PROSPECT – Issues raised in a petition to the Friends of Fort Knox last month appear to be headed for airing at a membership meeting after all.

The Friends leadership has agreed to meet the demand in the petition for a special meeting of the membership, according to Bangor attorney A.J. Greif, who had been prepared to file a lawsuit on behalf of Friends member Michael Celli, who submitted the petition signed by 60 of the organization’s members.

Greif also represents Leon Seymour whose ouster as executive director of the Friends group in August has resulted in a split among the organization’s board members and membership. Seymour has filed a complaint with the Maine Human Rights Commission over his dismissal.

The petition called for a special meeting before Sept. 20 to address three issues: rehiring Seymour, removing members from the board of directors, and replacing those members with new directors. Friends officials, instead, planned for a vote on two of the issues which was to be held early in November.

On Wednesday, Greif labeled the elections a “four-corner stall.”

“It’s a pretty simple law, and the petition is pretty clear,” he said. “They presented the petition on September 6 and they’ve had no answer. We’re waiting for them to announce the meeting.”

That announcement came on Thursday.

The meeting now has been set for 6 to 8:30 p.m. Nov. 15 at the Wagner Middle School in Winterport, according to Friends interim director Kent Price.

Price said the board had scheduled the vote in an effort to fulfill the demands of the petition.

“We’d already had two meetings,” he said Thursday. “Our interpretation was that they wanted a vote. We thought there was no particular reason to stage a meeting.”

Regular board meetings usually are held at the visitors center at the fort, but the site has been changed for the special meeting, Price said.

“The visitors center is just not big enough to hold the number of people who are likely to be interested in these issues,” he said.

The meeting, Price said, will be held in addition to the vote. Voting will take place during the session and there will be a time certain when voting would stop. There has to be time to count the ballots before the group leaves the building. Price said they have to be out by 9 p.m.

The session will include a discussion portion as well as the referendum-type vote on the issues set forth in the petition. Friends attorney Richard Silver of Bangor has indicated that state law mandates that a vote to remove officers must be held so that all members have an opportunity to cast ballots, Price said.

Price said members would be able to vote during the meeting and also by mail.

Silver could not be reached for comment.

The first question will deal with rehiring Seymour as executive director at his previous salary retroactive to the date of his removal. Silver has advised the board that members do not have authority to hire administrative staff, so that vote will be advisory.

The issue of removing officers will require members to decide which, if any, current officers should be removed from office. Although he had not seen the ballots yet, Price said he anticipated that the ballot would include the names of all current board members and that members would mark which, if any, they wanted removed.

The final question on the ballots is problematic since it requires that voters elect replacement officers. Price said he was unsure how that question would be presented on the ballot.

Silver is preparing the ballots.