Political turmoil claimed in County

WINTERVILLE PLANTATION – There is turmoil in this Route 11 village on the shore of St. Froid Lake as Saturday’s annual town meeting approaches.

Three residents Wednesday charged that First Selectman James Nadeau runs the community with an iron fist, with little or no regard to residents, and takes actions that are of questionable legality.

Forty-year veteran Town Treasurer Rena Beaulieu and residents William Fuss and John Mathieu claim that Nadeau holds incompatible offices in town government, that he and other officials have not been sworn into office, that some of Nadeau’s disbursements are questionable, that he borrows unneeded money for municipal expenditures, uses unfair taxation methods and withholds public records from residents.

They and three other residents have made the allegations by letter to Maine Attorney General Steven Rowe. They said they have not received a response to their Jan. 31 letter.

The confrontation is heating up on the eve of the plantation’s annual elections on Friday and the annual meeting Saturday.

Nadeau responded Wednesday stating that he has never refused public records to residents who have asked for them, that he spends plantation money according to state statutes, and that he holds no incompatible offices. Since the position of road commissioner has gone unfilled for years, he said he simply handles road-related issues as they arise, and that acting as a tax assessor is part of his duties as first selectman.

He said disbursements are made by majority action of the plantation’s three-man board of selectmen, and that he has only borrowed funds approved at annual town meetings.

Nadeau said public records in many small towns are held at the homes of municipal officials. The plantation hall, he said, is actually the town clerk’s office and her records are kept there. Records of selectmen business are at his home, he said, as treasurer’s records are kept at Beaulieu’s home.

“I’ve tried to talk with him on many occasions and he never has answers,” Fuss said Thursday morning. “He has no rapport with residents, even denying us a special town meeting requested by petition.

“We’ve received no answers from the state about an investigation of municipal affairs,” he continued. “We can’t inspect plantation records, because they are kept at his home, instead of the plantation office.”

Beaulieu concurred.

“He hasn’t talked to me since last May,” Beaulieu said. “He brings me treasurers warrants without receipts and I am told to pay them.”

Mathieu claims that Nadeau does valuations as he wishes. He claims shoreline land he owns is taxed at 10 times the rate of a neighbor’s.

“They’ve never approached me or addressed any of this with me,” Nadeau, who has been first selectman at Winterville for 27 years, said in an interview at his Eagle Lake town manager’s office Wednesday. “I know they have been going door to door to try to get people involved in this mission.

“We refused the petition for a special town meeting because the petition did not have specific items to discuss,” he said. “This was done after I discussed the petition with an attorney of the Maine Municipal Association.”

He denied all their allegations, including the property tax valuation questions. He said Mathieu’s land is valued more than his neighbor’s because the neighboring property is in a tree growth program.

Nadeau said a request for property tax appeal by Beaulieu’s sister was handled appropriately. He said he sent her the necessary papers for an appeal and has not heard from the woman since.

Beaulieu is also upset that an article in the annual plantation meeting seeks to make her position an appointed one as opposed to a one-year position filled by voters. For the first time in many years, Beaulieu is opposed for her treasurer’s position by Patsy Crane who is also the plantation clerk and tax collector.

Nadeau said the appointment of the three positions was discussed at an annual meeting 12 years ago, and selectmen felt it should be discussed again. He said the offices are not incompatible, and residents will decide Saturday if the positions are to be appointed, or elected annually as they have been.

Beaulieu believes the move is personal against her, an attempt to have her removed because she is questioning Nadeau’s action as first selectman and assessor.

Residents will decide who will be treasurer in elections held between 1 and 6 p.m. Friday. Many other questions raised by the trio Wednesday could be discussed at the annual town meeting at 9 a.m. Saturday at the Winterville Plantation Hall.