Orient reschedules annual town meeting to Sept. 4

ORIENT – Town officials opted this past weekend to reschedule their annual town meeting after procedural questions arose.

Town Clerk Alicia Silkey said Tuesday that the yearly meeting would now be held at 5 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 4.

About 25 people attended Saturday’s meeting, according to the clerk.

Silkey said that 59 voters cast ballots in an election held earlier that day. Silkey was re-elected for a three-year term as town clerk, treasurer and tax collector, while Victor Alexander defeated incumbent Ralph Tozier for a seat on the Board of Selectmen.

According to Silkey, some of those who attended Saturday’s scheduled meeting questioned whether the meeting warrant had been posted correctly. Selectmen eventually voted to postpone the meeting until they could seek legal advice from the Maine Municipal Association.

Silkey said she posted the official meeting warrant and numerous copies around town on Aug. 12 as required by law.

“The next morning, the official warrant was stolen from where it was posted,” she said. “I had not made a copy of the attested copy. Since I had already posted the official warrant legally, I took a copy of the warrant that was in the town report and posted that.”

Since that document from the town report contained only the signature of one selectman, Silkey said, some people at Saturday’s gathering said she had not posted the warrant correctly.

“We consulted MMA and were told that we could have gone ahead with the meeting, and that the election was valid because the warrant was posted legally. The warrant was drawn up by the selectmen and they were all in agreement about it. After the copy was stolen, I took a copy from the town report, but nothing in it had changed,” she said.

This is the first time in years that the town meeting has been held in late summer. Voters decided in February to switch the meeting from May to August so that the town could have a better picture of its financial status for the fiscal year.

“We are not shut down,” she said. “We are open for business. We have the money to continue operating. This did not disrupt town business at all.”