Staff Writer
LIMESTONE — On Feb. 25, 51 voters voted on behalf of the entire Limestone community during a town meeting scheduled to discuss Article 2, which existed to see if the voters of the town of Limestone will vote to rescind Article 29 of the Warrant for the Limestone Annual Town Meeting held on June 10 & 11, of 2008, which involved the creation of a community developer; there were 25 votes of “no” for Article 2 and 26 votes of “yes.” The town meeting was resultant of the resignation of former town employee, Larry Stamen, who was hired by the town as an economic development director.
Though 51 voters determined the fate of $43,000 included in Article 2, many who attended the meeting were opposed to holding the vote until the next town meeting in June.
“I don’t think that delaying the vote until June will end the work that [Stamen] has started,” said one concerned citizen.
“That is incorrect,” commented another individual at the meeting, “[Stamen] will not be offering his services to the town of Limestone in June.”
In Article 1 of the town meeting, Fire Chief Paul Durepo was nominated as moderator to preside over the meeting
The selectmen made a motion to pass Article 2, at which point moderator Durepo waited for comment. A few moments of polite silence quickly turned into discussion, tense at times, which lasted well over a half hour and delayed the Selectpeople meeting.
While most questions were answered immediately either by the town manager, the Selectpeople, or other community members in attendance, some questions went unanswered.
“I want to make a statement,” said one concerned citizen, starting the discussion, “[Article 2] is not what we voted on at a town meeting. I think the committee that was formed to hire this person overstepped their boundaries. I believe they became very close to the misuse of town funds, I think that the board of selectmen and that committee should apologize to every one of the citizens in the town of Limestone for their actions that they took in this,” he added. “They’re going to try to sell you something different here tonight, they sold us something that we really don’t want at the last town meeting,” he cautioned voters, “so pay close attention to what they’re asking; it’s not what we voted for, and it’s not what they promised us.”
“What I voted on as a selectmen was a community developer/chamber director of the town,” defended one Selectperson. “When you say that we did something wrong, what was voted on was exactly what happened. December first, the man was hired as a town employee. February first, he resigned as a town employee,” he concluded.
“Apparently [Stamen] doesn’t want the job,” the same citizen pressed, “Make a phone call, tell him that his services are no longer needed. It’s as simple as that.”
“We thought it would be nice to bring the people back in to vote on this so that they could hear exactly what was going on,” the Selectperson defended. “The Selectpeople are not hiring anybody. We’re asking the people to decide what direction the town wants to go.”
As of the meeting, the town of Limestone had paid Stamen $9,700 for the work he had done gathering information for his study, though many community members seemed confused as to the work Stamen was doing for Limestone. Citizens repeatedly referred to the study that Stamen was preparing for Limestone as a plan.
“You don’t build a house without a plan,” said one citizen, “This man was going to survey and present a plan that the town of Limestone could use to bring itself up and have a town here, not a street full of empty buildings and no progress being made,” she added. “This man was going to do the plan and present it to the town of Limestone. Maybe there would be parts of it that we didn’t like, but at least we would have a plan to go forward and rebuild the town of Limestone.”
Later, the issue of a ‘plan’ came up again and was addressed by Town Manager Donna Bernier.
“Don’t think of this study as a comprehensive plan for the town of Limestone,” she explained. “This is a study and Larry refers to the study as Limestone 2020 Vision: Blueprint for an Idyllic Maine Community.”
She also stated that in the case that a comprehensive plan was needed; Stamen would probably not be doing it.
“We have a comprehensive plan in progress right now through Northern Maine Development Commission that’s being done through our dues,” Bernier explained.
Though one citizen requested information about Stamen’s credentials, no one in attendance answered the question.
“I don’t dispute that this man knows his business, and I think we’re getting side tracked,” said one gentleman, “The bottom line for this whole thing is do we want to have this thing complete, yes or no. Anything that happened prior to this, we can’t change.”
Some citizens expressed concern about re-hiring Stamen, who submitted a contract that he wrote himself to the Selectpeople and Bernier for approval pending re-employment.
“If I were to come and work for you, I can quit and be re-hired whenever I want?” one woman asked the Selectpeople.
Funding was a big issue at the meeting; though the study required $21,000 for completion according to Bernier, the funding in Article 29 (the article referred to by Article 2) was for $43,000 — an amount that could not be changed for the vote.
“At the end of the year, the money goes back into surplus if it doesn’t get used,” she assured voters.
According to Fred Edgecomb, if the town was allowed to hire Stamen as a consultant, he would be in Limestone this week.