renews offer to school board meeting space for sake of public transparency

Tue, 12/12/2017 - 3:15am

Lynda Clancy

Rockport Select Board Chairman Ken McKinley and member Owen Casas, Dec. 7.

Rockport Town Manager Rick Bates, Select Board member Doug Cole and Chairman Ken McKinley.

Rockport Select Board Chairman Ken McKinley and member Owen Casas, Dec. 7.

Rockport Town Manager Rick Bates, Select Board member Doug Cole and Chairman Ken McKinley.

ROCKPORT — Selectmen in Rockport Dec. 7 agreed not to, just yet, appoint anyone new from their board to serve on the School Administrative District 28 Building Committee. The discussion followed recent friction between the leader of the school board and Rockport Select Board member Owen Casas. Instead, they encouraged Casas to attend the Dec. 20 School Board meeting, and if possible, and in the words of Select Board member Mark Kelley, “mend fences.”

The discussion took place at a Select Board meeting Thursday evening in the Geoffrey Parker room at the Rockport Opera House. Watch the archived meeting proceedings here.

It fell on the agenda after a related item concerning the recent citizen-initiated Freedom of Access Act action against SAD 28 that had probed school board and administrator communications about the future of the Mary E. Taylor School in Camden.

The Rockport Select Board had been asked to review correspondence concerning the June 2017 referendum, results of which proved that Camden and Rockport voters endorsed spending $26 million on a new middle school in Camden.

Whether the fate of the 1925-built Mary E. Taylor building, on Knowlton Street was tied to that referendum, given statements by school officials just prior to the vote, has been debated since last June. There are citizens who have disputed whether the bond referendum’s presentation to the public was sufficiently clear, while others maintain the bond language said to demolish the building.

In November, Rockport resident Maggie Timmerman had asked both select boards to review the FOAA response, consult municipal legal counsel about the proceedings, and urged the select boards themselves to advocate for full transparency on the part of the SAD 28 Board of Directors.

At the Dec. 7 meeting the Rockport Select Board, members did encourage transparency on the part of the school board.

“I certainly think the Town of Rockport can offer this facility and encourage school board to use it,” said Rockport Select Board Chairman Ken McKinley, to the rest of the board. In offering the Geoff Parker meeting room, he was offering a space that is considered to be the most technologically sophisticated in the area for sound, recording and streaming to the public.

But, in referencing the FOAA, McKinley said he did not want Rockport’s municipal government to intercede in school board business.

Both entities are separate government entities, and are governed by elected board members. They oversee their individual budgets on the behalf of local citizens.

Rockport’s Select Board consists of five Rockport residents: McKinley, Owen Casas, Tom Gray, Mark Kelley and Doug Cole.

The SAD 28 School Board, which oversees grades K-8 for Camden and Rockport public school students, consists of Chairman Matthew Dailey, Lynda Chilton, Carole Gartley, Sarah Bradley Prindiville, Marcia Dietrich, Rebecca Flanagan, Elizabeth Noble and Peter Orne.

While the Rockport Select Board, and Town Manager Rick Bates, had consulted with Rockport Town Attorney Philip Saucier, of the Portland firm Bernstein Schur, about the legal standing of municipalities in school board affairs, the legal opinion returned to the town was to leave school governance to school boards.

“The way I read that email is that this is really a school board issue and it is their jurisdiction,” said McKinley.

As the Select Board conversations about the school issues got underway, Select Board member Tom Gray recused himself from the proceedings, citing his employment as a teacher at Camden Hills Regional High School. The SAD 28 school board members also sit on the Five Town CSD Board of Directors, which oversees the high school for the towns of Appleton, Camden, Hope, Lincolnville and Rockport.

While Select Board member Owen Casas said he recognized that the issue fell under the purview of the school board, and therefore a separate governmental body, he also said that both entities tax local citizens — one third of the annual property tax bill represents municipal expenses while two-thirds represents public school expenditures, he said.

He said the behavior displayed as evidenced through the emails contained in the FOAA response was concerning, and he did not oppose sending a letter to the school board offering that the Parker Room could be used for streaming and taping its meetings.

Board member Doug Cole said: “I tend to agree with Ken that we really should let the school board do its thing and not get involved. As to Owen’s point, yes, we do represent the citizens of Rockport. My only concern is I’m not sure what my constituents think. I’m sure that some would like to see us getting involved and some that don’t. I don’t have the wisdom of Solomon to make the decision. People had their opportunity at the ballot box. For right now, I’m willing to let the school board move forward with whatever process and have minimal input from select board; however, I also agree with Ken that the school board should be availing themselves of our facilities. That’s just good government with transparency.”

