WEST GARDINER — Tom Valley walked up to the microphone in front of 90 fellow residents and the three-man Board of Selectmen at the West Gardiner Fire Department on Thursday.
What was the big deal, Valley asked, if Angela Phillis, the town clerk and top election official, was employed by one of the select board candidates during the last election cycle, if the vote was not affected?
Select board member Gary Hickey II responded to Valley by saying Phillis’ potential conflict of interest should matter, not because it affected the outcome, but because West Gardiner should follow the rules.
“It’s the law, you idiot,” a resident said to Valley as he returned to his seat in the back of the room.
“Don’t call me an idiot,” Valley responded. A short scuffle ensued, and the two men had to be forcefully separated.
Valley was one of several residents fired up by several intertwined controversies that the town’s select board members had hoped to address in Thursday’s special public forum. No votes were taken, and no official decisions were made; the meeting was largely a chance for open discussion among residents.
Hickey had begun the hour-and-a-half-long meeting by expressing concerns about the April election and Phillis’ employment by then-candidate Steve McGee at his construction company. State law prevents an election registrar, like Phillis, from being employed by a candidate; Phillis has held a part-time position at McGee’s construction company since March. McGee and Greg Couture, the chair of the board, said they did not know about the law, though Hickey said he brought it to their attention during a March 13 select board meeting.
McGee, who was soundly defeated by Hickey as an incumbent in 2023, won the April election by 34 votes. The pair now sit on the three-person select board together.
About 90 residents attended the forum, held in the West Gardiner Fire Department garage. Many said they had no clue what they were walking into.
Several complained the public notice for the meeting, posted days prior on the town’s website, was unclear. The notice said the meeting was called “to discuss the questions arising on social media platforms, FOAA requests, Select Board un-involvement and any other topics that may be of question.” Some residents were under the impression that it was a special town meeting, where residents would be asked to vote on a proposed warrant article.
That confusion highlighted a larger concern that residents expressed repeatedly during Thursday’s meeting: transparency.
The second major issue Hickey brought forward, after discussion on the April election ended, was a recent Freedom of Access Act request he had filed with the town for text-based communications between board members and town staff.
He said he felt he has been left out of important decisions, including the closure of the town office for several days earlier this month with little advance notice, and that he wanted to bring town business into the public light.
Couture said the four-day office closures during the week of July 7 were for staff vacation time approved several months in advance. But the closures, Hickey said, were not announced to the public on the town’s website until about an hour before the office was scheduled to open, and Hickey himself only learned of the office closure in a one-word text from Couture: “Vacation.”
The town office closed on short notice July 22 because several staff members were subpoenaed by Hickey’s wife to testify in ongoing divorce proceedings.
Hickey said town office closures should be the decision of the entire board, not one member. Couture said those decisions have historically been the purview of the board chair, citing a longstanding unwritten policy.
Hickey said in a Facebook post about his request that he hoped his request would illuminate behind-the-scenes decision-making.
“I’m an approachable person when I go out in the community,” Hickey said. “People ask me what’s going on — ‘Is the town office open today? Is it not?’ — and I oftentimes have no answer for them.”
Hickey filed the request July 24. Town officials acknowledged the request within the mandated five-day timeline, but have not yet provided the records.
Andrea Lenhart, another resident, said she was especially frustrated that Hickey — a select board member — felt the need to file a public records request to gain information about town business.
“I think this town needs to bring more transparency to everyone,” Lenhart said. “What’s going on? What kind of business is being done?”
Lenhart and other residents also said they were concerned about the town’s record-keeping, especially about public meetings.
West Gardiner is among the only towns in the region to not have an agenda for regular select board meetings. Those meetings are not recorded, and official meeting minutes — required by state law to document successful motions made by the board — are taken inconsistently and are not posted to the town’s website.
Amanda Bannister, a resident, said she would even volunteer her time to take minutes at one board meeting per month.
“(Minutes) are legal records of what happened in each minute, in each meeting, that are supposed to be signed and approved by the board at the next meeting,” Alayna Bouchard, a West Gardiner resident and the deputy town clerk in Farmingdale, said. “Every single town surrounding posts their minutes every single month, of whatever select board meeting was before. So why are we so different that we have pencil scratched on paper?”
Other residents were simply frustrated with the ongoing local conflict.
John Morris, a 35-year resident of West Gardiner, said he was disappointed by the division on display Thursday.
“What I’ve heard tonight, in my view, is somewhat embarrassing,” Morris said. “Communication and trust — and I know a lot about those two, based on my experience and my life — is a two-way street. Everybody has to get involved if this is going to work.”
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