Councilor mulls resignation

Scarborough’s Roy said a decision is likely by Oct. 5

SCARBOROUGH — Scarborough Town Council Chairwoman Judith Roy is mulling whether or not to resign as a result of her Sept. 17 summons for operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol.

“I’m still processing,” she said Monday. “This has been the worst week of my life.”

Although Roy, 68, said she’s received nothing but positive calls and emails, all urging her to stay, she said she’s still uncertain what to do, and does not expect to make an announcement before the next council meeting, scheduled for Oct. 5.

“I’ve got another week,” said Roy. “Right now, I’m not sure, but I’m moving in on a decision.”

Town Manager Tom Hall said uncertainty over Roy’s status has pushed back a public hearing on Higgins Beach parking issues that was tentatively scheduled for Sept. 28. That meeting will now happen in “late October,” said Hall, adding he hopes to catch snowbirds before they leave for the season.

According to Scarborough Police Chief Robert Moulton, officers were dispatched shortly before 10 p.m. when a motorist called from the corner of Black Point and Old Neck roads to complain about Roy’s 2011 Subaru Legacy. The call, said Moulton, was for “erratic operation.”

Moulton said Officer Robert Moore, Roy, and the complainant, who had trailed the 68-year-old chairwoman, all arrived at her Second Avenue home “almost simultaneously.” There was no question, the chief said, that Roy had been behind the wheel. She was taken to the police station where she was given a Breathalyzer test and given a summons.

Moulton has declined to release Roy’s blood-alcohol content at the time of the test, or the name of the complainant in the case.

“I would rather let the D.A.’s office disclose what they want to about that situation,” said Moulton. “I have no idea as to the motivations there.”

Since news of Roy’s summons broke, online comment sections of local papers have featured speculation on whether the complainant had fingered Roy as an act of political retribution, or if the lack of an actual arrest signifies a cozy relationship with the law.

“Quite honestly, it’s been a little bit frustrating, because we keep getting comments about preferential treatment,” said Moulton.

Although a summons in lieu of an arrest is not common for OUI in Scarborough, it also is not unheard of. Since January, there have been 44 cases in which OUI was the sole charge. Of those, 39 resulted in an arrest, while five, including Roy, got a simple summons.

“We let [Roy] go on her own recognizance, which is pretty standard for individuals who are well-ingrained in the community here and where we know they are going to appear in court,” said Moulton, in a Sept. 20 interview.

At that time, the chief gave few details of the incident, referring instead to a two-sentence press release issued by the department. Since then, it has come out that Roy had a fender-bender just prior to her summons.

“I can confirm that she [Roy] came in the next morning with another party to report a very minor parking-lot accident,” Moulton said on Monday. “It was very minor, non-reportable accident with very minor damage.”

Moulton would not say if alcohol was a factor in that accident, which occurred in the town-owned parking lot on Ocean Avenue, in the Higgins Beach community.

“It was completely unrelated to our incident,” he said.

Neither Moulton nor Roy would confirm that she had spent the evening of Sept. 17 at her 50^th class reunion. However, a picture posted online at lisaquinnphotography.com shows Roy among the celebrants at the Scarborough High School class of 1961 reunion at the Higgins Beach Inn on that day.

Roy appears to have fed the rumor mill by failing to show for a Sept. 21 council meeting. On Monday, she told The Current she did not attend, and did not return initial calls from the media, on the advice of her attorney, whom she was unable to meet with until Sept. 22.

Although Roy complained on Monday that the media has “got a lot of things wrong,” she refused an invitation to correct the record, saying only that she was tired of being badgered with requests for comment.

“It’s grasping at straws – creating the news instead of reporting the news,” she said.

“I’m not going to comment on what’s factual or not,” said Roy. “I’m going to follow the legal process as advised by my attorney. I am not going to discuss any details about anything that happened at this time.”

Still, Roy was contrite, offering an apology to Scarborough voters.

“I am old enough and wise enough not to have put myself in this situation,” she said. “Certainly, I apologize to everybody, my community number one, but also my friends and family, my fellow councilors and all of the [town] employees.”

Roy is scheduled to appear in Cumberland County Unified Court Nov. 2. Moulton declined to say whether she has any previous motor vehicle offenses.

Hall said Thursday that he has received no requests for Roy to step down, either from the Town Council or her position as chairwoman.

“No one from the council has initiated or even inquired into any sort of ethics question,” said Hall.

The Code of Ethics contained in Scarborough’s Town Council policy manual deals primarily with conflicts of interest and does not delineate private actions that could elicit censure.

While Scarborough does not have a specific recall ordinance, it does have a recall process that was added to the town charter by voters last year.

The standards for recall, said Hall, are “very, very squishy.” The “bright line, with no if, ands or buts,” he said, is immediate removal from office upon conviction for any crime punishable by six months in jail.

Drunk driving, a class D crime, carries a $400 fine for a first offense, as well as mandatory suspension of driving privileges for 90 days.

However, any 25 registered voters in Scarborough can petition to have a councilor removed from office. Although the town charter requires the reason for the recall attempt to be listed on the petition, it makes no attempt to list allowable reasons to remove a person from office.

Planning Board member Kerry Corthell, a candidate for Town Council this year who was defeated last year in a three-way race with Roy and Councilor Michael Wood, was on the committee that drafted the recall provisions.

She said Monday that she has “heard of no one else” wanting to launch a recall attempt against Roy, but did briefly consider it herself, given her “no tolerance” position on OUI.

“I had conversations with friends and supporters and other people about it, most of whom said this is not nearly bad enough [to warrant removal],” said Corthell. “Do I think it rises up to something I should concentrate my energy on at this time? No. I had to come to that conclusion.”