Summary of our meetings


Date: 11/29/05

Chebeague Island Community Association board meeting - Summary

Total attendance: 15.
Minutes approved 1/10/2006.
Assignments are in bold.

We focused in this meeting on the upcoming session with the Department of Education, in which all parties involved in Chebeague's self governance (the Town of Cumberland, Chebeague, SAD51, and North Yarmouth) are all invited to participate. The intent of this session is to insure that all parties have the same information regarding the financial impacts on education funding that would result from Chebeague's secession.

We also heard updates from recent strategy meetings, council meetings, and CICA committees.


Date: 11/1/05

Chebeague Island Community Association board meeting

Next meeting: 11/15/2005 (next Tuesday is the vote)
Board Members Present: Donna Colbeth, Mabel Doughty, Mark Dyer, Bob Earnest, Beverly Johnson, Herb Maine, Jeff Putnam, David Stevens; Total attendance: 20

Approved 11/15/2005

We reviewed the cloture vote from last Thursday; our bill made it into the legislative session by a 6 to 4 vote. We continued the planning of mailings, signs, and ads. We ended with a review of our strategic planning process.


Date: October 25, 2005

Chebeague Island Community Association board meeting

Next meeting:
Board Members Present: Donna Colbeth, Mabel Doughty, Mark Dyer, Bob Earnest, Beverly Johnson, Herb Maine, Jeff Putnam, Carol White, John Wilson; Total attendance: 13

Approved 11/15/2005.

The discussion tonight focused on preparations for the upcoming referendum. We wrestled with the question of "what level of support on 11/8 tells us to move ahead?" - knowing that the statute calls for a 50% approval, but also acknowledging the need for widespread community support on the Island. We also planned upcoming mailings, signs, and communications.


Date: 10/11/2005

Chebeague Island Community Association board meeting

Next meeting: 10/25/2005

Finances are on track at this time; we have sufficient funds to cover known expenditures. We'll continue to raise funds as the needs occur. PR offered an update on current activities and a discussion on approach with the press and postal patron mailings for the upcoming School Board and Town Council meetings. Education reported on the recent positive meeting with the Department of Education. We also finalized plans for the School Board and Town Council meetings, and began planning pre-vote activities.


Date: October 4, 2005

Chebeague Island Community Association board meeting

Good news was our first discussion topic; it looks like our initial estimate of the impact on Cumberland's millage, due to Chebeague's secession, was realistic. Initial estimate was .13 increase in millage rate; current estimate, after discussions between the Town and CICA, is between .10 and .20. The Town's review of our proposed budget also resulted in comments from the Town of "this item could be higher, and that item could be lower, but overall it looks good."

We also reviewed the state of the proposed legislation as we work to be included in 2006 session. We discussed the importance of continued conversations with all Chebeaguers, with a focus on the nature of 'government by town meeting' and on 'what will Chebeague look like' if secession passes. We worked on the calendar of upcoming events, including the second public hearing, upcoming School Board meeting on Chebeague, and on events leading up to the November 8 vote. We also discussed what we've learned to date about the upcoming reassessment.


September 27, 2005

Chebeague Island Community Association board meeting Summary

Next meeting: 10/4/2005
Board Members Present: Bev Johnson, Herb Maine, Mabel Doughty, Bob Earnest, Donna Colbeth, Jeff Putnam, John Wilson. Total attendance: 19

Assignments are in bold.
Minutes approved 10/4/2005

1. The first part of our meeting focused on discussions with Representative McKenney and others who will help us with the legislative process and submission; we walked through the submission process, where we are today, the draft that has been submitted, and steps required in the next few weeks. Committee reports were then offered (finance, government relations, PR, and local education. We then discussed preparations that are needed for the October hearing (2nd public hearing, to take place on Chebeague; date to be decided at the October 10 Town Council meeting).


