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South Berwick council adopts email CC rule after heated dispute over council-staff contacts
Summary
After a multi-hour debate over whether councilors may contact town staff directly and concerns about appearances of conflicts, the council voted 5-0 to require that emails from councilors to town staff include the council chair and the town manager.
The South Berwick Town Council voted 5-0 on July 9 to add a new rule requiring that emails from councilors to town staff include the council chair and the interim town manager as recipients or carbon copies. The change was proposed during an extended debate over rules of order and the limits of individual councilor authority.
The motion to add the email requirement (presented as agenda item 37) was made by Sam and seconded by Paul; the council adopted the measure unanimously. Chair (unnamed) presided over the discussion and recorded the vote.
Why it matters: Councilors framed the question as one of clarity and staff protection. One councilor urged clearer, written procedures after months of disputed email chains and examples where staff perceived councilorscomments as directions. "Being elected to the town council does not give any individual councilor the authority of the town manager, town planner, department heads, or town attorney," the councilor said in a prepared statement, arguing that staff need clear signals to distinguish private outreach from official direction.
That councilor also raised an ethics-related concern: he said email exchanges involving a fellow councilor and a downtown-business partner created an "appearance" of overlapping private and public interests and asked that the public be able to review the correspondence. A different councilor responded that he "reject[s] that there has been any violation of any state Title 30-A or the town charter" and defended outreach efforts as permissible communications. Both statements were part of an extended, public airing of the disagreement.
Interim Town Manager Jennifer told the council she has forwarded email chains to the town attorney and has been involved in clarifying staff workload and whether certain proposals require broader council authorization. The chair said the town has sought legal review and that the council would pursue a mediator or assistance from the Maine Municipal Association (MMA) to work toward a lasting set of procedures.
The council also agreed to table a related, broader package of rules-of-order edits (item 26-37) until mediation can occur; that motion passed 4-1.
The new email rule takes effect immediately as a council procedural expectation. Councilors said they will continue work with the MMA and seek community input before adopting a fully revised rules-of-order policy. The council asked residents with views to send comments to the council email address at counselors@sbmain.us.
Next steps: The council will recruit MMA assistance and reconvene the rules discussion at a later meeting; the specific, comprehensive code of conduct or procedural changes remain under development and are to be revisited with mediation and public input.
