AUGUSTA, Maine — A divided Maine Human Rights Commission voted Monday morning that there were reasonable grounds to believe a Camden rental company refused to rent a home to a Bangor family because some members of the household were black.
The commission voted 3-2 to find reasonable grounds against Megunticook Realty Corp. and co-owner Jeffrey Weymouth in a case filed by Shirley Kelderhouse and Shaun Patton of Bangor. The commission staff will now work with the two sides to reach a settlement. If none is reached, the commission will authorize Kelderhouse to file a civil lawsuit against the business and its owner.
Co-owner Rosemary Weymouth said Monday after the vote that she and her husband would not settle the case.
“I don’t believe in paying anything for something we didn’t do,” she said.
Investigator Victoria Ternig found that Kelderhouse contacted Megunticook Realty last September after seeing an ad for a three-bedroom residence. Kelderhouse told the company that she had a subsidized housing voucher to cover a three-bedroom unit, according to the report. She also told the company representative that the unit had to be handicapped accessible because she had a child who was in a wheelchair, according to the report, and that she needed the place soon because she was losing her current housing.
Jeffrey Weymouth returned her call the following day and said he could have a ramp built before she moved in, Kelderhouse told the investigator. She reportedly filled out the paperwork and sent it to Megunticook Realty, and an office assistant called her on Sept. 15 and scheduled a walkthrough for her to see the residence.
When she arrived at Megunticook’s office on Sept. 19, she said Jeffrey Weymouth looked surprised to see that the children were part black, according to the report. Kelderhouse is white. She said Weymouth asked one of the children if her father would be living with them as well and when she said yes, his demeanor changed, according to the report.
On Oct. 1, Jeffrey Weymouth allegedly called to say he was sorry but he could not help her with the apartment in the timeframe she was seeking.
The Weymouths’ attorney, Christopher Hardy of Camden, said the vote could have gone a different way if the Weymouths had been allowed to provide additional information at the hearing. He said the key to the argument is that the investigator’s report claimed the Weymouths said they didn’t have time to process a simple Section 8 housing voucher. Hardy said that instead, Rosemary Weymouth had to also go through Rural Housing regulations before approving Kelderhouse’s application and that would have taken longer than the Oct. 1 deadline by which the woman said she needed to be in the home.
Rosemary Weymouth also said Monday that in just the past several years, she and her husband have rented to more than nine minorities, including blacks.
Attorney Patricia Ender of Pine Tree Legal Assistance, who represents Kelderhouse, said her client will be seeking money as part of the settlement. She said the human rights commission will likely seek education and training for Weymouth on federal fair housing regulations.
Ender said a lawsuit would be filed if her client feels any settlement offer is not fair.