HILLSBOROUGH — Following the completion of an independent investigation, Town Administrator John Stetser resigned last week but town officials aren't sharing details about the inquiry.

In March, attorney Emily Rice of Orr & Reno in Concord was hired to conduct an investigation of Stetser's job performance and employee interaction after the Board of Selectmen received a letter from four female employees questioning the town administrator's professionalism.

For Stetser, the investigation came as a shock.

“Apparently there's a small group of employees who have an ax to grind against me,” he said at the time, adding that when he asked the board what the complaint was about, the selectmen alluded to sexual harassment and a hostile work environment. But Stetser said that he believed the situation was the culmination of years of friction between he and the employees that started when he was hired in 2008.

“This is just politics,” he said, “in spades.”

But last week, Stetser walked away after selectmen discussed the results of the investigation on Tuesday.

“Mr. Stetser has officially resigned,” said Russell Galpin, chairman of the board of selectmen, but said the details of the investigation would be placed on one document, sealed, and wouldn't be opened again until a court order compelled selectmen to do so.

“All other copies will be destroyed,” said Galpin.

Galpin said the board met with Stetser to discuss his options in nonpublic session. After that meeting, Stetser submitted his resignation.

According to Galpin, the details of Stetser's resignation — whether he will be granted any compensation — will be worked out by lawyers.

“They're responsible for that negotiation,” he said.

The board will have to find a replacement for Stetser, but in the meantime the duties of managing town operations will fall to the staff and Galpin himself, who said he is on call if anything comes up that needs to be handled.

Though Galpin said he had butted heads with Stetser in the past, he said that he had seen marked improvement in the town administrator's job performance.

“I had no issues with him. I thought he had improved significantly,” Galpin said, “but there were jobs that weren't handled well.”

Galpin also said selectmen had failed in some cases to handle issues within town government well, though he wouldn't elaborate on what those instances were. When it came to answering the complaints of town employees, though, Galpin said the board did what was right by ordering an investigation.

“It was damned expensive,” he said, “but we had to do it.”

Stetser could not be reached for comment.

nfoster@newstote.com