THOMASTON — The Thomaston Select Board has denied requests — one a citizen’s letter, the other submitted by attorneys on behalf of one resident – to hold a revote of one article that had appeared on the annual June Town Meeting warrant in June.

At a regularly scheduled July 24 meeting, the board briefly discussed a June 26 letter from Attorneys Kristin Collins and Cameron A. Ferrante, who are with the firm Preti Flaherty. They had 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 that, “numerous voters contacted the Select Board well in advance of the town meeting and spoke passionately at the June 1st 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.”

In response, Select Board Chair Diane Giese read a prepared press release that she said was going to be distributed July 25. It was posted on the municipal website July 25.

Patrick Lyons, an attorney with the Eaton Peabody law firm, assisted the town with its response to what the Thomaston Town Office called the “Preti Flaherty letter,”, and concluded in a July 24 letter to the Select Board, “the Town likely acted in accordance with the laws of the State of Maine in its actions: (1) leading up to the Town Meeting; (2) when registering voters at the Town Meeting; and (3) conducting the Town Meeting.”

The response from the town reads that it received the Preti Flaherty letter June 27 on behalf of an unnamed Thomaston resident. 

“The Select Board received another letter on July 3, 2023, signed by Thomaston resident Anne Perkins, which contained a list of typed names without signatures that inferred those individuals support Ms. Perkins’ letter. Both letters alleged procedural errors relating to Article 5 of the warrant for the Annual Town meeting held on June 14, 2023, and requested another vote on Article V by secret ballot election this fall.”

Article V passed by four votes in a secret ballot box vote at the in-person town meeting, 159 to 155. Article V allows the town to sell a parcel of land, 1.5 acres in size, that is part of the Thomaston Green for $52,655 per acre to Mid Coast Health Net, doing business as the Knox Clinic.

The parcel has frontage on Route 1.

“In preparation of the Annual Town Meeting and the vote on Article V, the Town engaged with and notified the public through workshops, public hearings, press releases, newsletters, the Town website, social media, emails, and discussions with citizens. In doing so, the Select Board determined an open Town Meeting was the best way to vote on this matter. The tradition of the town meeting in Maine goes back centuries and is the purest and most transparent way to conduct Town business. The Town of Thomaston has held its Annual Town Meeting on the second Tuesday and Wednesday of June for decades.

“The June 14 Annual Town Meeting had a historical turnout of residents, causing a slight delay to the state of the meeting to ensure that all voters waiting in line were checked in and able to participate. No voters were refused entrance to the Town Meeting and Town staff and volunteers work hard to allow for an orderly meeting.

“The Town has taken the allegations in the Preti Flaherty and Anne Perkins letters seriously and had them reviewed by the law firm Eaton Peabody, the Town’s legal counsel. Eaton Peabody’s review of the issue concluded the Town ran a fair and effective town meeting and legally has done nothing wrong. The Town maintained the election and town meeting process with integrity and followed all state election laws.

“The Select Board will continue to advance the will of the voters on Article V and engage with the Knox Clinic in order to bring a much needed health clinic to Thomaston that will benefit all of our citizens.”

At the July 25 meeting, Select Board member Peter Lammert said: “I would like to make this comment: If the citizens are going to send in a petition and they have gathered signatures under the petition, that’s probably the most legal way to get it into us. With names typed on the sheet of paper with no indication that a person signed their name to it, we don’t know what to say about that.”

In their June 26 letter, Attorneys Collins and Ferrante asked the Thomaston Select Board to put the question before voters this coming November. 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 25 that the land sale has yet to take place.

“There is currently no closing date and the land has not exchanged hands,” she said. 

Attorney Ferrante said July 25, “We’re disappointed by the Select Board’s decision to disregard the concerns of Thomaston’s voters and are currently weighing all available options.”

Reach Editorial Director Lynda Clancy at lyndaclancy@penbaypilot.com; 207-706-6657