Attendance: Laurie Smith; Ruth Marden; Stu Marckoon; Dana Lee; Nathan Poore; Richard Davis; Judy Doore; Joan Kiszely; Nancy Sargent; Jeff Nevins (guest); Chris Lockwood (guest)
1. Call to Order: Laurie Smith called the meeting to order at 9:05 a.m.
2. Approval of Minutes: The Executive Board reviewed the minutes from the December 5, 2003 meeting. Ruth Marden made a motion to approve the minutes from the December 5, 2003 meeting. Stu Marckoon seconded the motion. All approved.
3. Financial Report: Nathan Poore reported on the Financial Report for the period ending December 31, 2003 and noted that the net income for 2003 was $7,317.00. Stu Marckoon made a motion to accept the Financial Report for the year ending December 31, 2003. Richard Davis seconded the motion. All approved.
Nathan then reported on the Financial Report for the period ending February 29, 2004. Stu Marckoon made a motion to accept the Financial Report for the period ending February 29, 2004. Richard Davis seconded the motion. All approved.
Laurie Smith reported that the Association had an independent audit done. Laurie was please with the response from all MMA staff involved, including Marty Hanish from Finance. Marty advised Laurie that the cost for this year’s audit would be $500.00. Jeff Nevins reported that because of the low response from the Affiliate Groups, they are going to look for a smaller firm who may want to take this on. Laurie asked the Board how they felt about the frequency of the audit. It was the consensus of the Board that it would be beneficial to have an audit done every other year. Therefore, there will be no audit done in 2004.
4. Auditors Letter: The Board reviewed the Auditor’s Letter dated September 16, 2003. Dana Lee made a motion to accept audit report dated September 16, 2003, (for financials of 2002). Ruth Marden seconded the motion. All approved.
5. Critique of Interchange: Laurie asked the Board how they felt the Interchange was received. It seemed that the program was not too well received, but the networking opportunity was good. There were some reported that people wanted more interaction between the Fire Chief’s and the Managers. The board discussed the possibility of having groups broken down for a session, and then have the groups come back together in the afternoon.
6. Committee Reports:
a. Professional Development: Ruth Marden reported that MTCMA’s name is on the flyer with the MGFOA for a conference on performance measures, which is coming up on March 31 st. MGFOA is using the name to be able to have the association with the managers and have it mailed to the MTCMA membership. MTCMA will also be co-hosting a meeting with the police chiefs.
Institute: Ruth Marden reported that MTCMA has been a little slow on getting sponsors. Ruth spoke with Sewell and they agreed to be a sponsor. Bernstein Shur also agreed to sponsor, and People’s has given a verbal commitment. Mike Huston has not followed through with obtaining the sponsors. Laurie asked the Board how they felt about having information from the sponsors to distribute to the attendees. There was an overall positive response to this idea. Ruth noted that they are in the process of lining up speakers for Institute and Chris Lockwood has assisted them with some names. However, until it is known if the Palesky proposal is on the June or November ballot, it may have to wait. Dick Davis reported that the Institute will be dedicated to tax reform. Dick noted that James Collins has asked to be a member of the Professional Development Committee and he has accepted his request as long as there is no objection from the Board, which there was not. Richard Davis reported they would probably wait until mid-April to complete the Institute Program. If the Palesky bill is on the June Ballot the Institute program will be adjusted. Chris Lockwood noted that his contact gave him the name of a researcher at the Public Policy Institute. Chris does not think his contact could do it personally, but he could give names of people who would be able to speak on that matter. Chris felt an invite could be tendered in such a way that if there was a change in programming and the services were not needed, it could be changed. Laurie asked that the speakers be dynamic and keep in mind that it may be a nice day and keep the “bad news” to a minimum. Chris did not recommend Orlando Delogue.
Nathan suggested a George Woodbury. He noted that he met with George Woodbury and Geoff Herman on a lighting analysis which would allow communities to own, manage and maintain their own street lighting structure. They want to propose legislation to allow this to happen. Nathan feels Mr. Woodbury would be a good speaker.
b. Communications/Website: Stu Marckoon had nothing further to report.
c. Nominating: Dana Lee had nothing to report..
d. Membership Committee: Judy Doore reported that it would be a good idea to send out a welcome to a new member over the Manager’s Listserv. The message should come from the Membership Chair. Judy will also look into doing a membership brochure like the one Laurie showed that was done by the Maine Recreation & Park Association.
e. Ethics Committee: Doug Harris was not present. No report.
f. Range Rider Committee: Mark Green not present. Laurie reported that Mark met with Phil McCarthy and Skip Day at the Interchange and is awaiting Mark’s report on this meeting. It was noted that John Bibber was inquiring what was happening with the Range Rider Committee. Laurie will ask Mark to get in touch with him.
g. Awards: No report.
