I’d like to share some of my Rockport history with you, citizens of Rockport.  Vic and I settled here in 1973 on what neighbors called the “outhouse on the beach”.  Our family grew with the birth of two sons at Penobscot Bay Medical Center, thankfully three years apart. We both started successful businesses, and became contributing members to our community.  Rockport is our home, still located at the same “outhouse on the beach”.

I have a fervent belief in homeownership and all the responsibilities and rewards of homeowners. This is why I pose these serious questions and I seek honest answers from our Select Board and Planning  Board.

1. Was any wording on the ballot put before residents changed after ballots became available for voters?

We have been told by a Select Board member that once the ballot is passed to the printing company, it is “carved in stone”.

 2. Were the debates by the Planning Board regarding the ballot prepared for the Nov. 3, 2026 election fully and completely shared with Rockport residents?

3. Did any Select Board member with widely-known and voiced disdainful opinions on vacation (or so called “short term” rentals) recuse himself from the deliberations by the Select Board at the time said Select Board voted unanimously in favor of Articles 2 and 3 for the Nov. 3 townwide election?

4. Were the meetings in which the Planning Board discussed and made final recommendations to the Select Board readily available for viewing, as required by law, by Rockport residents?

I don’t know if we residents will ever get answers to these important questions.  Please vote at the Library on Nov. 3. If you are unfamiliar with these two articles, now it the time to get acquainted with them.

If you find yourself in the voting booth with your ballot, it will be too late.  There are no explanations there.

I am chagrined and disappointed that I have to ask these questions, and I hope we residents receive answers.  

Marsha Steinglass lives in Rockport