A South Berwick resident hired as a communications consultant for the Town chastised the Town Council in no uncertain terms recently for lacking transparency, violating open meeting laws and disrespecting town staff.
“I have some really significant concerns about the conduct I have witnessed between members of council,” said Suzanne Esposito of Beech Road, who spoke as a resident at the April 14 council meeting.
According to Esposito, who was hired by the Town in November to work 36 hours a month, town staff is being inundated with requests for information and made to feel “stupid” with “gotcha questions.”
Frequent emails between three or more council members violate both the town charter and state open meeting laws, she told the councilors, indicating they should not expect a response from Town Manager Tim Pellerin because he would then be party to a meeting happening in violation of open meeting laws.
Council Vice Chair Mallory Cook had raised similar concerns about emails at a March council meeting, Esposito noted, when Cook said 95 pages of emails had been exchanged between council members since the November election, in violation of open meeting laws.
During the April 14 meeting, Esposito did not identify herself as a town consultant. In a phone conversation with the Reporter later, she emphasized she had been speaking as a resident, not in her role as a communications consultant for the Town. She is not a town employee, she pointed out, but receives consulting fees for her services.
Esposito said in the phone call she decided to bring the issues to a regular Town Council meeting because the council is planning a workshop May 5 to address rules of order and procedure, and public input in council decisions is stifled if residents are unaware of the issues being discussed among councilors.
Public participation is not accepted during workshops, but residents can give feedback to the council at councilors@sbmaine.us. No formal actions can be taken during workshops because they are not regular council meetings.
Esposito also expressed concern at the meeting about strain on Town Hall staff caused by frequent inquiries from individual council members, the requests making it difficult for staff to focus on regular duties.
“Staff feel it,” she said, “and when you are constantly asking questions as gotcha points and trying to make people look stupid, that bleeds over… and staff starts feeling persecuted and feeling like they are being micromanaged and worry about every single thing they are doing – and that is happening.”
While Esposito said at the meeting that “no one in the community knows this is going on and it’s getting concerning,” she told the Reporter later she learned from conversations with community members outside the Town Hall that some staff felt targeted by certain councilors.
The State requires council members to take a two-hour training on public meeting procedures, and questioned by the Reporter, Pellerin said they all have completed the training.
Council Chair John James thanked Esposito for bringing the issues before the Council and said her remarks will be discussed at the May 5 workshop.
“Our staff is so important to us all,” Cook said. “They must be treated with the respect they deserve.”
Councilor Sam Flinkstrom said he was frustrated because he had given staff a long list of inquiries with no response.
“How are we supposed to govern and legislate if we can’t ask questions?” Flinkstrom asked.
For example, he said, he asked the assessor’s office for information on the latest valuation figures and this year’s predicted property tax increase because residents had been asking him for that information, but he was unable to get answers.
James said the valuation of properties on April 1 is part of the equation for the tax rate.
“You couldn’t get the figures because we don’t have them yet,” he told Flinkstrom. “We won’t have all the information we need to set the tax rate until August, and we never, ever try to estimate what the tax rate will be until we have everything we need.”
James directed Flinkstrom to send him his questions and he would get the responses, noting the procedure has always been that councilors send inquiries to the chairperson so the staff has to deal with only one councilor.
Councilor Paul Schumacher said he was confident the May 5 workshop will help the council find ways to improve communications. “We can find a way to work together,” he said.
Pellerin told the Reporter he knew Esposito was going to attend the meeting, but didn’t know she planned to speak. “Every citizen has the right to offer their opinions to the council,” he said.
James said in an email after the meeting that he was not aware Esposito was going to speak, but was glad she did. The council has an executive session planned soon to address these issues and try to get the council back on track so Town Hall staff members don’t feel they’re being micromanaged, he said.
“I have met with the department heads and I know that there are significant issues and we’ve been trying to work through them,” James wrote in the email . “It looks like we’ve been unsuccessful up to this point.”
