Opinion ID: 1952372
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The TIF Proposal

Text: [¶ 2] In October 1995 the Town was presented with a proposal to grant TIF status to Rainbow Rugs, Inc., a Sanford business, in order to assist the company in expanding its operations. Pursuant to Sanford's form of government, the proposal had to be submitted to a town meeting that was scheduled for late November 1995. The proposal was first considered by the board of selectmen, which then referred it, in the form of a warrant article, to the warrant committee of the town meeting. The article was then assigned for study to the research and investigation subcommittee of the warrant committee. [¶ 3] Jere Scola, a former employee of Rainbow Rugs, was an outspoken critic of the TIF article. He spoke against it at warrant committee meetings on October 12 and 19, 1995. At a meeting on October 26, the research and investigation subcommittee moved for approval of the TIF article. After debate, the full committee voted to recommend the article favorably to the town meeting. [¶ 4] The town meeting took place on November 21, 1995. Immediately before the meeting, a hearing was held at which Scola spoke against the TIF article. Sometime before November 21, each of the 147 town meeting members received from Rainbow Rugs a copy of the TIF proposal and from Scola a package of information in opposition to the proposal. Following lengthy debate on the TIF article, it was approved by the town meeting by a vote of 55 to 54. [¶ 5] In his complaint, Scola alleges that the research and investigation subcommittee conducted meetings on the TIF article in violation of sections 403 and 406 of the Freedom of Access Act. Section 403 provides that all public proceedings shall be open to the public, [and] any person shall be permitted to attend any public proceeding. 1 M.R.S.A. § 403 (1989). Section 406 requires that public notice be given of all public proceedings. [2] Scola seeks two remedies. First, he asks for the invalidation, pursuant to section 409(2), [3] of the warrant committee's favorable recommendation of the TIF article and the town meeting's approval of the article. Both actions, he contends, are products of the allegedly tainted meetings of the research and investigation subcommittee. Second, Scola seeks the imposition on the Town of a monetary civil penalty pursuant to section 410. [4] [¶ 6] The court correctly found that Scola's allegations do not warrant the nullification of the town meeting vote. The record does not demonstrate that the research and investigation subcommittee conducted meetings in violation of the Freedom of Access Act. In addition, the TIF article was publicly debated prior to its open approval by both the warrant committee and the town meeting, which Scola concedes was conducted in compliance with the Act. [¶ 7] Moreover, Scola is not entitled to seek a monetary civil penalty pursuant to section 410. As we recently concluded in Cook v. Lisbon School Comm., 682 A.2d 672 (Me.1996), which was decided after the trial court's entry of the judgments in the instant case, only the Attorney General or his representative may enforce the Freedom of Access Act by seeking the imposition of a fine pursuant to section 410. Id. at 680. See 17-A M.R.S.A. § 4-B (Supp.1996) (All civil violations are ... enforceable by the Attorney General ... in a civil action to recover ... a fine, penalty or other sanction....).