Council debates oversight for new department

HOULTON – The Town Council on Monday formally approved the establishment of a new Economic Development Department for the town, but not before the issue of staff oversight of that department was debated.

The council last month decided to create the new department because it was felt that the current Community Development Department, which is primarily responsible for economic issues within the town, was overburdened with the task of also having to market the town in outside areas.

In creating the new department, the council also decided to have its director report directly to the seven-member council, rather than to the town manager, as is the case with the town’s other department heads.

It was that point that prompted most of the discussion Monday night.

“The person who gets the job, I hope they’ll be able to tap dance with seven people as their boss,” said Councilor Dorothy Donahue, who expressed concern that having the entire council as a boss would be a taxing situation for whomever gets the job.

Councilor Michael Carpenter also questioned the wisdom of the plan and said that any person who gets the director’s job will find himself pushed and pulled in different directions by the wishes and desires of individual councilors.

“Like it or not, we are seven politicians sitting at this table and we all have our own agendas,” he said. “There are widely differing views on how an economic development department should proceed.

“I think once the person gets on board, we’re going to drive him schizophrenic,” he said.

Council Chairman Paul Romanelli defended the plan, however, saying, “We never had any accountability … with the current structure. We didn’t seem to have that line of communication open the way we wanted it opened.”

Noting that the plan was first developed by the council in its capacity as the Shiretown Development Corp., he added, “We have all these ideas, but we don’t have a staff to carry them out.”

Calling the staffing arrangement, a “dangerous precedent,” Carpenter offered a motion to table the order to create the department. He said he would bring a new order back to the council that would have oversight of the department handled by the town manager, a process that he said was consistent with other municipal departments.

The motion died after Romanelli decided not to cast a vote to break a 3-3 tie.

The town’s charter allows that the council chairman can vote to break a tie, but is restricted to voting only in the affirmative. Taking no action allows a motion to die for lack of the required four votes needed to pass.

The order to approve the formation of the new department was subsequently approved on a 4-2 vote, after Donahue reluctantly cast a vote in its favor.

“Do we have enough energy to be on top of it all the time?” she asked before casting her vote. “I don’t know if each one of us is going to come in and check on this one person. I’ve got as much on my plate as I personally want.”

Town Manager Allan Bean pointed out that although the town has begun advertising for the director’s position, “none of the staffing will occur until you put money into it,” a process that will be decided during preparation of the 2001 municipal budget that begins this week.

“That’s when you get to decide what you want,” he said.

The job summary for the post states that the person hired “shall be responsible for attracting new economic ventures, helping start up local ventures, retaining existing economic ventures, and helping all economic ventures grow in the town of Houlton.”

It further states that the director “shall coordinate economic development activities and projects with town departments and with regional, state, federal and international marketing and development organizations.”