Ogunquit is headed to court over a recall process that was started back in October.

After our Select Board upheld the termination of our fire chief in a 3-to-2 vote, a group of citizens decided to seek the recall three of our Select Board members, as they were unhappy with that decision.

Ogunquit’s charter has minimal guidelines regarding the recall process. Our town manager had to look to the Secretary of State’s Office for help throughout each step of this process.

Petitions were ordered, distributed, oaths given and rules explained.

Once recall petitions are certified and turned in, there is a process by which those petitions can be challenged. Because the recall process in our charter is so vague, a group of us decided to file a challenge to make sure the petitions were circulated following the rules governing them.

We found several issues and inconsistencies within all of the petitions. Some were signature questions and some were legal questions. The signature questions were handled by our town clerk and town attorney. However, they would not deal with any of the legal challenges and forced us to take our case to court.

There has been a lot of criticism and upset about this all landing in court. Yes, it is going to cost the taxpayers in lawyer fees. However, if approximately 260 registered voters out of 1,217 registered voters have the power to push through a recall that affects three lives and reputations, doesn’t it make sense that we all know that this process was done correctly and legally?

It does to me.

Mary V. Buck

Ogunquit

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