By Joseph Cyr
Staff Writer
LUDLOW — After the regular agenda was complete, Ludlow selectmen entered into an illegal executive session last Wednesday.
After adjourning from the meeting, selectmen re-convened and entered into an executive session with a resident. It was later discovered that the meeting was held illegally.
“That did happen,” Town Manager Diane Hines confirmed Thursday. “It was illegal. I spoke with a lawyer this morning and found out that it should not have happened. I didn’t know it was going to happen.”
Hines confirmed that the meeting involved all three selectmen — Virginia McCain, Greg Dow and Donna Austin — herself and Ludlow resident Brandy Peabody. Peabody is one of two candidates running for a seat on the board of selectmen. David Stevens is the other candidate.
Hines declined to comment on what was discussed in the meeting, but did say that no official action regarding any town business was taken following the illegal meeting.
Town Attorney Dan Nelson, of the law firm Severson, Hand and Nelson, attended a portion of Wednesday’s meeting, but was not in attendance by the time the board adjourned and re-convened. Nelson said Thursday that any town that adjourns and then re-convenes is holding an illegal meeting and therefore anything decided during that meeting becomes null and void.
During the regular portion of the meeting, Ludlow selectmen awarded the snowplowing bid to Steelstone, a business in Houlton, during their regular monthly meeting Wednesday. According to Hines, Steelstone was the low-bidder at $118,500.
Last month, selectmen rejected three bids presented to the town because all three bid the project in different ways, making it difficult to determine which bid was the most economical for the town. Requests for proposals were advertised a second time, specifying the individual or company needed to give a total cost proposal to remove snow and provide salt/sand for the roughly 20 miles of town-owned roads.
The only other individual to submit a bid was Randy Reeves, who bid $130,000.
The annual town meeting will be held Thursday, March 28, at 7 p.m. at the town office, located on the Ludlow Road. Polls open from 2-6 p.m. at the town office. Two candidates — Stevens and Peabody — are vying for one seat on the board of selectmen. Residents will also vote on a petition request to create a recall ordinance for removing members of the board of selectmen. A second referendum question will ask voters if they favor expanding the board of selectmen from its current three-member body to a five-member group.
