March 28, 2024
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Friends of Fort Knox suit to go forward

BANGOR – A Penobscot County Superior Court judge has allowed a lawsuit challenging the recent election of the board of the directors of the Friends of Fort Knox to go forward, but refused to grant a preliminary injunction that immediately would have overturned the results.

Superior Court Justice Jeffrey Hjelm also dismissed Friends’ board member Mary Campbell of Bangor from the lawsuit but allowed a claim by Michael Celli of Brewer to go forward against the organization.

Because Campbell retained her seat on the board in the disputed election, Hjelm said in a six-page decision issued Thursday that she did not have standing to sue the organization.

Celli would gain a seat on the board if the lawsuit succeeds, so the justice allowed his claim to go forward.

The lawsuit challenges a membership vote that attempted to change the makeup of the organization’s board of directors.

It contends the board acted beyond its bylaws when it conducted an election in mid-November that included votes submitted by either proxy or absentee ballot.

A trial date has not been set, but civil cases can take up to two years to go to trial in Superior Court.

In a press release issued by Jeffrey Silverstein, the Bangor attorney representing the Friends group, Friends president John Hyk said he was satisfied with Hjelm’s decision.

“Presented with a petition for a vote to oust some directors, and never having gone through this sort of thing before, the Friends hired a lawyer to create a process, conduct the election, and count the votes,” he said. “We did everything we could to make sure that every member of the organization had the opportunity to vote. … The outcome of the vote was clear.”

Campbell and Celli’s attorney, A.J. Greif of Bangor, was out of town Friday.

Charles Gilbert, Greif’s law partner, called Hjelm’s decision “thoughtful” and said that eventually the main issue in the case would be placed before a jury.

“The heart of the case is that Mr. Celli was denied a seat on the board because of the questionable action on the part of the [Friends] and some people working with it,” Gilbert said Friday in a phone interview. “He’s going to get to fight that battle.”

The Friends of Fort Knox is a volunteer organization dedicated to the preservation and enhancement of Fort Knox State Historic Site in Prospect. The Friends organization is based in Bucksport, just across the Penobscot River from the fort.

The membership rift began in August when Leon Seymour, the organization’s first executive director hired in 1999, was forced to resign.

The dispute over Seymour’s leaving led to the disputed election last month that attempted to recall board members who had sought his removal and to replace them with Seymour supporters.

Seymour has filed a complaint with the Maine Human Rights Commission over his removal.

Hjelm’s decision keeps Seymour’s supporters out of power for now.

“The judge’s order is very encouraging,” Hyk said Friday. “From the start we believed that all our members should be able to vote – that more democracy is better than restricted democracy. It’s great to have this affirmed by virtue of the court’s order which, in effect, allows for continued recognition of the existing board.”

It was unclear Friday how the lawsuit would affect the Friends’ possible operation of Fort Knox next year or construction of an access route from the fort to the observation tower to be built as part of the new Waldo-Hancock bridge now under construction.

The Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands has said it is “developing contingency plans” to proceed on its own in making plans for the operation of Fort Knox in 2006, according to court documents.


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