Community group criticizes county commissioners
The nonpartisan community group, PROACT!, announced that they presented the Piscataquis County Commissioners with a petition signed online by over 300 people asking the commissioners to rescind their January ‘Resolution of Protest.’ The group’s petition was delivered via certified mail on March 19, but after repeated official requests to have the petition put on the commissioner’s agenda PROACT! has received no response.
“As citizens of Piscataquis and constituents of the Commissioners, we deserve and expect a response,” said Eric Boothroyd a member of PROACT!, “The Maine Constitution states ‘The people have a right at all times…to give instructions to their representatives, and to request…redress of their wrongs and grievances.’ The Commissioners have a constitutional responsibility to respond to us and they are ignoring that responsibility.”
The PROACT! petition asks the commissioners to immediately rescind their resolution of protest which not only cites false information about the COVID-19 virus, and urges actions contrary to public health and scientific consensus, but also uses racist and potentially dangerous language, calling COVID-19 the “Wuhan-virus.”
The commissioners have consistently violated Maine’s Free and Open Access Act by holding “two-tiered” meetings: allowing some residents to attend in person while denying equitable opportunity for Zoom attendees, who are unable or do not feel safe to attend an in-person meeting, to identify speakers, ask questions, or evaluate written materials being discussed. Requests from PROACT! members for access to relevant documents prior to meetings have been ignored.
Commissioners also continue to come under fire from residents in Piscataquis County for other actions which many feel are outside the scope of their authority, are based on personal vendettas and represent an abuse of power. The state attorney general has been in contact with the commissioners regarding how they conduct their meetings.
“The commissioner’s resolution and the disrespectful way they conduct meetings is a disservice to our residents and frankly an embarrassment to Piscataquis County,” said PROACT! member Kent Black.
PROACT! Is a non-partisan community organization based in Piscataquis County. For more information on PROACT! please visit their Facebook page or email proact@nonpartisan.com.