On the one hand, by a 5 to 3 vote on May 8, the Charter Commission voted against a town manager form of government. However, should the charter proposal be voted down, the townspeople will have a town manager form of government because of the favorable referendum votes in March approving a town manager form of government, and increasing the board of selectmen from three to five.

On the other hand, if the charter proposal is approved, the town manager form of government would go down to defeat, because a charter, like a constitution, takes precedence over a town ordinance.

Charter Commission Chairman Paul Stover said this week the wording for the proposal has been sent to attorneys at Bernstein Shur to translate into legally-acceptable language. There will be no reference at all to a town manager form of government in the charter proposal, Stover said, although there will be a reference to it in the commission's report.

Stover had earlier tried to insert language in the charter proposal which would have meant voting yes or no would both result in not having a town manager form of government, indicating he had been led to believe by an attorney at the Maine Municipal Association (MMA) that this was possible. However, at the urging of other members, a written ruling was obtained from Atty. Richard Flewelling who said this cannot be done.

Regardless of whether the charter is passed or not, the number of selectmen will increase from three to five in any case, because the charter proposal, as it stands now, includes that provision. Minority Report

Three members of the commission, Chuck Applebee, Dick Grondin, and Karl Tarbox presented a minority report last week, criticizing the five members who voted not to include a town manager, charging that their action overrides the will of the people and flies in the face of evidence collected by the commission which shows the town could benefit from a town manager.

The minority report says "The preponderance of evidence presented to members on their field trips to other towns, favors a town manger form of government; we had no outside expert testimony against a town manager form of government, given Wiscasset's current economic and demographic situation."

Noting that 65 percent of the people who voted in March favored a town manager, the report says, "Part of the mission statement of the Commission is to 'take input from the community.'

"There can be no clearer reflection of community input than a secret ballot referendum.

"We can only conclude that five members of the Commission had no intention to take input from the community..." Uniqueness Of Wiscasset

Wiscasset has a somewhat unique form of government compared to other towns in the state, since the First Selectman gets paid a full-time salary, and actually acts as the administrator of the town.

Selectmen in most towns which have selectmen and no town manager or administrative assistant are paid a nominal fee of $1,000 or $1,500. They meet regularly to set policy, but the day-to-day administrative duties are carried out by the staff.

In fact, in most cases where there has been a change from a "selectmen only" form of government to a full-time administrator, the impetus came from the selectmen, who found they could not keep up with all of the work involved in running a small town.

Of other towns in Maine with a population similar to Wiscasset's, 80 percent have managers. According to Mike Starn at the Maine Municipal Association, 90 to 95 percent of towns with budgets over $11 million have a manager. Wiscasset's combined municipal and school budgets have been as high as $16 million; the combined budgets are now about $10.5 million.

The five members who voted against a town manager on May 8 were George Flanders, Suzanne Rankin, Paul Stover, Bob Blagden, and Diane Hathorne (Peter Rines abstained because his brother Ben is the First Selectman). The May 8 meeting was held in a packed room (the firehouse meeting room) and attended by about 25 people who came because they had heard a vote would be taken on the town manager issue. Response To Vote

At a couple of points during the May 8 meeting, those residents reacted angrily and audibly to what was going on. After the vote was taken on a town manager form of government, Applebee asked, "If the townspeople have already voted for a town manager, why would we want to take their options away?"

Suzanne Rankin's response, "We're not taking their options away," prompted several people to say, "Yes, you are," and "you sure are."

Stover said he did not want the town manager option included in the charter because, he said, "I think we have the resolve, and the people in place right now to do the job. You keep talking about a professional town manager -- we saw a hodge- podge out there. We've got a great professional manager, (First Selectman) Ben Rines. I don't see a person out there who will come in here and do a better job than the person we have right now."

Commission member Dick Gron- din asked Stover if the purpose of the May 8 vote was "to nullify the March petition vote." Stover answered, "yes."

"I don't see how you can say five people know better than 531," Grondin said. The vote in favor of a town manager was 531 to 279. Awkward Position

First Selectman Rines now finds himself in an awkward position -- not personally in favor of a town manager, but duty bound, he says, to carry out the wishes of the people.

Rines has repeatedly said he wants to stay away from the deliberations of the charter commission. However he responded to charges after the May 8 vote that Stover was just trying to help him (Rines) keep his job. Rines read a letter at a recent selectmen's meeting, saying he would keep a promise he made at the March town meeting when he "outlined what I thought would be the appropriate way to implement the town manager form of government...

"I explained how the Selectmen would meet with the Charter Commission to discuss the March 2002 transition to this new form of government, in addition to meeting with the Budget Committee to determine the salaries of these new positions."

Rines said this week he cannot explain the actions of the five people who voted against a town manager form of government.

"I'm not sure what their rational is," he said. "The people voted for a town manager. The selectmen are elected to carry out the wishes of the people."

Referring to the scenario where voters will have to throw out the charter proposal in order to get a town manager, Rines said "They're putting forth an either-or situation, and I'm nor sure they should do that." Another Way To Go?

John Bubier, city manager of Bath, suggested that voters could still be given an option of voting in the fall for or against a charter and voting for or against a town manager form of government.

Selectmen could put the town manager issue before the voters again in the form of an ordinance.

Asked what he thought of the idea, Rines said Tuesday, "Obviously I wouldn't rule it out.

"I would want a chance to sit down and talk it over with the Charter Commission," he said.

Second Selectman Judy Flanders said Tuesday she would support such an action, if it's possible.

According to Mike Starn at the Maine Municipal Association, it may be that both the charter vote and an ordinance vote to establish a town manager form of government "could co-exist" but, he said, "It's not the cleanest way to do it."

"The proper place for the form of government for a town is in the charter," Starn said. "You could pass a charter without a town manager, then do a revision to the charter."

Asked whether he would support putting the town manager before the voters again in the fall, Grondin said Tuesday, "If just two people on the commission would change their vote, the people would get everything they want. Maybe as a fall back it would be okay, but I hate to confuse the people."

Asked the same question, Stover said, "the selectmen can put anyithing they want on the warrant."

Stover said he expects to present the charter proposal to the selectmen at their June 26 weekly meeting. The next meeting of the Charter Commission will be July 17 at 7 p.m. at the municipal building.