Citizens request revote on Thomaston June Town Meeting article, cite procedural errors
THOMASTON — One letter from attorneys requesting recourse on a June 14 town meeting vote has been received by the Thomaston Town Office, and another letter was reportedly sent from a group of citizens registering the same concerns.
In a letter dated June 26, Attorneys Kristin Collins and Cameron A. Ferrante, who are with the firm Preti Flaherty, asked the Thomaston Select Board to act within the next 10 days to, “place Article 5, as previously presented, on the ballot for the November election, pursuant to 30-A M.R.S §2528.”
They said, “Should the Select Board fail to do so, we are prepared to pursue all legally available means to overturn the town meeting’s approval of Article 5.”
Thomaston Town Manager Kara George said July 5, “the Town is having our legal counsel review the issue and will respond in due course.”
The citizens’ letter, reportedly signed by approximately 80 residents, also requests, “that the Select Board immediately call a special town meeting to reconsider only Article 5 by voting with secret ballot election in November.”
Thomaston’s Town Office has not confirmed whether that letter is in receipt.
Collins and Ferrante represent Thomaston resident Cindy Lang, who said she wants to understand how the town follows Maine law.
“This is a gross misstatement of established procedural rules and practice for town meetings,” wrote Collins and Ferrante. “The Maine Moderator’s Manual explicitly permits motions to table and endorses their use as a way for town meetings to avoid voting down unpopular or contentious articles or articles that are driven by special interests.”
At the town meeting, Lang moved to appeal that moderator decision, the letter said.
“When such a motion is made, the moderator may not question or deny the appeal but is required to put it to a vote of the full body,” the attorneys said. “However, despite this clear mandatory procedure, Mr. Newcomb refused to allow Ms. Lang to appeal his ruling on the motion to table, asserting that appeals were only available for rulings on vote counts announced by the moderator.”
That was incorrect, they said.
Furthermore, they said, the town was denied the opportunity for more debate on Article 5 or consideration of article amendments, “which could have addressed many of the concerns that had been expressed about selling off a portion of Thomaston Green without any clear understanding of the terms or conditions of such a sale.”
With that, the attorneys requested the Select Board act within the next 10 days to place Article 5 on the ballot for the November election.
The citizens’ letter that was reportedly sent to the Select Board said the Thomaston Green: “is the welcoming entrance to the Town of Thomaston, and the entire Midcoast. This unique 15.5 acres of open space is an essential asset and resource for our community as it is the only public open space.”
Dividing the Green and selling it for private commercial development counters public opinion, the citizens said.
The letter said the town’s decision to hold the Article 5 vote at open town meeting failed to allow residents who were unable to get to the June 14 Town Meeting to vote on the matter. The signatories have asked the town to place Article 5 on the November secret ballot.
“This is necessary to enable us to exercise our rights as residents, taxpayers and voters in the Town of Thomaston,” they said in their letter.
The Thomaston Select Board is to convene July 10 for a regularly scheduled meeting. The meeting begins at 6 p.m. at the Thomaston Municipal Building.
Reach Editorial Director Lynda Clancy at lyndaclancy@penbaypilot.com; 207-706-6657