North Yarmouth Select Board pushes forward on its goal to explore shift from a Town Meeting to a Town Council form of government.
Exploring a change in governance was approved as a Select Board goal on September 5.
At its October 17 meeting, the Select Board shared a charter revision timeline to achieve a June 2024 election of charter commission members. The document listed process steps specified by state statute and deadlines to put the question on the June ballot asking residents whether they support convening a charter commission.
The Select Board draft plan shared in October included steps to elect commissioners simultaneous to voting on whether to approve a charter commission. Residents would be voting on whether they support a charter commission, and would be asked to select potential commission members to be on the committee if it were to pass.
Candidates would be seeking election to a commission before it is known whether North Yarmouth voters approved convening a commission.
The current charter was approved by residents in June 2013.
North Yarmouth residents voted to convene a charter commission in November 2011, electing commissioners in June 2012. It was the first review of the town’s charter since 1982.
The nine commission members delivered a draft to voters in the spring of 2013. The group had considered a number of changes, including possibly moving to a town council form of government. However, they recommended the Town Meeting-Select Board-Town Manager form as the best fit.
A copy of their report was published in the 2013 Annual Report.
More recently, a 60-day charter comment period sponsored by a previous Select Board asked residents for input on the current charter. A summary of the comments published in January 2022 indicated general support for North Yarmouth’s current charter and governance model.
Only one respondent recommended switch to a town council. Multiple residents stated convening a charter commission or changing to town council was not appropriate at this time.
Anne Graham shared, “I would strongly urge the Select Board to not have a new Charter Commission. It is unnecessary and costly.”
Rob Wood cautioned that although a town council “would expedite many matters”, it would shift power to “a small group, the counselors (sic), to make important decisions such as ordinances and expenditures.”
The previous charter commission chair Audery Lones stated it was too soon after a charter revision to convene a charter commission and to do so would be “highly unusual”, adding “There has been no evidence that our town’s recent challenges are due to a fault in the charter itself.”
Some suggested administrated changes from that report have since been approved by voters, including updating language and adding residency requirements.
NYFV contacted the Select Board to ask for further comment on the draft charter change goal process.
In an email, Haile said, “I do not think there are residents ‘pulling’ for a charter commission.” She added, “The question of ’is a town meeting the best form of government’ has been asked informally of me and other select board members over a few years.”
Haile confirmed exploring changing North Yarmouth to a town council was on her list of Select Board goals. “I had heard anecdotally from residents over the years decrying the lack of attendance at town meetings and the inconvenience of it. One of the reasons cited for a recent referendum vote at a special election was the lack of attendance at town meetings and therefore the validity of items voted on at the town meeting was questioned. The number of people showing up at the polls far exceeds those showing up for town meeting. For me, these were reasons enough to explore the topic.”
An email from Selectperson Paul Hodgetts, sharing his FY24 goals, did not include a change in governance. He emailed Vice Chair Andrea Berry, “Our groundwater is still number [one] on my list to protect.” Hodgetts also included infrastructure, the impact of a new school impact, public safety, controlling spending, and transparency as top concerns.
Selectpersons Berry, Cyr, and Maloney did not respond to questions about their individual goals.
Regarding the Board’s short deadline, Haile emphasized the plan was just the statutory milestones timeline to put a charter commission question on the June 2024 ballot. “To clarify, the goal is not to pursue the change, but to ‘explore the public interest in and viability of shifting from a Town Meeting to a Town Council form of government’. We are not pursuing a change, we are opening the discussion on if North Yarmouth should pursue a change.”
During the September 5 Select Board meeting, Hodgetts asked the Town Manager and the Chair about charges on the July legal invoices referring to charter changes. Hodgetts told NYFV he followed up with an email to the Chair asking for the information.
According to a response to that email, Haile said charter related discissions with Jensen Baird included questions related to committees and boards, and "overview of timeline and process of moving from a town meeting to a town council form of government."
In the email to Hodgetts, Haile continues, "As you know, there is a lot of work and information gathering that happens behind the scenes to answer the questions paper (sic) of us."
Hodgetts said he did not receive a copy of the actual correspondence with the town attorney.
NYFV asked for clarification about an October 17 statement by the Chair but did not get a response. In discussing the proposed timeline to put a charter commission question on the June 2024 ballot, Haile said, “I think in July, February seemed really far away.”
The Select Board stated their commitment to getting their answers and indicated they would be scheduling a workshop to explore their questions. When residents would be able to ask questions or weigh in on the issue was not clear.
NYFV contacted a number of officials involved in the previous charter revision, none of whom agreed to be interviewed at this time. There was consensus the charter commission members included diverse opinions and a good foundation of expertise. Members of that commission confirmed they had done a full scope review of government types and determined moving to a town council model was not necessary, as adding a Town Manager would give North Yarmouth Select Board needed municipal support. It offered a good balance of a stronger administrative function and resolved some issues the Select Board was experiencing while retaining elements of the town character and resident oversight offered by Town Meeting.
MMA Municipal Officers Manual describes five basic categories of governance in Maine. The most common forms are: Town Meeting-Select Board, Town Meeting–Select Board–Manager, Town Meeting–Council–Manager, Council–Manager, Council–Mayor.
Maine’s “Home Rule Authority” has allowed towns to develop numerous variations. A few smaller towns use only a Town Meeting or an annual Assessor Meeting form. The most common form is the Town Meeting–Select Board–Manager. Larger towns have moved to replace the select board with a council for more efficiency with financial and ordinance decisions.
The North Yarmouth Select Board will revisit the Charter Commission Exploration at its November 21 meeting.
1/30/24 updated to add "explore" to Amy Haile statement about her list of goals
Comments