Kennebunk voters to settle RSU 21 recall, zoning on March 29. Here's what you need to know

KENNEBUNK, Maine — Voters will have a recall and two zoning proposals on their plates when they report to the polls for a special town meeting on Tuesday, March 29.

Voters will answer a question that has divided the community for nearly four months: Shall Timothy J. Stentiford be recalled from the RSU 21 Board of Directors?

If the “no” vote prevails, Stentiford will remain in office for the remainder of his term, which ends June 30, and will decide whether to seek reelection during the annual town meeting earlier that month.

If the “yes” vote prevails, Stentiford will be removed from the School Board and replaced. Voters will have one choice on their ballots: Gayle Asmussen Spofford, who said she supports Stentiford and opposes the recall. Voters also may write in a candidate.

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A person who votes “no” on the recall is able to vote “yes” for Spofford, according to Town Clerk Merton Brown.

Kennebunk resident Norm Archer set the recall process in motion in late November when he filed affidavits against Stentiford and School Board Chair Art LeBlanc, citing poor leadership, contentious behavior toward teachers and parents, a lack of a curriculum committee and increased administrative spending as evidence enough to remove them.

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As required by the town charter, Archer and others later submitted petitions to Brown to recall Stentiford and LeBlanc. The petition to recall LeBlanc failed, falling one signature short of the required number of signatures from registered voters. The petition to recall Stentiford succeeded, with exactly the required number of signatures needed for the process to continue.

The Kennebunk Select Board accepted the certified petition from Brown at the end of January and in early February scheduled the recall election for this month.

Zoning proposals also on the ballot

The selectpersons picked March 29, as they already had set the date for a special town meeting for two zoning proposals.

One of those proposals – Article 2 on the ballot – seeks to amend the town’s zoning ordinance, so that the lot width for multi-family dwellings may decrease from 200 feet to 100 feet in the York Street Mixed Residential and Commercial Use District. Peter Gay, of Kennebunk, is requesting the amendment, given development plans he has for the area. The change, if approved by voters, would affect the entire district.

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The Select Board recommends passing this proposal, but does so with one dissenter in a 6-1 vote. The Planning Board unanimously offers a “neutral recommendation,” calling the proposal a “sound planning tool.”

Article 3 seeks approval for a Contract Zoning Agreement that would allow Home for Our Troops to build a new home on Perkins Lane for a local wounded veteran of the U.S. military. Both the Select Board and Planning Board unanimously recommend passing this article.

Home for Our Troops is a publicly funded nonprofit organization that builds and donates homes for severely injured veterans of the post-Sept. 11 era. The organization constructs these homes in the communities where the veteran wants to live.

“Most of these veterans have sustained injuries, including multiple limb amputations, partial or full paralysis, and/or severe traumatic brain injury,” the organization says on its website. “These homes restore some of the freedom and independence our veterans sacrificed while defending our country, and enable them to focus on their family, recovery, and rebuilding their lives.”

The polls will open bright and early on Tuesday at 6 a.m. in the Kennebunk Town Hall Auditorium at 1 Summer Street and will close at 8 p.m.

For more information about the two zoning proposals and about voting in general, please see the voters’ manual that Brown has posted on the Town of Kennebunk’s website.

Back to the recall ...

In the past few months, proponents and opponents have weighed in on the recall with signs throughout the community, comments during public meetings and letters to the editor.

Proponents have argued that the recall is about leadership, finances and the board’s treatment of teachers and parents.

Opponents charge that the recall is part of a nationwide effort to target school boards over curriculum and, locally, is an effort based in homophobia and racism. Stentiford is openly gay, and RSU 21 Superintendent Terri Cooper, whom Archer once called “unfit” in a letter to potential recall supporters, is Black.

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Archer has called allegations of homophobia and racism “repugnant and lazy.”

The tension has surfaced in other ways, too. Some opponents of the recall say that the affidavits that started the process contain “provably false” statements, particularly about Stentiford and the accusations of fiscal mismanagement. Some proponents have received obscene materials at their homes that they are convinced were sent to them because they all petitioned in favor of the recall.

The School Board attempted to halt the recall, filing for an injunction in York County Superior Court in January, on the grounds that board members serve a regional school unit, and not a municipality, and are therefore not subject to the recall provisions in a town charter. Justice Wayne Douglas held a final hearing on the case earlier this month and later denied the School Board’s request.

In his Memorandum of Decision and Order, Douglas stated that the Town of Kennebunk has the authority to recall RSU School Board members as a result of its charter, the principle of home rule, and the provisions of Maine state statute.

But Douglas also made something else clear.

“This conclusion is in no way intended to, nor does, reflect upon Mr. Stentiford’s capacity or qualifications to continue serving as an RSU 21 Board Director, his performance in that office, or the merits or demerits of the recall initiative,” he wrote.

Publicly, Stentiford has remained silent about the effort to recall him.

With Tuesday, March 29, now just days away, the matter is now in voters’ hands.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Kennebunk ME voters to settle RSU 21 recall, zoning proposals March 29