Wiscasset citizens pledge funds to defend Wiscasset ordinances February 12, 2018 (Wiscasset Maine) A group of Wiscasset, Maine, citizens known as Citizens for Sensible Solutions announced today that it is collecting funds to help the Town of Wiscasset press its lawsuit against the Maine Department of Transportation (MDOT). According to Seaver Leslie, a member of this group as well as the Public Advisory Downtown Committee tasked with providing input to MDOT, more than 20 residents have pledged personal funds to help pay the town’s legal costs in Town of Wiscasset v. Maine Department of Transportation. “We want take away any financial burden to the town so the board of selectmen can fight to protect our town ordinances,” says Leslie. “We’re concerned because a possible consent judgment between MDOT and the town has appeared a couple of times on the selectboard meeting agenda,” he says. “Our elected officials took a principled stand to defend town ordinances when they began this lawsuit, and we want them to know they made the right decision. Wiscasset cannot wave the white flag when it comes to upholding our town laws.” The town’s selectboard is meeting Tuesday, night, February 13, at the Wiscasset Community Center. The board will receive an update from legal counsel in the case, but town manager Marian Anderson has placed a potential motion on the agenda that reads: “To authorize the Town Attorneys, Peter L. Murray and John B. Shumadine of Murray Plumb & Murray, to execute the proposed Consent Judgment on behalf of the Town and present that Consent Judgment to the Superior Court for approval in Town of Wiscasset v. Maine Department of Transportation, Docket No. BCDWB-CV-17-59 & BCDWB-AP." Townspeople have not been told what the consent judgment entails. Much of the litigation revolves around MDOT’s desire to circumvent Wiscasset Historic Preservation Commission review of MDOT’s planned changes to the downtown area--review prescribed by a town ordinance. “Wiscasset’s commitment to historic preservation goes back to the 1960s and 1970s,” says Leslie. “We have a legacy to uphold and we aren’t about to look the other way now.” The town passed a historic preservation ordinance in 2015 and local voters rejected an attempt to repeal the ordinance in 2017. Also in 2017, voters rejected changes MDOT made to its proposed Wiscasset project without first consulting town officials. The selectboard subsequently voted to withdraw its support for the project. “We suspect MDOT and Governor LePage are using a bludgeon, the threat of mounting legal fees, to intimidate Wiscasset in hopes that the town will give up,”
Leslie says. “We want our elected officials to know we’re behind them all the way.” #
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