By Ashley St. Michel
Staff Writer
    The newly formed 2007 Kennebunk Charter Commission met Nov. 6 at Kennebunk Town Hall to discuss potential changes to the town charter. The commission concentrated on section 1.02, titled Form of Government, which delegates whether the town uses a board of selectmen or town council form of government and if budgetary issues are voted by residents at town meetings or by referendum.
    The commission spent most of the two hour meeting debating a potential switch from a selectmen board to a council form of government, which would include dividing the town into wards and voting in representatives to each ward. Currently, the town uses a selectmen form of government where five people represent the town and make decisions based on how they feel as a board is good for the town. Currently, Kennebunk and Kennebunkport hold separate annual town meetings to vote on budgetary issues, which both towns must pass.
    Commission member Melvin Uchenick said he thought the town should stay with the current government.
    “I think we ought to retain the selectmen,” he said, “If we studied other towns that do have a council form of government, I think many of those councils also have control over the school budget.”
    The topic was the cause of much debate, as under the current selectman government the school budget is approved by voters
    Vice Chairman Edward Geoghan said he feels the selectmen have been using powers which are beyond what they are allowed and added there were members increasing wages for municipal officers, although their powers don’t cover wage increases or decreases.
    Geoghan said a council form of government would influence Kennebunk in a negative way because it would lead to a bigger, more expensive government. He said a council form would mean the representatives would have full control over the budget.
    “All of a sudden you are going to have a council that’s saying, ‘well we are the town council and it’s done if we say it’s done,”  Geoghan said.
    But commission member Dan McGarry said the town can’t predict the future.
    “We may all have something in our minds about how a council is and how it will influence our town but until we actually do it, it has no meaning,” he said.
    Chairman John Costin said he didn’t have an opinion on the issue either way. He said the number one issue with the form of government is the budget.
    “Everything we are hearing here, from the different parties involved in this commission are responding to the fact that we don’t have a good effective democratic process,” he said. “There are a lot of ideas about how to achieve that.”
    Costin said ultimately he would like to see a town meeting style of government come back to Kennebunk. He said more than one meeting a year could result in the residents making better, more informed decisions at voting time. Although Kennebunk holds an annual town meeting, he said he would like to see the town host more and see more residents coming to the meetings to talk with their representatives about issues.
    Uchenick said the reason why people come to town meetings is not to stay informed about all the happenings in the town, but rather talk about a certain subject on the agenda. He added the timing of a town meeting is also another reason why people don’t participate as much as they used to.
    McGarry agreed with Uchenick, stating after a while, even if people started coming to the meetings more at first, they would eventually stop coming. McGarry attributed the lack of residents at town meetings to the subject matter and whether it is a concerning issue for the town.
    Ralph Austin, who was a member of the 1984 charter commission and the 2003 chairman of the charter commission, said maybe the town needs to look at larger cities for advice about getting more residents involved in voting on issues.
    “You look at Portland, when there is an important issue the public comes out and they vote on that,” he said. "They voice their opinions.”
    Commission member Al Searles said not all the blame can be put on the board of selectmen, but rather how residents become informed.
    “We as a town have failed in other areas to inform the public on issues in our government,” he said. “It’s a lack of effort on part of the town to inform the public about issues."
    Uchenick said one way to start informing the public could be to host a town meeting immediately before a vote where the residents can come and ask questions about what will be voted upon. McGarry brought up the possibility of broadcasting what the town would be voting on and what the question’s mean the entire week before the polls open. He said at least this way, if the commision decides to keep a referendum budget voting process, people can start making well-informed decisions because of their own government keeping them up to date.
    The commission took a tentative vote at the meeting, with six members in favor of the selectmen form of government with a referendum budget voting process, one opposed, with Costin stating he still was unsure of how he felt about the decision.
    “I think it’s a good thing to have more people participating,” he said. “I am just not convinced that that by itself is a good thing.”
    The meeting was the first in a series to determine the changes to be made. The charter commission meets every first and third Thursday of the month at 7 p.m. at the Kennebunk Town Hall.
    
To contact Ashley St. Michel, call 282-4337 ext. 228 or email news@kennebunkpost.com.