First the Correction: Monday's School Board Meeting (the 23rd) will be at the Holden School - not the Holbrook School. Meeting begins at 6:30pm. I think we need to push to find out what the current bottom line is fiscally and how that relates to the original budget - regardless of what the state MAY be providing. We had already heard, prior to the federal stimulus package, that the state of Maine was facing a $400 million dollar shortfall for the next two years. That projection was worse than last year. Soooo, if SAD63 got hit by a certain number in the '08-'09 fiscal year because the state didn't fund the locals, we should be working against THAT as the base for next year (and the year after). The federal stmulus package is a one-shot/one year deal. It isn't anything to plan on for the long term.
If we work against the base school budget (as defined above), then the Town Manager/Selectmen should be able to give us an idea of what the estimated property tax bills are going to be. We have to think (and they should be thinking) about what we can afford and be conservative about our spending. Other towns are approaching their budgets this way and Eddington is certainly NO exception considering our very limited business tax base, the percentage of population on a fixed income, and the amount of infrastructural needs. I'm sure Holden, Clifton, Dedham are in no better position than we are. Holden may actually be in a better position because they have a larger business tax base. Therefore, those of us in SAD63 should be telling our respective School Board members we expect them to provide us with a worse case/best case fiscal scenario by the time our towns have their respective Town Meetings. Playing "Hide the Ball" is bad government and an abdication of their elected responsibility to the voters who are, in fact, their bosses.
The projected 2009-10 town budget is approximately $20,000.00 higher than last year's budget (before we get the unknown school budget).
At the moment, the state imposed penalty for voting down school consolidation will NOT be levied in 2009-10.
It is expected that there will be a Question on the November 2009 ballot to rescind the Legislative action mandating school consolidation. Districts that have already voted to consolidate are not expected to be able to reverse their decisions.
Voting on Monday, March 23 - Eddington Town Office - 8am-8pm: Some random thoughts:
First - I don't expect much of a turnout. Out of 1600 registered voters in Eddington - 1300 of whom voted in the National/State election last November 4 - approximately 106 voted in the last election for two Eddington Selectmen and one School Board representative. I can't think of an adjective suffficiently demeaning of that level of turnout.
There are plenty of places to point the finger but the two primary places are (1) the town government which does absolutely nothing to encourage citizenship, resident involvement and candidate information and (2) the apathy of the voters.
(1) The Selectmen/woman want to be elected to the positions of governing. Why - for the power or for benefiting and representing the residents?
If it's to represent the residents, why don't they solicit the opinions and thoughts of the residents through regular communication such as questionnaires, surveys, opinion polls? They could do this through the Government Access Channel (7) or through quarterly newsletters or even though the school newsletters.
True, there is a "Public Access" component at the beginning and end of each Selectmen's meeting's agenda. But there are too many horror stories of individuals who have been treated disrespectfully because it didn't agree with what members of the Board had already decided to do - and I've been told the stories from people at Tradewinds to the Eddington Store to the Post Office and spots in Brewer. But unless an individual is willing to fight back (and still be slapped down), or take a good sized crowd with you (which DOES intimidate the heck out of them), they don't seem to listen once they get elected.
Maybe that's why they have resisted publishing their agenda In Advance so that the people will know what issues are being addressed at any given meeting. However, doing the peoples' business in secret (at best) gives the impression they are doing something the people would not approve of if they knew. At worse, it means only special interests are being served and that is definitely BAD BUSINESS.
Relevant to this is what Today's Reporter (another one!) told me...about what went on behind closed doors relating to the resignation of the former Fire Chief. Just because a member or members of the Selectmen have a personal interest in the outcome of a problem doesn't mean an entire department's personnel should be disregarded when they collectively bring an issue before the Board. And a "No Confidence" letter should have been taken more seriously than trying the "divide and conquer" action by the Board which didn't work. So the Board, probably after being ramroded by the leader of the pack, decided all the testimony was to be dismissed because it "must have been planned." Yes - we now have a really good Chief and Deputy Chief - BUT what was the cost...the loss of some really good and highly trained firefighters, not to mention some serious loss of respect/trust for how things "work" in the Eddington government.
