VASSALBORO — More than a dozen residents packed into the Vassalboro Town Office Monday afternoon, waiting expectantly for a productive meeting of the sewer district board.

Lauchlin Titus, the chair of the Vassalboro Sanitary District board of trustees, began proceedings promptly at 2:30 p.m.

“I’ll call this meeting of the Vassalboro Sanitary District to order. And then I have to inform you that at 6:17 this morning, I got a resignation from one of our members — the one who’s not here,” Titus said. “Therefore, we can’t conduct any business.”

Some residents groaned, exhaling in frustration that, for the second time this fall, the sewer district would be unable to act on its ongoing financial crisis.

The five-member board cannot conduct business without a quorum, or a majority of members, present at a meeting. Only two members remain after board treasurer Jenna Davies’ resignation Monday morning. Since mid-August, the board has been able to hold one official meeting; Monday’s would have been the second.

“With that said, we’re adjourned,” Titus said.

“So we can’t hold any kind of informal conversation?” asked Megan McDonough, a resident who has organized frustrated customers in the district.

“I was told no,” Titus replied.

“I just think that’s a little ridiculous,” McDonough said.

A rotating cast of board members has repeatedly raised rates on customers to pay for a costly mandated sewer line upgrade that left the small district with more than $3 million in loans to pay back. The 200-customer quasi-municipal district has been in a debt spiral ever since, leading board members to triple sewer bills.

Residents saddled with those often unaffordable bills have become increasingly frustrated in recent months, especially as the district came within days of defaulting on one of its loans in October — a situation that could have resulted in the seizure of real estate along the sewer line by the Maine Municipal Bond Bank.

Davies, the member who resigned Monday morning, did not provide a reason for her resignation, Titus said — just that she “enjoyed her time” on the board. She was appointed to her position by the Vassalboro Select Board on Oct. 2; her tenure was 46 days long.

As the board treasurer, Davies was responsible for building the district’s budget for the next year, Titus said. He said he will take on those responsibilities over the next month.

The meeting’s agenda included a discussion of the next year’s budget — a major topic of discussion, given the current operating budget for the district estimates a $95,000 end-of-year deficit.

Brandy King, the administrator of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection’s Clean Water Revolving Fund, the lender of about a third of the Vassalboro Sanitary District’s debt, attended the meeting, hoping to answer financial questions from the board.

King told the board as part of a post-meeting informal discussion — despite Titus saying no such discussion would be held — that an extra $133,000 in funds not spent by the district on the original sewer line upgrade could be used to restructure the debt.

“Once the board is fully functional and operating on a competent, successful (basis) — which we would look at — at that point would we then look at restructuring the loan by using that $133,000 as repayments to help you guys along,” King said. “But until that time comes, we absolutely, 100%, cannot do that. And we will not do that.”

Select Board chairperson Rick Denico, who attended Monday’s meeting, said the Select Board would likely appoint a third person to the sanitary district’s board during their Dec. 11 meeting. The earliest a new member could be sworn in, he said, would be Dec. 15, the date of the next regularly scheduled sanitary district meeting.

Titus said it was unclear whether a meeting would actually be held on Dec. 15. A new member would need to be available for the meeting, and he said the two remaining trustees would be willing to work around a new member’s schedule.

The meeting agenda Monday afternoon also included an acknowledgment of a formal complaint filed late last month by McDonough, which alleged the district failed to maintain adequate public access. Titus said solutions to many of the issues raised in the complaint are “in process.”

Davies had also been assigned as the board’s point person on “revamping” the district’s website, a primary subject of McDonough’s complaint. A notice posted on the website for months said the district would not conduct any business because of a lack of board quorum — even though the Vassalboro Select Board appointed three members to the board in October, and those three members held a public meeting on Oct. 29.

A week after McDonough filed her complaint, the website was updated to include board member contact information, limited meeting agendas and minutes, and financial documentation.

It was unclear whether another board member would assume Davies’ website responsibilities.

Davies’ name had not yet been removed from the website by Tuesday afternoon.