Gorham town councilors rejected Tuesday a move to amend a new sex offender ordinance to restrict where registered sex offenders could work.
“It’s very disappointing,” Town Councilor Shonn Moulton, who sponsored the ordinance last month and proposed the amendment, said Wednesday.
In July, Gorham passed a measure prohibiting sex offenders registered for life from living or loitering within 2,500 feet of a school and 1,000 feet from a child care center. The ordinance passed, 5-0, with Jane Stinchfield Willett and Phil Dugas absent. Gorham’s ordinance went into effect Aug. 1.
But this week, the move to reconsider its July vote by Moulton to restrict where a registered sex offender could work was defeated, 2-5, with councilors Brenda Caldwell and Moulton favoring the amendment. The opposition surprised Moulton.
“I didn’t expect all five,” he said Wednesday.
Westbrook is proposing a sex offender ordinance modeled after the one in Gorham and will conduct a public hearing at 7 p.m. Monday. Westbrook’s proposal includes limiting where registered sex offenders could work.
Defeat of the Gorham amendment was especially disappointing for Moulton because Westbrook’s is based on Gorham’s. He said Gorham had taken a leadership step last month.
Moulton presented the proposed amendment to the Gorham council at Tuesday’s meeting. “This is about protecting our children,” Moulton said.
Burleigh Loveitt, council vice chairman, favored protecting children but said he was nervous about the amendment. He said the sex offender designation is a “broad brush” and some might not pose a danger to children. “I consider that we’ve done our duty” with the first ordinance, Loveitt said.
Norm Justice, council chairman, agreed with Loveitt. “I have concerns with this,” Justice said. “It’s really a state issue.”
Moulton said the amendment would close a loophole.
But Town Councilor Mike Phinney, a father of young children, said no one is more concerned about the welfare of children than he is. Phinney said the amendment would be a change in the ordinance. “It’s not a loophole,” Phinney said.
With the location of schools and child daycares, the amendment would have prevented a registered sex offender from working in Gorham Village. Stinchfield Willett centered her concern on those who have served their time and needed jobs.
“It encompasses the whole downtown,” she said.
Under Gorham’s rules, the council can’t reconsider its vote on the ordinance again until at least November, according to Town Clerk Christina Silberman. Three council seats will be available in November’s municipal election.
Moulton remained hopeful that a future Gorham council would amend the Gorham ordinance. However, he didn’t favor bringing back the amendment proposal unless there’s a major change in the council or unless there is pressure from the public. “Five people completely disagreed with me,” Moulton said.
There was no public comment on the proposed amendment.
Fifteen registered sex offenders are either living or working in Gorham, according to the state’s sex offender registry. One is a student, who lives in another community, at the University of Southern Maine.
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