Boothbay, Boothbay Harbor moving forward with charter ‘repeal and replace’

BILL PEARSON
Thu, 08/11/2022 - 8:30am
Selectman Steve Lewis, left, supports Boothbay and Boothbay Harbor select boards’ efforts to modernize the school charter’s language. BILL PEARSON/Boothbay Register

    The Boothbay and Boothbay Harbor select boards agreed to proceed toward repeal and replacement of the school charter over a two-year span. On Aug. 9, Boothbay selectmen hosted their Boothbay Harbor counterparts to discuss plans for modernizing the charter. Both towns agreed the best plan was submitting several “minor” changes already agreed upon to the Maine Legislature. Among minor changes slated for legislative approval in 2023 are replacing a town meeting-style budget meeting with a referendum vote and requiring monthly municipal school payments instead of annual ones. 

    The two boards agreed to submit minor changes for legislative approval in January 2023 and request more changes for consideration in January 2024. A two-pronged approach is preferred because the boards don’t think a complete “repeal and replace” can be accomplished this year. Steve Lewis of Boothbay echoed other selectmen’s sentiments on whether a total rewrite could meet legislative deadlines.  “We’ve said all along this document needs replacing. The only question now is time. We should move forward, and get done what we can now, and do the whole thing in the following year,” he said.

    Lewis was joined by fellow Boothbay Selectman Russell Pinkham and all five Boothbay Harbor selectmen. Both boards reached a consensus in supporting “repeal and replace” instead of a total rewrite. Boothbay Harbor Selectman Alyssa Allen believed a rewrite would take too long. “I’m not familiar with this so I’m educating myself as I go, but I am nervous about rushing out something entirely new,” she said. “I think this affords us more flexibility moving ahead,” she said.
     
    The two boards are working with two lawyers in reworking the school charter enacted in 1956 to govern the newly formed community school district. Boothbay has Jensen, Baird, Gardner and Henry lawyer Sally Daggett as legal representation. The CSD has Drummond Woodsum attorney E. William Stockmeyer as counsel. Daggett and Stockmeyer are working in tandem making charter changes and updating language. Once Daggett and Stockmeyer finish, the document will be reviewed by a Bernstein Shur attorney representing Boothbay Harbor.
     

    The two towns hope to vote on proposed “minor changes” by mid-October. Once both boards approve the changes, they will ask State Rep. Holly Stover (D-Boothbay) to sponsor a bill seeking the charter change. This is the same process used by the towns in 2019 when the charter was last changed. In 2020, the charter change required future bond issues of $250,000 or greater receive approval through a public referendum, added a competitive bidding requirement for $20,000 district procurements or greater and removed caps on capital reserve fund contributions.

    One change which won’t likely happen in either January 2023 or 2024 is combining the CSD’s superintending committee and board of trustees. Boothbay Harbor Board of Trustees member Steve Lorrain reported the CSD’s two governing boards could be combined into one 12-person committee. But the two towns’ select boards are against combining the two school governing boards. “We are not rushing into that,” Boothbay Harbor Selectman Denise Griffin said. 

    Once the lawyers finish their work, the two boards plan on reconvening in late September for a review. Town officials hope to vote on a finalized version in mid-October. 

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