Opinion ID: 2160287
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Staff Preparation

Text: A week before the Board's July 13 hearing, the staff mailed to the Board members a staff-selected compilation of materials relating to the Plaintiffs' application. This collection of documents contained a staff draft document of Findings of Fact and Order, which recommended denial. It also contained several letters from the consultants and one letter from an interested organization. A single letter, one which had been submitted by the Plaintiffs' consultant, supported the Plaintiffs' application. The staff also submitted a summary of review comments on the Plaintiffs' application and modified proposal; no comments of the Plaintiffs' consultant were included. The Plaintiffs argue, citing Mutton Hill Estates, Inc. v. Town of Oakland, 468 A.2d 989 (Me.1983), that this submission, which they contend contained all of the materials supporting denial and very little supporting acceptance of the application, biased the Board and made it impossible for the Plaintiffs to receive a fair hearing. Although we do not approve of the procedure by which the staff prepared the Board members to take action on the Plaintiffs' application, the resulting bias or unfairness, if any, in this case does not rise to the level that we censured in Mutton Hill. In Mutton Hill, a town planning board had actively engaged in ex parte fact finding with individuals opposed to granting a developer's permit. In that case, the planning board at its meeting adopted without discussion prepared findings of fact that were developed from the ex parte meetings. 468 A.2d at 991. On the other hand, in the case at bar, the Plaintiffs were given a full opportunity to present their evidence at the July 13 hearing. As the hearing opened, the Plaintiffs' attorney informed the Board that he felt that the staff's prepared package would bias the Board. The Plaintiffs' consultant extensively explained why the project application met statutory guidelines, and answered questions from Board members. Moreover, we note that at no time during the application process did the Plaintiffs present the Board with a request for a formal hearing. By failing to do so, the Plaintiffs in essence voluntarily waived some of the procedural protections attendant to formal administrative hearings. In light of this we conclude that although the staff did not present the Board with an unbiased compilation, this defect was substantially cured at the July 13 hearing.