PERRY – The Perry Board of Selectmen Monday night accepted a petition signed by 142 residents that would allow a vote to create a special Quoddy Bay LNG negotiating team.

Jeanne Guisinger, who is also a selectman, presented the petition but said Tuesday that she was disappointed.

“It will not be discussed and decided in an open town meeting as we requested,” Guisinger said.

Instead, Chairman David Turner opted to put the question of creating the committee to a referendum or ballot vote at the annual March town meeting.

This will allow for greater voter participation, Turner said late Tuesday. “It will give voters all day to come down and vote rather than just coming out in the evening.” Turner also said that Guisinger was aware that the issue would be placed on a ballot before she helped circulate the petition.

The annual March town meeting is set for Tuesday, March 27, with voting on ballot measures taking place the day before.

Also on that ballot will be a proposal regarding Quoddy Bay’s LNG location in Perry.

“We are in hopes it will be all over in March,” Turner said. Negotiations have been going on for more than a year and the LNG proposal has been very controversial in this Down East community.

“I am disappointed,” Guisinger said. “I think this was a great opportunity for open discussion, but [Turner] will not allow that to happen.” Guisinger is opposed to the LNG facility and has actively opposed it.

Guisinger said the issue goes beyond personal preferences or concern over whether an LNG terminal in Perry is predominantly good or bad. She said that the impact on residents’ lives necessitates a larger group of representation during the negotiation phase.

Currently, Turner and the town’s attorney, Eric Stumpfield of Bangor, are the only two directly negotiating with Quoddy Bay LNG. Those signing the petition apparently did not feel that was equitable.

Turner said, however, that the full board knows all the details of the negotiations and has been briefed fully on the procedures through every step of the process.

“We need to have a wider perspective at the bargaining table with an open and transparent process,” Guisinger said. “This is not about whether you are for or against LNG development; this is about the process. This is about bringing our town together to address the biggest challenge it has faced since it was founded. We have a right and an obligation to protect our interests and the future of our children.”

The proposed negotiating team would include selectmen, planning board members, a school committee member, the fire chief, a fisherman and three community members.

Guisinger said the team would not be doing the negotiating but would act solely in an advisory capacity to direct the outline for establishing the town’s goals. The Board of Selectmen would take those goals to the negotiating table.

Turner said a committee of 11 people would be both awkward and inefficient, and that it will likely be completely unnecessary since negotiations are nearly complete.

Turner confirmed Tuesday that he had sent a letter to Quoddy Bay LNG requesting reimbursement of additional attorneys’ fees. As in most major projects, the developer is bearing the cost of all legal fees and two previous requests for a total of $18,000 have been paid. An additional request was made and approved in late December for another $6,000. Turner emphasized that the attorney was hired by and works for the town of Perry, particularly since his area of expertise is municipal and economic development law.

Statements that Stumpfield was hired by Quoddy Bay LNG are untrue, he said. “We hired Mr. Stumpfield and we are simply being reimbursed,” he said.