SOUTH PORTLAND — In its first-ever attempt at annual goal-setting Monday, the
South Portland City Council laid out 16 things it hopes to accomplish in the
coming year.
There were few surprises during the three-hour workshop,
although several department heads spoke up from the audience when plans for a
new public works garage did not seem to rise to the top of the priorities list.
Meanwhile, one goal for a “process change,” if adopted, could alter the way
items get on future workshop agendas by filtering out so-called “non-vital”
issues brought by a single councilor.
Because standing rules for the South Portland City Council
prevent it from voting on any substantive matter until it’s been studied in a
workshop session, any rule that bars an issue from appearing at that preview
meeting effectively strangles it in the crib.
That appeared to be the goal of Councilor Jerry Jalbert, who
said the previous year had been dominated by “pet projects” of a single
councilor.
“In my first year as a city councilor, I was quite unimpressed
by the fact that we diverted upon things time and time and time again,” he
said, complaining of the “willy-nilly” way the council approaches its work,
which he said has kept it from addressing economic development needs.
“We worked on things that seemed urgent, but we weren’t working
on things that are vital,” said Jalbert.
Among the issues that ate up multiple workshop agendas in 2012
were farmers market location and signage, Ocean Street parking configuration
and the council’s taxpayer-supported health insurance benefit.
The problem, Jalbert noted, is that any topic can make it onto
any workshop agenda at the behest of any one councilor. Although the mayor, as
council chairman, has some discretion over scheduling, the item will eventually
come to the forefront and, inevitably, consume council time.
“As it stands now, we spend hours and hours and hours because
one city councilor has a personal agenda. We need to stop that,” said Jalbert.
Councilor Linda Cohen provided some historical perspective on
the workshop requirement. Although new to the council, Cohen has perhaps the
greatest institutional memory among her peers, by virtue of having served
previously as South Portland's longtime city clerk.
True, one councilor can tie up the workshop agenda, she said,
but the present system arose when some councilors sussed out how to dominate
council action.
“There was a time when councilors would bring items directly to
the council meeting and have their people out in the audience all ready to
speak in favor of the item,” said Cohen. “Some councilors felt like they were
being ambushed by not getting the preparation ahead of time to know all aspects
of the item.”
It was then that the workshop rule was established, said Cohen,
noting that it creates a check on power by preventing items from getting to a
vote until the establishment of a consensus in workshop. However, Cohen
questioned the wisdom of requiring such broad support just to make a workshop
agenda. Many times, she said, a councilor brings an item forward simply because
a constituent asked for it.
“I don’t know how you don’t do that,” she said.
But Jalbert said elected officials must get acquainted with the
concept of tough love.
“There’s a massive difference between representing people and
governing,” he said. “Governing means you make the tough decisions and
sometimes you have to tell a constituent no. I think that’s been lacking for
quite a few years. You have to govern. You can’t just represent the people.”
Jalbert felt strongly enough in that regard that while his peers
each brainstormed several needs for 2013, he made reining in access to the agenda
his singular pursuit of the evening.
The goal-setting exercise was led by Craig Freshley,
Brunswick-based owner of consulting firm Good Group Decisions. He began by
asking each councilor to lay out a positive vision for how South Portland
should look in five years, and followed that up by asking each to draft
specific action items for the coming 12 months.
While some councilors, like Patti Smith, jotted down so many
ideas that some never got discussed, Jalbert wrote down his one concern and
stopped. Later, when each councilor was provided with six votes, in the form of
blue stickers to attach to one of 30-odd goals posted to the back wall of the
community center, Jalbert spent all six on his one contribution.
That appeared to shoot the agenda problem to the top of the
priority list, with seven votes, until Jalbert admitted six were his. Still,
the temporary top spot did at least serve to prolong discussion on the issue.
Before Jalbert’s call to amend the council’s standing rules can
move forward, it will have to go to before a future workshop. How access to the
agenda might change remains to be seen. Jalbert suggested that councilors lobby
each other to gain to co-sponsors of a sort, although he noted they’d have to
be careful of meeting in groups of less than three to avoid violating Maine’s
Right-to-Know laws.
However,
there is more to Maine Freedom of Access Act than how many councilors
constitutes a meeting.
As
long ago as October 1999, the Maine Townsman, a regular publication of the
Maine Municipal Association, warned public officials from discussing any
business outside of a public meeting.
“If the communication is simply a
notice to members (of a special meeting, for example), it would not violate the
law,” wrote MMA, “but if the communication turns into a dialogue about
substantive matters, it likely would violate the law, whether the conversation
is by e-mail or otherwise.
“In short, any dialogue or
deliberations by or between board members outside the context of a lawful board
meeting are apt to run afoul of the board’s obligation to conduct its business
openly and in public,” MMA advised.
In the
end, Mayor Tom Blake acknowledged that Monday’s workshop was “not a
game-changer.”
City
Manager Jim Gailey said he was surprised to see the new public works garage
proposal rate “in the middle of the pack” among the council’s goals, especially
given that the facility on O’Neil Street is, in his words, “holding together
with duct tape and bailing wire.”
“The facility didn’t seem to be getting a high enough priority
tonight based on the initial process,” agreed Financial Director Greg
L’Heureux.
Enough department heads spoke in favor of a new city garage,
including Fire Chief Kevin Guimond, who said of public works, “It’s their turn
for sure,” that Smith quipped they should team on a get-out-the-vote campaign
come next November, when an $18 million bond vote is expected.
However, new Councilor Melissa Linscott said she had not voted
on the garage only because it has been so readily promoted in the past as South
Portland’s “No. 1 priority.” So, she elected to spread her six votes among
other goals, she said.
Others on the council agreed, adopting Freshley's recommendation
that they tackle all 16 goals that made the final cut, by virtue of capturing
at least one vote, more or less equally during the coming year.
If any priorities were set Monday, consensus seemed to favor
getting the public works garage to a public vote, although there was some talk
of “right-sizing” the complex, which will also house the transportation and
parks departments, down from its $18 million estimate.
Strong support also was displayed for forming an implementation
committee to work on moving the city’s newly adopted comprehensive plan from
theory to the rule of law. Working on ways to merge school and city operations
also enjoyed wide support, is it did during a recent joint meeting between the
council and the school board.
Following Monday’s workshop, Gailey termed it “an excellent
first step in getting the council accustomed to goal-setting on an annual
basis.”
“I think the last time we even scratched the surface on any type
of goal setting was the late ‘90s. Even then, a lot of things were left hanging
and there was no conclusion to it,” said Gailey. “Now, the council will know
that we are going to do this again in December 2013, what the process is, and
what ideas to bring into it. It will only get better and we’ll build on that.”
A CLOSER LOOK
The 16 goals for 2013 laid out Monday by the South Portland City Council.
“Easy” tasks the council can accomplish on its own
• Filter “non-vital” items from workshop agendas*
• Establish an annual council visioning forum with the public
• Analyze the tax burden of local senior citizens
• Improve dialogue with the school board
“Hard” tasks that will consume considerable council time
• Create an endowment fund for park maintenance*
• Form a comprehensive plan implementation committee*
• Encourage LEED certified “green” construction
• Upgrade Wilkinson Park
• Adopt a “complete street” policy
Comprehensive tasks that will require aid from other groups/agencies
• Consolidate school and city functions*
• Explore economic development possibilities*
• Improve public transportation*
• Adopt plans for a new public works facility*
• Create a Barberry Creek watershed plan
• Improve public water quality citywide
• Assess of pedestrians should take precedence over vehicles at intersections.
* Received at least three councilor votes
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