September 20, 2005

Chebeague Island Community Association board meeting

Next meeting: 9/27/2005
Board Members Present: Bev Johnson, Herb Maine, Mabel Doughty, Bob Earnest, Donna Colbeth, Jeff Putnam, Mark Dyer, Ester Knight. Total attendance: 19

Committee reports included updates on documents from Department of Education, initial work on Public Safety planning, and legislative drafting and related steps taken. In old business we reviewed feedback regarding the first public hearing; virtually all of the feedback we've received has been positive, in terms of the approach (the "high road"), and our presentations, documentation, and video. We began the planning for the second public hearing, which will be held on Chebeague. We reviewed the ballot language given to us by the Town and voted to approve this language as is.


September 6, 2005

Chebeague Island Community Association board meeting SUMMARY

Next meeting: 9/13/2005 (mock hearing at Town Hall)
1. Board Members Present: Bev Johnson, Herb Maine, Mabel Doughty, Bob Earnest, Donna Colbeth, Jeff Putnam, John Wilson, Dave Stevens, Mark Dyer, Ester Knight, John Wilson. Total attendance: 25.

Committee reports were offered. Highlights: Fundraising is moving along nicely; we seem to have a good handle on raising the funds as they are needed (legal fees, publishing, etc). Current conversations with legislative representatives are going well. Recent interpretations of how secession interacts with withdrawal from the SAD indicate that "once we secede, we're out of the SAD" (more work to be done on this topic). The conversations with residents of the outer islands continue to show fairly widespread support for our work to date.

The meeting ended early in order to move on to our first Mock Hearing (in preparation for the upcoming Public Hearing at the Town Council).


August 30, 2005

Chebeague Island Community Association board meeting (summary)

Updates were offered regarding education plans, upcoming meetings with SAD51, tuitioning, and finance. Detailed discussion followed - regarding the possibilities of working with a legislative support organization and appropriate legal representation. We then reviewed the current thoughts regarding the format and organization of the public hearing, who will moderate, and what our contributions might look like. We reviewed various legal interpretations that might apply to our situation relative to the potential of secession and of withdrawal. We discussed the proposed name of the new town (Town of Chebeague Island). A draft of the Report to the town was presented; further editorial suggestions were encouraged. We ended with a more detailed review and planning session of our presentations at the upcoming public hearing.


August 23, 2005

Chebeague Island Community Association board meeting: Summary

In the committee reports we reviewed current fundraising results, recent attempts to contact the SAD, the status of the petition, financial plans, and the state of our contact efforts with various governmental agencies in Augusta. A format was proposed and presented for our report to the Town. We then discussed in detail the nature of the upcoming public hearing. The next steps in this direction include brainstorming, conceptualizing, and eventually wordcrafting workshops for the Report Prep group.


August 16, 2005

Chebeague Island Community Association board meeting (Summary)

We discussed at length the nature and report of the documents and reports for use at the public hearing. We reviewed the current analysis of tax impacts - of the potential 2006 re-evaluation in Cumberland on a section by section; and of the proposed potential withdrawal from the SAD. No major drift from earlier analyses; if we withdraw and secede, North Yarmouth and Cumberland would be negatively impacted by an approximate $200k each. We then discussed the current suggestions from the Attorney General and from the Department of Education - that, regardless of how we finally are determined to "fit into" title 20A, we should at the very least attempt to honor the spirit of that legislation. We reviewed our timeline's major upcoming events. The current state of the discussions with MSAD51 was discussed (we are still awaiting response). The upcoming public information session for this Friday night was discussed; a group will meet after the regular meeting to detail plan this event.


