Mark Westrum, administrator of Two Bridges Regional Jail, was placed on paid administrative leave Oct. 12, following his Oct. 7 arrest for OUI in Bath.

The announcement by County Commissioner Mary Trescot came at the end of a lengthy executive session of the Two Bridges Jail Authority.

Westrum will be on the paid leave until the next regular Jail Authority meeting Nov. 9. Trescot could not say what actions the Authority would take at that time.

Pursuant to facility policy, Corrections Captain James Bailey has assumed the duties of administrator, pending future action by the Authority.

Trescot and Bailey referred to the Jail Authority’s policy on investigating alleged criminal activity, which states in part that the chairman of the Authority, in this case, Trescot, is to identify the law enforcement agency that will conduct the investigation. That agency is the one having jurisdiction, and in this case, it is the Bath Police Department. The policy also states that pending the outcome of the investigation, the employee may be placed on administrative leave. The investigation will be completed, even if the employee terminates employment during the investigation.

Lincoln County Sheriff Todd Brackett read the motion to place Westrum on administrative leave to those attending the meeting, and the vote followed immediately. The decision was unanimous.

Trescot said she had attempted to contact Westrum to inform him of the decision, but he had not yet returned her call. Bailey said that until a final decision was reached, it would be inappropriate to comment further. 

In other business, Bailey announced there had been two resignations, including one supervisor, leaving the corrections staff nine short. He also said the jail had replaced the Polycom system, which provides video arraignments, and which has been causing problems for all three agencies for some time. Sagadahoc County Sheriff Joel Merry applauded the decision, stating that the cost of transporting inmates to and from jail because of problems with the video system had grown expensive.

The Thayer Corporation, which is replacing the air intake systems on the roof, ran into a problem and will begin the process of fixing the system in mid-November.

Rob Davidson of Bristol came to speak about the expense of the jail to Lincoln and Sagadahoc taxpayers and the comparatively smaller cost to the sending counties, including Waldo, Kennebec, and Oxford. Brackett agreed to meet with Davidson, together with other officials, to discuss his concerns.