LUDLOW, Maine — Sometime next month, residents will be asked if they wish to form a committee to look at pulling out of the SAD 70 school system.
About 25 members of the public turned out Thursday for a special town meeting on whether the town should pursue pulling out of SAD 70. A referendum vote will be held in the future. That date has not been set as selectmen want to have additional public meetings.
According to Ludlow Town Manager Diane Hines, a citizens’ petition with 21 confirmed signatures of registered voters was presented to and accepted by selectmen. That petition was the subject of scrutiny by some members in the audience Thursday, with some claiming that signatures were obtained illegally because a member of the Board of Selectmen gathered signatures. Also, one resident felt people should have gone door-to-door in Ludlow to collect names, rather than simply waiting at the town office to get people to sign.
On Friday, Hines said she checked with lawyers from the Maine Municipal Association, a voluntary membership organization which offers an array of professional services to municipalities and other local governmental entities in Maine, on those public concerns.
Hines said she was informed by attorneys at MMA that a public official, such as a member of the board of selectmen, may solicit signatures for a petition to have a referendum placed before voters. Also, there is no law that states a person must go door-to-door to obtain signatures.
“When a person takes office they do not forfeit their First Amendment rights to free speech and circulate a petition,” Hines said.
To initiate a withdrawal process, a petition bearing the signatures of at least 10 percent of registered voters who participated in the last gubernatorial election must be submitted. The petition read: “Do you favor a petition for withdrawal
