South Berwick council members at odds over conduct rules
South Berwick town councilors have been divided on a fundamental piece of the council’s rules of order and procedure since February: They can’t agree on how members should conduct official town business.
During a Town Council meeting on July 14, Vice-Chair Mallory Cook read a letter alleging that Councilor Sam Flinkstrom had violated conduct rules.
Cook later said that since Flinkstrom assumed his position in November 2025, he has repeatedly conducted town business directly with department heads without notifying interim Town Manager Jennifer Janelle or Council Chair John James. That procedure, she added, should be expected of all council members.
“My concern is not that councilors should be discouraged from bringing forward ideas, participating in the community or speaking with residents and business owners,” Cook said in the letter. “My concern is that individual councilors must understand the limit of their authority.”
What happened?
Flinkstrom and his business partner, Roxanne Poulin — who own Happy Valley Beer and Wine Garden in downtown South Berwick — had been in communication with then-Director of Planning and Economic Development DeCarlo Brown since before Flinkstrom became a councilor. He said their correspondence centered around revitalization efforts downtown.
After Flinkstrom was elected in November, he continued that communication from his personal email with Brown’s successor, Jeffrey Brubaker. Poulin also sits on the Downtown Revitalization Committee. Cook said their positions give them significant influence on which projects move forward.
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Flinkstrom and Poulin welcomed Brubaker in an email on July 2, two days before he was set to start, and added that they had been corresponding with Brown.
Brubaker forwarded the email to Janelle to make sure their communication was authorized. She later requested more information from Flinkstrom and told him that she was unaware he had been “leading or working on projects” with Brown outside of committee work.
“These efforts, and our emails to Jeff, are outside of any council work, which is why they originated from my professional account,” Flinkstrom told Janelle.
Councilor Paul Schumacher said at the July 14 meeting that Flinkstrom’s actions had created an embarrassing string of communication. Several other emails in the chain included heated exchanges, with Poulin saying the situation had become “insufferable.”
Do the council rules say councilors can’t contact other town employees?
Prior to the July 14 Town Council meeting, the conduct rules did not explicitly instruct council members to include the town manager and council chair on all official communications.
Cook, who has been on the council for nine years, said that specification had never been necessary before.
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“We’ve never had this fundamental disagreement on just the fact that we need to be working through the town manager, and that if we are going to approach any town staff about anything, we need to be transparent and upfront about that.”
Article III of the town charter states that the town manager “shall be the administrative head of the town and shall be responsible to the Town Council for the administration of all departments assigned to him.”
Flinkstrom denies all allegations made against him. There were no specific conduct rules that he was accused of breaking to suggest he was acting beyond the scope of his position, he said.
The council began internally considering amendments to the rules of order and procedure in February.
During the July 14 meeting, Flinkstrom moved to add a procedural step that requires councilors to include the town manager and council chair whenever they reach out to other town staff. Flinkstrom said that would remove any gray area.
The amendment was approved 5-0.
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Cook said the amendment is a move in the right direction, but it brushes this specific issue under the rug. She said she was frustrated that much of the meeting’s discussion revolved around the email chain between Flinkstrom, Poulin and Brubaker, and that there have been other instances of Flinkstrom bypassing Janelle and James.
During the annual town meeting in May, Flinkstrom revealed that he and Councilor Joel Martin had met with Berwick’s town manager to discuss the reorganization of South Berwick’s fire and EMS service. The rest of the council, Cook said, had been unaware of the meeting.
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“That behavior is so stunning to me, that councilors would go and try to consult with another town manager without informing, at the very least, our town manager or the Town Council chair,” Cook said.
What’s next?
Councilors hope that the recent addition to the rules of order and procedure means operations will continue without further disagreements about conduct rules. But Cook said the topic will likely be a part of future meetings.
Both Flinkstrom and Cook said the next steps are unclear.
“We’re already starting to get feedback from the public via email, kind of in response to the concerns that I raised,” Cook said. “A few of them are asking for Councilor Flinkstrom to resign, and asking for Roxanne Poulin to resign. So I don’t think this is the last of this issue.”
Cook said those resignation requests will be made public at the next Town Council meeting on July 28, when members are set to discuss conduct rules again.
“Everyone has the right to their own opinion, and that’s my opinion on that,” Flinkstrom said.
Editor’s note: This story was updated on July 21 to correct information about which set of rules Councilor Sam Flinkstrom is accused of breaching.
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Isabelle Oss is a community reporter covering Kittery, Berwick, North Berwick, South Berwick, York and Ogunquit. Born and raised in Colorado, she moved to Maine in April 2026. Isabelle holds a master’s. More by Isabelle Oss
