BIDDEFORD – State law requires city councils, selectmen and other municipal boards to vote in public. But a case in Biddeford has created something of a gray area: Officials here say decisions based on consensus can be made behind closed doors.
Biddeford’s current city manager apparently failed to win the support of a majority during a meeting that was not open to him or the public. As a result, Edward Clifford was informed that his contract would not be renewed this July.
Maine’s Freedom of Access law prohibits voting in executive session, and no vote was taken, according to Mayor Wallace Nutting. But he said several times that the council reached “consensus” on the matter of the city manager’s contract.
The matter did come up briefly for public discussion in March, when the council voted 6-3 to hire Maine Municipal Association to conduct a search for Clifford’s successor. Two of those opposing the motion spoke briefly on Clifford’s behalf.
At that meeting, Nutting said state law permits closed hearings to protect employees’ privacy or to avoid damaging their reputations. He said it became evident that a majority did not want to extend the contract, and that Clifford was notified so that he could search for a new position before his contract expired in July.
Both the Journal Tribune and Biddeford-Saco-OOB Courier wrote editorials critical of the mayor and council for making such a substantive decision behind closed doors. The Journal Tribune argued that the council owed the public an explanation for its decision.
“The fact remains that no vote of confidence either for or against Clifford has taken place, robbing the taxpayers of their opportunity to hear why the man who has been charting the path of the city for nearly two years is no longer wanted,” the Journal Tribune editorial said.
Sunshine Week is being observed in Maine and nationally this week.
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