Houlton Pioneer Times Photo/Joseph Cyr
COUNTING BALLOTS — Counting the secret ballots at Ludlow’s town meeting Thursday are, from left, clerk Rhonda Stevens, moderator Kathy Mazzuchelli and clerk Chanan Bond.
Recall ordinance meets with voter approval
By Joseph Cyr
Staff Writer
LUDLOW — A group of about 50 Ludlow residents approved a municipal budget in the amount of $253,094 Thursday evening.
That budget is a decrease of $86,945 from the previous year’s budget. According to Town Manager Diane Hines, much of that reduction was achieved when the town made its final payment to the Ludlow Road Rehab Fund last year, creating a savings of $67,840.
Voters also agreed to expand the town’s board of selectmen from the current three-member board to five elected officials starting with the 2014-15 fiscal year, which begins March 1, 2014. The move will come with an added cost to the town in the future, as selectmen are currently paid $50 per meeting.
Conducted by a secret ballot, the townspeople voted 31-18 to expand the town’s governing board. The article was the result of a citizen petition.
Another citizen petition driven article sought to create a recall ordinance by which the town could remove members of the selectboard. That article, also done by secret ballot, passed 33-16.
Language for the recall ordinance was approved in a subsequent article by a vote of 32-17. The ordinance read “Grounds for recall: An elected official may be recalled for (a) failure to appropriately carry out the duties and responsibilities of the office; (b) engaging in conduct which brings the office into disrepute; (c) engaging in conduct which displays an unfitness to hold the office; or (d) for the indictment or conviction of a crime under the laws of the state of Maine or a felony under the laws of the United States or entry of a plea of guilty to such an offense.”
There are limitations expressed in the article. Those limitation include: “No petition for recall shall be filed against an official with fewer than four months in office, or with fewer than 60 days of a multi-year term remaining. If an official has been subjected to a recall election and not removed, no recall petition shall be filed against that official until at least six months have passed since said recall election.”
At the polls earlier in the day, residents elected Dave Stevens to the board of selectmen. Stevens received 70 votes to narrowly beat Brandy Peabody (59 votes) for the three-year term on the board. At Thursday’s meeting, Peabody verbally requested a recount of the selectmen’s race.
Town Manager Diane Hines said Tuesday that she had contacted the state’s Bureau of Elections department to see what steps needed to be taken to conduct a recount. According to Hines, a written request must first be made to the town within five business days, before the process can begin.
As of Tuesday morning, no written request had been received, Hines said.
In addition, Maine Municipal Association informed the town that because the difference in votes was 8 percent, the losing candidate is required to provide a deposit to pay for the costs of the recount. If the recount upholds the vote, the losing candidate is required to pay the full amount of the recount procedure.
Hines said Tuesday she did not have an exact figure on what the fee would be. According to the state statue (30-A MRSA §2531-B) on recounts, the amount of the deposit “is determined by the clerk of the municipality and must be 50% of the reasonable estimate of the cost to the municipality performing the recount.”
During the town meeting, several residents tried to pose questions unrelated to specific dollar amounts listed in warrant articles. Much of the attempted discussion centered on the quality of plowing and sanding of town roads last winter.
Moderator Kathy Mazzuchelli said those types of questions should be addressed at regular monthly selectmen meetings, and not the town meeting, and therefore refused to allow discussion on the topic.
“The issue is you are going to appropriate ‘X’ amount of dollars for snow removal,” Mazzuchelli said. “You are either going to pass it or you’re not going to pass it. The issue of the quality of the snow removal is an issue that has to be addressed with the selectmen.”
Some expressed frustrations with that suggestion considering selectmen recently adopted a three-minute time limit for people to provide public comments at regular monthly meetings.
“I understand that, and I came to a lot of selectmen’s meetings, and I was basically told to ‘shut up’,” Lenny Carmichael said. “I want to talk to somebody … I’m going to get my point across.”
“I understand this is a contentious issue,” Mazzuchelli said. “What you should do is get a facilitator to come in with you for that specific issue.”
