| Joanne Cole |
The Select Board held an uncommon Tuesday meeting on October 14, focusing largely preparations for the October 27 Special Town Meeting on the Pineland Athletic Building gifts and lease. They finalized the warrant for the meeting and reviewed additional information about the building and cashflow projections for inclusion in a voter information packet.
But the meeting began with a presentation and Q&A with Town Attorney Kristin Collins on the rules for and responsibilities of Select Board members – a session requested by the board but postponed in the press of other business.
The town charter provided Collins’s starting point, and from there she moved to a host of practical matters: meeting procedures, appropriate lines of authority and communication through the town manager, members’ roles as liaisons to town committees and boards, and more.
A central theme was the clear delineation between the board’s policymaking role and the town manager’s responsibility for daily operations. “The manager is here to facilitate and execute the directives of the Select Board,” Collins said. State law and the town charter establish the boundaries, she said: the board acts only as a body—collectively—and only during official meetings, not as individual members directing day-to-day town business.
“Anything that’s going to be happening in day-to-day affairs of the town is one board member going and having those conversations and making those directives. And because you cannot act as an individual select board member, the premise is the day-to-day affairs are left to the town manager.”
Collins illustrated the point with real-life examples. In Kittery, apparently, two town councilors believed some employees were taking excessively long lunch breaks. The councilors began tailing them, “with the idea that they would bust them,” Collins said. “Not appropriate for municipal officers to be doing. You are not the supervisors of those employees.” Hearing complaints about junkyard violations?–apparently a common problem in municipal circles–go to the manager, not the code enforcement officer, she said.
Crossing the lines creates confusion for employees and undermines the manager, Collins warned. “You have these situations where you get one or two overly active board members from time to time who are kind of quietly running the show, and that makes it very hard for a town manager to manage staff,” potentially leading to staff insubordination because employees have their “preferred paths of communication,” or to managers leaving as the chain of command falls apart.
Collins also cautioned against board members going from asking questions of department heads during board meetings to giving direction or criticism. “If you hear something that you don’t like in that presentation, that’s where I think I draw the line of challenging the department head on the spot or kind of grilling them about something,” she said.
Collins encouraged the board to review and revise the Bylaws for Boards and Committees, calling them a “living document.” She specifically suggested relaxing the rule that meetings follow “Roberts Rules” strictly, proposing instead to use them as a guide, for more flexibility.
She also recommended allowing public comment during individual agenda items or after presentations, not just at the start of meetings. While the New Gloucester charter mandates an opportunity for public comment, there is no constitutional or statutory right to speak at meetings—only to attend—leaving discretion largely to the chair, she said.
Town meeting warrant, information for voters. The board finalized the warrant for the October 27 Special Town Meeting, which will include just five articles—far fewer than for an annual meeting—and all related to the Pineland Athletic Building lease and donations from Planson International.
The fifth and final article, on the lease, was the focus of board discussion. Lease terms are being negotiated with Pineland’s October Corporation and not yet final but will certainly require payment of rent and utilities, as the Pineland YMCA’s lease did. The draft of Article 5 had placeholder blanks where specific lease terms would go, including one for the rent, but said nothing about utilities and operating expenses.
The draft also appeared to authorize unspecified expenditures from unspecified sources, with no mention that Planson International donations would fund the lease – particular concerns to member Rachel Rumson and Chair Colleen Strickler. Rumson said she thought Article 5’s wording would be confusing to the public. Including an estimate of operating expenses was a concern to Stephen Hathorne, who said that a specific number could tie the town’s hands.
Counsel Kristin Collins noted that the town can walk away if actual operating costs prove too high. “I think it’s important to highlight that the current lease has a 30-day cancellation provision,” she said. If the operating expenses turn out to be untenable, “give 30 days’ notice, and the most exposure you have is one month,” Collins said. “That’s the golden parachute,” Chair Colleen Strickler commented.
Collins proposed revisions to Article 5 to address the board’s concerns and make clear that the base rent and building operating and maintenance expenses would be funded by the Planson gifts. She suggested adding an informational note for voters with estimated operational expenses. Recreation Director Sarah Rodriguez said the town has received “four years of real data” on costs from Pineland that can be added to the meeting information packet. Board members concurred with the approach and approved the revised warrant language, voting 4-0 on a motion by Peter Bragdon with Vice Chair Connie Justice recused.
The latest version of the lease will be available to voters at the October 27 town meeting, and staff will make a presentation prior to the vote, Collins said.
Town meeting information booklet in the works. Parks and Recreation Director Sarah Rodriguez discussed additional information to go into the town meeting booklet, including a three-year cash flow projection that starts with the $200,000 Planson gift and follows anticipated expenses and revenues as programs are introduced and expand. Also to be added is additional material about the building’s condition.
A lengthy draft table of contents for the booklet was in the October 14 agenda packet. Altogether, the information will add up to “a pretty hefty book,” said Executive Assistant Sharlene Myers, in keeping the board’s goal of providing as much material to voters as possible. For her part, Rodriguez will continue information-gathering. Handouts will be available at the meeting to cover any late updates, the board agreed.
Will there be further updates before the October 27 Special Town Meeting? There’s time: a regular Select Board meeting is scheduled for Monday, October 20.
Watch the video of the October 14, 2025, meeting at this link. Find contact information for Select Board members and links to meeting agendas, minutes and related documents at this link.
