Holden charter panel to meet Business surge prompts proposal for town government change

HOLDEN – The town’s recently formed charter commission needs residents’ help in its effort to address what local government here will look like in the coming years. The commission will conduct its first public hearing at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the town office to allow the public to share its views on the various forms of municipal government.

Like many of the smaller communities in Greater Bangor, Holden is a town in transition. Once chiefly residential in nature, recent years have brought growth in the town’s commercial base.

High-end furniture showrooms, mobile home dealerships and gasoline stations are some of the businesses that have sprung up lately on Route 1A, Holden’s main road. The community also recently completed its first business park.

With all the growth, selectmen decided it was time to consider making changes in the way town government conducts its business. The desire to revisit local government also was prompted, in part, by “voter apathy” as evidenced by low participation at selectmen’s meetings, town meetings and meetings of local committees and boards. Selectmen formed a committee to explore different forms of local government.

That committee later suggested forming a commission to develop a new town charter. The proposal went to voters last November, who approved the commission and elected six of its nine members. The other three commission members were appointed by selectmen.

According to Town Manager Larry Varisco, the commission is exploring three primary charter categories:

. Some municipalities in Maine have adopted pure town meeting charters, even though the charter vests no legislative authority with the board of selectmen or town council. Voters have to approve all expenditures at town meeting. The range of population in municipalities governed by this type of charter runs from about 1,000 to 8,000.

. The limited town meeting charter creates a representative form of local government. It is a council-manager-town meeting charter in which the council possesses some, but not all, of the legislative authority in the town. Generally, the council is authorized to make any municipal decision and take any municipal action by order, resolve or ordinance, except that the town meeting retains full authority to raise through taxation or borrowing all funds necessary to run the government. There are 13 charters in Maine of this type, covering towns with populations from 1,000 to 13,000.

. The essential characteristic of the council-manager charter is that all legislative authority is vested in the town or city council. In Maine, 33 of the 75 municipal charters are of this type, governing municipalities with population ranging from 1,700 to 65,000. Typically, charters of this kind include relatively detailed provisions describing the town or city manager’s responsibilities, express separation of powers language sharply limiting the council’s authority to interfere in the manager’s day-to-day administrative duties, as well as the budget adoption and bonding approval process to which the council must adhere.