LNG, a planning grant, and a rift between officials

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PERRY – LNG turned a selectmen’s meeting into a mini-battle field Monday that pitted neighbors against neighbors.

It all began last week when some members of the planning board asked David Turner, the newly elected chairman of the Board of Selectmen, to sign an application for a comprehensive planning grant.

Turner turned them down.

At the eleventh hour, Selectman Jeanne Guisinger signed the application and it was submitted to the State Planning Office on Friday.

Last year, Oklahoma-based Quoddy Bay LLC entered into an agreement with the Passamaquoddy Tribe to build a multimillion-dollar liquefied natural gas facility at Split Rock on reservation land.

The company also wanted to build three storage tanks in Perry. An underground pipe would connect the terminal with the tank farm.

Enter the comprehensive planning grant application.

At the March 28 annual town meeting, voters agreed to apply for state money and spend $7,500 in matching funds. The grant was to be used to revise and update the town’s 1993 comprehensive plan.

The chairman of the planning board, working with the Washington County Council of Governments, put together an application. It had to be submitted by April 14.

Around 5:30 p.m. Thursday, April 13, a copy of the application was given to Turner. At 8:30 p.m., Selectman Jeanne Guisinger learned that Turner had refused to sign it. She said she then signed it so the town could apply for the money. She said it would be another year before money would be available if the deadline wasn’t met.

At Monday’s meeting. Turner introduced a letter sent to him by planning board member Bob Costa.

“I was never made aware that the comprehensive plan was being submitted, or that you had serious enough reservations not to sign it,” Costa wrote. “I was not informed that five members of the Planning Board signed the document, along with Jeanne Guisinger, over your objections.”

Costa suggested that members of the planning board used the document as a “platform to launch an investigation of the proposed LNG facility for the purpose of preventing that type of industrial activity in the town of Perry.”

He then recommended that those planning board members who supported the eleventh-hour submission be “legally sanctioned.”

“I support the removal of the Planning Board members that participated in this coup d’etat,” Costa wrote. “Or at least the removal of the ring leaders of any illegal activities.”

Planning board Chairwoman Nancy Asante in a letter to Costa dated Monday, April 17, denied that the planning board had acted inappropriately. She said that she and Judy East, executive director of the Washington County Council of Governments, had three days to complete the application. “It was not a Comprehensive Plan that was submitted, it was merely an application for grant money to help Perry pay for the expenses involved in revising and updating the 1993 Comprehensive Plan,” she explained.

She said the only reason five members of the planning board signed the application was to show solidarity with Guisinger.

Addressing Costa’s concerns about LNG, Asante said no one was launching an “investigation” or was trying to prevent that “type of industrial activity in the town of Perry.”

Asante said it was important to convince the state that the town needs the money. “The use of biased language on either side of the debate will not win us any points, nor will ignoring the whole question of LNG and industrial development,” she added.

East confirmed Tuesday it was not unusual to address issues when requesting state funds. In the case of Perry, she said, LNG and a recent growth in Perry housing development were reasons why the matching funds were needed.

East said her office had not taken a pro or con stand on the LNG issue.

“This is just a way to provide a public process [through the comprehensive plan] through which a town can grapple with this issue,” she said. She also said it was not unusual for towns to submit grant applications at the last minute.

During the meeting Turner said he was concerned about language in the application. “I told them if they wanted to fix some of the things that were in it I would take a look at it the next morning” so the document could be presented in Augusta. “I assume they chose not to do that. I didn’t hear from them the next morning,” Turner said.

East confirmed she had spoken with Turner twice by telephone on Thursday. She said he had requested minor changes that she said she could make. Later, East said, Turner told her he was too tired to deal with the issue.

During the meeting, Turner confirmed he told East he was too tired to address the issue. “I said I am not dealing with this after 9 o’clock tonight, I have to get up at 5 o’clock in the morning,” he said. He said he was willing to look at the document at 5 the next morning.

Guisinger again reminded Turner that the planning board had requested permission only to submit a grant application for funds. She suggested he had “neglected” his duties when he refused to sign the document.

Her comment led to applause from the audience. “You can leave if you are not going to be quiet,” Turner again told the audience.

Turner then moved to contact the State Planning Office and Maine Municipal Association to determine how the town should proceed. “Because [the grant application has] been falsely presented to the state,” he said.

When Guisinger laughed, Turner told her, “Test me.”

“You can’t throw me out,” she told Turner. “You’re not a dictator.”

“I can clear the room, Jeanne, if they continue, and I will,” he said of the people.

Selectman Dick Adams seconded Turner’s motion.

After the meeting, Turner said he would put in writing his objections to the grant application and make it available to the news media. “Let me write it up and give it to you,” Turner said. When Turner was told he needed to make those comments available on Tuesday, he said he would. However, those comments were not provided to the Bangor Daily News by late Tuesday.