7. Website Update: Laurie Smith reported that at the December MTCMA Board Meeting, the Board spoke about where MTCMA stood on the website issue. Laurie gave a brief history as to how the Board came to a decision on inquiring from MMA if they were willing and able to serve MTCMA’s website as the association would like. Laurie noted that Jeff Nevins sent a draft letter, which was distributed to the Board. Laurie noted that if MTCMA wants the information they desire on the website, that MTCMA will have to take on a good portion of the informational part. Laurie suggested offering a stipend to a retired manager who would develop the informational part and work in conjunction with MMA to get the information posted, at a cost. Jeff Nevins noted that if MTCMA wants significant changes, someone will need to be there, at least at the inception, to get the content up and running. MMA can take care of the design portion of the site, but needs assistance on the content. MMA could take on the maintenance once it is set-up as MTCMA wants. MMA is going to start a working group in order to look at the structure of MMA’s website. Jeff asked that someone from MTCMA take place in that working group in order to have some input in what the MMA site will ultimately look like. This groups will also take a look at how to make the site user friendly. MMA thought it would be good for MTCMA to have it’s own domain name with MMA’s site providing a significant link to that site. Once the information is gathered/obtained the retired manager in charge of this duty, that information would be forwarded to either Jeff Nevins or Christina St. Pierre and the information will be posted to the site. The cost of this service is hard to judge at this point in time. Needs have to be assessed as to how much time will be required to provide the service for the site and then decide on costs at that time when time is more ascertainable. Jeff would like a volunteer from MTCMA to serve on the MMA committee to review the MMA site. Laurie noted that one way to initiate the MTCMA website change would be to develop a focus group within MTCMA to help develop the website format. Laurie mentioned retired managers or the Range Riders as a way for them to stay in touch with what his happening with the managers and a way to get their names known. Laurie noted that it may be a good idea to offer the retired managers/Range Riders free overnights at conference in order for other managers to get familiar with them and the services they could provide a manager in need. Nathan Poore noted that this idea should be given time at the retreat so that it gets done rather than have it assigned to a committee. Nathan agreed to assist the Website Committee with this matter. Laurie will speak with Mark Green and the Range Rider committee about what they can contribute. Laurie would like to unveil the new site at the Institute. Stu Marckoon will set up a meeting with his committee and Jeff Nevins to get moving on the site. The Board would also like MMA to move forward with registering the domain name. Stu Marckoon will represent MTCMA on the committee to review the MMA site. MMA will provide a project manager who will keep MTCMA informed on how the site is working and how the information posting is going.
8. MMA Contract: Laurie Smith briefly reviewed the MMA Purchase of Service Agreement for 2004. The Board felt that after dealing with the website issue, the agreement could be signed. Stu Marckoon made a motion to approve and sign the 2004 MMA Purchase of Service Agreement. Judy Doore seconded the motion. All approved.
9. Tax Reform Update: Laurie Smith reported on the different tax proposals that are currently on the table. Laurie noted that some managers feel that MTCMA should be more involved in this tax proposal situation. Jeff Nevins spoke about what is in place. It is know that the Palesky proposal is on the ballot, but just don’t know if it will be in June or November and won’t know until mid or late April. They feel the state will probably wait until that date or close thereto to unveil their plan. Discussion on the role of MTCMA with the tax proposals. Dana Lee reported there is a 12-person committee listening to the tax reform proposals. It is the hope of the MMA/MEA people that the group will come back vote that would allow MMA and MEA to go along with a type of combination of 1A and 1B. Something along this line could seriously hurt the Palesky plan. Extensive discussion took place of the different tax plans. Nathan Poore suggested that the MTCMA role should be educational by showing the public what their government will look like. Dana’s position is that managers should go on the attack. Laurie suggested work in cooperation and send over the listserv a request that members follow a formula and come up with a “best case scenario” if the Palesky plan were to be approved. Laurie Smith, Dana Lee, Jeff Nevins, Geoff Hermon and Nathan Poore will work together to draft the e-mail to be sent. This will be sent over the listserv as soon as possible.
10. Airport Managers: Laurie Smith reported that Peggy Daigle sent her a list of the airport managers and Peggy was wondering if it were possible for the airport managers to be a sub-group of the MTCMA. Laurie wanted to know how the Board felt about Peggy forming a group under the MTCMA. After some discussion on this matter, it was suggested that MTCMA help the airport managers start their own group, but not offer ongoing association with the MTCMA.
11. Retreat: Laurie smith reported that the retreat will be held May 27 th and 28 th at the Hilton Garden Inn in Auburn.
12. Adjournment: Stu Marckoon made a motion to adjourn. Judy Doore seconded the motion. All approved.
The meeting adjourned at 11:13 a.m.