Committee members Maynard St. Peter, Milo Haney, Doug Morrell, Freeman Cote and Chairperson Paul Camping talked last Tuesday about their current plans and the impetus of their movement.
“It has to go to the voters,” said Morrell. “The people have to speak. For me, that’s the bell we need to hear. If they don’t want it, then it dies. If they do, then we press forward. It has one place to either live or die, and that’s with the people.”
“Secession is a lot like a divorce,” said Camping. “Right now, we’re married to Caribou and our marriage isn’t working for us. So we’re going to split and take our land with us, forming a new government where we’ll have everything we need and nothing we don’t, for 28 percent less in taxes.”
“And it will be run by the people,” said Morrell, “not by a council.”
“The biggest reason we are seceding is because Caribou chooses to do nothing for the people,” said Haney, who explained that a petition for zero-based budgeting was one of the movement’s catalysts, and that another was the desire for a “town form of government,” in which local residents have a final say on the budget.
“We have no say on how money is spent in Caribou,” Haney continued, “Seven people make all those decisions. They have public hearings, but those mean nothing, and this is the biggest reason we’re going forward. Anything we say or do just gets tossed off to the side.”
“If people vote to secede, the next negotiation will be for our fair share of assets, what we’ve paid over the course of Caribou’s existence.” said St. Peter.
“What we’re doing is not so unusual in Maine,” said Camping, who cited examples throughout the state of others sharing an outlook not unlike the committee’s, including an editorial written by United States Senator Angus King, in which he praised the town form of government.
“The town meeting is democracy at its finest,” King wrote in an editorial published in the Aroostook Republican on June 22, 2016. “Anyone can speak, and anyone can try to influence the outcome of the vote.”
Camping also brought up Waterville’s tax revolt, in which Mayor Nick Isgro vetoed a $38 million dollar budget approved by their city council, along with Wiscasset’s recent meeting to discuss whether or not they need a town manager.
“There is also another secession movement in the town of Gray and Raymond,” Camping said. “The town of Gray is split in two by a lake. The people on the far side are getting no support from those on the municipal side, so they want to secede and join Raymond. That is going to be decided in this next legislature as well.”
Committee members compared their vision of Lyndon to something that would be more like Easton, Limestone, or any community with a population ranging from two to three thousand people.
“I don’t know if you could really compare Lyndon to another community,” said Morell. “The citizens of Lyndon will be sitting pretty. I’m not saying it will be a Utopia, but it will be a nice, solid community that has the services it needs.”
Those services, according to the committee, will include a volunteer fire department with a chief on the payroll, roads maintenance, and ambulance via Crown in Presque Isle. The town of Lyndon would still be a part of RSU 39, allowing children to attend area schools. The town would also have a say when it comes to police, and could vote for a local department or choose to utilize the State Police.
Those who have additional questions about the Secession Committee can visit the group’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/caribousecessioncommittee.
