The Freedom Select Board voted unanimously Saturday to reject a consent decree that could have resolved an ongoing lawsuit against the town.

Legal fees associated with the lawsuit have cost the tiny town more than $45,000 since a group of landowners sued the town in 2024, said Laura Greeley, chairperson for the Select Board.

The landowners sued to claim private ownership of a 1.5-mile section of the road they live on: Beaver Ridge Road, a part-gravel, part-dirt path that runs through Freedom’s backwoods. The town has fought back, arguing that the entire road is a public easement — a road that is not maintained by public funds but can allow foot or motor vehicle traffic.

The consent decree was an attempt at compromise — keeping the road open as a public easement, but with restrictions — before the lawsuit could go to trial. All three members of the Select Board voted it down at the weekend meeting at Mt. View School.

“From the very beginning, I have said: Whatever is legal and whatever is right,” Greeley said at the meeting. “And the legal part of it, if we sign this, we are just signing this and it will never see a courtroom or a judge.”

She also said it wasn’t right. For more than two hours, several residents shared personal stories about the road and cited concerns with the decree. Others spoke in support of plaintiffs, who include Tyler Hadyniak, an attorney representing himself and four members of his family.

“I feel like much of the comments made by people were meant to only be personal jabs at me and my family, not necessarily focused on the consent decree,” Hadyniak said in an interview Monday.

“My family pursued court action for a reason, and we’re prepared to keep going forward,” he added.

Hadyniak had worked with a mediator and town attorney Bill Kelly to draft a consent decree that would have maintained a public easement over Beaver Ridge Road, barring activities like snowmobiling, ATV use and loud electronic sounds. If the board had signed the decree, it would have gone to a judge for final approval.

The proposal was a “win-win,” according to a letter from the mediator, Durward Parkinson, who said it could allow both parties to avoid expensive litigation with “no guarantee of success for either party.”

With no compromise met, the parties are expected to designate expert witnesses by March 17 and conclude discovery by June 17, according to a scheduling order from Waldo County Superior Court.

Hadyniak said the plaintiffs have selected an expert witness.

Greeley alleged that the plaintiffs intentionally wasted taxpayer money over the last two years by filing an excessive number of motions rather than letting the case go to trial. The town normally budgets $12,000 for legal expenses, Greeley said, but spent more than $30,000 on costs associated with the Beaver Ridge Road lawsuit in 2025.

Residents will see this year’s budget at Freedom’s annual town meeting March 14 at Mt. View.

After the board voted the decree down, several residents clapped and yelled out, “Thank you.” Select Board official Lissa Widoff shut them down.

“Don’t thank us yet. Please,” she said. “This is just a step in the process, it is not over for any of us. The goal is still public access and improved relations in this town.”