Retired wiring inspector decries appointment

By M.E. Jones, Correspondent

SHIRLEY -- James Thibault's account of what happened when he retired as wiring inspector with expectations to keep the job town officials instead gave to his former assistant could be a cautionary tale or a story about the end of a small-town era.

Or both.

Thibault was a newcomer when he built a house in town in 1975. At 20, he was doing well professionally, he said. Norman Albert and "Hack" Noyes were selectmen then and Ray Gagnon was the wiring inspector.

When Gagnon went into business for himself a few years later, he reached out to Thibault, a fellow electrician. Was he interested in the job?

Thibault accepted the part-time position in 1979.

"I asked to have Ray assist me," Thibault recalled in a recent interview at Lambert's True Value Hardware Store in the village, which he has owned and operated since 1983.

The two worked together until Gagnon retired four years ago, Thibault said. Then, he looked for an assistant, or alternate wiring inspector. "I reached out to Mark" Prokowiew, with the selectmen's blessing. "There was no issue," he said.

Nor have there been problems with selectmen since and only one formal complaint during his 35-year tenure, Thibault said.

Citing a protocol he initiated and selectmen endorsed that requires a licensed electrician to do wiring in homes or businesses, he said a resident renovating his home objected to the rule and complained to the board because he wanted to do it himself.

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Retired wiring inspector decries appointment