HARRISON – The owner of The Anchorage office complex publicly chastised Selectman Don Woolley Tuesday for acting inappropriately outside his authority as selectman.
Woolley said he had already apologized to his fellow selectmen for taking it upon himself to call state environmental officials and ask them to investigate an expansion to the downtown office complex, located on Long Lake.
But while he admitted to not following the proper town government channels, Woolley denied saying he was acting on behalf of selectmen, as alleged by complex owner Gary Searles.
Searles said he found Woolley discussing the legality of his expansion with Code Enforcement Officer Robbie Baker and Mike Morse of the Department of Environmental Protection’s shoreland protection division at town hall three weeks ago.
Searles had not been called to provide any paperwork about the expansion to the side of his building, which had Planning Board approval. Construction of the addition began early this summer.
Woolley had not informed the rest of the board or the town manager that he was actively questioning whether the addition as constructed was too close to the water as allowed under shoreland zoning.
Woolley denied saying he was representing the board, saying instead he was acting “as a resident taxpayer and a selectman.”
“You are a liar,” Searles responded. “I asked you twice.”
Searles said Morse did not find that Searles had violated the conditions of his building permit.
“You’ve got a loose cannon on the board,” Searles told the other members of the board. He said Woolley “went very, very far beyond the realm of being a selectman. If he’s taking action, it has to come before this board.”
Head Selectman Sheila Smith acknowledged that “proper channels were not gone through,” and added that Searles’ expansion project was never discussed by the board as a whole.
Searles added, “If there’s something that’s going on that affects me or my companies, all you’ve got to do is pick up the phone.”
ggeraghty@sunjournal.com
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