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The Charter Issue
By Kay Ogrodnik
|
Table of Contents for this page
Reprinted with permission from the Times Record. |
Other Pages in Issues Section
Charter Commission
Conservation
Curtis Library
Global Warming
Ordinance links
Property Tax
Schools
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Other pages in Charter Section
Amy Haible
Kay Ogrodnik
Gordon Weil |
| Many reasons to support a charter
commission in Harpswell |
|
letters@TimesRecord.Com |
| 02/18/2005 |
By Kay Ogrodnik, Times Record Contributor
Harpswell will vote at town meeting March 12 on a charter commission,
which I support. I am writing to correct Selectman Weil's Jan. 21
commentary, point by point.
1. If it isn't broken, don't fix it. Very few people in
Harpswell besides the selectmen think it ain't broke. The selectmen
use their position to denounce individual citizens at selectmen's
meetings, and to block citizen participation in town government by
denying a position on town committees to anyone who takes a different
political position from theirs. For example, Selectman Weil has
publicly and repeatedly said that he will block anyone who disagrees
with him on the number of polling places that should be in town from
serving on any committee.
2. Shouldn't we look at restructuring town government even if we
end up doing nothing? The voters will elect two-thirds of the
members of the charter commission. One-third will be appointed by the
selectmen. They will not be paid, so there will be very little
expense. They will study all aspects of town government and hold
frequent hearings. Weil suggests we have a selectmen- appointed
governance committee instead. How can we find out if our government
can be improved if we don't have a committee independent of the
selectmen?
3. Most towns larger than Harpswell have charters. Why not
Harpswell? Most towns the same size as Harpswell have charters also.
Weil tells what other towns with charters have done. Harpswell's
commission will look at our town and our government. If anyone thinks
that Harpswell will do something even remotely like what some other
town does, well, then he doesn't know Harpswell.
4. Harpswell does not want to drop the town meeting and has
rejected a town manager form of government. Why would it want to
be the only municipality in Maine to keep the town meeting, have no
manager-type administrator but have a charter? Harpswell should have a
charter commission. This independent commission will be a study
committee to research ways in which our town government can be
improved. A commission might suggest areas that we could improve, and
the voters get the final word. I have not met one person who supports
a charter commission who wants to drop our town meeting/selectmen form
of government.
5. So is this really a rerun of the LNG controversy? Although
Weil mentions LNG nine times, I shall not mention it, for it has
nothing to do with the charter commission proposal, and supporters of
the charter commission come from both sides of last year's debate. We
respect one another, work well together and there is not a sore loser
among us. The charter issue was narrowly defeated in an advisory
referendum in 2003. Many voters want to look at the question again. An
independent committee studying town government consulting with the
voters at frequent hearings will give us not stress, but hope that
needed improvements in town government can be made.
6. Isn't it time for Harpswell to have home rule? A charter
commission is the best way for the voters to become informed on home
rule issues.
7. Doesn't home rule through a charter mean the Legislature can't
touch Harpswell? A charter does secure home rule for a town. But
there are some areas that are reserved for the state Legislature.
8. How does a charter compare with other ways of changing town
government? If Harpswell decides to have a charter commission, it
will not be separate from town government. It will be town government.
A charter commission is not a nongovernmental organization. Its
democratically elected members function as a part of local government.
Through thorough research and many hearings for public input, the
committee may propose a charter. The voters will decide on the final
document.
The alternative is to continue to stumble along willy-nilly with a
hodgepodge of directives from the state (many of which apply only to
towns without a charter), a patchwork of ordinances to fix up the old
town and policies which constantly change as the selectmen see fit. If
the commission recommends a charter, it will include fair and
democratic ways of amending it should that be necessary, such as a
majority vote at town meeting.
9. Couldn't a charter be a useful guide to town government for
newcomers to Harpswell? Yes. And it could be a useful guide to
old-timers as well. A charter will be to the town what the
Constitution is to the country, a concise document that spells out the
principles by which we propose to govern ourselves.
10. Besides, Harpswell already has a charter. It's just not
written. Weil looks longingly back at the days of British
colonization of Harpswell and the unwritten constitution of the United
Kingdom. At the Oct. 7 selectmen's meeting he reported that he had
told some British visitors, "We are still doing what the king told us
to do." (That would be George III who was the subject of colonial ire
and who was the despot thrown off by our founding fathers in the
Declaration of Independence.)
Let's have a charter commission to map out for Harpswell's government
the road to the 21st century and the United States of America.
Kay Ogrodnik lives in Harpswell. |
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