On Nov. 6, the voters of Yarmouth will consider amending the town charter to prohibit town and school employees from serving on the Town Council.

The amendment is ill considered and should be rejected. It is premised on the wrongful notion that a certain class of persons cannot be fair and impartial and the undemocratic idea that the voters of Yarmouth should be denied their right to choose whomever they want to run the town. We – as a community – are better than that.

The proposed amendment is unnecessary; Yarmouth already has robust procedures to deal with any conflicts of interest. The amendment is inconsistent with Maine law and highly likely to be found unconstitutional.

The last thing Yarmouth needs is to enact a wrongheaded provision that will drag the community into expensive, time-consuming litigation. I urge my fellow citizens to vote “no” on Article 5 of the Yarmouth ballot.

David Ray

Yarmouth


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