HAMPDEN, Maine — With local elections over, Town Council members began looking this week at ways they might be able to avoid some of the acrimony they have experienced in recent months.
Though no decisions have been made, one of the steps suggested on Monday was the creation of a mechanism to remove mayors who have lost the confidence of their colleagues. Another might involve changes to the list of prohibited activities for elected officials.
Though members had been squabbling over issues ranging from whether to recite the Pledge of Allegiance at the start of their regular meetings to whether to continue funding Saturday Community Connector bus runs, already strained relationships took a turn for the worse after negative campaign robocalls critical of two councilors seeking re-election went out to residents of two of the town’s four voting districts.
The robocalls, made by Mayor Carol Duprey through a political action committee she established with her husband, Rep. Brian Duprey, did not sit well with most other council members.
The campaign calls led to dueling OpEd pieces written by Councilor William Shakespeare and Carol Duprey that further fueled the fire.
Duprey was cleared of breaching the town’s Code of Ethics because she made the robocalls as a citizen and not in her capacity as mayor. However, members took a 6-1 vote of no confidence in her ability to lead them, with Duprey casting the lone vote in support of her performance as mayor, on Oct. 20.
Despite being asked to step down from the post after the no-confidence vote, Duprey declined and said she had done nothing wrong. Her fellow councilors had no way of compelling her to step down, and it appears she will serve in that role at least until January, when the next election for mayor takes place.
Though both of the incumbents targeted by the robocalls lost their re-election bids, Brian Duprey lost his bid for re-election to his House seat as well as his bid for a one-year unexpired term on the RSU 22 board.
During Monday’s meeting, one of the last few remaining before his term draws to an end, Councilor Tom Brann offered recommendations to future councilors.
One of his suggestions was that the council take another look at the town charter’s provisions for the office of mayor, or council chairman, and consider adding language stating that the mayor and deputy mayor “shall serve at the will of the majority of the council.”
“I think that needs to be done,” he said.
He also said the council needs to take a closer look at what political activities — including writing letters to the editor and OpEd pieces and serving on the local council at the same time as serving in state or federal offices — should be allowed in the future.
During Monday’s meeting, council members spent several minutes refuting claims Carol Duprey made in her robocalls and OpEd.
“I just want to say that people have to be very careful when they’re writing OpEds,” Brann said, later adding, “Whether you want to disclaim it or not, whether you want to admit or not, you have no right to use that office by virtue of your own name to try to sway the opinions of the public.”