Man charges town meeting discrimination

MONMOUTH – A man who suffers from a mental illness he says causes him to suffer anxiety in crowded situations contends the community should have done more to accommodate him at its town meetings.

In a complaint filed with the Maine Human Rights Commission, Michael Sawyer accused town officials of discriminating against him by failing to provide a way for him to participate in the annual event.

“I’m not out to disrupt the town meeting,” Sawyer said. “I just want to say yea or nay. That’s all I want.”

The commission is set to vote next month on his complaint, which was filed nearly a year ago after town officials denied his request to set up a speakerphone at his house for the May 4 meeting.

The phone would allow Sawyer to listen to the discussions and relay his votes. He also asked the town to provide a psychiatric social worker to stay with him through the duration of the meeting.

Clifford Goodall, an attorney for the town, said state law requires people to be present at town meetings in order to vote on the issues on the town warrant.

He said Monmouth officials have given Sawyer the option of sitting apart from the crowd, but he has declined their offer. Sawyer said he turned down the request because sitting apart from the other people at the meeting would be more terrifying than joining the crowd.

“It would render me unable to function, probably with an indescribable fear and paranoia,” he said. “The thought of attending would have me rather face death.”

Goodall argued that the town hasn’t received enough information from Sawyer’s doctor to make further accommodations. According to Goodall, the request for a speakerphone and social worker goes above and beyond the scope of the federal Americans With Disabilities Act.

An investigator for the Maine Human Rights Commission disagreed, concluding that Sawyer’s request would not impose an undue burden on the town.

Sawyer believes he is no different from an elderly person or a single parent who cannot attend the annual town meeting for one reason or another. He believes everyone should have the right to take part.

“If I was a deaf person, they’d have an interpreter there in a heartbeat,” he said.

Goodall said that is true.

In addition to sign language interpreters, Goodall said, Monmouth provides wheelchair access for people with physical disabilities and it would be willing to print the warrant in Braille for a blind voter.

But, he said, the town doesn’t have enough information about the nature of Sawyer’s disability to meet his demands.

By allowing Sawyer to vote from home, Goodall worries that the town would have to make the same exception for anyone who doesn’t feel like sitting through the lengthy meeting.

“There is a real concern there,” Goodall said, “not only for us, but for the 452 towns that hold town meetings.”