Solid Waste reappointment stirs controversy

NORWAY — A Paris representative to the Norway-Paris Solid Waste Committee unsuccessfully asked Norway selectmen Thursday night to not reappoint a Norway committee member who she claims is not adhering to the bylaws.
"If we appoint the same people who only will abide by rules and bylaws subjectively and selectively as they see fit, are we really doing the best for the citizens of Norway and Paris?" Janet Jamison asked the board in a three-page statement she read.
Jamison asked board members to reconsider the appointment of Eric Grondahl after she said the Norway appointee used fowl language and implied he would not follow at least one section of the new solid waste committee interlocal agreement.
The agreement was developed this past year to give selectmen in each town more oversight of solid waste operations.
According to Jamison, a former Paris selectman who was appointed by Paris selectmen recently to serve on the Solid Waste Committee, the incident occurred on Tuesday evening after she arrived about 10 minutes late to a Solid Waste Committee meeting which had just adjourned.
"Eric G. gave me a hearty shake of the hand to welcome me to the board. I then asked him as president elect if he wouldn't be moving into the president's seat next year," Jamison said.
"Eric stated that he couldn't do that because of his job and related travel. I said that the bylaws state that the president elect move to the president's seat successively." At that point Eric bellowed at me that he 'didn't give a s*** what the bylaws said.'"
Grondahl denied Thursday night that he used any fowl language. "I never said that," said Grondahl in a telephone interview from his home shortly after the board meeting.
"I shook her hand. I welcomed her to the board. She's just trying to start trouble. She'll realize that we're all trying to work together." Grondahl, who was unaware of Jamison's appearance at the Norway selectmen meeting, said he never used inappropriate language but he did concede that he may have said something like, "I don't care what the bylaws said. I can't serve as president."
Grondahl said because he works as a professional engineer who is registered in four states, he often has to travel and would be unable to serve as president.
The new bylaws, enacted by both Paris and Norway this year, call for the president elect to move successively to the office of the president on the first day of July each year. The new bylaws became effective on Wednesday, the day after the incident allegedly happened.
The members elected Al Atkinson of Paris as president during the brief June 30 meeting. Selectman Bill Damon said he would not vote against Grondahl but said, "If he disagrees with any person whether it's a man or a woman, he should show them some respect and not use fowl language. I'd like him to understand that."
Selectman Russell Newcomb said he would be concerned if Grondahl did not follow the rules of the new agreement but until such time as he doesn't, he saw no problem in his reappointment to the board.
In addition to Grondahl's reappointment to the board, Bruce Cook was appointed to the one-year term and Dundee Pratt, an alternate last year, was appointed to a two-year term.
ldixon@sunjournal.com