Improper activity causing town to exceed legal expense budget
To the Editor:
I write concerning the Sangerville Special Town Meeting planned for Sept. 8, 2015 and a warrant article for more legal services. Continuing legal challenges have exhausted the approved budget for legal services for the town under the 2015 legal budget.
On July 17, 2014 Richard P. Flewelling, assistant director of the Legal Services Department, Maine Municipal Association concluded article 15 on the Annual Town Meeting Warrant the Code of Ethics Ordinance was in fact legal and should be put on the warrant to be voted on by the Sangerville voters.
On March 4, 2015 at a legal special select board meeting for a final revue of the warrant articles for the annual town meeting the Code of Ethics Ordinance was voted to be put on the warrant as written with no opinion of any kind by the full board.
After March 4, 2014 Melissa Randall in her personal campaign to stop the Ordinance from being enacted, illegally without the vote or knowledge of the full board, and without a legal select board meeting took it upon herself and abusing her power of office to contact the town attorney and provide him a previous email draft of the ordinance with additional information and not the Attested Ordinance in order to get a negative opinion from the town attorney, and then illegally inserted the attorney opinion letter, and the opinion of the board into the town report just before it went out for print. This was done without the vote or knowledge of the full board.
This illegal activity cost the Sangerville taxpayers thousands of dollars in legal fees, and after this even more attorney fees to represent Randall on this illegal activity. All of this was against the wishes of, at the very least, 118 Sangerville citizens. The continuing legal challenges we are talking about were caused by Randall’s actions and this is why our legal budget is exhausted. I do not think the taxpayers of Sangerville should be responsible for the cost of Randall’s attorney fees for improper activity.
Richard R. Dobson Sr.
Sangerville