Director Judy Dill of Kingfield listens to MSAD #58 board members last Thursday. (David Hart photo) SALEM TOWNSHIP -– Who the MSAD #58 School Board chairman is, is still being asked even after a second election was held last week when the first, held earlier this month, was challenged.

The debate began July 15 when the board met for its first meeting of the new year and held elections for officers.

After numerous nominations were offered and then withdrawn, Phillips director Alan Morse was elected chairman in a 5 to 4 ballot vote over long-term chairman Gerald (Mike) Pond of Strong. Kingfield director Judy Dill was unanimously elected vice chair by a show of hands.

When the two challengers were identified, Morse called for a ballot vote, part of the school board’s written policy. Superintendent Quenten Clark immediately warned the board that ballot voting had triggered some public scrutiny in recent newspaper articles because of their secret nature. Although he acknowledged that the board’s own policy does call for a “ballot vote” if two or more nominations are revealed, he suggested the board not vote with ballots.

A motion to use the ballot vote succeeded however, with Pond and Mary Jane Thorndike voting against it. The ballot vote led to Morse taking over the meeting as chairperson. Dill was nominated for vice chair unopposed so a ballot vote was not required according to district board policy.

Clark had looked for clarification on the issue and asked attorneys from Drummond Woodsum if a new election was needed, if any or all business that evening was valid and who would start the meeting on July 29 if the currently elected chair was improperly elected.

The attorneys suggested that to avoid the potential of public scrutiny, a conservative approach would be to vote again using signed written ballots. One attorney noted that newspapers were giving the issue some atten- tion, but also acknowledged that many districts still used secret ballots for elections.

“A written ballot is okay, but a secret ballot is not,” Clark said on July 29. He explained that the attorneys and members of a bond council had advised him that an election should be public, and the voting results should be available for anyone who requests them.

Clark said to maintain a public vote, while at the same time following their own policy, a written ballot should occur, but each member must sign their name as a matter of public record.

A new election for chairman of the board was held July 29. Morse and Dill were both nominated so again, policy called for a “ballot” vote, this time with each member’s name on their vote.

Dill was then elected chairman over Morse 6 to 3. Ann Schwink was elected vice chair in a unanimous show of hands. Dill then took over the meeting as chairperson.

Two days later, Morse contested the legalities of the July 29 meeting in an email to Clark and asked Clark to prove that what they did on the 29th was legal.

“You did not find a lawyer who would say the original vote was invalid. You have not produced a law stating written ballots for officers are illegal under sunshine laws... admittedly (this is) a gray area in existing law which has never been tested but cannot be written by school lawyers on the fly. All you have is our policy in effect which we followed to the letter July 15,” Morse wrote.

He explained that the board has no policy to remove a current chairman and that he believes the actions on the 29th were invalid.

“That’s the bottom line. We can do no more than follow the letter of the law as it stood on July 15, which we indeed did... that is until July 29. I did not resign and still have not resigned. I do not intend to do so as long as am in good health.”

Morse explained in his email that he thought Dill would be a fine chair and he pointed out that he nominated her on the 15th. Morse suggested that Dill could continue running meetings as either vice chair or chair, depending on the outcome. He said he’s suggesting this so that future meetings will not be burdened with the issue.

“The burden of proof now is upon you to show that Judy could replace me as chair where there is no such provision in either our policy or Maine law,” Morse said.

Morse said he was looking for a definitive answer to the question and one that could stand up in court.