Ex-selectman returned to Lubec post

LUBEC – The town now has a familiar face on the Board of Selectmen.

Voters on Wednesday elected Joanne Case, a former selectman, to serve the remainder of Selectman Sheldon Stanley’s term. Stanley resigned his seat on the board in October but also had taken out papers seeking to regain the post.

Case received 153 votes to Stanley’s 124 votes. Case was sworn in Wednesday after the ballots were counted. The term expires in July 2002.

Stanley resigned his seat after questions were raised about his business relationship with DiCenzo Inc., one of the contractors working on the town’s downtown revitalization project, which has been funded with state grant funds. Over the course of the project, Stanley sold more than $10,000 worth of gravel to the contractor.

Although Stanley denied the conflict-of-interest claims, the town’s attorney and its auditor both deemed the relationship a conflict of interest.

Officials at the state Department of Economic and Community Development also agreed and have required that the town pay the state back the total amount Stanley received for the gravel. The town has until mid-January to send a reimbursement check to the state treasurer.

To that end, the town will hold a special town meeting at 7 p.m. Monday, Dec. 17, at the consolidated school cafeteria. The warrant article asks if voters will appropriate $10,148.34 from the town’s undesignated fund to pay back the debt owed to the state of Maine.

The warrant specifies that the funds come from the undesignated fund, according to Vernice Means, the town’s interim administrator, although some residents have suggested that the contingency account for the downtown project could be used to cover the state debt. The town’s accountant, however, has cautioned that the contingency should not be used to fund “noncompliance issues,” but is designed to cover unexpected project costs.

The account for the downtown project is still active, according to Means. She said the state has “graciously” agreed to make the reimbursed funds available to the town so the project can be completed.