Monday March 14 the Paris selectboard will meet at 7pm in the Fire Station. There will be a little business covered, some bills paid, an appointment or 2. Agenda here.
And then, more of what we've had...and had...and had:
(1) ATV use of public roads on Paris; and, an even older, more worn out topic,(2) who pays for the upkeep of Town Farm Road?
While the facts of the matter on either topic can be - and have been - presented ad nauseum, it is not the facts that TPR wishes to address.
TPR's 2-13 article stated an interest in "how the decision makers - our selectboard - function in general." This perspective of who runs the town and how effective they are in meeting the needs of the majority has been an underlying theme for TPR from the onset. Paris' town government has had almost 2 years of major change upon major change; yet the more things change, the more they sometimes seem no different.
The administration, that is the town manager, and his immediate overseers, the selectboard, our elected officials, still need not only our support, but our scrutiny.
We still have the issue of the rights involved in ATVs using parts of public roads to connect their trails, and who decides that. Dealing with this is difficult enough, without the additional dynamic of having to deal with someone grandstanding and seeking personal aggrandizement.
There is a practicing lawyer on the selectboard who has not denied meeting in his office with parties from one side of this issue. He now needs to be asked, by his fellow board members, to recuse himself from any further discussions, decisions, and actions on this topic as long as he is on the selectboard. Even the "appearance of impropriety" should be avoided. 30-A M.R.S.A.§2605(6)
And then we have the Town Farm Road. It is not TPR's interest to pursue the ins and outs of the case. Suffice it to say the argument between the Town of Paris and the residents in the Town Farm Road Association stems from a disagreement on who should maintain the road into their private development.
Atty. D. Hanley presented the Association's argument to the town 2-2005. The town consulted with the firm of Kurtz and Perry, and in April of that year the town's position was explained in a letter to Atty. Hanley from then Mgr. S. Jackson. On or about 3-30-05, the firm of Kurtz and Perry billed the town $1,125, and again 4-11-05, for $225, for consultation on the Town Farm Road.
Atty. Hanley tried again 4 years later; on the agenda of the 11-09-09 selectboard meeting, he expounded for 30 minutes with the same request. The 2009 board could not change the 2005 decision because after the original decision it had become a court matter.
And now, a lawsuit has been filed by the Town Farm Road Association, according to the 3-14-11 agenda, and there will be still another discussion. Practicing Attorney - Selectman Kurtz should recuse himself from any discussion, decision, or action on this topic, now, and for as long as he is a member of this selectboard.
The MMA Municipal Officer's Manual states in its section on "Conflict of Interest", p. 16:
"All municipal officers have been sworn into public office to serve the interests of the public as a whole and in the municipal official there is a vested public trust."
The appearance of impropriety is at issue in both cases. Our selectboard needs to step up and take action, and not to allow this sort of thing to continue. A selectman who quotes the law at every turn should also be held accountable to it.
