By the end of their meeting Oct. 15, the Damariscotta Board of Selectman agreed to split the difference on a $30,000 construction overage with a contractor and remove the board chairman Josh Pinkham and replace him with another former chairman, Dick McLean.
Pinkham was deposed following a flurry of nominations and intense discussion kicked off by a surprise motion, made late in the meeting by Selectmen Ed Stelzer. Stelzer’s motion followed a contentious, public executive session.
“I view my reputation, and reputation of the board, very seriously,” Stelzer said. “I’ve heard tonight that people aren’t happy with what the town is doing. I don’t like observations of people getting publicly ridiculed. It affects morale. I’m not comfortable with the leadership of the board, I want to make a motion to reconsider leadership positions on the board.”
Dave Wilbur seconded Stelzer’s motion. The motions set off a flurry of discussion, nominations and counter nominations ultimately ending with McLean elected chair, Vicki Pinkham reestablished as vice chair and Stelzer second vice chair.
A crowd gathered at the Damariscotta Municipal Building to observe the meeting last Wednesday night. People were lined up against the back wall and the meeting room was dotted with the maroon shirts worn by Hagar Enterprises employees.
The meeting started out lighthearted, with McLean teasing Seth Hagar, co-owner of Hagar Enterprises, about shaving an H into the back of his head. Hagar joked back that he shaves it as close as possible to hide the gray.
The discussion of how to cover a $30,000 security deposit for Hagar’s snow plowing contract went smoothly, with an option to split the expenses offered by Damariscotta Town Manager Greg Zinser, and an option to give cash flow payments suggested by Pinkham. The board voted that Hagar and the town should split the expense evenly with the town’s portion coming out of the Damariscotta’s unappropriated surplus.
Pinkham insisted that the board needed to call a special town meeting to request the $15,000 from taxpayers instead of taking it from undesignated surplus. It was not an emergency situation, Pinkham said.
“This is above and beyond what Damariscotta said at town meeting was acceptable,” Pinkham said. “I don’t agree with taking $15,000 out of the emergency fund, this is not an emergency. If I was another contractor that bid on the snowplowing I might be upset. Some people interpreted it one way and some another, but this is not a personal attack.”
McLean explained that the board is really just moving the money from one investment account to another, and, in the end, the town and Hagar will both split the profit from the investment.
Seth Hagar explained the contract wasn’t signed until July 16, and the bond wasn’t final until Aug. 13. Hagar said he couldn’t order some equipment until the contract was signed. The only piece of the contract left to be completed is paying the security deposit.
Hagar detailed the work ethic of his company and pointed out the solidarity of his employees taking time out of their lives to support him at the meeting. He explained Hagar’s donation of the town’s new salt shed and the more than $17,000 they invested in the project.
“Then I go to local stores, and I have to listen to gossip about my business that is not true, spread by members of this board,” Hagar said. “Several bids have been rejected because of a conflict of interest between the chairman of your board and our company.”
“I’m open to showing you our financials, but don’t talk behind our back. If not for the town manager with this level headed solution, we wouldn’t be here,” he said. “We’d be in court, which is not in your best interest or ours.”
The discussion moved on to assuming plowing responsibilities for Rt. 1B, and receiving re-imbursement from the state for the town. It was agreed Hagar could do the plowing, and would agree to be paid by the town as the state reimbursement money arrives.
Then Selectman Ed Stelzer motioned to have a scheduled executive session moved up in the agenda. Normally the meeting would have adjourned for a brief period with the audience clearing the room until the end of the executive session.
In discussion, board members indicated the executive session was intended to discuss matters pertaining to communication between Zinser and board members. Zinser moved to waive his right to private executive session, so the audience was allowed to stay to witness the exchange.
Pinkham detailed situations in which he felt Zinser did not communicate with him appropriately, specifically involving a recent construction project. “You weren’t available, Terry wasn’t available, and I spoke to Seth because I was concerned,” Pinkham said.
“You didn’t leave a message for me to answer your question, you took it upon yourself,” Zinser said. “You went to the job site. You were acting outside the scope of your responsibility.”
Several members of the board went on to explain they felt Zinser was a good communicator. “Town manager Greg Zinser does a superb job of keeping me advised, just short of micromanaging and a day by day report of what’s happening in office,” McLean said. “I never felt something was going on that I did not know about. When I have questions, I always get an update with the answers.”
The executive session closed, and the board discussed moving forward with geothermal energy. They recently completed a tour of Midnight Oil’s geothermal lab, and Zinser located another geothermal installer in South Portland for the board to investigate.
As the meeting was coming to a close, Stelzer made his surprise motion.
Dave Wilbur seconded the motion, and offered his usually closely held opinion. “I take no pleasure in seconding this motion,” he said. “I was going to make the same motion myself. I take no pleasure in that either, I supported Josh to become chair of this board. How you conduct yourself as a leader sets the tone for the board. I was assured by him that personal differences would not come into play. I sat here the last few meetings and heard snide remarks, the blame game instead of solutions, and him not being able to work with the group.”
Pinkham was quick to defend himself. “I respect the opinions of Dave and Ed, but this has nothing to do with personal matters,” he said. “I’m still getting positive feedback from others, I continue to receive encouragement. I’m doing what people ask me to do. Constituents may ask in different ways, but they all want answers to questions. I feel set up a little bit tonight. Like a dog, you can push me aside every once in awhile, and I’ll still be happy to come back. I still feel I can serve, and do my job, and that’s what I’m doing.”
Fellow selectman Vicki Pinkham stood up for Josh Pinkham. “Everyone is different,” she said. “It’s nice not to have a yes man at helm, this town deserves more than that. Josh is someone in town people see daily, they’re always jamming him with questions.”
“He’s a business man in town who travels from place to place to do business. I’m glad he questions authority and money spending. He tries to keep things in balance. I don’t think he tries to come off brash.”
The vote to remove Pinkham was three to one, with Pinkham abstaining. Stelzer, Wilbur and McLean voted in favor, Vicki Pinkham opposed.
An audience member and former selectman Brent Hallowell felt the evenings events were unfair. “To demote him from chairman is a stunt more than anything,” he said. “He will still be sitting there, unless in case of natural disaster he has to take over. He is the person I would want leading in an emergency.”
Ed Stelzer defended his actions. “There is no stunt here, I considered carefully before I spoke,” he said. “I may not work full time in a job, but I get around to see a lot of people. I received a lot of input in the last five months. I really hope I can make a difference in how this board conducts business. I voted for all the current leaders of board, but I reached a level of frustration. I think it’s important we do this now.”
As Pinkham was removed as chair, Vicki Pinkham resigned as vice chair. Then there was a flurry of nominations back and forth. Finally McLean was elected chair, Vicki Pinkham reassumed her position as vice chair, and Ed Stelzer was nominated as second vice chair.
