NEWRY — Planning Board member Brooks Morton announced his resignation at a Nov. 12 selectboard meeting.
Morton resigned amid a disagreement with selectmen over a recently-approved amended planning board ordinance.
The most significant change eliminated the wording in the ordinance that a vacancy will occur “when a member ceases to be a legal resident of the town.”
Morton cited Hanover resident Rebecca Bean’s recent appointment to the board.
Bean was appointed to the board unanimously in August, before the amended ordinance was passed.
“They appointed Bean before they changed the ordinance,” Morton said. “They changed the ordinance so they could cover up their illegal appointment.”
“Nothing has changed,” Selectman Jim Largess said of the ordinance. “There is nothing in state law or our ordinance that said you have to be a town resident.”
“It was not our first choice, but we needed planning board members. If we had residents that were willing to serve on the board, we would not have had to go out of town to find someone,” Largess said of appointing a non-resident to the board.
“We are at the point where we can’t get enough residents on the planning board,” Selectman Gary Wight said.
Bean also serves as executive secretary to Dana Bullen, resort president and general manager of Sunday River.
She voted in favor of a recent Sunday River application, something Morton disagreed with.
The application,approved about a month ago, was for a Magic Carpet Surface Lift System.
“I questioned whether she should have even been sitting at the table commenting on the application, when she was directly tied to it,” Morton said.
According to Morton, Bean read a statement saying that she felt she could be unbiased in making her decision.
Morton still thought she should recuse herself from the decision.
The planning board approved letting Bean vote on the application, with Morton being the only member opposed.
“I like Becky (Rebecca). She is a trustworthy person, but the reason the law exists is because of the appearance from the outside. When it comes down to who you’re going to listen to on the final vote, your employer or the town board, you’re going to pick your employer. That’s human nature and that’s why the law exists,” Morton said, referring to Bean’s working relationship with Bullen.
Morton expressed his concerns with the application process in an e-mail to the town’s attorney, Jim Katsiaficas. Morton said he did not expect a response from him because Katsiaficas would first need permission from the selectboard to respond to Morton’s email. Selectmen voted to not allow Katsiaficas to respond to Morton, because the town would have to pay for Katsiaficas’ response. If the planning board as a whole had sent the e-mail, instead of just Morton as an individual, then the board would have allowed Katsiaficas to respond, according to town officials.
Morton also said he wished there had been more public knowledge on the proposed ordinance amendments prior to the vote.
The town held two public hearings on the proposed amendments, but Morton argued the timing of the public hearings made it difficult to generate a large turnout of residents.
On Nov. 5 residents voted 68-48 in favor of the amended ordinance.
The ordinance was last amended in March of 2015, and it was originally enacted in September of 1987.
Morton is the fourth member to resign from the planning board in the last year. Members Wendy Polonski, Dave Bartlett and Doug Webster also resigned. Webster’s resignation was approved unanimously by the board at the selectmen’s meeting. Morton’s resignation was also approved unanimously.
Selectmen unanimously approved appointing resident Gary Drown to the planning board.
Newry still has three vacant spots on the board.
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