BRUNSWICK — Jackie Sartoris resigned May 23 from the Brunswick Sewer District Board of Trustees.

Sartoris, who is opposing Ralph Tucker in the Democratic primary in state House District 50, said her discomfort at being in the center of a debate over a Town Council conflict of interest policy motivated her resignation. 

The council’s committee appointments policy prohibits councilors from appointing their relatives to any town boards or committees. Councilor Steve Walker, Sartoris’ husband, won a seat on the council in 2013, a year after she was appointed to the sewer board. 

Sartoris said she offered to resign when the council policy was approved last December, but was told by councilors that she was “grandfathered.”

In a letter to local newspapers, Sartoris said she was willing to wait until the policy changed, but decided to resign after the issue was used to cast her “in a negative light” in the primary.

Sartoris said she would consider serving on another town board or committee if the council policy changes.