For the lack of a second …

To the editor:
    I am not an expert on Zoning Appeals Board (ZBA) meetings, though I am familiar with parliamentary procedure. I served as a Chamber of Commerce President twice in Connecticut, worked on the Governor’s Private Industry Council there as well, and in my academic position served two terms as a Faculty Assembly Chair.  All use slightly different parliamentary guidelines, all can be very contentious, but in the three decades or so that I have been involved in public, business, and academic councils, I have always seen a certain fairness in the most contentious of confrontations. Both sides had the right to present their case. This has been the American standard since the Revolution. When one side does not have the right to present its case, democracy and representative government fails.
    What I witnessed the evening of June 3 was a failure of courtesy, fairness, and representative government. Over 70 people came to the ZBA meeting representing Aroostook Football, some from as far away as Houlton and Madawaska. They were there to defend the use of their own property to be used as a football field for our local youth. Many took time off from work, sacrificed for the cost of gasoline, or missed important events to make this a priority. They had a reason to come. Back on May 13, quite by surprise, the ZBA had denied the use of our land for its intended purpose when it was donated to Aroostook Football five years ago. We had been told not to worry: this May 13 hearing was only a “formality”. But when only three people complained about the mere potential of traffic noise, and lighting, the Board voted 3-2 against Aroostook Football. However, we were told we could appeal.
    Of course the Aroostook Football League responded well. Legal professionals, engineers, and others donated their time and worked for weeks to prepare a report for the local landowners and the ZBA to assure them that they had nothing to fear. And the pressure was on. As I write, 300 members of the National Guard are here in Presque Isle, ready to level our field and prepare it for the 2009 season. But now they have no field to prepare! It took three years of applications and negotiations to have them donate over $200,000 in work. But the ZBA killed that for the lack of a second.
    The report Aroostook Football prepared would have convinced any reasonable person that these properties would not be adversely affected. There is only a 12-week playing season, with one or two night games, and limited traffic. The first pre-game practice to the end of the season extends only from mid-August to mid-October. We have used a field in Caribou in a residential neighborhood for years without one complaint.
    The meeting started out routine enough. Chairman Larry Perry began the ZBA meeting by telling the 60 or 70 citizens gathered that this was an “informal meeting.” There aren’t many ZBA meetings this well attended. The last time a crowd arrived it was because a porn shop wanted to open downtown. But within two minutes, this promised “informal” meeting became a very formal meeting dominated by very strict rules and frequent questions to the town attorney. In an appeal, only ZBA members who dissented from the majority opinion of the Board can make a motion for an appeal to be heard. With one Board member running late and absent, Brian Colton made the motion to hear the appeal of the Aroostook Football League. The remaining three board members refused to second it. Mr. Perry declared the motion “dead.” When the other dissenting Board member arrived just three minutes later, Mr. Perry refused to allow the motion to be made again. He claimed it was “rejected”.
    Through no fault of any member of Aroostook Football League, the “informal” meeting ended only a few minutes after it began. The seventy citizens were stunned. There could be no further appeal, unless of course, if we chose to spend the rest of our limited assets on a long law suit. The Zoning Board of Appeals capriciously failed the town and the people it serves.
    So for lack of a second, the most trivial and least considered part of the parliamentary process, a $7500,000 project for our youth was killed. Not withstanding that according to Roberts Rules of Order Newly Revised (pp.35-36) a motion that is not seconded can be brought up again at any time. And not withstanding that the government of the United States does not require a second for any motion to be duly considered. The only purpose of the second is to keep a meeting running in a timely manner. In a small meeting, as opposed to a public one, it keeps the issues raised by one, lone person from dominating the discourse. But this was the only item to be acted upon on the agenda. There were 70 interested parties present.
    This was an immoral misuse of the second to destroy any attempt to bring forth evidence. I am sure you will hear that this was perfectly legal. Perhaps it was. However, if you consult Mason’s Manuel of Legislative Procedure, “National Conference of State Legislatures,” (2000) p. 121, you’ll will find that “Parliamentary practice in American governmental bodies does not require seconds to motions, and in Parliament itself, where the practice of seconding motions originated, they have not been required for more than a century.” The second, which in most case is a discarded triviality, was used to stop any and all debate and the presentation of evidence by your home football league.
    I tried to bring this parliamentary issue up during the meeting. I raised my hand to be recognized, at one time, keeping it up for three full minutes but was ignored by the Board. If it were a group I was more familiar with I would have called out, “Point of Order!” But I held my peace. I now think I should not have. On behalf of Aroostook Football and the parents that support it, I do apologize for not taking this initiative.
    For the lack of a second, your Presque Isle football program, the first of its kind in half a century, was not even given a single second to present its case. Its carefully prepared report will be buried. Aroostook Football was not even be allowed to distribute it to the Board. They feared they would be “tainted” by it: an interesting choice of words. Though I know its legal implications — parents and teens only heard, “unclean,” adding insult to injury.
    Every governing zoning board of appeals has the right to refuse a request for a variance. That is the law. But law is usually tempered with justice and is not a one sided process where the claimant is simply silenced. We certainly would have accepted without contempt a reasoned “no” to our request. So would our players. This program teaches our youth to respect authority, work together as a team, play their best, and develop pride in their team and city. But it will be very hard for the 20 young people, many of whom who attended their first government meeting with their parents, to see any sense of justice or fairness in this lack of a fair appeals hearing. The ZBA had a chance to help instill values by their actions. Instead they generated contempt by a process that was both unreasonable and discourteous to any tax paying citizen that attended. Everyone in this town has told me that our future is our youth. That was not considered by the three members of the Board who could not be bothered to hear the other side.
    As I write this, I have no idea what will happen before this week’s Star-Herald is published Wednesday. The Board of Directors is searching for land that can be used and prepared in the narrow window we have with the National Guard engineers that are here in Presque Isle for only the next few weeks. Some feel we’ll just continue playing and practicing in Caribou, which has welcomed us warmly. Or perhaps the dream of having a field will just die for Presque Isle, and we’ll move our permanent center to Fort Fairfield or Caribou. This matter may be “resolved” and “rejected” for the three ZBA members (Larry Perry, David Perry and Zachary Powers) that used a technicality to shut down a meeting in a record eight minutes, but for our community and for our youth, the work has just restarted. The program is strong enough to survive. We will not allow Aroostook County to lose football again!