By Scott Taylor,Staff Writer

AUBURN – A legal opinion Monday put an end to a June vote on a planned Great Falls parking garage.

In his written opinion, City Attorney Patrick Scully said residents do not have the right under the City Charter to call for a straw vote. He also said voters cannot call for a referendum on any city issue relating to appropriation of money, budgets or capital items.

City Clerk Mary Lou Magno said she could not issue petitions for people to sign to challenge the garage.

But backers vowed Monday night they would return.

“It’s just an opinion, and everyone’s got one,” said Ed Desgrosseilliers, chairman of the United Citizens of Auburn. “We can get one, too.”

Desgrosseilliers’ group voted last week to support the petition effort, and he said it offered financial support as well.

“We’ve raised enough money for a defense, and we will do it if we have to,” Desgrosseilliers said.

Five residents, led by Daniel Herrick, were hoping to force a June 13 vote to recall the City Council’s approval of the $5 million bond project. They filed a request for petitions with the city clerk last week hoping to ask voters, “Should the city of Auburn construct a parking garage in the Great Falls Plaza?”

Herrick said Monday the group might change the wording of their request. But he urged councilors to make further changes unnecessary.

“If the garage is such a great idea, let’s go ahead and put it to a vote,” Herrick said. “If it’s such a great deal, the voters will support it, and then we’ll just go away and we can put this whole thing behind us.”

That almost happened. Councilor Belinda Gerry put a last-minute item on the agenda, asking councilors to disregard Scully’s legal opinion and issue the petitions. That motion fell by a vote of 3-4, with Councilors Bethel Shields, Robert Hayes, Eric Samson and Kelly Matzen voting against issuing the petitions.

It was a similar vote to one in October at a special public hearing. That night, with Shields absent, councilors voted to preserve the garage bond despite angry criticism from 1,000 residents.

Monday, Samson tersely criticized council colleagues Donna Lyons Rowell, Bob Mennealy and Gerry for continually bringing up the issue. He also commented on the October hearing.

“I felt I was blindsided by councilors with a vote that was not planned and was not on the agenda,” he said. The meeting in October was called to discuss property valuations, not the parking garage. That’s why he voted against it.

He also said the garage does make economic sense for Auburn. Councilor Shields agreed.

“Just because I don’t agree with you, that doesn’t mean I’m not listening,” she told critics.

In the end, even Desgrosseilliers urged councilors to not disregard Scully’s opinion. A member of the commission that helped draft the latest City Charter, Desgrosseilliers said councilors threatened the charter if they challenged it that way.

“The proper thing to do is to change the wording, or challenging it in the courts,” he said. “I told you we’d get our opinion and we’d see you in courts, and I meant it.”