CARIBOU, Maine — A final decision could potentially be made on the Caribou Secession bill during a legislative workshop next Monday, April 3.
If passed, the Sen. Troy Jackson’s bill LD 830 “An Act To Authorize Portions of the City of Caribou to Secede and Form the Town of Lyndon”, would give rural Caribou citizens the opportunity to decide if a portion of the city should incorporated as a new town called Lyndon. The Caribou Secession Committee cites lower taxes and a town form of government, as opposed to Caribou’s current city council/city manager governing system, as some of the advantages associated with seceding.
A public hearing was held March 27, in which state lawmakers looked over three bills asking for secession throughout the state, including two areas within the town of Gray: the Mount Hunger area, and the “area of the west side of Little Sebago Lake.”
A number of Caribou residents provided written items for testimony in the public hearing, including Mayor Gary Aiken, RSU 39 Superintendent Tim Doak, and City Councilors Tim Guerrette, Philip McDonough and Joan Theriault.
Both Aiken and Guerrette, in their written testimony, allege that signatures for the petition were garnered unfairly.
“Many people who signed their petition were told it would just allow their group to meet with City Council to talk about lowering taxes,” Aiken wrote. “Others were told if you want to save 28 percent on your taxes, just sign here.”
Guerrette wrote that when members of the secession effort knocked on his door, they asked if he wanted taxes lowered and told him to sign a document. The councilor added that none of his questions regarding secession were answered during the visit.
Doak sent a signed letter stating that “Eastern Aroostook RSU 39 will work to see that the education of current Caribou, Limestone and Stockholm resident students is not interrupted or disturbed before, during or after the secession process.”
Councilor McDonough wrote that LD 830 should not move forward, as it had failed in two previous hearings.
“To allow this bill to move forward in my opinion violates the intent of the statute and would give the appearance that this process can go on for perpetuity and give the impression that we are not following our laws and picking and choosing how we follow them,” McDonough wrote. “I am a firm believer in the democratic process and in my estimation it had been met in 2015.”
Theriault, like Guerrette and Aiken, also claims that citizens were tricked into signing the petition.
“Many said they were told the reason for the petition was to lower the taxes in Caribou,” wrote Theriault. “Some told me that when they were asked to see the petition, they were not shown the actual wording of it. One person in particular told me that he asked the petitioner three separate times if they only reason he was signing this was to lower the taxes, and he was told ‘yes’ each time.”
Secession Committee Chairman Paul Camping attended the March 27 meeting in person, and provided a testimony in favor of the bill, alleging that the City of Caribou has “trampled upon and violated” the constitutional rights of citizens, and “cares more about serving itself than serving its rural citizens.”
Camping cited Article VIII of the Caribou City Charter, explaining that it “unconstitutionally strips us of our right to petition the City Council for an Ordinance Initiative or Referendum, if that petition pertains to the budget or capital program or any ordinance pertaining to the appropriation of money, levy of taxes or salaries of City officers or employees.”
“These unconstitutional prohibitions centralize all of the decision-making authority within the City Council and therefore leaves the citizens of Caribou powerless to protect themselves from high taxes and undesirable ordinances,” Camping said. “Accordingly, we are not allowed to vote on the City’s Expense or Capital Improvement budgets, even though these items are the primary reasons for yearly tax increases. Our goal therefore, is to secede from the City of Caribou in order to form the new town of Lyndon in which we will have the Town Meeting form of government. Direct democratic rule will restore our civil liberties and return the power to control spending and taxation to its citizens.”
Camping later said there is no guarantee that a final decision will be made during the upcoming April 3 work session.
“It’s in the hands of the legislature at this point,” Camping said. “We’re waiting for them to complete their work session and see where we go next.”
Find a full version of LD 830 here.
