By Grace Fenderson,Special to the Sun Journal

POLAND – Selectmen voted unanimously Tuesday night to accept a petition signed by more than 300 Poland voters for a proposed town ordinance to recall elected officials.

The petition, submitted to the Poland Town Office last week, was sparked by the $2.7 million budget shortfall the town discovered during its annual audit.

The behavior of some board members, and their decision to reappoint ailing Town Manager Richard Chick, led some residents to feel they were not acting in the best interest of the town. Since Poland currently has no ordinance on its books for the process of recalling officials, a few members of the town sprang into action to quickly draft a petition and submit it to the town office for approval by the board. The vote went through without incident or discussion.

Many taxpayers voiced disapproval that Chick was reappointed at the July 5 board meeting.

On Tuesday night, board member Wendy Sanborn was skeptical about whether Chick had been forthcoming with information about the shortfall when he was first aware of it. She asked Chick, “Did you tell the attorney we were 2-point-something million dollars in the hole? Yes or no?” His reply was a simple, “No, I did not.”

A few people in the audience called out, “Why did you reappoint him?” but got no response from the board.

Talk again turned to the shortfall, and how the town is dealing with it.

Board Chairwoman Sandra Knowles reassured the public that any money owed to Poland Spring because of the tax-incentive-financing blunder must come out of the TIF account. Due to the TIF contract, the owed money could not be made up by raising taxes.

However, the board again pointed out that the mill rate has been kept too low for the past six years, and that will have to be remedied. Therefore, taxpayers in Poland can expect their mill rate to rise some to reflect the corrections, but not to pay back Poland Spring.

Assistant Town Manager Rosemary Roy also explained that the owed amount is again down to the original $2.2 million figure, because Poland will make its $474,000 annual payment to Poland Spring this year and get it slowly back on track.

Lionel Ferland introduced a motion to approve Knowles, board member Reginald Jordan, along with the town’s attorney, as representatives for negotiations with Poland Spring. Knowles has previously spoken with Poland Spring reps regarding the TIF mishap, but this is the first official move to appoint representatives to work out a repayment plan.

Sanborn asked what qualifications Jordan and Knowles had for this appointment. Ferland explained that he felt the choice was natural since Knowles is the current board chair, and Jordan has both previously served as chair and dealt with Poland Spring.

In response to unease at the meeting, Ferland amended his motion to include Sanborn as a representative. The representatives will periodically report to the board about their progress, and the final decision about a payment plan will be a board decision. This drew a favorable response from the crowd and was unanimously approved by the board.

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