LEWISTON, Maine — On Tuesday evening Lewiston city councilors voted 4-3 to oust their current council president from their leadership role, voiding the election earlier in the year. Councilors then voted 4-3 to elect Councilor Rick LaChapelle as council president.
Councilors also voted 4-3 to censure Ward 3 councilor Scott Harriman, saying he was "bearing false witness" about his fellow councilors.
The two proposals were issued by councilors who were previously criticized by former Council President Linda Scott and Councilor Harriman.
Harriman and Scott called out four councilors in total earlier in October, alleging the four met at a local bar and strategized on city business.
The claims both sides of the council aisle made come as the city and state approach election day, where multiple councilors and mayors are up for reelection.
The claims argued the four councilors, Councilors Lee Clement, Larry Pease, Rick LaChapelle, and Robert McCarthy discussed proposing an opinion to the local school board, along with the possibility of taking a stance on Question 3, which would replace CMP and Versant with a nonprofit utility in Maine.
Councilors argued it was a meeting among colleagues and no city business was discussed.
Discussing city business among a quorum of an electing body must be publicly accessible, according to Maine's Freedom of Access Act.
But councilors debated what actually happened at the bar.
"When it comes to quorum level that's when it becomes an issue because members of the public are being left out of the discussion," Councilor Harriman said.
And four councilors meeting is considered quorum, as that is the majority of the councilors in Lewiston.
Harriman said the councilors taking action against him is coming from a place of passion.
"It just sounds like the retaliation to me; is just for pointing out the things they've done, they just want to attack the person who points it out," Harriman said.
None of the four councilors who allegedly discussed city business outside a public forum gave comment to NEWS CENTER Maine before publication Tuesday.
For Mayor Carl Sheline, the debate among councilors serves as a distraction from the work the city needs to do.
"It's unfortunate and it's disappointing because the people expect us to be working on city business and this is not that," Mayor Sheline said. "This is just a waste of time."
The conduct by the four councilors, if true, is public in nature, according to a report from the attorney general's office.
Attorney General Aaron Frey issued a letter to the city council Tuesday before the meeting arguing councilors can't use the amendments in FOAA law to justify their meeting in a private business.
He suggested the council review FOAA law to prevent miscommunication and mistakes in the future.
"I would strongly encourage reaching out to corporate counsel for the city and scheduling a meeting for a refresher on FOAA requirements," Frey wrote in his letter to the council.