Attorneys: ‘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’

Citizens request revote on Thomaston June Town Meeting article, cite procedural errors

Lynda Clancy
Fri, 07/07/2023 - 7:45am
The Thomaston Select Board, Economic Development Committee and Town Clerk, just before the start of the June 14 annual Town Meeting. (Photo by Lynda Clancy)

    Related Stories

    Thomaston Green Committee works to develop collective vision for public park
    Tuesday, February 6, 2024

    Thomaston Select Board rejects citizen request for revote on parcel sale
    Tuesday, July 25, 2023

    Thomaston citizens create park ‘in perpetuity’, endorse fire/EMS station, narrowly approve land sale for clinic
    Friday, June 16, 2023

    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.

    “In 2020, 2021, 2022 and this year, 2023, I went door to door in Thomaston, knocking on approximately 1,500 doors each of those years,” said Lang. “’Everyone’ was curious and they openly talked about voting, communication, quality of life, our two schools and involvement and governance in Thomaston. Over the years the same concerns about decisions, decision makers, intimidation, participation and procedures were repeated, which led me to want to learn how at least some of Thomaston's procedures and governance followed Maine law.  In order to begin to learn I hired the Municipal law experts at Preti Flaherty to attend both the June 1, 2023 meeting and the June 14, 2023 Town meeting.”
     
    Question 5
     
    Thomaston’s Annual Town Meeting was held at the town office building and drew a crowd so large that citizens spilled out the doorways.
     
    Most voters were there to address warrant articles concerning whether to appropriate a spot on the Thomaston Green for a new fire and EMS station, and whether to sell a portion of the same Green to Mid Coast Health Net, the nonprofit that operates the Knox Clinic and which intends to build a community health center there.
     
    Article 4, approving a new fire station, passed, as did Article 5, concerning selling 1.5 acres for $52,655 per acre of the Green fronting Route 1 to Mid Coast Health Net for the purpose of constructing a community health center.
     
    While Article 4 readily passed, Article 5 was controversial and resulted in much debate. It ultimately passed, but barely by just four votes, 159 to 155.
     
    The Preti Flaherty letter said voters had contacted the Select Board: “well in advance of the town meeting and spoke passionately at the June 1 public hearing concerning Article 5 to request that it be removed from the annual town meeting warrant and considered in a later secret ballot election. These residents’ valid concerns about reduced voter turnout and their inability to participate were ignored or dismissed out of hand. As a result, numerous Thomaston residents were prevented from participating in the town meeting and only 300 votes were cast regarding Article 5—far less than the 716 previously cast in the 2022 secret ballot election concerning the Green.”
     
    Collins and Ferrante said there were at least two voters who arrived late to town meeting who were not allowed to check in and participate in the vote on Article 5.
     
    And, they said that the meeting moderator inappropriately denied voters’ motions, specifically one made by a citizen who proposed tabling Article 5.
     
    The moderator ruled the motion of-of-order and said the town must take action on all warrant articles, the letter said.
     

    “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

     

    Most Popular