Midcoast Bypass Task Force consultant Carol Morris notified the newspaper this week that the task force is not subject to the state's Right to Know Law.

Morris sent an e-mail to the newspaper on February 19 claiming the task force is "not subject to public notice requirement." The e-mail was in response to a letter written by newspaper editor Paula Gibbs on January 30 to Ed Hanscom, project manager for the Maine Department of Transportation's Route 1 bypass. A copy of the letter was sent to Morris, along with a brochure written by Attorney Sigmund Schutz for the Maine Press Association, which includes a copy of the law. Schutz is affiliated with the Preti Flaherty Law firm, which represents the Maine Press Association.

Morris said in her e-mail that she contacted Schutz, but Schutz "declined to comment based on client privilege."

"I then contacted Phyllis Gardiner in the Maine Attorney General's office," Morris wrote. "She corroborated my assessment, which is that the Midcoast Task Force's meetings are not subject to the public notice requirement."

Morris wrote in her e-mail that "the task force falls under the public notice requirement if they are formed by Executive Order or by Legislative Action [words hyphenated in the e-mail]. Neither of those is true of the Midcoast Advisory Task Force," Morris wrote.

However, Shutz said Tuesday the task force is subject to giving public notice of its meetings. Morris apparently used only a few words from one section of the law in her e-mail. The complete text of section 2, Public Proceedings, says in paragraph (F) " Any advisory organization , including any authority, board, commission, committee, council, task force or similar organization of an advisory nature, established, authorized or o r ganized by law or resolve or by Executive Order issued by the Governor and not otherwise covered by this subsection, unless the law resolve or Executive Order establishing, authorizing or organizing the advisory organization specifically exempts the organization from the application of this subchapter."

The task force was established by the Maine Department of Transportation to review the findings of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement, published last fall, on the proposed Route 1 bypass in Wiscasset. The department asked for volunteers from several towns to serve on the task force. Three environmental organizations and one chamber of commerce also have representatives. Members of the task force are not paid. Morris is a consultant paid by the Maine Department of Transportation.

Under posting notices of meetings, the law says "Notice shall be given in ample time to allow public attendance and shall be disseminated in a manner reasonably calculated to notify the general public in the jurisdiction served by the body or agency concerned."

Not withstanding the disagreement about public notice, Morris said the task force meetings "are and always have been open to the public," and that meetings will be every other Thursday through May. The next meeting is Thursday, February 21 at 6:30 p.m. at the First Congregational Church in Wiscasset. A public comment section is held at the end of each meeting.

Two other meetings are posted on the task force website, for March 6 at 6:30 p.m. at the 911 communications center next to the Lincoln County Courthouse in Wiscasset, and on March 20 at 6:30 p.m. at the 911 Center, also to discuss interchanges. The website for the task force is

www.midcoastbypass.com

. Members of the task force include David Nichols, Wiscasset selectman; Wiscasset Town Manager, Arthur Faucher; Don Jones, chairman of the Wiscasset Transportation Committee; Edgecomb Selectman, Jo Cameron; former Edgecomb Planning Board member, Amanda Russell; Edgecomb Fire Chief Barry Johnson; Lincoln County Planning Director, Bob Faunce; Alna Planning Board chairman, Doug Baston; Newcastle Selectman Lee Straw; former Woolwich Selectmen, David King, Sr; Westport Island Comprehensive Plan Committee member David Bertran; Boothbay Selectman Ross Edwards; Boothbay Harbor Town Manager Tom Woodin; Jamie Logan, Boothbay Harbor Chamber of Commerce; Leah Sprague, Sheepscot Valley Conservation Association; Don Hudson, The Chewonki Foundation; Dr. Norma Dreyfus, Friends of Coastal Preservation; Dale Doughty, Deputy Chief for Highway and Bridge Planning, MDOT; Ed Hanscom, transportation analyst, MDOT; and Peter Kleskovic, Assistant Division Administrator, Maine Division of the Federal Highway Administration.