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.