Two public meetings on Unorganized Territory scheduled

MILLINOCKET – The first of two public meetings seeking comment on the delivery of services to the state’s Unorganized Territory will be held Thursday.

The Commission to Study the Cost of Providing Certain Services in the Unorganized Territory, a panel authorized by the Legislature, will meet at 6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 26, at Stearns High School.

A second public meeting yet to be scheduled will be held in Piscataquis County.

“This is not a pro or con meeting on Plum Creek, Burnt Jacket Mountain or any other proposed development,” state Rep. Robert Duplessia, D-Westbrook, said Tuesday. He sponsored the bill that created the panel.

The characteristics of land ownership and patterns of development in Maine’s Unorganized Territory are changing at a rapid rate, and the development pressures associated with those changes are increasing as well.

The commission has been charged to study the cost and reimbursement of services to the Unorganized Territory, including fire preparedness and protection by the Maine Forest Service, land use planning services, education, and other services. Duplessia said the panel so far has found no uniformity in those services and no set policy.

The 17-member commission will recommend to the Legislature if adjustments should be made in the level or method of funding those services.

The study is taking a bit longer than initially expected, according to Duplessia. “It’s a lot more than what we thought initially because of the vastness of the Unorganized Territory and its impact on 12 counties in the state,” he said. Any recommendations will likely be presented to the Legislature next January.