BROWNFIELD – In an extraordinary election Tuesday, townspeople booted the entire Board of Selectmen and re-elected the town clerk the board had forced out.
“You could have cut the tension with a knife,” Deputy Clerk Michelle Day said of the atmosphere at the polls in this southern Oxford County town.
Alvina Day, a lifelong Brownfield resident, organized recall petitions two months ago for Selectmen Vincent Pestilli, Irving Potter and David Thompson. She gathered more than 130 signatures to support the recall. She launched the petition drive after watching with mounting alarm the actions of selectmen during the past year, Alvina Day said Wednesday from her workplace, Frost Mountain Sand and Gravel.
“I think they got to a point where they thought they were unstoppable,” Alvina Day said. “I got the impression they didn’t care what the voters wanted, they were going to do it their way at all cost. People would go and ask questions, and sometimes they would answer the questions, and sometimes they would say, Discussion ended.'”
The breach between townspeople and selectmen became noticeable last year following town meeting. After a land use ordinance was defeated by a handful of votes, selectmen contacted the Maine Attorney General’s Office to investigate town clerk and Registrar of Voters Wanda Bartlett for possible voter fraud.
Soon after the town meeting, selectmen removed Bartlett from her registrar’s position and docked her pay, outraging some. Months later, selectmen pressured Bartlett to give up her other town positions of clerk and treasurer, a move that Alvina Day said was what finally drove her to seek their recall.
The Attorney General’s Office eventually charged Bartlett with one misdemeanor count of trying to influence a voter. She pleaded not guilty Tuesday in 9th District Court in Bridgton and requested a jury trial.
More than 800 Brownfield voters turned out Tuesday – an astonishingly high number for a primary election, or even a regular election, Michelle Day said. In the most recent governor’s race, 468 Brownfield residents cast votes. The town’s total population is 1,250, according to the latest Maine Municipal Directory.
Final tallies on the recall votes were 555-263 to oust Pestilli, 455-360 to dump Potter, and 453-364 to dismiss Thompson.
The vote essentially leaves the town without an elected government.
Meanwhile, voters re-elected Bartlett to the posts of clerk, treasurer and tax collector.
Potter declined comment when reached by phone Wednesday. Pestilli and Thompson did not return calls.
Bartlett also declined comment.
Town Attorney Durwood Parkinson said he has dropped all other business to attend to the emergency of a leaderless town.
“We’re making it the highest priority to move this forward for the best of the town,” he said Wednesday. He will seek an order from a Superior Court judge to authorize the town administrator to pay bills and keep the town running until new selectmen are put in place.
“It will be trying to survive on a triage basis,” Parkinson said.
Voters did elect Richard Norcross to replace Potter, whose term was up. But Norcross’ term does not begin until July 1, and even then, his ability to take official actions will be stymied by a lack of a quorum.
Typically, to hold special elections, towns need to plan for a period of 85 days, allowing candidates to declare their intention to run and giving them time to campaign, Michael Starn of the Maine Municipal Association said.
Parkinson said he will try to crunch this time period to allow the town to elect new leaders as soon as possible.
Alvina Day, a grandmother, said she was never daunted by challenging the board, and will look the former board members straight in the eye when she sees them again.
“I did the right thing,” she said. “I am a Christian woman who tries to do the right thing.”
Deputy Clerk Michelle Day said the town office is now trying to heal a fractured community.
“We all agree in the office it is time to rebuild the town and bring everyone back together,” she said.
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