HOLDEN – After hearing that there was a possible conflict of interest with the attorney the SAD 63 board hired in November to represent them in a possible lawsuit with Superintendent Louise Regan, the board decided Tuesday to hire another law firm.

After a three-hour closed-door meeting, the board unanimously voted to hire as special council Bryan Dench of Skelton, Taintor & Abbott of Auburn “with regard to intergovernmental matters and personnel matters.” The meeting did not include Regan.

“Bryan is being hired exclusively by SAD 63 to avoid the conflict of interest,” Karen Clark, deputy chairwoman of the SAD 63 board, said Wednesday.

The SAD 63 board voted in November to hire Bruce Smith of the Portland firm of Drummond, Woodsum & MacMahon to represent them in any possible lawsuits involving the superintendent.

Regan questioned in February whether Drummond, Woodsum, which has provided general counsel to SAD 63, CSD 8 and the joint board, had a conflict of interest and could provide legal advice in this instance.

Smith and Melissa Hewey, another lawyer from Drummond, Woodsum, are still working with the board regarding Regan’s legal claims, Clark said.

A Feb. 26 letter Smith penned to Les Hutchinson, the chair of the CSD 8 board, which splits the cost of the shared central office budget with SAD 63, asked the Airline school board to consent to allow his firm to represent SAD 63.

“Since the CSD is a client of this firm, we believe we cannot represent SAD 63 with regard to employment issues involving the superintendent’s office employees without the consent of the CSD,” it stated, adding, “Since we cannot proceed further without your consent, we are hoping that you can act on this matter at your meeting scheduled for Feb. 27.”

The board of CSD 8, which includes Amherst, Aurora, Great Pond and Osborn, tabled the issue at that meeting. SAD 63 includes Holden, Eddington and Clifton.

Smith’s letter goes on to state that if the Airline school board does not consent to Drummond, Woodsum representing SAD 63, “we will then refer the SAD to other lawyers to take our place and to represent them regarding superintendent’s office employment issues.”

Regan plans to sue SAD 63 board members Therese Anderson, Karen Clark, Linda Goodrich, Robert Kiah and Dion Seymour, according to certified letters sent out by her lawyer on Nov. 7. She is asking for the statutory maximum of $400,000.

She also filed a complaint against SAD 63 with the Maine Human Rights Commission in November, claiming she was discriminated against for being a whistle-blower.

Both legal claims are based on actions that took place in October involving recorded minutes of previous SAD 63 meetings, which Regan reported to police had been removed improperly from the central office. During SAD 63’s Oct. 22 meeting, Seymour read a letter of concern that basically stated that Regan told lies about him concerning the meeting tapes to three other board members.

Dench, the newly hired attorney, was on his way to Florida for a conference on Wednesday, but did relay a message to the Bangor Daily News through his receptionist saying, “There is no suit that is pending” and that “He’s not being hired to defend the superintendent’s Maine Human Rights complaint.”

nricker@bangordailynews.net

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