Dexter council working on school board ordinances

DEXTER — Work continues on a pair of potential Dexter municipal ordinances concerning eligibility on the SAD 46 Board of Directors in terms of nepotism and conflicts of interest.

Councilor Elijah Ames inquired about the two ordinances during a Sept. 11 council meeting, a month after some discussion on each at the August council meeting.

“We have heard some things back and we’ll update you as we go,” Town Manager Trampas King said, with legal counsel reviewing each ordinance. He said the town will likely need to work with SAD 46 officials on the nepotism ordinance.

“There’s no hurry on this, we’re going to go forward with this but when we do it we want to do it right,” King said.

The ordinances come after  a June recall vote to remove two of Dexter’s representatives to the SAD 46 School Board.

In August  two people were elected to the school board nearly two months after voters recalled the school board members who previously held the positions.

Carol Sherburne and Dale Jackson were elected to the Maine School Administrative District 46 school board in a special election in Dexter on Aug. 5. Sherburne and Jackson were elected with 144 and 134 votes, respectively. Antoinette Ploude, the third candidate on the ballot, received 35 votes.

The election came after voters supported removing Alisha Ames and Judy Saunders from the SAD 46 board in the June recall vote. The vote was brought by a group of Dexter residents who accused Ames of having a conflict of interest as she co-owns a homeschooling co-op, and Saunders of violating the school district’s nepotism policy.

The Bangor Daily News’ Kasey Turman contributed to this story.