August 9, 2005

Chebeague Island Community Association board meeting

Members of our PR committee met with members of the editorial board of the Portland Press Herald. The meeting was judged by all involved to be positive. We also met with Susan Gendron (Maine's Commissioner of Education). Mrs. Gendron expressed a clear understanding and a reasonable level of support for our work. She also gave us some ideas and some homework regarding our next steps for an educational plan. We discussed and agreed to hold another public meeting on Chebeague to answer any questions of those community members who might soon be leaving the island for the season. Next, we reviewed the legislative submission process for this year (key dates, appeal process, etc). We continued our work on scheduling and will move next into an identification of key dependencies. We discussed a proposed date for submission of our petition and the PR work that would need to accompany this process. A motion was offered and passed that our proposed legislation include both secession from the town, and, withdrawal from SAD51.


August 2, 2005

Chebeague Island Community Association board meeting

We discussed the benefits of including a broad spectrum of community members in press visits to the island, with particular emphasis on young parents. We made plans for the upcoming visit to Chebeague by the State Commissioner of Education, and, for our attendance at the SAD51 board retreat. We reviewed the organizational plan for the Governmental Research Committee. Updates were offered by document preparation and finance committees. We discussed the pluses and minuses, and potential approaches and timing, of working with a lobbyist (as opposed to working with just our community members and legislators). We discussed the upcoming Island Institute publication regarding working waterfronts.


July 26, 2005

Chebeague Island Community Association board meeting

Board Members Present: Ester Knight, Bev Johnson, Herb Maine, Mabel Doughty, Bob Earnest, Donna Colbeth, Jeff Putnam, Phil Jordan, Mark Dyer, Carol White. Total attendance: 15
Approved 8/2/05 as is.

The PR committee is working on a fact sheet in the format of "myths and realities" as a friendly way of getting the issues defined and broadly discussed. Other formats are also underway, including video that shows some of what life on Chebeague is like. Finance is in process with a full review of economic impacts on all 3 communities (Cumberland, Chebeague, and North Yarmouth) - should we proceed with withdrawing from SAD51. Finance also will review our plans and numbers with Glenn Kersteen, who worked with Long Island on the financial implications of their secession. Work was done to organize our efforts with the various governmental entities, upcoming in the months ahead. We discussed the findings of the recent meeting regarding the village corporation concept, and concluded that it does not help us resolve our issues. We decided that we should move forward with conversations with other school districts regarding tuitioning, but not until we get further with our SAD51 conversations. Petition status: we're up to 259 signatures at this time.


July 19, 2005

Chebeague Island Community Association board meeting

Next meeting: 7/26/2005
Board Members Present: Bev Johnson, Herb Maine, Mabel Doughty, Bob Earnest, Donna Colbeth, Jeff Putnam, Phil Jordan, Mark Dyer. Total attendance: 14
Approved 7/26/05.
Assignments are in bold.

Committee reports were presented; progress continues on the various committee assignments. Next, we discussed the tentative plan for the public hearing (timing, offsets for subsequent steps, etc). We plan to submit the petition in the first week or two of August; the hearing, therefore, would be scheduled for September. As of July 19 we have around 250 signatures. We reviewed the details and trends of Chebeague's population statistics. We discussed the concept of village corporation; this approach will be reviewed in detail at a workshop this coming Sunday.


July 12, 2005

Chebeague Island Community Association board meeting

Next meeting: 7/19/2005
Board Members Present: Bev Johnson, Herb Maine, Dave Stevens, Mabel Doughty, Bob Earnest, Donna Colbeth, Jeff Putnam, Phil Jordan, Carol White, Mark Dyer, Phil Jordan. Total attendance: 18

PR work continues; the press remains interested in our story, and, we continue to take the high road (open, positive conversations). A group met to review the current draft of the education plan. We discussed the state of the major reports preparation, and, the current status of our organization's application for 501c3. Our search for appropriate contacts and sources of information continues. We began the planning of our public hearing. A review of the recent meeting with Dr. Hasson was presented; one result is that we will begin a series of meetings with MSAD51 in the weeks ahead. We also heard a report on a recent meeting with Jim Ryer, who directs the school finance modeling work in Augusta. Jim an initial review of the financial impact of Chebeague's withdrawal; his review seemed favorable and consistent with our assumptions to date. It was pointed out that the trend of declining enrollments at most Maine schools actually works in our favor. The petition was, at the time of this meeting, at 215 signatures.


