t agree with the direction that certain activities may move in the future, so it’s time to move on,” Gasper said in the press release. “It’s been an honor to serve Manchester residents, and I sincerely appreciate all of the support I have received over the years.”

Within a year of moving to Manchester with his wife in 1976, Gasper became involved in the fire department and town government. He has been on the Select Board almost continuously since the mid 1990s and involved in budget committees in town since the early ’80s.

At his final board meeting Tuesday, Gasper was repeatedly questioned by residents on what many saw as major issues with the fire department and its suspended chief, Francis R. Wozniak. Gasper often defended the fire department and Wozniak, and many of his exchanges with residents were tense.

Gasper said he made the decision to resign his positions on the board and the fire department following Tuesday’s meeting.

Garry Hinkley, the chair of the board, said Gasper’s resignation — which Gasper submitted at the town office around 10:30 a.m. Friday — took him by surprise. But, he said, Gasper had long been facing pressure from many residents in town who wanted to see him out.

It was unclear Friday how the four remaining members on the Select Board would choose to fill Gasper’s vacancy. Hinkley said Town Manager Debora Southiere would be reaching out to the secretary of state’s office to see if the town could get an election for Gasper’s seat on the Nov. 5 ballot or if they can appoint someone in the meantime.