Maine
Residents in a Maine town propose ethics code after months of dysfunction
WOODLAND, Maine — Residents in one Aroostook town have banded together to create rules that they believe will hold elected leaders to higher standards.
For much of the past year, Woodland residents found themselves caught in the middle of dysfunction within local government. Conflicts between Select Board members often canceled or derailed public meetings, pushed back basic town business and led to turnover within the board and town departments.
Those issues inspired a group of seven residents to form a steering committee that has been meeting since February. Members are now hoping that residents will approve the town’s first set of rules for town government and code of ethics for elected officials.
“The town has had nothing: no bylaws or ordinances, no code of ethics, no standards,” said Lorraine Chamberlain, the panel’s chair. “We need structure and standards that will last.”
The proposed 18-page “operational procedures ordinance” would govern duties for the town’s Select Board and committees, how public meetings and hearings should be conducted, rules for public comment and voting, largely based on Robert’s Rules of Order and Maine Municipal Association’s guidelines for towns.
For instance, residents would have to limit public comments to three minutes during Select Board meetings, stay focused on town business and not use their time to make complaints against or attack the character of board members. The board chair would have the right to ask people violating those rules to leave the meeting.
The Code of Ethics would prohibit Select Board members from interrupting each other during meetings and engaging in conflicts of interest. They would need to refrain from “abusive conduct” of colleagues and citizens, which could include verbal attacks, disparaging remarks and written comments on social media in or outside of meetings.
Conflicts of interest could include a board member voting on matters pertaining to immediate family or anything that results in financial or personal gain, receiving gifts that influence how they vote on town matters and distributing pamphlets promoting family members who run for town boards or committees.
For too long, the town has not had a clear set of rules for holding leaders accountable, but the new ordinance could potentially alleviate most issues, said current Select Board chairperson Matt Cole.
“You’d have to conduct yourself with class,” he said.
The steering committee originally set out to create those rules through town bylaws, but later learned that the Select Board could legally vote to change bylaws. But an ordinance must be approved by residents in a town meeting, Chamberlain said.
“We wanted standards that could be in place no matter who is on the board,” Chamberlain said. “A new board could easily not follow a set of bylaws.”
Chamberlain and committee members will hold a public hearing Wednesday, Oct. 30 at 5:30 p.m. at Woodland Consolidated School to gather feedback from residents about the ordinance.Once the committee has made changes based on that feedback, they and the Select Board will schedule a special town meeting for residents to vote on the ordinance. Residents can view the full proposed ordinance on the Woodland town website.
Many Maine municipalities will open cooling centers this week with the National Weather Service issuing a variety of heat advisories covering the next few days.
The Maine DEP also issued an air quality alert for Wednesday with ground-level ozone expected to reach levels that are unhealthy for sensitive groups.
All of York County, interior Cumberland and Androscoggin counties, and the southern half of Oxford County will fall under an extreme heat warning from 11 a.m. Wednesday to 8 p.m. Friday.
The warning calls for “dangerously hot conditions” that could feature heat index values of up to 110 degrees, with overnight lows only expected to fall into the 70s, according to the weather service’s office in Gray.
The rest of the state — save northern Aroostook, Piscataquis and Somerset counties — falls under a heat advisory from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Wednesday. However, the weather service has also placed much of the state under an extreme heat watch for Thursday.
Heat index values, which measure how hot it feels to the human body when relative humidity is combined with the air temperature, are expected to reach up to 104 degrees during the heat advisory period, the weather service warns. They could reach 110 degrees Thursday, when the extreme heat watch is in effect.
Northern Oxford and Franklin counties, and central Somerset County, can expect a heat index value of up to 99 degrees Wednesday, according to the weather service.
The weather service advises people to drink plenty of fluids, stay in air-conditioned rooms when possible, avoid extended periods in the sun and check up on relatives and neighbors. It also warns not to leave young children and pets in unattended vehicles, as “car interiors will reach lethal temperatures in a matter of minutes.”
Cooling Centers
The Maine Department of Environmental Protection has also issued an air quality alert from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Wednesday along the coast from Kittery to Acadia National Park. The agency warns that ground-level ozone concentrations are expected to reach levels that are unhealthy for sensitive groups.
Ozone levels may reach “moderate levels” further inland, according to the Maine DEP, including in all of Androscoggin and Kennebec counties, as well as parts of Cumberland, Knox, Lincoln, Penobscot, Sagadahoc, Waldo, Washington and York counties.
Elevated ozone levels can pose a risk to children, older adults and people suffering from respiratory or heart diseases, according to the Maine DEP. Anyone exerting themselves outdoors may also experience health effects, which could include coughing, shortness of breath, throat irritation and mild chest pain.
Ozone levels were already climbing in southern New England on Tuesday, according to the Maine DEP, and winds are expected to bring those conditions to Maine on Wednesday.
The Maine DEP recommends that vulnerable populations avoid strenuous outdoor activities, keep windows closed, and circulate indoor air with fans or air conditioners. Those with asthma are also advised to keep quick-relief medication handy.
Particle pollution levels are also expected to be moderate across the state on Wednesday due to wildfire smoke, the Maine DEP said in its announcement Tuesday. Wildfires in Colorado, which have claimed the lives of three firefighters, had burned nearly 90,000 acres as of Tuesday, according to the Denver Post.
Maine could face up to $50 million in penalties next year due to errors in its payments for federal food benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Newly released data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture find that Maine’s error rate last year was nearly 11%, the bulk of which were overpayments. That’s in line with the U.S. average. But starting in October of next year, states with error rates above 6% must cover a portion of the SNAP benefits.
Anna Korsen, executive director of Full Plates, Full Potential, said the overpayments aren’t fraud — they’re human error. She said this new cost-shifting policy enacted last year under the Trump administration further complicates the SNAP application process.
“Instead, we could make this program more accessible and more efficient,” Korsen said. “And that would reduce the number of errors and also ensure that Mainers who are eligible for SNAP have access to it.”
She’s urging Congress to delay or reverse the policy under the farm bill that’s currently under consideration.
Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services said it’s taking steps to reduce the error rate, including modernizing its systems and hiring an additional 40 eligibility specialists.
This story appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.
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