By Kathy McCarty
Staff Writer
City and town managers will once again meet over lunch, putting on their collective thinking caps as they continue to discuss ways to combine forces, ultimately looking for ways to save their respective communities money while continuing to provide quality services.
Staff photo/Kathy McCarty
Steve Buck, Caribou city manager, shares with other municipal leaders ways his discussion group came up with to have municipalities work together to keep costs down while maintaining services. Pictured looking on are: Angela Beckwith, Perham chair; Martin Puckett, town manager of Mapleton, Chapman and Castle Hill and Ken Murchison, mayor of Caribou. Participants gathered at UMPI on Sept. 1, looking for ways to continue to provide quality services through efforts like bulk purchasing of fuel and office supplies.
The Oct. 4 meeting will take place at City Hall from noon to 1 p.m., with participants sharing ideas on topics discussed at a joint municipal meeting held Sept. 1 in Presque Isle at the University of Maine at Presque Isle. During that session, city and town leaders broke up into four groups, brainstorming on ways their communities could work together to save money while continuing to provide essential services. Ideas included buying in bulk for such items as office supplies and fuel, as well as splitting the cost on items that could then be shared by each purchaser (joint purchasing and use of public works equipment was used as an example).
Presque Isle City Manger Jim Bennett served as the facilitator for the UMPI event. Taking part in the group discussions were: Table 1 — Martin Puckett, town manager of Mapleton, Chapman and Castle Hill; Emily Smith, Presque Isle City Council chair; Dave McCrea, Fort Fairfield Town Council chair; Dave Cambridge, Castle Hill selectman; Mike Corey, Easton selectman; Mike Umphrey, Washburn Town Council chair; Angela Beckwith, Perham chairman; and Ken Murchison, mayor of Caribou. Table 2 — Steven Buck, Caribou city manager; Tim Scott, Castle Hill selectman; Michelle McLaughlin, Perham town administrator; Bev Turner, Washburn town manager; and Peter Hallowell and Randy Smith, Presque Isle councilmen. Table 3 — Dan Foster, Fort Fairfield town manager; Andrew McLaughlin, Perham selectman; Jerry Dow, Perham selectman; Scott Allen, Easton selectman; Keith Brown, Washburn councilman; Mel Hovey, Presque Isle councilman; and Dave Dunlavey, Mapleton selectman. Table 4 — Jim Gardner, Easton town manager; Pat Sutherland, Chapman selectperson; Rocky McHatten, Castle Hill selectman; Carolee Hallett, Westfield clerk; John Boone, Caribou councilor; and Bruce Flewelling, Easton selectman.
Puckett’s experience was used as an example of ways communities can work together. As the manager of Mapleton, Chapman and Castle Hill, he’s seen first-hand how effectively towns can work together to the benefit of residents.
“My group sees bulk purchases, good newspaper articles and shared services as positive ways to benefit our communities,” said Puckett, noting that everyone at his table “share common goals and perceptions of problems,” including challenges like loss of revenue sharing with the state and an aging population.
Buck noted “stagnant valuations and increased road maintenance costs” were among his group’s major challenges.
The Caribou city manager said “shared equipment use and cooperative purchasing programs for such things as salt/sand, fuel and office supplies” were ways his group decided would be worth looking into.
Brown said controlling the mil rate would be a good start for his community, Washburn.
“An aging population also decreases our source funds, which affects our mil rate,” said Brown, noting he’d like to see communities “overcome barriers,” joining forces to work together effectively, rather than the “us vs. them” mentality.
Hallett said having a limited tax base has caused difficulties maintaining Westfield’s infrastructure.
“Expenses come in higher than the year before, but the tax base has decreased through drops in revenue sharing and an aging population,” she said.
Gardner was pleased with the meeting, noting it was a great opportunity to hear others’ views and ideas.
“I get to see the different perspectives of each town. Paving’s a good example — can’t do because we’re a small town. But at the end of the day, we still have to get the job done. It doesn’t matter how you get it done, citizens still expect the service,” said Gardner.
Sutherland said communication was critical.
“I think we need to focus on building trust between communities. But before that, we need community members to buy into the idea. We need to develop talking points to share so we can all sing out of the same hymn book. Otherwise, we’ll be scattered. Regionally’s the only way to go in a lot of services; we just don’t have enough people any more in any of our communities” to go it alone, said Sutherland. “We need to be realistic.”
Bennett said he’s no stranger to collective community thinking, having experienced such while working in Lewiston.
“Lewiston/Auburn has an interesting relationship. They never lost their competitive high school edge. They’re proof you can do great things together and still be fierce competitors on the playing field,” said Bennett.
Bennett said plans for the future include narrowing ideas for now to a couple “doable” options, such as bulk purchases (gas, heating fuel and office products) or sharing the bid process for equipment should another community need a similar item (such as a police cruiser). Buck expressed interest in continuing the dialogue on a regular basis. To that end, city and town managers have agreed to meet once a month, starting next Tuesday, to continue discussion on ways area towns and cities can work together to benefit all involved.
For more information, contact Presque Isle City Hall, 760-2785.
