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University of Maine System chancellor James Page has a financial interest in a firm linked to an energy company in the midst of brokering a $150 million contract with the college, the Portland Press Herald reported Friday.
Page signed a personal loan guarantee to his former employer, James W. Sewall Co., which has a partnership with ConEdison Solutions, an energy services company that beat three finalists to negotiate for a contract to supply steam and electricity to Maine's Orono campus. According to the Portland Press Herald, Page supported the loan when he was chief executive officer of the Old Town-based engineering firm. According to university system counsel James Thelen, the loan hasn’t yet been paid off.
The university's code of ethics explicitly bars the university chancellor and president from benefiting financially from a contract. The code also mentions that such conflicts of interest are prohibited by state law.
The university picked ConEdison over three other companies because it planned to use renewable energy, powering the Orono campus with wood-fired steam and electricity from a defunct paper mill and a biomass plant in Old Town.
The potential conflict was brought to light when a Feb. 5 report by the Portland Press Herald revealed Jake Ward, the university’s vice president for innovation and economic development, had given ConEdison information to help the company win the lucrative energy contract. Ward denied the allegations.
An audit committee of the system trustees found no evidence of misconduct by either Ward or Page, the Portland Press Herald reported. But while Page “doesn’t have any policy role” in the contract negotiations right now, Thelen told the Portland Press Herald, the final contract will need the approval of the entire Board of Trustees. The committee recommended Page recuse himself in case Sewall Co. does benefit from the contract.
