Planning board agrees to stay on

BUCKFIELD — Three members of the planning board, who tendered their resignations in mid-June, have agreed to remain on the board following discussion with selectmen.

Planning board Chairwoman Stacey Scotia, Perley Lovejoy and James Parker allowed selectboard chair Robin Buswell to tear up their letters of resignation during the selectmen's Tuesday meeting.

The selectmen invited the planning board members to the meeting to discuss how miscommunication between the two groups led to the resignations.

The three resigned following town meeting in June, when a small wind energy ordinance the planning board had drafted was voted down after selectmen voiced their opposition to it.

At the meeting, Scotia explained she felt the ordinance had the selectmen's support.

"We felt as though the selectboard was very much pushing us to develop a small wind ordinance," she told the board.

She went on to explain that she believed a joint meeting between the two boards in December had cleared up any concerns the selectmen had with the ordinance.

"I left that meeting feeling as though the selectmen had offered suggestions that we basically incorporated and I didn't hear any of those selectboard members present say to me, or to us, 'this is still a bad ordinance.' Apparently, there needed to be further clarification."

Parker said that the planning board members felt as though they had listened to and acted on the selectmen's suggestions to the ordinance.

"We on the planning board felt that we were going ahead with the board's blessing," he said.

"From our view, it was a fatal misrepresentation."

Buswell, who did not attend the December meeting, told Scotia that as he understood it, the board was only agreeing to bring the ordinance to the voters, not endorse it.

He said he was not a big fan of ordinances in general and when he was asked by a voter directly whether he supported it, he voiced his personal opinion.

Former selectboard Chairwoman Eileen Hotham said she didn't realize she opposed the ordinance until she heard from voter's concerns about it at town meeting. 

Buswell apologized to Scotia and the other planning board members for the miscommunication and urged them to stay on, suggesting two boards hold joint meetings on a regular basis to improve communication.

"All three of you are pillars of the community," he said.

"I would really like to see the three of you stay on," he said. "If we need to have a joint meeting every month, every three months, then let's do that."

Everyone involved seemed to agree there had been a break-down in communication between the two boards. 

The selectmen directed Town Manager Dana Lee to schedule quarterly workshops between the two boards to improve communication and prevent a similar situation in the future.