LIVERMORE FALLS – With four relatives of selectmen working for the town, board members were advised how to handle potential conflicts of interest Monday.
A conflict of interest exists only where an official has a direct or indirect personal financial interest in a matter pending before him or her, according to an attorney with the Maine Municipal Association.
The board received the opinion from MMA in light of the three labor contracts being negotiated, and selectmen’s relationships.
Selectman Bernal Lake’s brother Rodney Lake works for the Highway Department. Selectman Joyce Drake’s stepfather Fred Nadeau works at the Transfer Station. Selectman Russell Flagg’s wife, Kristal Flagg, is an elected town clerk. Selectmen Chairman Kenneth Jacques is distantly related to Kristal Flagg.
A conflict of interest does not arise solely because an official may be related by blood or marriage to someone who has a personal financial interest in a matter, MMA attorney Richard P. Flewelling stated in an e-mail dated April 1 to Selectman Bill Demaray.
“Unless the relationship includes a financial benefit to the official himself or herself, the official has no conflict of interest,” Flewelling wrote.
Demaray wrote to MMA seeking a legal opinion on the matter after a resident questioned board members during their last meeting about whether town officials had sought an opinion on what constitutes a conflict of interest.
Three contracts are under negotiations by the board and the union representing highway, police and dispatch departments’ employees. The employees are currently working on an old contract that expired in 2004.
Labor negotiations remain unsettled and are scheduled to go to fact-finding through an independent panel in May. The panel will hear all sides and make recommendations on ways to compromise to settle the contracts.
Flewelling wrote that of the three selectmen described, only the one who is married to the clerk may be disqualified from voting on the new contract because they live together and share house expenses.
Demaray didn’t ask about Jacques because of the distant relationship, he said.
While the other two selectmen also have relatives who work for the town, unless they would stand to benefit personally and financially from a vote, they have no legally disqualifying conflict of interest under Maine law, Flewelling said.
Demaray said he wanted to put the issue to rest and to have the legal opinion entered on the record.
Russell Flagg said after the meeting that he hasn’t voted on the contract and would excuse himself from the vote on the contracts, when the time came, if it affected his wife.
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