July 5, 2005

Chebeague Island Community Association board meeting

Next meeting: 7/12/2005

Board Members Present: Bev Johnson, Herb Maine, Dave Stevens, Mabel Doughty, Bob Earnest, Donna Colbeth, Jeff Putnam, Phil Jordan, Carol White. Total attendance: 18

An update was given on how many signatures have been gathered to date (186). We reviewed the state of P/R: what has been written, how accurate has it been, how do we most appropriately react. Work was done on the report preparation process. 501c3 status is on track, and we initiated fund raising plans (based on an "as needed" approach for starters).


June 28, 2005

Chebeague Island Community Association board meeting

Board Members Present: Bev Johnson, Herb Maine, Jeff Putnam, Dave Stevens, Mabel Doughty, Bob Earnest, Donna Colbeth, Ester Knight, Carol White. Total attendance: 16

We discussed recent conversations with the press; as before, our approach is to be open, to take the high road, and to quickly respond to any coverage that we feel is inaccurate or unfair. Plans for key upcoming meetings with education officials (state and local) were begun. We recapped the petition launch meeting and discussed next steps in the petition process (how to continue to circulate the petition broadly while meeting all the legal requirements of petitioning). Tables were planned for the Store on Sunday at paper time, and for various places during the race and picnic on the 4th. The planning for the Report was launched (we'll use the Long Island Report, and the legislative format, as our initial template tools). Proposed bylaws were reviewed and approved. Fundraising plans were initiated (Contributions can be sent to CICA Treasurer, c/o Cheryl Stevens, 278 South Road, Chebeague, ME 04017).


June 18, 2005

Chebeague Island Community Association board meeting: Summary Notes

Board Members Present: Bev Johnson, Herb Maine, Jeff Putnam, Mark Dyer, Dave Stevens, Mabel Doughty, Bob Earnest, Donna Colbeth, Carol White. Total attendance: 32

The organizations committee reported on the breadth and depth of volunteers involved in current island organizations; we were pleasantly surprised (the legend of "10 people do it all" was disproven!). This is good news for the concept of self governance. The 6/13 workshop with CICA and Town Council was described as positive, with lots of questions from each side, and (as expected) lots of issues raised. We will continue to work positively with Council. Our meetings have now been set as Tuesday nights at 7pm at the Parish Hall. Bylaws and Articles of Incorporation were presented for review. The Petition Launch Meeting of June 26 was planned in detail.


Summary: May 28 and June 4 meetings

At our May 28 meeting much of our conversation focused on the need to communicate widely and regularly with all interested community members. The Public Relations committee (to be formed) will look at both web and paper methods of getting info out to the community. We also discussed the need to incorporate and to establish a set of bylaws. And, we began the conversation regarding territory: should the proposal to consider self government involve just Chebeague, or, should it include some or all of the other islands currently in the town of Cumberland? We also began the process of organizing our group - tasks, committees, etc. Finally, we resolved that our Saturday meetings will be open to all, and that we will post meeting notices in the usual locations.

 

We held our second official meeting on June 4. For the benefit of some of the new attendees, we had a brief discussion of who we are as a group, how we got here, and what our work is intended to address. We discussed a proposed timeline of an approximate one year process, and we reviewed the current legislative language regarding self governance. We discussed a proposed organization of CICA as a 501C3, which will allow us to receive tax-deductible donations. We also discussed options for membership (general and board), and an initial list of work / committees. We are hoping for broad community involvement. We worked on petition language (in the legislative process, a petition from the proposed new territory is to be submitted to the current town council, to request a meeting to discuss the possibility of self governance). We concluded that there are lots of reasons (fishing and shellfish issues, conservation, land use) to include other islands that surround Chebeague as part of the potential self governance territory.