For more than 10 years, Kelley Edwards has been the town’s prevention coordinator. In a letter sent out to members of the community on Jan. 25, Edwards announced that the previous week she had submitted her resignation and that her last day will Feb. 9. The town will fill her position.

“I have accepted a position with the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services as a behavioral health manager which begins Feb. 14. I will be overseeing prevention projects that are state funded and will have the opportunity to be included in suicide prevention as well as the new marijuana prevention messaging,” Edwards wrote in part.

Speaking with the Harbor News, Edwards said that last fall she noticed the opening at the state and applied.

“I was never planning to leave. If I could have made the decisions solely with my heart, I would have stayed,” Edwards said.

In her letter, Edwards stated that part of the reason she wanted to change jobs is that the new position is already in the state budget and provided “excellent benefits,” while the job in Clinton was grant funded. The added job security with a state job and two kids about to be in college was too good an opportunity to pass up, Edwards said.

Reflecting on her time in Clinton, Edwards said that despite her leaving later this month, the department is still in good hands.

“Things won’t come to a stop just because I’m leaving,” said Edwards. “I can’t say enough about all the things we achieved here. They weren’t done just by me It was all the partnerships we have in this community.”

Edwards said that Shelby Mehmet will stay on as assistant project coordinator. There are about 2 ½ years left on the grant that funds Edwards’s position and Town Manager Karl Kilduff said the town would fill the vacancy created by her departure.

“We hope to fund someone with the same drive and commitment to Clinton that Kelly had during her time with us,” said Kilduff.

In her new role, Edwards said she’ll be “working to oversee prevention projects.” When towns apply and are approved for grants, they must prove they are following through on what the grant was for, and Edwards said she will be the person who performs those checks.

Though Edwards will no longer be working for Clinton, she said that her new job will not take her away from involvement in the town. Edwards said she would remain involved with two organizations aimed at promoting healthy habits for youth that she helped expand: Partners in Community (PIC) and REACT.

“These were a hard thing for me to walk away from. I’m not exaggerating when I say that some of my most important work was done with REACT and PIC,” said Edwards. “As a parent I’ll still be at the monthly meetings, I just won’t be running them anymore.”