| Joanne Cole |
The new charter commission will have a first, organizational meeting Tuesday June 29 at 6 pm at the Meetinghouse. The meeting will be livestreamed via Town Hall Streams at this link and broadcast on cable via NGTV channels 3 and 1302. Here’s a look at the timeline and process for the commission’s work.
The organizational meeting. Under Maine’s municipal charter law (here and on surrounding pages), mandatory tasks at the organizational meeting are to elect a chair, vice-chair, and secretary. They likely will also at least discuss scheduling of the public meeting that must be held within 30 days (see below).
The timeline ahead. The state’s charter law sets only a few milestones for all charter commissions:
— 1. Public meeting. The commission is required to hold an early public meeting “to receive information, views, comments and other material relating to its functions.” That public meeting must take place within 30 days of Tuesday’s organizational meeting – in other words, by July 29. Residents are likely to have plenty of information, views, and comments to share.
— 2. Preliminary report with proposed draft. The charter law requires that within nine months of the election of the commission, they shall issue and circulate a preliminary report that includes the text of the proposed charter and whatever explanatory information the commission considers helpful. With our election on June 8, 2021, the target date for the preliminary report would be March 8, 2022. Although it’s not explicitly required in the law, communities typically hold a public hearing on the proposed charter and as well as other, earlier points in the process to share progress and seek input.
— 3. Final report and legal opinion. Within twelve months of the commissioners’ election—for us, by June 8, 2022—the commission shall issue its final report, including “the full text and explanation of the proposed new charter.” The final report may have comments but must be accompanied by an attorney’s opinion certifying to the charter’s legality and constitutionality. The charter law permits commission members who disagree with proposed provisions to file a minority report. The commission disbands, and voters approve or reject the charter at the next regular or special election.
If the commission needs more time to prepare its preliminary or final reports, or to obtain the opinion from counsel, the statute permits the commission to request, and the select board to approve, extensions of the deadlines. The outside time limit to conclude all charter work is 24 months after the election—for New Gloucester, by June 8, 2023.
Commission members and webpage. The appointed and elected charter commission members are Mike Arata, Peter Bragdon, Linda Chase, Steve Hathorne, Penny Hilton, Don Libby, Steve Libby, John Salisbury, and Ben Tettlebaum. A new page on the town website has been created for their work, agenda, and minutes. It’s listed under Boards and Committees: to access the page, click here.
The process ahead. One virtue of a municipal charter, in the view of some commentators, is that it is built from the ground up, in one place, and can be tailored to meet a community’s unique needs and preferences. That’s in contrast with the patchwork of state laws, local ordinances, policies, and informal, traditional practices currently in play in New Gloucester and other towns without charters.
Just as the charter itself can be fitted to local needs and preferences, so can the procedures to craft the charter. Maine’s charter law sets out only the most basic expectations, instead giving the commission flexibility to set their own rules of the road and to summon the support and expertise they need.
The law says the commission may “may adopt regulations governing the conduct of its meetings and proceedings and may employ any necessary legal, research, clerical or other employees and consultants within the limits of its budget.” Voters in June approved $10,100 for the charter commission for FY21-22, which begins July 1.
Also under the law, the town must provide the commission free office space and facilities for public hearings. The town may contribute clerical and other assistance and must make town officers, officials, and employees available to consult and provide information to the commission.
Although the governing law is short on detail and the charter is new to New Gloucester, the commission doesn’t have to re-invent the wheel. They can, and likely will, look to other Maine communities not only for charter provisions they adopted, but also for the approaches those towns took to get there. For example, when North Yarmouth revised its charter in 2013, the commission set up two subcommittees, one to take the lead on communicating with citizens and the other to handle the actual drafting.
Ogunquit, continuing a charter review this year, has invited a veritable parade of town staff to join topics-based commission meetings: the town clerk to advise on election procedures and requirements, the treasurer to address budget timing and financial requirements, and so on; the Ogunquit town attorney also typically attends commission meetings (albeit by Zoom). Commissions even differ on when they take public comment at their meetings: Bar Harbor took public comment at the outset of its meetings; Ogunquit takes public comment after the commission discusses new business — all a reflection of the procedural flexibility the state law allows.
The resulting charter. The goal of thoughtful commission procedures is a thoughtful proposed charter. As to the charter itself, the commission could consider major changes to the town’s current form of government—for example, proposing to adopt a town council, limit town meeting to the budget, or do the budget by ballot, as nearby towns’ charters have done. Or the commission could focus on refining and improving existing governance structures, lines of authority, procedures. Or something between those poles—whatever the commission thinks is best for the community and likely to be accepted by the community.
It’s also worth noting that, although the commission’s work is certainly weighty and charters tend to be described as if they’re permanent (“foundational,” “like a constitution”), the fact is that Maine’s charter law anticipates charter revisions, modifications, amendments. Times change, towns change, laws change, circumstances change, and the charter should follow. Happily, not all charter changes require a full new commission process; what’s needed depends on how substantive the desired change is.
In other words, this commission doesn’t need to be perfect. But they do need to get started.
