NEW GLOUCESTER – On Monday, Feb. 3, a New Gloucester citizen’s group presented a petition to the town clerk that could lead to a town meeting vote on whether residents should have the right to recall elected officials.
Under the proposed ordinance, a recall petition “shall contain a number of valid signatures equal to 10 percent of the number of votes cast for governor in the last gubernatorial election in New Gloucester.” The recall ordinance would require a separate petition for each targeted elected official.
The only recall mechanism, as prescribed by state law, currently in place is for removal of a selectman convicted of committing a crime against the town during a term in office.
If town officials verify that the submitted petition to allow recalls, which contained 321 signatures, has at least 272 valid signatures from registered New Gloucester voters, the selectmen must either hold a special town meeting on the recall ordinance within 60 days or insert the ordinance as an article in the next town meeting warrant, according to state statute.
Steve Hathorne, one of the organizers behind the petition, said that if the recall ordinance passes, perhaps the selectmen would change their behavior.
“I’m hoping that if we get this law on the books, it will smarten them up,” Hathorne said. “I would hope that these select people would rein themselves in.”
Spearheading the recall effort are about 10 New Gloucester residents who are motivated particularly by the Nov. 4 selectmen’s vote that led to the resignation of the town’s longtime bookkeeper, Sandra Sacco. The selectmen cut Sacco’s hours and benefits after a controversial executive session, which Sacco supporters said should have been held in public since it dealt with budgetary matters. They also say the board violated Sacco’s rights by not inviting her to attend the closed-door meeting.
At its Dec. 2 meeting, facing public opposition in the wake of Sacco’s resignation, the board voted to restore the bookkeeper position to its previous, full-time status and to form an ad hoc citizens’ committee to draft a recall ordinance.
Penny Hilton, who was involved in the recall ordinance petition, said that the members of the group did not trust the selectmen to handle the recall ordinance drafting process in a forthright manner.
“Because of their behavior, because of the unending, unending difficulty and resistance that we face with those guys and the dances that they do to get what they want, we just had no faith in their process, even if they’re going to go through the motions of doing that,” Hilton said.
“They could have the committee come up with their committee’s proposal and then the selectmen could change it if they care to,” she said. “They also have no obligation to act on it at any particular speed, and since some of the selectmen know that the whole motion of a recall ordinance is aimed at them, they have no motivation to be speedy about it.”
Hilton said that the organizers of the citizens’ petition all favor recalling Steve Libby. As for other members of the select board, there are differences of opinion, she said. Libby could not be reached for comment.
Although there is a general consensus among the group that the Sacco episode was the “last straw,” Hilton said, the organizers are politically diverse.
“I think all of them would be happy if she were reinstated, but it’s not just a group of her friends gathering around her,” Hilton said. “It’s a group of voters in New Gloucester who are really fed up with the selectmen.”
From left, Deputy Registrar of Voters Sharlene Myers checks over a stack of signed petitions submitted by residents Kathleen Potter, David Hilton, Steve Hathorne and Penny Hilton at the New Gloucester town office on Feb. 3. Send questions/comments to the editors.
