By Natalie Bazinet
Staff Writer
LIMESTONE — Three resignations received board approval during the Sept. 5 meeting of the Limestone Board of Selectpeople, whittling the five-person board down to three and leaving the town without a director of the Parks and Recreation Department.
In addition, Town Clerk Marlene Durepo submitted a certified petition signed by 186 residents for the recall of current Selectpeople Tom Devoe, Gary O’Neal and Jesse Philbrick.
Three resignations accepted
Submitting their resignations were former Limestone Selectpeople Danny Gahagan Sr. and Jimmy Pelletier as well as Parks and Recreation Director Amanda Brooker.
Brooker is now employed by RSU 39 as a physical education/health teacher at Teague Park Elementary School/Limestone Community School, as approved by the RSU 39 School Board on Aug. 22.
Gahagan and Pelletier submitted their resignations to the town on Aug. 16 and 17 respectively, but the resignations were not effective until they received board approval at the last meeting, which Gahagan attended as an audience member. Gahagan and Pelletier each cited their own reasons for stepping down, and both resignations following the contested Aug. 15 selectpeople’s meeting.
Recall petition sent to Augusta for legal opinion
Shortly after the Aug. 15 meeting of the Limestone Board of Selectpeople, a petition began circulating throughout the town to recall board members Pelletier, Devoe, Philbrick and O’Neal from their elected positions on Limestone Board of Selectpeople; the petition began circulating after Gahagan Sr. had submitted his written resignation to the Town Office.
During the Aug. 15 meeting, O’Neal, Devoe and Philbrick swung the vote in favor of terminating the town’s contract with Fort Fairfield for shared services of Fire Chief Paul Durepo — a decision that was reversed days later during a special Selectpersons meeting on Aug. 20. The decision to terminate Durepo’s contract came two meetings after the board voted unanimously to not re-appoint Limestone’s Police Chief Stacey Mahan as head of the police department — a decision the selectpeople also rescinded.
According to the ordinance for the recall of elected selectmen of the Town of Limestone, the selectmen have 10 days from the Sept. 5 meeting to order an election by secret ballot that must be held in no less that 45 days and no more than 60 days from the time of the meeting. The two-page ordinance, adopted by voters in 2010, was explained to the selectpeople by Town Clerk Durepo.
Durepo explained that she was expecting a written response by the selectpeople within 10 days.
The board unanimously approved a motion to table action on the certified petition and send all materials involved down to the Attorney General’s Office in Augusta for a legal opinion.
According to Town Manager Donna Bernier as of Monday afternoon, tabling action on the recall petition does not change the necessity for the selectpeople to set an election date within ten days of the meeting.
Philbrick corrects the record
The disputed Aug. 15 decision to terminate the fire chief’s contract was brought up once more during the Sept. 5 meeting. Philbrick, who made the original motion, expressed that the minutes submitted for board approval from the Aug. 15 meeting were inaccurate.
Stating that he’d reviewed the tape of the Aug. 15 meeting three times, Philbrick requested that the record be corrected to reflect that his motion was simply to terminate the contract — not to hire a chief or share a chief.
“I want that stricken from the record, because that’s not what I said,” he told Town Manager Bernier.
Bernier questions Philbrick as to what he wanted corrected, and he explained that his motion was just to terminate the contract and didn’t include any wording regarding the chief
During the elected officials’ report portion of the Aug. 15 meeting, Philbrick initially stated:
“We got a contract with Fort Fairfield and it has lapsed for two years for the fire chief’s deal, but anyway, we ought to do something with that. I think there’s a savings here. We’re currently paying $21,100 for Paul’s services, and I feel that we can hire a chief for around ten, hire our own chief with our department. I’d like to have you fellows just think on it. The budget committee, they want us to save money, and this is a way to do it. You can save yourselves $11,000 pretty easy. I think I’m going to make a motion that we look into this and ought to terminate the contract as of Sept. 1 and if we can save ourselves some money, save it.”
The original motion was altered through a fair amount of board discussion, including changing the date accompanying the motion back to Oct. 15. As discussion on the topic continued, then Selectperson Chair Pelletier re-stated the motion to direct the conversation.
“The motion is made and seconded to terminate our joint fire chief situation as of Oct. 15 and to hire one for the town of Limestone,” Pelletier said during the Aug. 15 meeting.
After Bernier questioned what Philbrick wanted stricken from the record, she paused before replying “ok.”
Later in the meeting, during her Town Manager’s Report, Bernier also informed the selectpeople that they had received a new contract with the Town of Fort Fairfield for the fire chief’s services. Bernier expressed that she hoped the board would be able to approve the contract by their next meeting.
Citizen reminds Selectpeople that the town manger runs the municipality
Community member Arthur Thompson had a simple reminder for the three remaining members of the Limestone Board of Selectpeople, which he shared during the public comments portion of the meeting.
“I just want to call it to the board’s attention that we operate under a town manager form of government,” Thompson explaining that some other municipalities, like Woodland, operate with a head selectperson and no town manager.
Thompson expressed his opinion that the way the board has been operating reflected a “head selectperson” government and not a “town manager” style government.
“The way it’s going now, it looks ragged and it looks like the town manager is getting overlooked,” Thompson said, adding that there are a lot of individuals in the community who work very had to bring good things to the community and create a positive name for Limestone.
“But where there’s a lack of formality and a lack of cohesiveness amongst our leaders, it works against it,” he said.
Thompson said his reminder was just something for the board to think about.
Boarding home, bus for rec department, new Loring business discussed
Following a question posed by Limestone resident Fred Pelletier, Bernier informed the crowd that there isn’t much new information to pass along available on a ground-breaking date for the new boarding home slated for construction in Limestone by the Davis Long Term Care Group.
The most recent information she had was that general contractor Dana Littlefield, of E.W. Littlefield Inc. and Sons of Hartland has requested paperwork for all the permits required for the project.
Bernier also presented the Selectpeople with an update on the Blue Bird bus the town successfully placed a $5,000 bid on for the rec department; the vehicle will need some repairs that are estimated to cost about $562 before taking the trek up north. The total estimated bill for repairing the bus at its current location was estimated to be over $4,000, including all parts and labor.
A new business is taking root at the Loring Commerce Centre, and Bernier briefed the selectpeople on the company.
The tax exempt Transatlantic Orthopedic Foundation recently purchased the former Impact Auto location at Loring.
A low bid for gravel was also awarded to the Grand Falls, New Brunswick business K and M Sand and Gravel.
The next meeting of the Limestone Selectpeople is scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 19 at 6:30 at the Limestone Municipal Building.
