Freedom selectman Rene Ouellet will keep his seat on the board after surviving a recall vote Tuesday.
In the town’s second recall election this year, residents voted 91-59 to reject a proposal to recall him for an alleged conflict of interest in conjunction with a real estate deal.
Ouellet joined the board earlier this year after the recall of Heather Donahue and the resignation of another board member, Ryan Willette, left Freedom’s local government in disarray. Lissa Widoff and Ouellet won their two vacant Select Board seats in the June 10 election. But in a matter of only a few months, he, too, was facing a recall effort.
Resident Robert Kanzler launched the recall petition, which was validated by the town clerk on Oct. 6. In it, Kanzler alleged that Ouellet “abused the public trust and misused the authority of his office” to fend off a high-value real estate transaction that would have created an event venue on a small island in Freedom Pond.
Ouellet lives on Carey Lane, which turns into a narrow causeway connecting to a 12-acre island with a spacious year-round log home. The island property is listed currently on Zillow for $1.57 million; even after a $120,000 price reduction in mid-September, a sale could be the largest private transaction ever contemplated in the town.
According to the Waterville Morning Sentinel, Ouellet discovered that a couple was interested in purchasing the island property when the Select Board was copied on an email exchange between the Planning Board and prospective buyers in August. Although Ouellet maintained that he contacted them as a private landowner, he emailed the prospective buyers from his municipal address and said he was writing as a town official as well as a potential neighbor.
Kanzler’s petition alleged that in contacting the buyers, Ouellet “acted to prevent additional traffic on his own street … By misrepresenting the Town’s legal position and interfering in a private transaction, Selectman Ouellet exposed the town to potential legal liability, including possible claims by the prospective buyer or the seller for unlawful interference or misrepresentation.”
At Ouellet’s public recall hearing on Nov. 20, some of the 50 residents who attended also raised concerns about legal liability.
The Sentinel reported that in his email, Ouellet shared concerns that an event venue might not meet town ordinances and could impact wildlife “as well as the other people who live on Carey Lane.”
A month later, the buyers, Ratesha and Keith Rosell of Oakland, dropped out. Ratesha Rosell told the Sentinel that conversations with Ouellet over email and coffee had signaled they were not welcome in Freedom.
“I know he thinks there wasn’t really a connection between him talking to us as a neighbor and as a board member,” Ratesha Rosell said. “But he actually made a statement at one point, saying, ‘Well, if this comes across the board, as it stands, I’m going to end up saying no.’”
Freedom Planning Board Chair Tyler Hadyniak told the Midcoast Villager that “nowhere in the pipeline of decision-making would Rene, or the Select Board, have a say over if a wedding venue would be approved.” He emphasized that under Freedom’s town governance, the Planning Board, not the Select Board, would have jurisdiction over any site plan or zoning review for such a project.
But the Rosells did not know that. They withdrew their bid and are purchasing elsewhere.
Meanwhile, according to the Sentinel, the owner of the island property has asked that the town provide all emails regarding the property, bylaws relating to conflicts of interest, and a copy of the town’s insurance liability policies.
This story appears through a media partnership with Midcoast Villager.
