POLAND – One member of the Board of Selectmen raised questions Tuesday about the legality of recent executive sessions, and where town officials’ authority lies.

Board members voted unanimously to hold a special meeting at 7 p.m. Nov. 23 in the historic Poland School House to discuss openly the topic of recent executive sessions. The official meeting is being combined with the board’s workshop on bylaws.

Before Tuesday’s regular meeting ended, selectmen also supported Chairman Glenn Peterson’s call to provide copies of the full board agenda and information packets to the press, a practice generally followed by elected municipal and school boards but one that has not been followed in Poland.

“The problem with these executive sessions is that they lend an air of secrecy to what we’re doing,” said Selectwoman Wendy Sanborn. “They make citizens question what goes on in their town.”

During the past two months, the board has held three executive sessions to deal with the problem of missing rescue medical billing records. A former town employee had been responsible for maintaining all billing information.

Sanborn referred to a May 20 letter regarding executive sessions from Poland resident Bryan Dench, an attorney who serves as the annual town meeting moderator but does not represent the town. Peterson said he assumed the letter was a courtesy to the board.

The letter was stamped as being received by the town of Poland in May, which was prior to the board’s executive sessions.

Dench’s letter to board members cited changes in the state’s Right to Know Law, effective July 30, 2004. The changes require elected bodies to cite the law whenever calling an executive session, in addition to stating “the precise nature of the business of the executive session.”

The town normally has legal representation by the firm Linnell Choate & Webber of Auburn, said Peterson. The board currently is seeking a new firm to represent Poland because of ongoing issues with the town’s lack of board bylaws or consistent practice in following the Right to Know Law, said Peterson.

Maine law prohibits any elected body from taking any vote or approving any action during executive session, and it bars board members from addressing any issue other than the one publicly announced in open session. In addition, executive sessions can only be called by a three-fifths vote of the board.

During their previous executive sessions, Selectmen discussed the hiring of a forensic auditor to examine a computer disk in hopes of retrieving missing information. However, no final decision was ever announced, and board members had been unaware that any action by town staff had been taken.

Sanborn announced Tuesday that she halted the work of an auditor last week after learning the town manager had contacted him in an effort to retrieve missing medical billing records.

“I put a stop to the work until we take a vote authorizing him to go forward,” said Sanborn. “I don’t like being told by the town manager that I can’t talk to the auditor. We don’t answer to the town manager. Because if that’s the case, then we don’t even need a Board of Selectmen in this town.”

Town Manager Richard Chick did not attend Tuesday’s meeting and is on vacation until next week, according to town staff.

Peterson ended the discussion by assuring the rest of the selectmen that he would talk to both Chick and the auditor to “get the stories straight.” Peterson said he would report his findings to the board at next week’s special meeting.

“That’s probably as far as we can get on this issue tonight,” said Peterson. “It would be nice if we knew who the auditor was.”