On April 18, Ted Hugger said good-bye to the community he called home for the past decade. Hugger resigned after serving seven years as a selectman. Last year, he sold Cod Cove Inn and searched for a new Edgecomb residence. When Hugger and wife Jill decided to move to Damariscotta, he submitted his resignation to coincide with a special election to fill his and another selectman’s seats. “It has been an honor to serve as your selectman. It is with regret I tender my resignation. This is a great community, and I encourage others to become involved with the town,” he said during the board meeting. 

Selectman Mike Smith presented Hugger with a 1795 map of Edgecomb as a parting gift. Smith showed Hugger where the meeting house built a year earlier appeared on the map.

On April 15, a special town meeting was held electing two new selectmen. Frances Mague won the unexpired term of Dawn Murray; it expires in May. Lyn Norgang will fill Hugger’s term, which expires in 2025. Once Norgang is sworn in, she will start serving.  

In other action, selectmen reported receiving another Maine Freedom of Information Act request from Timothy Harrington. Last year, he made numerous requests which eventually resulted in a court case, and Murray resigning. The court issued separate one-year protection orders barring Harrington from contacting Murray and his neighbor Alan Whitman. The court also required Harrington to submit any future FOIA requests through another person.

Smith said Harrington has submitted a FOIA through Yarmouth attorney Fred Bopp. Smith read the request seeking “information regarding applications, site plans, wastewater and septic plans from Jan. 1 to the present. With respect to each application, this includes without limitation information identifying the application number, property location, application description, estimated value of fee total, date submitted, description of work, and name of applicant, permit holder or all applications, paperwork, documents, of mailing address of 39 Merry Island Road.” 

Smith’s initial response was, “We’ve yet to find 39 Merry Island Road. We’ve found 54, 84 and 16. This was sent to Claudia (Coffin). She will respond,” he said. The Boothbay Register asked Code Enforcement Officer George Chase about the difficulty in fulfilling the FOIA request. “Not time consuming at all. It’s not a huge project,” he said. 

Chase was also asked about Harrington’s current applications. He said Harrington has four, each of them either “inaccurate or incomplete.” 

On April 24, Harrington responded he submitted “one complete application.” The Boothbay Register also asked him by email what was the purpose of his most recent FOIA request. He declined to specify his reason. 

Selectmen also scheduled a May 2 public hearing to review two proposed ordinances for the May 20 town meeting referendum. One regards the waterfront and the other is about coastal waters. Smith said the language for each ordinance would be available a week prior to the hearing.  

Selectmen said the school validation vote is Saturday, May 20 at 10 a.m. in the town hall. The municipal referendum is slated for later that day, from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the town hall. Selectmen meet next at 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 2 in the town hall.