MAINE TOWN & CITY MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION

BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

MAY 20, 2004

HILTON GARDEN INN, AUBURN

Present: Laurie Smith; Ruth Marden, Nathan Poore, Stu Marckoon, Mark Green, Dana Lee, Judy Doore, Nat Tupper, Joan Kiszely, Nancy Sargent

1. Call to Order: President, Laurie Smith, called the meeting to order at 1:05 p.m.

2. Approval of March 12, 2004 Minutes: Ruth Marden made a motion to accept the minutes from the March 12, 2004 Executive Board Meeting. Judy Doore seconded the motion. All approved.

3. Financial Report: Nathan Poore reported on the financials for the period ending April 30, 2004. Stu Marckoon made a motion to accept the financial report for the period ending April 30, 2004. Mark Green seconded the motion. All Approved.

4. Committee Reports:

a. Professional Development Committee: Ruth Marden reported that it has been a very busy training year. Ruth reviewed the trainings that occurred in the 2003-2004 training year, starting with Town Manager as Employee in December, Interchange in March with the Maine Fire Chief’s Association. The overall consensus on the Interchange was that the representatives from MTCMA and MFCA would have liked more networking opportunities. MTCMA is co-sponsoring the Tech Conference to be held on June 10, 2004 at the Augusta Civic Center.

Judy Doore noted that MMA has not confirmed many programs for the MMA Convention. MTCMA does want to have a municipal officials workshop and she will work with MMA on making that happen. They will have the newly elected officials tour the MMA building. Joan Kiszely noted that the brochure for the Elected Officials Workshop has been out for a few months and will be re-sent about a month prior to the workshop.

Dick Davis reported on the status of the planning for Institute. He noted that the program will consist of Mike Coleman from California who will speak about Proposition 13 and the impact it had on California. Mike Coleman is associated with the California League of Cities. Mike’s program will center on what was going on in California that led to Proposition 13, and what its effects have been on California. There will be a comprehensive discussion on this matter as well as a panel discussion, with Mr. Coleman taking the lead. The Thursday program will consist of round tables, four dealing with putting together a budget if the Palesky proposal passes and four discussing how to deal with the fallout if Palesky passes. Dick noted that they are trying to confirm Jeff Nevins, Geoff Herman and Steve Gove as facilitators for the round tables. Dana Lee’s movie, “Throg” will be the entertainment for Thursday night. Dick reported that the sponsorships are coming in very well.

b. Communications/Website: Laurie reported that this issue seems to be dragging on with no resolution in the near future. Laurie gave a brief history of her discussions with Jeff Nevins and what MMA would do to facilitate the needs of the MTCMA. Stu Marckoon reported that he spoke with Jeff Nevins. Stu further reported that MTCMA now has it own domain name – www.mtcma.org. The website no longer has to be accessed through the MMA site. Mark Green was going to speak with Skip Day regarding managing the content of the website. Mark feels that Skip may have some interest, but he’s worried about his skill set regarding computers. Nat Tupper suggested that Paul Bird may be someone to contact regarding management of the website. The Board feels that it’s biggest priority for the MTCMA website is posting the compilations of the information gathered from the listserv on the website. Stu will advise Jeff Nevins of the status of the MTCMA site at a meeting after the June 8 th election.

c. Nominating: Dana Lee reported that Steve Dyer is interested in replacing the vacancy created by Rosemary Kulow. Dana Lee made a motion to have Steve Dyer fill the vacancy on the Executive Board created by Rosie Kulow. Nat Tupper seconded the motion. All approved. Laurie Smith will be speaking with Steve Buck, as he has not participated on the Board all year. Dana noted that there are two individuals interested in serving on the Board, but was not sure whether they were eligible. The consensus of the Board was that in trying to meet certain criteria of town/county representation on the board, the two individuals would not be considered at this time.

d. Membership Committee: Judith Doore reported that Penobscot County will have a lot of movement coming up and anticipate more activity in the near future. Judy raised the question of whether interim managers can be included in membership in the MTCMA. The Board needs to address what to offer interim managers. Discussion took place on what may be appropriate to do for interim managers. The Board decided that all new membership applications need to be given to the Membership Chair so they check-off and be sure the applicant meets the criteria. After approval is issued by the Membership Chair, there will be a notice placed on listserv that new membership applications are posted on the website with a note that if there are any questions or concerns, e-mail the chair and provide the chairperson’s e-mail link.

e. Ethics Committee: Doug Harris reported that he queried other affiliate groups on what their Code of Ethics were and received very little response. He did not follow-up with calls. He discussed with the Board the possibility of suggesting to all groups that they talk about developing a Code of Ethics. Doug senses that there could possibly be a little bit of resentment on the part of other groups that managers may be scrutinizing their particular associations. Doug suggested possibly having Joan Kiszely contact the groups to try and arrange a meeting at convention.

f. Range Rider Committee: Mark Green reported that Skip Day, Terry St.Peter, and Phil McCarthy met at the Interchange and discussed coming up with a new system for the Range Rider. Phil is willing to do this. Mark would like a table set up at Institute for the Committee to meeting. They spoke about waiving some registration fees to Manager sponsored workshops/trainings and possibly offering a Lifetime membership. Mark noted that there are three Range Rider in which fees would be waived if the Board chose to go that route. Nat Tupper suggested asking the Range Rider group if they are coming to the Institute, would they like to do a program possibly on retirement benefits, etc. It would also be a good way for new managers to identify with who the Range Riders are and open the possibly of future contact for assistance. Mark will contact the Range Riders and advise them that they will have a complimentary Lifetime Membership, will be added to the listserv, and MTCMA will cover their registration fee only for Institute and Interchange (not the room and board). Mark Green made a motion to allow Range Riders to have a complimentary Lifetime Membership, have their e-mail addresses added to the listserv, and be given a complimentary registration fee only for Institute and Interchange (not the room and board). Dana Lee seconded the motion. All Approved.

g. Awards: Laurie Smith reported that Steve Dyer will be the Awards Chair. Laurie has also asked Bob Farrar and Larry Post to assist with the Awards Committee.

5. Other Business: No further business was discussed.

6. Adjournment: Nat Tupper made a motion to adjourn. Judy Doore seconded the motion. All approved.

The meeting adjourned at 1:20 p.m.