Charter commission goes to work

By Stuart Hedstrom
Staff Writer

DOVER-FOXCROFT — At the June annual town meeting residents approved both the establishment of a citizen commission for the purpose of revising the municipal charter as well as electing candidates to fill six of the commission seats and serve, along with the appointed positions, through June 30, 2007.

The charter commission held its organizational meeting last month and on Aug. 10 — within the required 30-day timeframe — a public hearing took place during the commission’s monthly meeting as the group begins work on the document.

The last charter commission was established in 2006, which at the time revisited a charter from 1937. After a number of months a Dover-Foxcroft municipal charter – which is available at www.doverfoxcroft.org – was adopted in June 2007. Per the guidelines, the charter is to be reviewed every 10 years.

Resident Paul Matulis began the Aug. 10 hearing by congratulating the last charter commission. “I think they were presented with a lot of contradictory choices and they had a lot to figure out,” he said.

The municipal charter put in place a multiple-part town meeting process. Warrant articles are brought forward to a town meeting in late April – whether this will be the last Saturday or fourth Saturday of the month moving forward is an item being evaluated by the charter commission – for an affirmation of language in all warrant articles by a hand vote (or secret ballot if requested and then OKed). Affirmed articles are then printed onto a ballot to be decided via a referendum in the voting booth the second Tuesday of June – as well as by absentee ballot.

Matulis wondered if the two votes on the warrant were redundant, as the April meeting may have a low amount of public participation and if an item is voted down in June then town officials may only be able to speculate on the reasons why. “It was a compromise measure, I think you should look at it again,” he said.

“I for one would be sorry to see town meeting go,” Sue Mackey Andrews, who also served on the charter commission of a decade ago, said. “It’s always a nice time to see people and talk about community.”

Commission Chair Chris Maas said having a discussion on the issues in April, hearing from both those who agree and disagree, has the potential to make citizens better informed.

David Perkins, who also served on the 2006-07 commission, said the stipulation the charter be reviewed again in 10 years was included to evaluate topics such as the town meeting process.

Nancy Matulis wondered if the charter commission would be looking into the idea of a town council form of government.

Mackey Andrews said a town council, instead of a board of selectmen, was considered by the last charter commission. “We did look at a town council form of government, quite a bit,” she said. “We had multiple meetings at least where we talked that through.”

Another topic asked to be considered by the commission is what can be voted on at a special town meeting and items needing to be decided via referendum, with the two methods having different timeframes.

The charter commission opted to table discussion on town meeting, annual and special sessions, with these items to be looked at more during a future meeting.

The commission scheduled its next session of Wednesday, Sept. 14 as the municipal charter review continues. Revisions to the document will be brought forward to the public as residents would vote on an updated charter.