A guide to the years-long process it takes for a Maine town to deorganize

As towns across Maine grapple with inflating budgets and fewer candidates and volunteers, they may consider disbanding.

At least three towns across Maine are having early conversations about deorganizing.

But deorganizing — the decision to formally dissolve a town and join Maine’s unorganized territory — is a 12-step process that can take up to two years to complete.

Here’s a guide to that process and what each step entails.

Step 1

The process begins with circulating a petition that can be taken out by a select board member or a resident. The petition requires the signatures of at least 50% of the population of registered voters in the previous gubernatorial election.

“This can be a grassroots event that happens from just the residents within the community, you know, so it’s a littl