BERLIN – The town’s ethics commission determined Friday that it had no jurisdiction over a candidate’s improperly placed yard sign.
The Berlin Ethics Commission met Friday after the town received a complaint regarding mayoral candidate Zack Tyndall. A citizen complained after a Tyndall sign was put in her yard without permission.
Town Administrator Jeff Fleetwood said that the commission met because one of the town’s ethics complaint forms had been completed but in meeting determined the issue was not within the commission’s jurisdiction.
“This complaint, it is addressed in the board of elections code but there’s nothing in there regarding any penalty for this,” Fleetwood said.
On Sept. 8, resident Carol Vaughan submitted an ethics complaint regarding Tyndall.
“Candidate Zachary Tyndall’s representative posted a sign on my lawn without asking permission,” she wrote on the complaint form. “I told the rep that I was supporting a different candidate.”
When contacted after the commission met Friday, Tyndall said he’d just learned of the complaint.
“To date, the campaign has received a request for 150 signs which have been placed across every neighborhood,” he said in a statement. “There was a request for a sign on Grice Street. Unfortunately, the sign was mistakenly placed on the property next to one of my supporter. It was a simple and unintentional mistake. My campaign’s supporter moved the sign, and the property owner has been sent a handwritten apology.”
