EAST MILLINOCKET, Maine — Selectman-elect Louis Perreault “played a game” and “made a mockery of the system” when he ran for the Board of Selectmen, was elected and declined to serve, Chairman Mark Scally said Sunday.
With the board meeting in special session at 9 a.m. today to discuss its response to Perreault’s seemingly abrupt decision late last week to decline office, Scally said he believes Perreault never intended to serve and should pay the $498 another election would cost, if that is legal.
“What the man did was reprehensible, and I don’t buy the personal problems excuse at all,” Scally said Sunday. “He knew full well that according to [the town’s] personnel policy, he could not serve on the board and still be employed as a [town] part-time ambulance driver. He knew it and ignored it. He played a game.
“He also said the wrong Mark got voted out,” Scally said. “That’s proof he was playing a game.”
When reached at home Sunday, Perreault maintained that personal and medical problems, which he declined to specify — not his Fire Department work or a lack of desire to serve —caused him to back out of serving.
Perreault said that he was aware of the problems a few weeks before the election, but didn’t see how he could reverse the balloting process at that point.
“Do I go in and take all ballots and cross my name off? Sit on the steps [of the town’s polling place] and tell people not to vote for me? People are free to vote for who they want,” said Perreault, who added that he didn’t know when the ballots were printed. “When I found out that I had [a problem], I said, ‘I have to go take care of that, but I can’t.’”
Voters elected board newcomer Perreault and veteran Scally to two open three-year seats on the five-member board with 450 and 625 votes in the Nov. 2 election. Selectman Mark Marston, a board member for 3½ years, lost his seat with 426 votes, officials said.
But Perreault surprised everyone when he told town Administrative Assistant Shirley Tapley, Marston and other board members just after the election that he could not serve. When reached at home Saturday, Perreault said he could not take office due to personal and medical and “unforeseen stuff that has nothing to do with the board.”
He said he told Tapley on Thursday or Friday morning. Marston said Perreault came to his house Wednesday night and apologized for not withdrawing from the race before Election Day, saying, “I didn’t think I was going to get in and I am sorry.”
Marston said, “He felt sorry he had done this. He knew how dedicated I was to serving the town.”
Perreault did not dispute Marston’s version of their meeting on Sunday.
Perreault should have withdrawn from the race well before Election Day if he knew he would not be able to serve, Marston said. Selectman Larry MacKenzie agreed.
The 9 a.m. meeting will address Perreault’s decision and its legal ramifications. Selectmen will likely decide whether to hold another election as soon as possible or maintain a four-member board until holding an election at a June town meeting, MacKenzie said.
According to a Maine Municipal Association attorney Tapley consulted, state law requires town officials to hold another election for the seat never filled by Perreault or from which he resigns. The seat does not go to Marston as the next vote-getter in line, MacKenzie said.
“Louis is going to resign and if he resigns, which is what he is supposed to do on Monday, and he does not take one day on post, what happens then is that we either go with a four-man board or we can elect to put it out to voters and have them elect a fifth person,” MacKenzie said. “That is what I know as of this moment.”
If the board waits to hold the election in June, it likely will be because members want to await the return of many town residents who go to Florida or other Southern states for the winter. Waiting also will save $498 in election costs, which could be a significant amount to some, MacKenzie and Scally said.
“That is kind of a bunch of baloney,” Marston said. “We have had special town meetings in winter before. Sometimes less than a dozen people would show up.”
Marston expressed disappointment that he could not resume his seat without another election. He said he believes that he has served the town very well and wondered whether his pronounced willingness to work with other Katahdin region towns such as Millinocket and Millinocket Town Councilor David Cyr is being held against him now.
“We can’t just put Mark in that spot. We have to be able give somebody a chance to run,” MacKenzie said. “I would say that we can elect a fifth member in spring, but I will go with the will of the majority of the board.”
“I understand Mark’s angst over this,” Scally said, adding that he felt that Perreault “made a mockery of the system.”
“Maybe, if people in town want an election, it can be done,” Scally added, “but we have operated on a four-man board before.”
“Scally can say what he wants. I am sure that he has heard all kinds of things,” Perreault said. “So have I.”
Dan Byron was elected to one three-year Union 113 board of directors seat with 452 votes to Angel Danforth’s 399, while Mark Wallace won 432 votes to William Hamlin’s 287 votes and Dustin Stanley’s 135 votes to fill the remainder of John Sheehan’s one-year term on the board.