CASCO – The Casco Board of Selectmen fired longtime town attorney William Dale on Tuesday night.

The move, which came by a 3-2 vote, did not come as a surprise to Casco political watchers as the balance of power on the Board of Selectmen has shifted toward the three-way alliance of Carroll Morton, Mary Fernandes and Ray Grant.

Grant made the motion to fire the long-serving Dale, whom Grant said has served as Casco’s town attorney “forever.” Dale also serves as a town attorney for several others Lakes Region towns, including Gray and Standish.

Grant said the selectmen’s action originated in an event that took place at a selectmen’s meeting in the spring, during which resident Jeannine Lauber Oren was videotaping Dale as he spoke to the Board of Selectmen regarding the Casco Helping Casco fuel reimbursement account. In the video, Dale is seen moving toward Oren is what she has described as a “threatening manner.”

Oren lodged a complaint seeking a sanction of Dale with the Board of Overseers of the Bar. She provided video and written testimony by nine people who were present at the meeting who corroborated her version of events. But the Bar dismissed Oren’s claim for lack of evidence, and no action was taken against Dale, who is a partner at Jensen, Baird, Gardner & Henry. Dale did not return phone calls for this story.

With the selectmen’s vote Tuesday night, Oren said she now feels “vindicated.”

“I have a great deal of respect for the legal profession, and I understand that lawyers sometimes need to be aggressive in defense of their clients, but what Attorney Dale did to me violated all kinds of acceptable boundaries,” Oren said Wednesday. “He acted like a thug, sending a dangerous message to everyone at the meeting that night. As a community, we needed to stand up and say it won’t happen again. We did.”

While Oren and others may feel justice was served, others on the board say Grant, Fernandes and Carroll Morton are feeling their oats and taking advantage of their newfound influence.

“I don’t think it’s right that one of our citizens should request him to be removed because they lost their case,” Paul Edes said, referring to Oren.

Edes said Dale has done a “tremendous job” as the town’s attorney and that Dale’s law firm – Jensen, Baird, Gardner and Henry, based in Portland – has represented the town well for more than three decades.

Edes also refers to a “vendetta” that he believes is starting to play itself out in Casco town government.

“Carroll Morton has a vendetta,” Edes said. “He’s trying to knock off Barbara York, myself and David Morton. He’s trying to get the town manager to resign, which I can tell you right now is not going to happen.”

Edes said Carroll Morton is bitter that York and David Morton sought legal counsel from Dale when they removed Carroll Morton as the town’s animal control officer several years ago.

Carroll Morton did not return phone calls seeking comment. Fernandes declined to comment on the matter.

Ray Grant, however, said the board’s decision to terminate Dale’s contract was brought about not by a former feud, but by Dale’s behavior toward Oren.

“I put it on the agenda because I didn’t want anybody like that representing the town,” Grant said. “(Dale) physically lost control of himself and rushed toward (Oren’s) camera. He seemed to snap. I don’t know why, I just know he did.”

Oren, a former news anchor at News Channel 8 and the woman who videotaped Mary Fernandes calling for Barbara York’s resignation for forwarding racist e-mails, said she has done nothing wrong by accusing Dale of threatening and intimidating behavior and that the board has acted properly to remove Dale.

“I think it’s crucial to make sure your readers understand that this wasn’t something ‘personal’ between Mr. Dale and myself. A total of nine people – eight Casco residents and one Raymond resident – took a stand against Mr. Dale’s unprofessional behavior,” she said referring to the witnesses who corroborated Oren’s version of events in testimony for the Board of Overseers.

Now that Dale is terminated, the town will now start the process of finding a new town attorney. Edes said he’d like to stick with Jensen, Baird, Gardner & Henry since the law firm has been representing Casco for a long time and “is easy to work with and return our calls within the day.” David Morton is putting together a list of possible replacements and will present that to the selectmen at their next meeting.