BUCKFIELD — Is regionalization the key to success for area towns?
The Buckfield Board of Selectmen is curious to find out how it can regionalize, or work in cooperation with other area towns, in order to conduct the business of Buckfield citizens more economically and better than they can when working alone.
What that goal in mind, Buckfield Town Manager Cynthia M. Dunn and Chairman of the Selectmen Lawrence "Skip" Stanley will join leaders from Turner, Greene, Leeds and Livermore in an afternoon meeting with Governor John Baldacci on Wednesday, February 4, at the State House in Augusta.
The goal, according to State Representative Rosita Gagne-Friel (D-District 69), who helped arrange Buckfield's participation at the meeting, is to better understand "the governor's intentions" regarding his initiative toward more regionalization.
The meeting with the governor stems from a local meeting held last December at the Turner Town Office. Local leaders met to examine regionalization at that time, but found, as Gagne-Friel states, that "They do a lot of stuff already. That's what it came down to. And it was like, 'What else can we do?'"
Buckfield officials seem to agree.
"There are a lot of things that, if you wrote it all down on paper, we are currently doing," Dunn said at a recent selectmen's meeting in Buckfield. "Fire and Rescue is one thing. We are currently under mutual aid agreements with other towns. We have run the transfer station with Sumner since 1983."
"Also, AVCOG is a form of regionalization," Stanley added. "We purchase salt from AVCOG [along] with other towns."
Buckfield officials are unsure what else they can do, but say they look to the meeting with the governor as a brainstorming session to further examine their options.
Buckfield resident Judy Berg gave one specific example.
"Look at all the fire trucks local towns have been buying recently," she said at a selectmen's meeting. "Imagine if all those towns had got together for one joint bid. Think of the money we might have saved."
"We're going to embrace it, hopefully, if it makes sense for Buckfield," said Stanley. "We want to make sure Buckfield stands to gain from it. But we are open to it."
One particular area in which Stanley hopes to take an even greater advantage of increased regionalization is in teh area of Buckfield's largest current cooperative effort: The joint operation, wuth the towns of Hartford and Sumner, of SAD 39.
"We're looking for the school system to really step up," he said. "Hopefully, the district will be involved in this as well, and go to meetings."
When prompted for ideas as to how the school district might take advantage of regionalization, Stanley listed of some potential ideas: "Possibly, for instance, fuel. Right now they are purchasing fuel right at the Buckfield Mall. Either regionalize with other towns to make a fuel purchase, getting a fuel island, or something where they can do a joint purchase that way.
"I'm not involved in all that, but maybe special ed teachers," he continued. "Instead of hiring one per school — do they need one per school? There's got to be ways. Maybe joint packages for the teachers, like insurance policies
"Does there need to be a superintendent for every school system?" he added. "Your know there's $75,000 a year," he said, referring to an estimated superintendent's salary.
At the possibility of school districts sharing superintendents, Dunn responded, "In the same regard, town managers. Is it possible for town managers to regionalize?"
Rep. Gagne-Friel said that this was a significant area of concern at the Turner meeting in Decemer.
"What I understand is that they really want to know what the governor's objectives are in regard to regionalization of towns. Is he expecting to close some of the town offices? I mean, that isn't going to happen! Nobody is going to give up their little town."
"They wanted more specificity," she reported in December. "They are already doing some things, what is it that he expects to do more than that?"
However, little came of that meeting, she said. "To have a meeting to talk, and don't know why — it wasn't doing them any good."
It was at that point that State Representative Rodney C. Jennings (D-District 93) offered to facilitate a meeting with the governor, so that those at the earlier meeting could gain a greater understanding of the regionalization goals of both the governor and the committee he has set up for that purpose.
"I told them what I understood, from the meetings that I attended, that it would mostly be to do with schools," said Gagne-Friel. "That would not necessarily affect selectpersons, but they're the ones with all the questions, so they are the ones who asked to go to this meeting.
"At first, we wanted him [Baldacci] to come to us," she said, "but then of course the governor wouldn't just be going to a selectmen's meeting. So, the governor came up with the idea of their coming to him. So he set aside one hour on February 4th, in the afternoon."
Gagne-Friel fears however that "this preliminary stuff should bow really be made public because people are going to call up and say, 'Can I go?' and they can't" The governor has limited the meeting to no more than 15 people, she said.
"It is a closed meeting for a very few people," she cautioned. "It was a specialty favor that Representative Jennings did for his selectpeople. And, because others were there, they got invited, too. Then I extended it to my town's manager because I was there and she wasn't
"If it is publicized as if it is some special meeting of the local leaders to o something with the governor, it isn't," said Gagne-Friel. "It is just kind of a little get together because they want to know something."
After than meeting, she says, and the clarification of goals that the governor can give to local selectmen and town managers, "Then they can go back and have another one of these regional meetings here in this area and really talk about some stuff."
That, in the words of Stanley, "would be a good idea." Buckfield leaders hope, at the appropriate time, to get feedback from the public on regionalization issue, as it is not always just about saving money, or bringing new services to a small town. There can be downsides as well.
"There are different avenues for regionalization that we have investigated," Dunn said. "I'll use roads for an example. For Buckfield to regionalize with neighboring towns such as Hartford and Sumner, to do a joint bid, it would not pay for Buckfield to do that because Buckfield primarily surfaces more miles in a season than does Hartford or Sumner."
Selectman Oscar Gammon returned to the subject of education.
"The town of Peru has never been in a district. They've run their own schools themselves. Now they are going to merge with SAD 21, I think it is — Dixfield, Carthage and Canton," Gammon said.
"So, this is kind of a thing we want to watch, to see what happens. There's no pressure. There's ways to save money. But sometimes if you get into too big of a district, like you take SAD 7, in my estimation, they are so big that there are some children over there that have to get on the bus at quarter past six in the morning. Thats' crazy!" Gammon continued.
Regionalizing services can also bring about some loss of local control. Is that a fear?
"It would depend on the subject," said Stanley, "and a balance of the benefit versus the loss of control. What do the people want? We would have to let the people decide. that."
The time for exploring all of the available options will come. For now, in regards to the upcoming meeting with the governor, "I don't know if even brainstorming is going to come out of it," said Gagne-Friel. "It is just a clarification of goals."
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