Wed, 04/12/2023 - 7:30pm

Sarah Thompson

ROCKLAND – A resolve to accept donations toward the hire of an attorney specializing in fighting cell tower and 5G industries was defeated during a meeting of Rockland City Council, Monday, April 10.

A group of fewer than 20 anonymous residents had collected $8,500 toward the cost of hiring New York attorney Andrew Campanelli to help write ordinances that would strengthen the protections for residents from cell towers and/or 5G facilities and installations to the extent allowed under the law.

Campanelli has said that cell industries don’t have as much power as municipalities are led to believe, and that regular City attorneys are not aware of what rights they have against the corporate giants.

“It feels to me a little bit that we may have gotten the cart in front of the horse,” said Councilor Sarah Austin, “because Council hasn’t specifically voted or decided whether that is the course of action we would like to take. So, bundling this altogether is a little bit problematic to me.”

Penny York read a prepared statement in light of recent events surrounding the efforts of Council to draft 5G ordinances within the city.

Fact: Prior to the introduction to the small wireless facilities ordinance, Chpt. 18, article 3, and the February 20, 2023 meeting, there was no ordinance to address 5G in any fashion in Rockland.

Fact: City Council reviewed additional recommendations from your experts and stated that they would review with the City Planner and City Attorney for legitimacy, practical application, and possible incorporation into Chpt. 19.

Fact: immediately following passing the initial ordinance, Council became inundated with hundreds of emails, countless phone calls, and neighborhood canvasing efforts, in which to attempt to force the City to contract with an out-of-state attorney to write an addendum to the small wireless ordinance.

It should be noted that these communications came not from Rockland’s 6,940 residents, but from fewer than 20 people, at least two of whom neither live in or pay taxes in Rockland.

Fact: the City of Rockland, by way of Rockland taxpayers, already contract with one of the top law firms in the state of Maine, possibly even New England.

That fact has been repeatedly stated over and over again tonight, even by people in the audience. It is our duty to ensure that actions taken by Council support the concerns and needs of the majority of Rockland citizens, while balancing the fiscal responsibility and the risk appetite of the city.

This means that we need to ensure that we are not exposing the city to any additional risks that could, in turn, impact taxpayers.

Asking council to hire an attorney who is not licensed in Maine without first asking Bernstein and Shur to exhaust the resources we already pay for is wasteful and redundant. Especially when the City is sued by the FCC, the New York lawyer is not going to be the one defending the city. It will be Bernstein and Shur.

Secondly, and previously stated, private citizens are welcome to conduct research. We’ve had great conversations with Bill Lewis about revaluation of property taxes. [Citizens] can hire their own consultant. We saw that earlier in this wonderful presentation. Or even have independent council draft changes to existing or proposed new ordinances and then present them to council.

As a matter of fact, we welcome this type of robust discussion. But stepping up with a checkbook and trying to force the City into contracting with a third party sets a dangerous precedence.

Not only does it show preferential treatment over those in our city who cannot afford to take these own steps, it opens up the idea that special interest groups could influence council. Instead, with this approach, you’ve slowed down your own progress toward your goal as we now have to perform due diligence and vetting of a third party that otherwise would not have been necessary.

Lastly, and on a more personal note, I would like to say that it’s no wonder that Rockland has such a high turnover within City Council.

Why would any well-meaning, compassionate person want to donate their time and energy to trying to make Rockland better for future generations at the expense of their own privacy and mental well-being.

In my short tenure on City Council, I’ve been threatened. I have had personal conversations taken out of context, and my own words sharpened and used as a weapon against me. Just imagine my surprise when I was handed a letter in my own neighborhood that not only called into question the legitimacy of my own child’s medical condition, but my desire as a parent to protect him from harm.

All of this for what? To pressure me to bend into your will when you could have simply hired the attorney as a consultant already, on your own.

Please keep in mind, we are people who live in and love Rockland, too. We have to find ways as a community to care for each other, grow opportunities that make sense, and to ensure a brighter future. Attacking council members is not how we do that. We need to do better.

Austin and Councilor Adam Lachman also expressed concern regarding the anonymity of the group.

“I don’t really understand what the donor is hiding in order to influence City policy,” said Lachman. “If we are doing this in a transparent way, we should know the interests of that donor.”

Councilor Penny York voiced particular concern with the protest group’s attempt to use wallets to force their desired outcome.

York said the group could have hired Campanelli as a private consultant and had him draft his own ordinance that could be then presented to Council. Yet, because they tried to go the route they did, they actually stalled their own progress in their fight to keep cell towers out of Rockland neighborhoods. Instead of progressing forward, the City had to pause and conduct a vetting process of a third party [Campanelli].

Campanelli, who is not licensed in Maine, allegedly presents political opinions on Facebook, evidence of which was copied and pasted into a letter to Council by former City Councilor Nate Davis, and read aloud by City Manager Tom Luttrell.

Davis began his letter by acknowledging the City’s need to update Rockland’s cell ordinance, as well as to sympathize with residents who are concerned with the impact of telecommunication towers and installation.

“However, for the City to hire Attorney Campanelli would be an error of judgment comical and awesome in its intensity,” he wrote.

Councilor Sarah Austin said Davis’ letter was significantly truncated, and parts that were eliminated were meant primarily to characterize the public Facebook page of Attorney Campanelli.

“There’s a lot of profanity in [the posts], and a lot of skepticism about science,” said Austin. “But if you are interested, it is a public Facebook page, and I would encourage you to go look at it because something else I want to be careful about is who we associate with, and endorse, and hire as a community.”

Mayor Louise MacLellan-Ruf voted to accept the donation, but did not provide a reason during the actual vote. Earlier in the discussion, she did remind the audience that city-level councils are not divided by political party.

The City Planner and the City Attorney have worked to draft some articles that addressed a phenomenon – the small cell tower installations for 5G, according to Austin. However, Council processes take time since council wants to try to balance urgencies with being thoughtful and deliberative.

“We are making progress,” she said. “It isn’t that nothing is happening, or we’re digging in our heals. But we are also volunteers who are addressing lots of other stuff – all these things on the agenda – and I really would appreciate the patience and understanding of the community as we try to do this well. Together.”