The Standish Town Council has just been reconstituted for another year following the June elections. Cindy Hopkins has again been elected Council Chair with Dolly Lymburner as Vice Chair. We welcome them both back in leadership roles. Here are some of the challenges they and the Council face this year.
Prospects for a Community Center: The Council is negotiating a Memorandum of Understanding with the Kiwanis Club to build a Community Center on land owned by the club near their beach and athletic fields. Under this agreement, the Kiwanis would either donate the land to the Town or sell it for a dollar with some limitations. The next step would be to design the structure and to seek voter approval.
Rangeways: The Council will consider an Order shortly to accept public easements for certain rangeways that were proposed by the Proprietors of Standish in the 1700’s. These easements, if accepted, could facilitate future road development or the establishment of recreation trails throughout the Town.
Public Beach: There is ongoing dialogue between the Town and the Portland Water District for a public beach on District property for Standish residents.
Vision for the Future of Standish: The Comprehensive Plan Update Committee will present their vision for the future of Standish to the council this year. That vision will use in part the results for the surveys returned by more than 800 residents. The updated plan will include policy recommendations and strategies for reaching the vision that the Council will consider for enactment.
Senior Housing: In August, the Council will receive a recommendation from an ad hoc committee that is exploring options for senior housing in the Town.
Public Access on the Saco River: The Council is also considering a proposal by Florida Power and Light to establish a public access point on the Saco River in Standish.
The Town of Standish recently held its annual Town Meeting for 2005 where the voters confirmed the proposed budget for the upcoming year. That budget reflects several of the Council’s priorities for this year to include capital improvements for upgrading portions of Manchester and Moody Road, installation of a guardrail for a portion of Whites Bridge Road, replacement of 10-year-old business software for the Finance Department, and new equipment for Public Safety.
As noted in this newspaper last week, the Town Meeting was brief; perhaps a record for brevity as it lasted only eight minutes with perhaps 30 people in attendance. An accompanying editorial suggested that the time has come to do away with the Town Meeting, not only here in Standish but also in Windham where a similar low turn-out occurred.
Both of these adjacent towns have similar forms of government; Council/Manager as enacted through a local Charter. For Standish, the Charter was adopted by the voters in 1987. Under the Council/Manager Charter, the elected Council has legislative authority to enact ordinances and to set policy while the appointed Manager has oversight of the administrative services (Public Safety, Public Works, Recreation, Law Enforcement, etc.). A non-interference clause separates the two functions.
Prior to the Charter, the Town operated under a Selectmen/Town Meeting form of government. The elected Selectmen had administrative authority over the various Departments but the legislative authority to enact ordinances and appropriate funds rested solely with the voters at Town Meeting. Town Meetings were much livelier with considerable opportunity for debate. Under the Charter, however, the budget is proposed by the Manager, reviewed and approved by the Council for submission to the voters, commented on by the Budget Committee and sent to the voters for approval.
Standish Town Meetings now are far more limited in scope and serve to give final approval to a budget that has already received considerable public exposure through televised meetings and give-and-take public debate. As I understand, when the Standish Charter was developed, there was a sentiment that the people wanted to retain final say over the budget by Town Meeting. To my knowledge, in the two decades of the Charter, the Council’s Budget has never been changed at Town Meeting.
Perhaps the editorial in this newspaper last week is correct; it may be time to revisit this issue. Other Charter municipalities afford the elected Council budget obligation authority or send the budget to a referendum vote. It may be time to consider another Charter Commission to consider this and other items.
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