The hand-raising vote on starting a process to withdraw from Sheepscot Valley RSU 12 taken at Palermo’s special town meeting on Dec. 5 was invalid and will need to be recounted through secret ballots, according to Town Clerk Sheila McCarty.
After the vote had taken place, Selectman Holly Harmon had noticed the wording of the withdrawal process required a secret ballot, McCarty said in a phone conversation Dec. 18.
At Harmon’s request, McCarty contacted the lawyer of the Maine Municipal Association, who confirmed the secret ballot procedures need to be followed, McCarty said.
Palermo would have been the third town to start withdrawing from RSU 12, joining Wiscasset and Westport Island that started the process earlier this year.
By the apparently invalid show of hands, the question to start the process and provide $15,000 for the purpose of withdrawal was approved 85-2, McCarty said.
A new public hearing on the question is scheduled for Dec. 22, but the date of the new special town meeting hasn’t been scheduled yet, McCarty said.
