During the October Agenda Setting Meeting of the Rockland City Council, Councilor Sarah Austin presented a Charter Change to Remove the Mayor of Rockland. Why now, when there are only a few weeks before the election, and the one-year term of the mayor(chair) ends in a few weeks anyway? Why now?? Current mayor Louise MacLellan-Ruf is running for reelection to Council.  Councilor Sarah Austin is not. 

What are the facts? We all know that the mayor/chair of Rockland is selected by the five councilors for a one-year term at the Organizational Meeting in November after the election each year.

 Last November, Councilor Austin chose to publish in the Courier and Pen Bay Pilot, her desire to seek the Mayor/chair post as a representative of Rockland and listed her aims. This was very unusual since the Mayor in Rockland is merely a Chair who moderates City Council meetings, including representing Rockland at ceremonial meetings, and nominating Rockland citizens to Boards and Committees.

Once Councilor Austin was NOT chosen by the other councilors to be Mayor/Chair, she sought to add agenda items during the meeting, not sharing this with the elected mayor/chair beforehand. Thus, it was not on the agenda for the public to see as were all the other agenda items. This tactic not only bars the Mayor/chair from advanced notice but bars all the us voters of Rockland from being able to weigh-in at public comment which starts every Agenda Setting Meeting, as we all have no notice. 

Let’s look at Order #87. “Removal can happen at any time upon a majority vote of council”. 

This order as written is removal with no cause, just or otherwise.     

Councilor Austin stated that she “has been working on this with the city attorney for some time.”  In Rockland, the City Attorney is hired by the council to represent  ALL THE COUNCIL, and not represent one councilor to the detriment of another. 

If Councilor Austin felt that strongly, wouldn’t it have been better to handle this in executive session first, rather than discredit the current mayor to whom it was directed?

I have watched most City Council meetings and attended in person to speak. As informed citizens, I and my husband, Barry Faber, will be voting for Louise MacLellan-Ruf for Rockland City Council. Louise has a long set of accomplishments, follows Roberts Rules of Civil Procedure to ensure a fair and equitable meeting for all,  organizes city clean up events, organized the first Volunteer Appreciation Day, secured  private donations for the Harbor Trail which we all enjoy, worked to end dumping snow into the harbor, worked with veterans of the America Legion to move the Civil War Memorial to a respectful location, listened to Mechanic Street and Talbot Avenue residents, etc. 

On and off the council, Louise works for the betterment of Rockland. Voting for Louise is the best choice.

Adele Grossman Faber lives in Rockland