BATH — The City Council on Wednesday voted unanimously to table proposed agenda items regarding a board of directors to manage the former National Guard Armory building. Instead, councilors will address the issue at a Jan. 18 workshop.

Councilor Mari Eosco proposed an order that would have rescinded the council’s Dec. 7 vote creating a board to oversee the armory, where the Bath Youth Meetinghouse and Skatepark and an antique fire engines group will be located.

Councilors voted 4-4 in favor of establishing the armory board, before newly elected City Council chairman David Sinclair broke the tie and established the nonprofit entity.

On Wednesday, Eosco, who voted against creating the armory board in December, said she’s not opposed to having such a panel. However, she objects to the process through which it was created.

“I feel like we were blindsided at the last meeting,” she said. “Some people knew about it at the last meeting, some of us didn’t. We didn’t have time to talk about it, research it … It felt like we jumped the gun in moving toward this.”

Councilor Meadow Rue Merrill, who was one of the four councilors — along with Sinclair — to vote in favor of the board’s creation, said Wednesday that she is now “ very on the fence,” and favored a workshop.

Opening the floor to public comment, Sinclair cautioned people “ to remember to be civil and respectful of others. I’ve seen some exchanges in the newspaper that didn’t necessarily meet that standard and I hope that we can do better this evening.”

Only Richard Recknagel spoke, urging the council to hold a workshop on the issue.

On a motion Wednesday by Councilor Rogers, who introduced the proposal to create an armory board, councilors also voted unanimously to table discussion of draft bylaws of the armory board.

By consensus, they voted to invite Rob Kerr, a member of the skate park’s board of directors, to join them as a speaking participant at the workshop.

bbrogan@timesrecord.com

 

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