By Natalie Bazinet
Staff Writer
LIMESTONE — The resident-signed recall petition that sought to remove the three remaining Limestone Selectpeople from their elected positions was found invalid by a Caribou attorney last week.
In a letter dated Sept. 12 addressed to Town Manager Donna Bernier, Richard Solman of Solman and Hunter P.A. stated their opinion that the petitions do no comply with the provision of the Limestone Recall Ordinance passed in 2010.
“In this case all of the recall petitions are deficient in that they are not addressed to the Town Clerk and the bottom of each page does not contain the necessary certification by the circulator that the signatures on the page are genuine,” Solman wrote. “It is our opinion that a court would strictly construe the provision of the ordinance given the severity of the remedy sought.”
Though Town Clerk Marlene Durepo did certify that there were enough signatures per person collected on the petitions, she did agree that the format of the petition itself was incorrect.
The recall petition was submitted to the selectpeople during their Sept. 5 meeting, during which they tabled action on the petition; at that time, the motion of Selectperson Gary O’Neal to send the petition to the Attorney General’s Office for verification was approved.
The invalid petition sought to remove O’Neal and his fellow remaining Selectpeople Tom Devoe and Jesse Philbrick, and each signature obtained was in response to the question “Are you in favor of recalling selectperson [name stated] from the Limestone Board of Selectmen” with “incompetence” cited as the reason. Examples of incompetence given on the signed petition stated “firing Police Chief and Fire Chief.”
The town’s police chief, Stacey Mahan, was not reappointed the head of the police department by the Selectpeople during a regularly scheduled July 18 meeting of the board; that decision was reversed during the following regularly scheduled meeting on Aug. 1.
The selectpeople agreed to terminate the town’s contract with Fort Fairfield for shared services of Fire Chief Paul Durepo effective as of Oct. 15 during a regularly scheduled Aug. 15 meeting; that decision was reversed during a special meeting of the Selectpeople on Aug. 20.
When the petition was first presented to the selectpeople on Sept. 5, they had 10 days to select a date for the recall vote to occur; in Solman’s letter, he advised that a recall election should not be held.
“Section four of the recall ordinance provides that the Clerk shall within 10 days certify that all of the procedural requirements have been met or notify the voter who filed the petition that the petition is insufficient. Given my opinion, the Clerk should file the petitions and notice each voter who filed the petition that they are insufficient,” Solmon wrote. “Unless and until valid petitions are presented, the Town should not schedule a recall election.”
Though the initial recall petition was found invalid, former selectperson and petition advocate Danny Gahagan Sr. is confident that gathering signatures for a new, properly formatted petition will be easy to obtain.
Gahagan emphasized that the problem with the invalid petition was the document’s format and not the sentiment.
“[The problem wasn’t] the fact that over 180 people voted no-confidence and wanted these people removed,” he said.
Gahagan, whose resignation from the board was accepted on Sept. 5, advised that a new recall petition will begin circulating tonight after the 6:30 p.m. selectperson’s meeting.
“I’ve fielded a numerous amount of phone calls from the town, and they’re extremely upset with the board,” Gahagan said. “This has only rejuvenated the drive.”
Selectperson Chair Devoe and Philbrick could not be reached at presstime for comment despite multiple phone calls on Monday and Tuesday; O’Neal could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.
