ORIENT, Maine — For the first time since November, residents of the small town of Orient gathered at the town office to hold a regular selectmen’s meeting, picking up on some of the controversy that had occurred the previous fall and summer.
The controversy had centered around Selectman Dale Foley Sr. and his sister Mary Beth Foley, who had previously served on the board until losing last year’s election to a write-in candidate, Keith Hayes, but continued to serve as a deputy town clerk.
Townspeople had taken the Foleys to task for failing to complete an audit for the town since 2016. The audit for that year had shown the town had major deficiencies in areas such as depositing funds on time and failing to keep proper documentation of disbursements. Prior to her stint in Orient, Mary Beth Foley had resigned as town manager for Ludlow after a similar lack of audits caused the town to come under financial scrutiny.
Dale Foley Sr. was not present at the meeting held on May 27, and Selectman Paul Lamach said that Mary Beth Foley had resigned from her position as deputy town clerk. He also said that Dale Foley Sr. had locked all the doors to the town office and was the only one who held the keys to the building, save for one storage room, where the May 27 meeting was held.
“He has taken siege of the town office,” Lamach said. “Luckily, I have a key to the back door so I can get in here.”
Lamach said he had tried to contact the Maine Municipal Association for assistance on the issue, but was told because it was an internal issue that it was up to the town to resolve it.
Another issue the two present selectmen discussed was restarting the town’s planning board, which had also been inactive over the past six months.
“Our town’s been paused for six months now in regard to this virus thing, and we get people that are antsy and getting irritated because we’re just sitting here and not doing anything,” Hayes said. “It’s frustrating when you have something that you want to fix up and you come up here just on weekends and you can’t do it.”
Despite the issues which have plagued the town over the past year, Lamach and Hayes said they were focused on looking ahead and trying to improve conditions for the town.
“We both want the town to start moving forward,” Lamach said. “I’m proud of Orient just like everyone else that lives here.”
