GORHAM – Upset Gorham residents, using words like “dirty,” “ugly” and “appalled” at a Town Council meeting Tuesday, condemned the so-called OUI political signs that targeted a Gorham candidate.

Meanwhile, a town councilor who was involved with the controversial signs and also has been outspoken about elected officials with operating under the influence convictions vowed Tuesday to continue his crusade.

Sparks that flew at the Town Council meeting were ignited by the campaign signs that had opposed Suzanne Phillips, who was elected to the School Committee on Nov. 4. Phillips, who did not seek re-election to the Town Council, was convicted of operating under the influence two years ago.

The printed signs that popped up before the election depicted manacled hands and read: “No Phillips – arrested for OUI, convicted of OUI.”

Phillips filed a complaint about the signs with the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices in Augusta.

“This smacks of dirty politics and had no place in Gorham,” Ken Curtis, a South Street resident, told the Town Council on Tuesday about the signs.

The disclosure on the signs noted they were paid for by “keep our kids safe from drunk drivers.” Phillips, in her complaint, sought the identity of those responsible for the signs.

According to ethics commission documents, Matthew Robinson, who is a town councilor, filed an independent expenditure report for Keep Our Kids Safe in the town clerk’s office on Nov. 7 reporting that the signs cost $138.

Jonathan Wayne, executive director of the ethics commission, said in an email on Tuesday the commission would hear Phillips’ complaint at 2 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 24, in its Augusta office. The commission will judge whether the signs’ content met legal requirements. At issue is whether the sign disclosure provided sufficient information.

Wayne said last week that Robinson has hired an attorney.

Robinson was a driving force behind asking voters in a referendum to change the town’s charter to define “moral turpitude,” a clause aimed at booting violators off the Town Council. Gorham voters earlier this month overwhelmingly approved the measure, which now includes operating under the influence as a violation under one of the crime categories listed in the amended charter.

Resident Bernard Broder of Phinney Street raised the question in Tuesday’s meeting about whether a town councilor, if found to have violated election law, should resign.

Broder, a lawyer, told the Town Council he was appalled when he saw the first anti-Phillips sign. “There’s no place for that in Gorham,” Broder said.

Drunk driving has been a contentious issue on the Town Council since 2012 and resurfaced earlier this year when Town Councilor Ben Hartwell also was convicted of operating under the influence.

In Tuesday’s meeting, Hartwell questioned why the attack on Phillips had continued.

“This election has marked a new low in Gorham” politics, Hartwell said.

Resident David Alexander of Wilson Road said the “ugly” signs that appeared during the campaign had rekindled the issue. Alexander said he was “outraged.”

Broder said, “I don’t know when this venom is going to stop. I’m ready for it to stop.”

During council comments, Robinson told of nephews whose father was killed by a drunk driver. Robinson added that operating under the influence costs U.S. taxpayers $199 billion a year.

“This crusade will never stop,” Robinson said. “We have two elected officials arrested and convicted of operating under the influence.”

Jim Means, chairman of the Republican Town Committee, said Tuesday that the election issue needed to be addressed. He said the “anti-Suzie Phillips signs” began to appear shortly before the election.

“Is breaking state election law something you should allow from a town councilor?” Means asked.

Means said he had complained about the signs to town officials including four council members. “Even though election law is very clear about when signs need proper disclosures, these signs were not in compliance,” said Means, who had typed notes.

Referring to the signs, Means said the only ones the town removed were those attached to traffic control devices, and the town abdicated its “election supervision responsibilities.”

Before the public comment segment in Tuesday’s meeting Town Council Chairman Michael Phinney, appearing to expect fireworks, cautioned citizens.

“We don’t allow personal attacks,” Phinney said.

Phillips was sworn in last week as a School Committee member. She attended the beginning of Tuesday’s Town Council meeting and answered its roll call from a front row seat in the audience.

In other action on Tuesday, the board picked its leaders. Phinney was re-elected by voters on Nov. 4 and by fellow board members on Tuesday as Town Council chairman. Bruce Roullard, defeating Shonn Moulton, was picked as the board’s new vice chairman.

Deputy Town Clerk Laurie Nordfors administered the oath of office to Phinney. But swearing in Ronald Shepard, town councilor-elect, was delayed to the Town Council’s meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 2, because of a technicality.

Shepard, who retired as the town’s police chief on Election Day, Nov. 4, would have been unable to collect Maine State Retirement pay until after his tenure on the Town Council, if he had been sworn in on Tuesday.