PARIS – Selectmen voted unanimously Monday to have the policy and procedures committee draft a recall ordinance that would provide for elected officials to be removed from office.
Resident Kathy Richardson had asked selectmen to discuss the possibility. She said examples of recall ordinances she has looked provide for the recall of elected officials, with the exception of school boards.
“I understand the form is pretty standard,” she said.
Recall ordinances in several Maine towns require a certain percentage of voters in the last gubernatorial election to petition the town for a recall election. Some ordinances list specific grounds for the removal of a town officer.
Chairman Raymond Glover previously said that the town has no authority to remove an elected official before their term is up. The Maine Municipal Officers manual allows for an officer to be fined in the event of “severe dereliction of duty” or removed by court order in serious cases.
Rick Jackson, spokesman for a group of petitioners who have proposed a revised subdivision ordinance that will go to referendum in June, had previously said the petitioners would also be drawing up ordinances for recall of elected officials and for the submission of petitions.
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