3 Milo officials who held ‘illicit’ meeting resign

MILO — Three of Milo’s elected officials who appeared to violate Maine’s public access law during a March meeting have resigned, leaving the town with just one select board member.

Susan Libby resigned from the Milo Select Board on Friday, Donald Banker resigned Tuesday and Eric Foss resigned Wednesday, Town Manager Robert Canney confirmed. Their resignations come about two months after a group of residents initiated a process to remove Banker, the former chairperson, from the board following a March 7 meeting.

Another select board member, Stephanie Hurd, resigned Thursday, partly because of the fallout from the meeting that has caused controversy in town, she told the Bangor Daily News last week.

Only Paula Copeland, who was elected to the board and chosen as its chair on March 11, remains an active member, Canney said Wednesday afternoon.

It is not immediately clear what effect the resignations will have on Milo’s ability to conduct business. Milo’s charter calls for a board with five members. Three make a quorum, which is required for the board’s actions to be valid, according to language in the charter.

Libby, Banker and Foss were not immediately available to comment.

The three members met for a half-hour in the “illicit” March meeting, where they discussed “many inappropriate things,” Copeland said in an April 22 statement.

The Bangor Daily News obtained a video of the meeting through a records request. In the video, which shows the three members in the town office lobby, they discuss the town manager’s performance and when to vote against renewing his contract, the police chief’s “whining,” and the public works schedule.

Copeland said the meeting created distrust between Milo’s elected officials and the public. It also raised red flags for Carolyn Ball, a retired University of Southern Maine professor who taught courses about local government and is now a Select Board chairperson in Southwest Harbor.

When reached by phone just before 2 p.m. Wednesday, Copeland said she was “not really at the liberty to say” whether any board members have resigned since Hurd’s departure. “I don’t have anything official from anyone,” she said.

Canney confirmed the resignations later that day, though he did not say how Libby, Banker and Foss informed the town about their resignations.