FREEPORT – Freeport is poised to hire veteran Maine educator Jack Turcotte and Charles Lawton, chief economist for Portland-based consulting group Planning Decisions, to lead a feasibility study of the town withdrawing from Regional School Unit 5.

“The council felt both candidates had their particular strengths, “ said Freeport Town Manager Peter Joseph this week. “They have worked together in the past and expressed a willingness to come up with a combined proposal.”

The Freeport Town Council met in an executive session July 24 after soliciting a total of six bids from education consultants. After the executive session ended, councilors authorized Joseph to negotiate with the two candidates. Due to the accelerated time frame of the study – the council wants it completed by September – the four other applicants were ruled out after citing an inability to complete the project within that period. Turcotte and Lawton were prepared to give a revised proposal this week, said Joseph, who estimated the cost would be $9,500 or potentially lower.

The decision to hire a consultant comes after Freeport residents urged the council take action following the narrow defeat of a $16.9 million bond June 11 to renovate and upgrade the aging Freeport High School. Pownal and Durham, the other two towns of RSU 5, voted against the measure by a large margin, while Freeport residents supported the proposal.

In 2012, Turcotte and Lawton led a committee in the town of Arundel that examined the financial consequences of withdrawing from Regional School Unit 21. Despite the committee’s endorsement of withdrawal, the residents of Arundel narrowly voted to remain in the school district.

Turcotte, who has been the superintendent of several Maine schools, most recently Sanford, was formerly the town manager of Old Orchard Beach before resigning in 2011 for medical reasons. Lawton has worked in private business, in state government and was a professor at the University of Maine at Farmington. He holds a doctorate from the Fletcher School at Tufts University.

The study is the council doing their due diligence, said Freeport Councilor Melanie Sachs.

“We’re going to be able to provide hard data to residents, “ said Sachs.

The process of withdrawing from an RSU involves a 22-step procedure per the rules governing the school consolidation system. Most recently, the town of Wiscasset, citing lack of control of school spending, sought and received conditional approval to withdraw from Regional School Unit 12.

Per the guidelines of the Maine Department of Education, leaving a regional school unit starts with a withdrawal petition, which needs voters’ approval on a secret ballot. The petition authorizes forming a negotiating committee and funding it. According to Joseph, 10 percent of Freeport’s roughly 7,000 residents would have to sign a petition to bring withdrawal to a vote.

“To my knowledge no one has started a petition as of yet,” said Joseph. “That could obviously change at any moment. Hopefully, it means residents are willing to wait and see the numbers from the consultants.”