SOUTH PORTLAND – During a 90-minute workshop Monday, the South Portland City Council seemed to settle the question of what, exactly, it expects from the recently created Draft Ordinance Committee.

Councilors seemed clear at a Dec. 11 workshop, when they authorized creation of the three-member group, that it should devise a way to block diluted bitumen, more popularly known as “tar sands,” from flowing through South Portland. However, by the time the committee was officially established and staffed at the Jan. 22 council meeting following adoption on Dec. 16 of a moratorium on any tar-sands-related waterfront construction through May 6 the charge was less clear.

The Jan. 22 appointment order pronounced, “the Draft Ordinance Committee is hereby established to guide the City Council on an ad hoc basis, on development proposals involving oil sands/tar sands product.”

“It’s not just vagueness, that’s a discrepancy from what we heard in the past,” said Ballard Street resident Edward Reiner, one of many residents to raise the issue Monday.

“I feel that there is a morphing of the charge and that’s causing me some confusion,” he said.

Even appointees to the committee wanted clarification.

“It would be nice if the council could have a discussion on the parameters of the language you would like us to draft,” said David Critchfield. “It would be very helpful to get more clarity on what it is the council expects of us. There’s a very wide range of things to advise you on in regard to oil sands.”

However, while the charge was not amended, several councilors made their intentions known in no uncertain terms.

“My understanding was that we want this committee to come up with language that will keep unrefined tar sands out of the city of South Portland,” said Councilor Linda Cohen. “That’s what I want.”

Councilor Maxine Beecher, along with several other councilors, specified only that any new ordinance should “have no negative impact on the working waterfront.” Beecher also added that it should account for state and federal laws that limit what municipalities may do in terms of regulating interstate commerce and pipeline safety, “so we’re not caught in the counts for the next 100 years.”

Meanwhile, Councilor Tom Blake said the committee must work to draw tight on every possible loophole and potential legal challenge, with an eye to how energy needs might change in the future.

“I don’t have a great deal of faith in the petroleum industry,” he said. “We need something that cannot be circumnavigated.”

“This is a huge success!” trumpeted activist group Protect South Portland on its website, after the meeting. “This is the first time, officially, the people who are on the committee have been directly told their job is to stop tar sands!”

However, while the councilors and tar-sands opponents alike have expressed confidence in Critchfield and his fellow appointees Michael Conathan and Russell Pierce Jr., one resident expressed doubt Monday.

After going unrepresented at council meetings since adoption of the moratorium, Portland Pipe Line Corp., which would import tar sands if and when a deal is struck with its Canadian cousins in the oil industry, saw a champion Monday in Hill Street resident Chris Gillis.

A longtime Pipe Line employee, Gillis referenced the stated expectation of his bosses following the council’s Nov. 6 announcement of its intent to adopt a moratorium. Industry officials had said they expected that decision, coming just one day after defeat at the polls of an ordinance designed to ban tar sands, would bring all sides to the table in a comprehensive fact-finding process to determine the future of tar sands and waterfront development in South Portland.

With that hope out the window, and all three members of the draft ordinance committee having strong environmental credentials, Gillis suggested the result could well be the “negative impact” Beecher and her peers hope to skirt.

“We’re concerned that with the process and timeline that’s been adopted, and the lack of familiarity with the industry, that the outcome could have unintended consequences,” said Gillis.

Beyond that, much of Monday’s workshop was dedicated to a discussion of Maine’s Freedom of Access Act, with committee members expressing curiosity over what work had to be performed at a public meeting, and how much they could undertake via email.

“We may have to communicate with each other between meetings, and share information by email,” said Pierce.

However, City Attorney Sally Daggett issued a public-access smackdown, saying that while committee members could communicate about process matters, they must refrain from anything leading to a “substantative discussion” of the issues at hand.

“The bulk of your business should be done at a public meeting,” she said, although that didn’t seem to sit well with some.

“Far be it from me to come up here and say they do it well in Washington,” said Conathan, referencing his capitol experience to wild hoots of laughter from the audience. “But I would say maybe 90 percent of the proceedings there go on in meetings that are out of the public eye, either around the table or via email.

“I’m more than a little concerned that this degree of restrictiveness is going to make our work on any kind of a timeline impossible,” he said. “If we are subject to weekly or bi-weekly meetings and we can’t talk to one another or email one another in between, this process is going to take years. I don’t think that’s an exaggeration. We need to work around that.”

“I’m sorry you all feel this is constraining, but it’s what Maine law requires,” said Daggett.

The first Draft Ordinance Committee meeting was scheduled for 6 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 6, at City Hall. All committee meetings are expected to be videotaped and will be available for viewing on the city website.