Government Spotlight

The Charter Commission sets the stage

Charter Commission meeting July 12, 2021

| Noreen Williams |

The first regular meeting of the Charter Commission on July 12 set the stage for future meetings of the commission and for the public hearing being held on Wednesday July 21st at 7 PM in the New Gloucester Meetinghouse. As an addition to the agenda, Treasurer Steve Libby asked for approval of a budget template and that budget reports be presented to the commission on a monthly basis.

Public comments. Chair Ben Tettlebaum opened the meeting for public comment indicating that comments should be about 2 minutes in length and pertinent to the agenda of the evening. The first and only public comment of the evening was from George Colby who noted that some people at the last meeting were talking over each other making it difficult to hear. He also said that he felt that a couple people wanted to change the whole form of government.

Reports from the town manager and commission chair. A number of items were revisited from the organizational meeting. Clarification on costs for copying, sending direct mailers to the 2517 households in town, and cost of posting in local newspapers was received from Town Manager Christine Landes. It was also reported that she was unable to recruit a minutes-taker from town staff.

The commission revisited the issue of the Secretary for the commission and a minute-taker. Peter Bragdon, who has acted as interim secretary, will now take on the position of secretary which will not include taking the minutes. Ben Tettlebaum said that Patti Mikkelsen has volunteered to take minutes. She will be contacted about a possible honorarium. An additional volunteer will be sought to provide backup.

The chair provided the commission with information on a potential legal counsel who has had experience serving as an advisor for charters. She previously acted as a moderator at a New Gloucester town meeting. Steve Hathorne was not in favor of this candidate. Don Libby thought the commission should use the town attorney, while John Salisbury and Penny Hilton felt that it should be an independent lawyer. Linda Chase suggested that the Chair ask the town manager for the billing rate of the Town attorney. Ben will explore other options, including other attorneys from the current Town legal firm (Bernstein Shur) who might have charter experience. Several commission members thought that the range of hours needed from legal counsel would depend on whether the charter is adapted from other town’s charters or drafted from scratch.

A Gmail address has been set up for the Commission: ngchartercommission@gmail.com. This will be used as a one-way communication system for New Gloucester citizens to share ideas and thoughts about charter development. The only reply that will be sent in return will be an acknowledgment of the receipt of the email. Some information and surveys from the commission will also be sent to citizens through this email address. There was some discussion over the policy on email use and Ben will come back with a proposed policy. People who want to be added to the mailing list should send an email to the charter commission’s address above.

The commission decide not to adopt the town’s bylaws for Boards and Committees but rather use those policies discussed at the organizational meeting.

Public Hearing. Considerable discussion occurred among the commission members over the public hearing on Wednesday July 21st. Issues included whether any information should be shared, what materials might be distributed and how to distribute them, and whether the commission should make a presentation first. After a discussion of a variety of possible handouts, the scope narrowed. Steve Libby reminded the commission that this is a general listening session and “in this case we want them to talk, but I don’t want to tell them what to talk about.” Peter Bragdon agreed that it was “about hearing people’s thoughts.” Steve Hathorne reminded them that they only have 10 days until the meeting and suggested keeping it simple.

In the end the decision was made to provide the definition of a charter, the task of the charter commission, the current form of governance in New Gloucester, and a listing of forms of governance in Maine. Ben will arrange to have this distributed through Facebook, NGX, and the town website, and have paper copies present for the public hearing. More detailed information is available on the town website under the Charter Commission heading. Later discussion focused on the format for the hearing. At the public hearing each participant will be given 2-3 minutes to speak and the commission will respond if information is requested but not for the purpose of debate. Similarly, the commission can ask the public for clarification. No presentation will be done by the committee.

Initial review of charters and the process. Discussion of how to proceed began with a number of views on how the discussion of issues and drafting of parts of the charter might happen. John Salisbury felt that looking at the pros and cons of each issue first would lead to a clearer focus. Don Libby felt the pros and cons approach would make it harder to draft the charter. Penny Hilton thought that the process needed discussion, followed by a response from the town, then drafting of the charter related to the topic.

The consensus was that there would be a small number (3-5) of issues that needed to be discussed and decided upon before drafting could begin. The commission members were charged with coming up with their own lists of critical issues as homework following the public hearing. Peter Bragdon commented that they should remember that “not everything was broken” and he thought they “are way overthinking this thing.” Ben stated that the reason for spending time now on the process was “to bond as a commission.” The group discussed and will develop (as homework) a list of factual information they might need.

John Salisbury, Ben Tettlebaum, and Penny Hilton (chair) will form the public engagement committee. They will come to the next meeting with a proposed charge for the committee.

Agenda for next meeting on July 26 at 7 PM at the Meetinghouse:
— Chair’s report including legal counsel and email policy
— Treasurer’s report
— Discuss the public hearing
— 3-5 critical discussion items
— Fact-finding items needed

Video of the July 12 charter commission meeting can be viewed here. Agendas, minutes, and other commission documents can be accessed here.