|
Alexander is now the first town in Washington County where residents have accepted a local food and community self‑governance ordinance. Voters at the March 30 annual town meeting supported the intent of the ordinance, which is to protect the health and integrity of the local food system in Alexander. Twelve other towns in Maine have already passed what is also called a local food sovereignty ordinance. One of them, Sedgwick, is regarded as the first town in the United States to have done so.
The preamble of the Alexander Local Food and Community Self‑Governance Ordinance states: "We the people of the Town of Alexander, Washington County, Maine, have the right to produce, process, sell, purchase and consume local foods thus promoting self‑reliance, the preservation of family farms and local food traditions. We recognize the family farms, sustainable agricultural practices and food processing by individuals, families and non‑corporate entities offers stability to our rural way of life by enhancing the economic, environmental and social wealth of our community. As such, our right to a local food system requires us to assert our inherent right to self‑government. We recognize the authority to protect that right as belonging to the Town of Alexander."
The preamble also states, "We hold that federal and state regulations impede local food production and constitute a usurpation of our citizens' rights to foods of their choice. We support food that fundamentally respects human dignity and health, nourishes individuals and the community, and sustains producers, processors and the environment. We are therefore duty bound under the Constitution of the State of Maine to protect and promote unimpeded access to local foods."
Alexander's ordinance also states that people who buy food for home consumption may enter into private agreements with producers or processors of local foods to waive any liability for consumption of that food. Producers and processors of local food are exempt from having to be licensed or inspected as long as the food is sold directly by the producer to the consumer for home consumption and not for resale.
A cross-section of Alexander's agricultural producers, Ken "Skip" Colson, Jeff Johnson, Pat Cormier, David Davis, Clayton Blake, Foster Carlow, Ted Carter and others, researched and prepared the ordinance. Carter says the ordinance may attract younger people to Alexander in order to make their livelihood in agriculture. They would farm and live in a community declaring self‑governance over its own food exchanges. He thinks the ordinance affirms the motto, "Don't tread on us." Selectman Skip Colson agrees with him and says, "Each town or city can decide for themselves. The more there is local government, the more the people can be involved with that government. This protects both farms and people."
Carter and Colson are asserting that any law or regulation adopted by the state or federal government that interferes with the rights in the ordinance will be considered unlawful. Alexander and other communities have the right to self‑government, and this so‑called "home rule" gives them the freedom to govern many of their own affairs without interference or policing by the state. Alexander's ordinance also quotes a federal and several state documents that guarantee "the inherent, inalienable and fundamental right" of the citizens of the Town of Alexander to self‑government. The documents include the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America and articles 1 and 2 of the Maine Constitution.
Court upholds state, federal laws
Recent history indicates that ordinances such as Alexander's may be preempted by Maine and federal laws. In June 2014, farmer Dan Brown of Blue Hill lost an appeal to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. The state had filed a lawsuit against him in 2011, charging him with illegally selling unpasteurized milk. He had never fulfilled certain requirements and purchased a milk distributor's license. The state said he also failed to properly label the milk he was selling and was operating a food establishment without a license. He was fined $1,000 and ordered to stop selling milk. The court rejected his arguments, including the contention that a Blue Hill ordinance exempted him from a state licensing requirement. The Maine attorney general's office also maintained that state and federal law supersedes the local Blue Hill ordinance and that the state needs to be able to regulate food sales to protect public health.
These decisions may cause future problems for citizens and towns with food sovereignty ordinances in Maine. Alexander and the other 12 towns consider them legal and enforceable town laws. They will be enacted and used unless citizens themselves decide to rescind them. If the state challenges them, public meetings would need to be held to decide whether to acquiesce to state control or fight the state in court. Other actions, including adopting other laws or measures, might be taken to emphasize and perhaps expand local control. The fundamental belief accepted by the town's voters is clearly stated in Alexander's ordinance: "As such, our right to a local food system requires us to assert our inherent right to self‑government. We recognize the authority to protect that right as belonging to the Town of Alexander." |
