LIVERMORE FALLS — Selectmen voted unanimously Tuesday night to review its rules or policies on conducting meetings.

The agenda included a discussion of Robert’s Rules of Order.

“There are reasons we don’t really follow Robert’s Rules of Order directly,” board Chairwoman Louise Chabot said.

If selectmen follow them, there will be no back and forth with each another and the public would not be able to ask questions on an item under discussion, she said.

Under the rules, the chairperson cannot make a motion and cannot vote, Chabot said.

“Most towns around us don’t follow Robert’s Rules of Order,” she said. “We follow it as much as possible.”

The Maine Municipal Association’s handbook does recommend that boards have rules for conducting meetings, Selectman Ron Chadwick said. He suggested developing a policy on the same.

The board does have a document called Maintaining Order at a Selectmen’s Meeting, but it was never officially adopted by the board.

Chabot read it at a Sept. 16, 2014, board meeting and said it was supported by the Maine Municipal Association and the board’s rules.

Chadwick said a chairperson can vote or has the right not to vote under Robert’s Rules. He said he would like to have a document that has the board’s operating procedure written down so it works in sequence.

“I don’t think it hurts to have rules,” Chabot said.

When the town has a meeting moderator, the person conducts the meetings using certain rules of procedure, Selectman Jim Collins said.

Robert’s Rules of Order are very complex and it is hard to stay within them, he said.

“I like the way we do business because we modify it to make it work,” he said.

Chadwick said he just wanted to have something in writing that works and the board can follow in conducting meetings. He didn’t care if it was Robert’s Rules, he said.

“I would hate to adopt Robert’s Rules of Order and have people come here and not be able to talk,” Chabot said.

She suggested that board members reread the rules of conduct and see if something needs to be modified.

Resident Tim Fournier asked if they could put public input back on the agenda.

Livermore Falls selectmen removed public comment from the agenda last year.

A lot of times things are brought up and the board is blindsided and doesn’t have knowledge of what the people are speaking, Chabot said. If it is on the agenda, it can be looked into and the board will have answers at the meeting. People have also made negative comments against staff, she said.

Fournier said he has heard from people who say they don’t come to the meetings because they cannot say anything.

People are allowed to ask questions during discussions on agenda items.

People are not only not coming to meetings because of that, Flagg said. They also don’t like to see people degrading staff and others, she said. It is derogatory and unfair, she said.

Comments on staff should be off the table, she said.

It should be, Fournier said.

Nobody minds people asking a question if they really want an answer, she said. But some people really don’t want an answer and just want to make trouble, she said.

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