Lewiston Auburn Charter Commission
December 13, 2016
Minutes
Attending
Commissioners: Gene Geiger, Holly Lasagna, Chantel Pettengill, and Chip Morrison
Guests: Luke Jensen, ZamZam Mohamed, and Dwight Payne.
Call To Order
Commissioner Geiger called the meeting to order at 6:08 PM at Auburn City Hall.
Approval of Minutes
Moved by Lasagna, seconded by Pettengill to approve the minutes of November 7, 2016. UNANIMOUS.
Public Comment
There were none.
Consolidation Agreement
Legal Documents Review
Gene announced that commissioners had received a red-lined version of the charter prepared by Attorney Pierson. He noted that Lucien had already marked up the draft with comments. He asked that all commissioners do likewise and that they get those comments to Chip before year’s end, who will aggregate them for discussion at a special meeting with Attorney Pierson.
Holly asked that we have ways that interested citizens can have ways to submit feedback. Gene noted that he will work on ways they can do that utilizing a posting of the charter on the website. Commissioners agreed that there need to be multiple ways to encourage interaction with interested citizens.
Gene noted several areas that he would like to be reviewed at the meeting with Attorney Pierson. These included a review of implementation dates in the charter and transition plan so that they are consistent with the timing approved by the Commission at the last meeting; thinking through the consistency of the term of the council president; making sure that gender references are gender neutral; talking through the section on the city manager removal to make sure it makes sense; noting whether the emergency reserve requirement applies to the school appropriation; checking the terms of the members of the Finance and Audit Committee to make sure they are consistent; going over the complex recall section to make sure it is understandable; and the utilization of the final report of the Transition Task Force.
Commissioners agreed to meet on January 5 to discuss all the issues related to charter language with Attorney Pierson. He asked Chip to aggregate the list of questions and changes – and that list will become the working agenda for the meeting.
Other Transition Issues
Chip presented his written report (attached) summarizing his meeting with the Maine State Retirement System.
City Name
Gene reported that the meeting with the Association for Consulting Expertise was postponed because of Monday’s snow and will be rescheduled after the first of the year.
Study
Second Draft
CGR is working on it and will have it to us by year’s end.
Education Issues
Gene has been talking to both school departments and the state Department of Education about potential saving opportunities relating to student transportation and special education. This will be built into the study material being finalized.
Jim Reir, former Commissioner of Education, has been a great resource on state funding details.
Chantel noted that all issues related to special education are very complex and any recommended changes will meet with resistance.
2017 Activities
January 25 Event
Chip confirmed the Franco Center will be the event venue. Tentatively we are scheduled to use the community room downstairs, depending on attendance. The event will be organized as follows:
1. Stefko will present the Options Report
2. Gene will present the charter, transition plan, and Charter Commission recommendations and rationale.
3. Gene will lead discussion/question-answer session, and we will record questions and feedback.
4. Chip will check with Great Falls TV to see if they can record the event – and make it available for online streaming.
5. There will be an informal reception after the meeting at which the public can talk to CGR representatives and Charter Commissioners.
Upcoming Meetings
January 5 Charter review with attorney David Pierson
January 17 Regular meeting
January 25 Public Forum at Franco Center
February 1 5 Regular meeting
February 28 Regular meeting
March 15 Regular meeting
March 28 Regular meeting
April 11 Regular meeting
April 27 Regular meeting
Chip will work with the cities to get places for each of the meetings.
Community Dialogue
Gene reported that he and Holly had attended a meeting at Seniors Plus with approximately 20 people in attendance. There was one person who were very concerned about how a change in the name of the city will impact her legal documents.
Gene also reported that he had given a progress report at the December Chamber Breakfast and that seemed positively received. He noted that the loudest applause he received was when he talked about the opportunity consolidation presents to improve local education. Chip noted that the lone comment at the end of the presentation was from Carl Sheline of Center Street Dental who was very complimentary of the Commission’s work.
Offers of Support
Gene reported that he was approached at the conclusion of the talk by a new Chamber member, Don’t Panic Consulting, offering to help with marketing efforts.
Chip noted that he had also been approached by two people offering financial support.
Public Comment/Input
Luke Jensen offered a number of comments. He said that the Commission website is phenomenal. He would like to see the new city named “Kennedy.” After he sees the study and revised charter, he will give additional feedback this spring. He noted that together the cities will have a better chance of getting what we need from the State. Reflecting on the referendum we will be facing to approve the new charter, he observed we will need to create an urgency to move people to act.
Zamzam Mohamed thanked commissioners for their hard work.
Dwight Payne observed that it is easy to maintain the status quo. In order to get voters to approve something different you need to get people to focus on the possibilities for the future. The two cities have led a separate existence for over 150 years and the challenge will be to get voters to see a brighter future in a consolidated city. It was suggested that we try to get voters to focus not just on themselves but also their children and their children’s children.
Adjourn
There being no further business, the Commission voted unanimously to adjourn at 7:33 PM.
November 30, 2016
To: Charter Commission Colleagues
Fr: Chip
RE: Pension Plan Transitions
At our October 11th meeting I was tasked with meeting with MEPERS to talk about transitioning existing pension plans to the new consolidated municipal organization.
Toward that end, I met with Stephanie Fecteau, PLD Plan Administrator in her Augusta office for approximately one hour on November 1st. Stephanie said that there is no specific law governing what happens when two municipalities consolidate, but they had some experience with the consolidation of school districts. She was very helpful pointing out what she believed would happen drawn principally from their enabling statute (a copy of which I have attached.) I have also attached the summary of the plans currently utilized by Auburn and Lewiston.
Much of this is the same as what Lucien reported from his conversation with Dick Metivier, who is a member of the MEPERS Board.
Important points are:
1. There can be no MEPERS for the new consolidated community until the actual implementation date when the new municipality legally exists.
2. Auburn and Lewiston have the same retirement plans for their current general employees.
3. Auburn and Lewiston public safety employees have different retirement plans.
4. Neither community participates in the optional life insurance program.
5. Current Lewiston employees can voluntarily participate in the MEPERS deferred compensation program. Both Lewiston and Auburn employees can voluntarily participate in the ICMA-RC deferred compensation program.
6. Both cities have section 218 social security coverage for their general government employees but not their public safety employees. Adopting social security coverage for new public safety employees will be complicated.
7. Current employees can be grandfathered into the retirement plans in which they now participate. Employees of the new municipality can be in a different plan.
Summary
It appears that employees can continue in their current pension plans. Pension plans are a mandatory subject of collective bargaining so pensions will be discussed when new contracts are bargained. Note that current labor contracts remain in force until successor contracts are bargained (see my note report dated November 7.)
Document: / Charter Commission Minutes 12.13.2016 / Meeting Date: / 12.13.2016Draft or Final: / Final / Issue Date: / 12.15.2016
File Name: / Minutes December 13, 2016 / Voted Approved: / 1.17.2017
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