WILTON – Selectmen Tuesday considered posting all town committee meetings in response to recent disagreements about whether three or more selectmen can legally attend a meeting without posting a special selectmen’s meeting.
The issue first arose during a Jan. 4 meeting of the ad hoc Fire Truck Advisory Committee, at which three selectmen, Terry Brann, Russell Black and Rodney Hall, were present. When Hall, the last to arrive, began to ask questions of the committee, Town Manager Peter Nielsen stopped the meeting and requested it be postponed until it could be officially posted in accordance with Maine’s Freedom of Access Act.
That act stipulates that a quorum of an elected board cannot meet without posting a meeting informing the public of its business and allowing public attendance, because, theoretically, a quorum could make decisions outside of posted meetings and then just make it official during a regular meeting.
After Nielsen asked to postpone the Jan. 4 meeting, Hall walked out, and a few weeks later his lawyer, David Sanders, sent Nielsen a letter accusing him of throwing Hall out of the meeting, misreading the Freedom of Access Act, and infringing upon Hall’s rights as a private citizen to attend public meetings.
Every selectman who spoke on the issue (Hall said he would make “no comment”) said he thought the present interpretation of the Freedom of Access Act, which effectively prohibits three or more of them from being at a community dance together, oversteps. But they disagreed on what to do about it.
Keith Swett and Terry Brann suggested posting all committee meetings, but Paul Gooch asked, “What is posting going to do for us?” Posting all meetings as special selectmen’s meetings might prevent situations like the one on Jan. 4, but would create bigger problems for selectmen, he said.
“We’re going to have to spend a lot more nights out, if every time three of you show up anywhere, Keith and I,” feel they have to show up, too, Gooch said.
“I’m not sure why what Peter said (on Jan. 4) was a surprise,” Gooch added. “We’d talked about it a number of times (prior to Jan. 4) how much we think it’s stupid,” he said.
Black suggested the board get legal information in writing detailing its responsibilities under the law from Maine Municipal Association lawyers prior to taking any action. Black said he had already requested the information but had not received it yet.
The meeting ended with no action taken. Gooch suggested selectmen, “give it more thought,” and added he hopes the board can come up with a solution to, “assure our public it is not our intent to have back-room meetings and leave people out.”
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