ORIENT, Maine — The annual town meeting for Orient was recessed until Saturday after an often contentious three-hour meeting that dealt with 20 of the town’s 36 scheduled articles.
The meeting, which was held outdoors with chairs placed six feet apart to comply with social distancing guidelines, started at 6 p.m. on Aug. 8 and lasted until shortly before 9 p.m., well after the sun had set. More than 25 people attended, which was approximately a tenth of the small town’s total population.
Residents of Orient raised concerns with several articles on the meeting’s agenda and with recent actions taken by town officials, many of whom are family members of Selectman Dale Foley Sr. and his sister Mary Beth, who served as a moderator for the town meeting. Issues included the firing of the town’s code enforcement officer in October, and that the town has not had an audit in the last three years.
The meeting also follows a controversial election which saw write-in candidate Keith Hayes elected to the Board of Selectmen, defeating longtime selectman Mary Beth Foley. His victory was initially denied by town officials who claimed Hayes’ candidacy was invalid due to a law passed in the Maine Legislature in 2015 that stated write-in candidates must file a declaration to the Secretary of State 60 days prior to the election. Supporters of Hayes argued that Orient had never adopted those provisions.
After more than a week of deliberation, Hayes was officially declared the winner, and the town was able to hold its annual meeting.
One article on the agenda was whether the town should vote to adopt the write-in voting laws from the Maine Legislature. Some residents raised skepticism about why the article was listed on the agenda.
“I was at the selectmen’s meeting on 22nd of July, and they immediately made a motion that the only change was that they were going to take out the things that had already been voted on,” said resident Heather Zakupowsky during the meeting. “My question is, where did this article come from?”
Ultimately, the residents opted to pass over the article. It will be revisited when the town meeting reconvenes.
Another article, which concerned how much money the town will raise to appropriate for town officials, also drew heated contention. Many took issue with the sum to be raised for the town clerk, Dale Foley Jr., which was proposed at $35,000, a $10,000 increase from last year. The total proposed increase for town officials’ salaries was $11,400.
A motion to amend his salary to $25,000 was passed by the town.
Mary Beth Foley, in an unusual move, temporarily handed over her moderator duties to Dale Foley Sr. to defend her nephew’s role.
“We have someone who is trained to do everything except trucks,” she said. “He’s trained in elections. He’s trained in everything. He works hard here. He puts in extra hours. I don’t see a problem with a $5,000 raise 10 years after you raise $30,000 for this position.”
It isn’t the first time Mary Beth Foley was at the center of controversy in town politics. In 2010, Foley, at the time serving as town manager for Ludlow, was suspended without pay after failing to provide the town’s financial records and audits from the previous three years after then-State Auditor Neria Douglass subpoenaed for them. She later resigned. The town of Ludlow declined to pursue charges on the matter and gave Foley back pay from the time she was suspended until she resigned.
The town will continue its meeting at 3 p.m. on Saturday when it will discuss the remaining articles on the agenda, which includes appropriating funds for several organizations such as Aroostook Agency on Aging and Maine Public, as well as a continuation of the subject of adopting the rules for write-in candidates.
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Correction: An earlier version of this story contained errors and requires clarification. A motion was approved to amend the salary of town clerk from the proposed amount of $35,000 to the 2019 amount of $25,000. Mileage expenses were not included in that motion. The article also should have stated it isn’t the first time Mary Beth Foley has seen herself at the center of controversy in town politics, not the Foley family in general. And that current Ludlow Town Manager Diane Hines said unrelated to the meeting that the town opted not to pursue charges in the 2010 matter and gave Foley back pay from the time she was suspended until she resigned.
