BIDDEFORD — Mayor Joanne Twomey was a key presence during the July 20 City Council meeting, even though she didn’t attend.
The mayor participated in the session, which considered a controversial zoning proposal, by sending e-mails to councilors while watching the meeting on cable television.
Whether this approach conflicts with Maine’s open meeting law isn’t entirely clear. According to an attorney for the Maine Press Association, the legality of the e-mails the mayor sent to councilors from home isn’t a “black or white” issue.
Twomey defended her actions and said she would do it again.
The Journal Tribune requested e-mails, as allowed under the Freedom of Information Act, between the mayor and City Council members. The series of e-mails were sent on July 20 while a City Council meeting was taking place.
Twomey missed the meeting to stay home with her dog Beamer who had undergone surgery. During a telephone interview on Friday, she said, her decision to stay home wasn’t planned and was made late in the day.
While the e-mails related to several agenda items, most concerned a proposal to amend the city’s Land Development Regulations regarding recycling facilities and conditional uses in the city’s three industrial zones and the Limited Rural Farm Zone.
The e-mails were sent, without public acknowledgment, while discussion was taking place during the meeting.
The amendments, which were initially passed at that meeting and received final approval on Aug. 3, included a provision to amend the list of permitted uses in the Limited Rural Farm Zone to no longer include recycling facilities, warehousing and storage, and storage of bulk gaseous fuels.
When the Planning Board and Policy Committee discussed the amendments at their meetings prior to the July 20 meeting, it was stated that these amendments weren’t directed at a specific company or proposal.
However, they significantly affect current plans for development of property on Andrews Road, which is in the Limited Rural Farm Zone.
The land is owned by Casella Waste Systems, Inc., the parent company of the Maine Energy Recovery Company incinerator in downtown Biddeford. Global Environmental Solutions, of South Portland, would like to purchase the land and put a business on the site.
Initially the company proposed a recycling facility, but a new proposal, submitted several weeks before the July 20 council meeting, only included storing and maintaining vehicles and equipment. The storage, like the recycling facility, will also no longer be permitted in the Limited Rural Farm Zone once the amendments go into effect next month.
The mayor sent a number of e-mails attempting to influence councilors’ votes on the land use amendments during the meeting.
The following e-mails have not been edited for style or punctuation. In one of them, Twomey wrote to Councilor Raymond Gagnon, “Tell Fred I need his vote this is about not allowing more out of state waste.” Councilor Alfred Lamontagne sits next to Gagnon at the council table.
In an e-mail to Councilor David Bourque, Twomey wrote, “Tell Clem to vote for this change please.” Councilor Clement Fleurent sits beside Bourque during council meetings.
To Councilor Patricia Boston, Twomey wrote, “We need this vote tonight.”
In another e-mail to Bourque, the mayor wrote, “Oh my God I should have brought my dog with me, she is miserable with her collar. this needs to be voted tonight, it needs to pass. ”¦ I am sick.”
During the meeting, Elizabeth Boepple, an attorney for Casella with Lambert Coffin, a Portland law firm, was allowed to read a letter stating the waste company’s position against the proposed use changes to the Limited Rural Farm Zone. In her letter, Boepple stated, “the changes appear to be targeted, retaliatory zoning directed at Casella.”
In an e-mail exchange between Twomey and Council President Bob Mills, with the subject line “never would have I allowed her to read the letter,” Twomey wrote “I should have come just for this, could not leave my dog ”¦”
Mills responded “I don’t think it will have any effect.”
Then Twomey wrote back, “Of course it does, never never give them a platform. Make sure the public speaks on this. ”¦ I do not want a CD and D ”¦ she is full of beans.”
Global Environmental Solutions initial proposal included recycling construction and demolition debris (or “CD and D”) material at the Andrews Road site. This proposed use had been eliminated from the plan prior to the council meeting.
In an exchange between Twomey and Gagnon, Twomey stated, “We do not want a CDand D on Andrews Road.”
Gagnon responded, “What company wants to go there?”
“Global somethin or other, a CDand D facility, that is why we need to do this, she is full of beans,” stated Twomey.
In another e-mail to Gagnon, Twomey stated, “Jesus Marie and Joseph, we do not need one hundred more trucks on Andrews Road. Monique and Slim live out there, they worked for house of St Josephs, you have to vote yes on this.”
The mayor’s actions may not violate Maine’s law calling for open deliberation of public issues, but Sigmund Schutz, an attorney for the Maine Press Association, said, “It’s violating the spirit if not the letter of the public meetings law.”
“I guess anyone can e-mail anyone at anytime,” continued Schutz, who works from the Portland office of the law firm Preti Flaherty. But, he added, “Anyone participating in a public meeting should be participating live and in person.
In a telephone interview Friday, Councilor Jim Emerson said he didn’t see an e-mail stating “We do not want a CDAnd D facility,” sent to him by Twomey until after the meeting.
Sending and viewing e-mails during council meetings is inappropriate, said Emerson. “I think it’s distracting and discourteous.”
He added that he didn’t think the mayor should “constantly” attempt to influence the council but that it was her role to be a presiding officer. “It’s not her council, it’s the city’s council.”
Although he was unaware that the e-mails took place during the meeting, said Fleurent by telephone on Friday, he said he thought it was “inappropriate.”
“We’re all trained about caution about our comments,” said Councilor Boston also by telephone Friday. “As public officials we need to keep this in mind.”
The six other City Council members could not be reached prior to press time for comment.
Twome said she didn’t think it was wrong for her to e-mail councilors during the meeting. “In the old days they sent notes,” she said.
“These are issues I care about,” said the mayor. “It’s no secret.”
It is appropriate for her to lobby the council, said Twomey. She said she often passed the gavel during council meeting in order to give her personal opinion on city issues.
The e-mails were an innocent act, said Twomey, and added that she hadn’t planned prior to the meeting to e-mail councilors.
“What bothers me is that someone thinks it’s newsworthy,” said Twomey, “not that I’m hiding anything. Good, bad or indifferent I own up to it.”
— Staff Writer Dina Mendros can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 324 or dmendros@journaltribune.com.
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.