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Select Board opens sole assessor bid, tables decision after resident warns of conflicts
Summary
The Westport Island Select Board opened a single bid for a three-year assessor's-agent contract from Municipal Consulting Group of Maine and tabled any award after a resident raised possible conflict-of-interest concerns; the board will research and decide within 30 days.
The Westport Island Select Board opened a sealed proposal for the town's three-year assessor's-agent contract and tabled any decision after a resident raised conflict-of-interest concerns.
Chair (S1) read the lone submitted proposal from Municipal Consulting Group of Maine, signed by Josh Pelletier, which the board summarized as totaling $101,452 over three years. Chair (S1) said the board would not make an award tonight and would discuss the bid at a workshop, noting the town has 30 days to respond to the proposal.
Resident Mario (S5) told the board he was concerned about appointing an assessing agent who might have conflicts: "I think it's important that you don't hire... the assessment company, the agent for the tax assessment to be one and the same person," he said, urging the board to avoid repeating past mistakes. The board acknowledged the point, with Chair (S1) and Committee member (S3) saying they had sent the RFP to all assessors on the state's list and that the single bid was the only response.
Board members said they would review references, past performance and the RFP response before naming a contractor. "We're not making a decision today," Chair (S1) said. "We'll put this aside and talk about it at one of our workshops. We have 30 days to respond."
The board did not vote to award the contract; it tabled the award and directed staff to bring the bid and any relevant background materials to a workshop for further review.
