Woodland meeting canceled after Select Board member resigns and another doesn’t show

7 months ago

WOODLAND, Maine — The town’s Select Board is meeting Wednesday evening for an executive session to discuss a tax abatement request after the meeting postponed from Sept. 19 to Tuesday did not happen.

After more than 30 residents arrived outside the town office Tuesday evening, Select Board member Kathy Ouellette said the board couldn’t legally meet because the chair of the board, Harold Tardy, had resigned and the other board member, Thomas Drew, was not present.

Drew said Wednesday that he did not show up to the meeting Tuesday because he and Ouellette disagreed about when to reschedule the Sept. 19 meeting.

Drew said that the town is legally required to provide residents with at least seven days’ notice of all scheduled meetings and that Tuesday would have been too soon to reschedule the previous meeting.

In his letter of resignation, Tardy said that he is resigning due to health concerns. He dated his resignation effective Sept. 19, at the end of the Select Board meeting.

However, the Select Board has not voted to accept Tardy’s resignation because they have yet to meet in public again, Ouellette said.

Tardy has not responded to requests for comment. 

On Sept. 19, residents voted to postpone the regularly scheduled board meeting after Tardy stated that both Drew and Page would not be present.

The board had planned to discuss town staff job descriptions, sign payroll warrants, hold a question and answer period for residents and go into executive session to discuss a tax abatement, according to an agenda on the town’s website.

The next Select Board meeting has been scheduled for Oct. 17, according to the town’s website.