I was outside the Town Office at the conclusion of the Selectmen's meeting following the acceptance of the former Fire Chief's letter of resignation "for personal reasons". There was absolute glee by all of the fire department personnel as they started asking how soon they could start training. At the time I didn't understand what was underneath it all. After the reporter's story today, pieces of the puzzle fell together.
(2) So how does this relate to Monday's election? Because a certain amount of responsibility (call it fault) falls on the residents of Eddington. Unless I had been to the many Selectmen meetings where different pieces of the puzzle had shown themselves, I would not have understood what my reporter was telling me or how how all of this came together.
There are only two things that keep government honest and accountable - honest people elected to office and a constantly vigilant (watchful) citizenry. When we have elected officials trying to conduct as much business as possible with as little interference from the people as possible, those officials tend to forget they work FOR the people. We, the people, are their employers - in spite of the fact that most of the officials around here seem to think they have their jobs and positions in perpetuity. (For example, how many years has the same person been the Chairperson? Why doesn't the Vice-Chair move into the Chair slot after one year? Too much control by the same person for too long breeds a lack of opportunity for new ideas, for new people to be encouraged to get involved, for new committees with ideas for areas of improvement. Of course that would require an environment of support - not currently present if it advocates change.)
Perhaps that's why Candidates don't think they need to provide us, the voters, with any kind of job interview or qualifications such as a Candidates Night or brief statement of qualifications on the ballot. (So what if it would take two pages to print the ballot? It's not as though there are that many candidates or that many ballots that will have to be printed. It would at least APPEAR to be providing a meaningful ballot to inform the voters of who/what they're choosing.) Right now the appearance is that we will automatically rubber stamp whatever is offered because what else can we do.
Well, I have an idea...Let's write in Susan Shane's name. She's more than qualified to be a Selectwoman - intelligent, educated and best of all - she's not afraid to speak up for what's right. Don't know Susan? She's on the Planning Board, member of the Community Church, active at Cumins Hall. One smart cookie and she spoke up at the Town Meeting last year re: the snowplowing contract that got shoved down our throats. And when the vacant lot between the Weather Vane and New Hope Hospice came up for discussion, she actually checked out the lot - declaring it "an environmental nightmare." She's not afraid to look straight on at problems instead of trying to sweep them under the table because they might upset some good 'ol boy network. I, for one, am writing in her name. She probably won't get the necessary number of votes - maybe the Town Office will try to throw out my ballot even - but at least I'll know who I'm voting for and the qualifications behind the name. And Susan would be ten times better than three of the five who are sitting on the Board right now.
On the other hand - there is a phrase that goes something like "The only thing necessary for evil to succeed is for good people to sit back and do nothing." Now, I'm not saying the town Selectmen/woman are evil - but I am saying that when their employers (us, we the people - the voters) sit back and do nothing by staying home instead of going once a month to sit, listen, observe to OUR elected government in action - then WE don't know what's going on, WE can't make informed votes at the Town Meeting or for any candidate for town office or school board, and WE are not fulfilling OUR responsibilities are citizens. Maybe if more people went to these meetings (12 a year - good grief. Not much considering you are investing in your community and your democracy and an honest government), maybe there would be more candidates - a hord of candidates. Wouldn't that be great! Some real viability here. Think of how it would benefit the children. We might actually have a government that represented the community as a whole - not just a small segment.
Are you willing to give over these rights (and responsibilities) to illegals immigrants? Probably not - but, if you want to BE a citizen, you have to fulfill your responsibilities AS a citizen. I won't even go into what kind of role model you are (or aren't) demonstrating to your children. But when was the last time you said to your children/grandchildren, "Dad/Gramma and/or I have to go to a Selectmen's meeting tonight for an hour to see how our government is working." (I assure you, this crowd doesn't want the meeting to go past 7pm - probably why the Chairwoman tries to limit the public comments.) Maybe you won't have anything to say but you'll learn, you'll be listening and they will know it. Then when it's time to voice an opinion, or vote, or go to the Town Meeting, YOU WILL BE INFORMED.
That's all I hope for - a participatory citizenry that is informed in this town. Otherwise, why are we sending soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines to fight for our country somewhere else. If we don't do OUR job, they'll be needed right here at some point. - OR, if we don't do a better job of keeping this town vital, it will die right along with all of the aging population we have here.
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