Conflict of town employees seeking election considered

HOULTON — The Houlton Town Council on Monday took the first steps toward resolving a controversy concerning town employees seeking election to quasi-municipal government boards.

Earlier this month, James Skehan, a corporal with the Houlton Police Department, learned that his election last November to the SAD 29 board of directors was illegal because it violated a 1977 town code prohibiting municipal employees from being elected to local government boards.

The code required that any employee who ran for election to one of those boards must resign from his town job.

The controversy developed, however, not because Skehan had been elected, but because before last November’s election, the town’s attorney had reviewed Skehan’s candidacy and reported that there were no conflicts.

Despite the fact that Skehan was elected with no intention of misleading the public, he still could not be allowed to remain on the school board because the 1977 code was in effect.

As such, the Town Council could have either left the post vacant until the next municipal election or appointed someone to fill it until that time.

Because of the public support for Skehan and the fact that he received more votes than any of the other three candidates in that race, Town Manager Lewis Bone suggested that the 1977 code be amended to eliminate the reference to SAD 29.

At Monday’s meeting, an amendment was introduced that followed Bone’s proposal. The amendment also clarified that the code applied only to actual municipal government boards and those of other quasi-municipal agencies such as the water company, library or SAD 29.

A public hearing on the amendment will be held April 26. If the council approves that amendment, it then could appoint Skehan to complete the first year of his term. He then would be free to seek election in November for the remaining two years of that term.