Board member Mark Kelley said: “I don’t want to get involved with it either. It should point out to any school or government body that you don’t want to have a FOAA come along because it will bring up some things that might, although not necessarily be inappropriate, taint you a little poorly.”

He added that this is a good opportunity for the school board to take advantage of Rockport’s offer to use the Parker Room.

“It’s been offered [to the school boards] for years,” said Kelley. “This is a good time for them to step up and do it.”

Town Manager Bates pointed out that the live streaming of Rockport meetings has grown in popularity, with people tuning in live via their computers, sometimes more than 100. The archived meetings also are readily available to watch at any time.

“We’re often getting more people watching livestream than attending meetings,” he said.

Rockport’s presence of SAD 28 Building Committee

Just before Thanksgiving, Camden-Rockport School Board Chairman Dailey told Rockport that he wants Rockport Select Board representative Casas off the ad hoc school district Building Committee. Formed in September, that committee oversees construction of the new $26 million middle school in Camden, which is where Camden and Rockport grades 5-8 will eventually resettle.

He told Rockport Select Board Chairman McKinley, in an email, that Rockport could nominate a different Select Board member to serve on the Building Committee.

Dailey said that he was unhappy with Casas on the board, citing Casas’ knowledge of the FOAA action filed last summer. (Read: SAD 28 chairman tells Rockport Select Board member to step off school Building Committee.)

McKinley told Dailey that the Select Board would discuss the issue at its Dec. 7 meeting, and asked the board members if they wanted to make a change in representation the Building Committee.

McKinley said that after a conversation between the the town attorney and the SAD 28 attorney, William Stockmeyer, of the Portland-based Drummond Woodsum, he learned that the town did not have jurisdiction over deciding who would represent the town of the ad hoc committee. Apparently, he said, the invitation for a Rockport Select Board representative to sit on the Building Committee was in the hands of the school board.

That Building Committee was hand-picked last summer following the successful passage of the school building bond in June. The committee currently consists of school board members Elizabeth Noble, of Camden, and Marcia Dietrich, of Rockport; Chairman Will Gartley, of Rockport; Rockport residents Anastasia Fisher, George Abendroth; Camden residents Emily LeBlanc-McConnell, Joe Russillo, John Scholz, John Lewis; Camden Select Board liaison Marc Ratner and Rockport Select Board liaison Owen Casas; as well as Maria Libby, SAD 28 superintendent; Ian McKenzie, Camden-Rockport Middle School teacher liaison; SAD 28 Director of Operations and Maintenance Keith Rose; Jaime Stone, Camden-Rockport Middle School principal; and Mary Beth Van Keuren, owner’s representative hired for the building construction process.

At the Dec. 7 Rockport Select Board meeting, McKinley told the board that the school board chairman is “going to push for a change in that committee.” The school board meets Dec. 20, at the Rockport Opera House.

He then offered Casas time to speak to the situation.

“I do have concerns about how the bond was passed and the standing of MET,” said Casas. “That said, I’m pretty good at leaving ‘outside the room issues’ outside the room. When I go to that committee, I’m inside that room and the charge of that committee ill looking at the overseeing the building of that project. I don't feel I have hindered the building project. I believe I am an OK committee member, that I add something to it. I have been following it for quite a while.”

But Casas left the decision to the Select Board.

“I want to do what the board thinks is the best thing, so I’m happy to continue to serve on that committee and to present myself to the School Board and make my case on the 20th, but I would look to you all as far as, do you want to replace me now, and have that person present themselves in front of the school or or would you like me to go and present myself?”

Casas said that in any case, he would likely attend the Dec. 20 SAD 28 board meeting, “to make my peace with the school board, and let them know why I feel this is a too-far request and express some of my concerns about how their process went.”

Board member Kelley said: “I would think that no one wants to volunteer to take your place. I don’t have any qualms about asking the [SAD 28] board chairman to come [before the Rockport Select Board] and make a statement.”

“He was invited to do so and declined,” said McKinley.

“Well, you can’t have your cake and eat it, too,” said Kelley.

“The reality is that the school board on the 20th has the right to pull Owen off the committee,” said McKinley.

He then said: “Our choice, at this point, is that we could decide not to act and let Owen make his case at the meeting. I think there is a considerable chance that the school board may vote to remove Owen, based on what I have heard from community.”

He added that he had heard from others and while they think: “Owen is a very good committee member and works hard, there are other issues going that are more personal In nature and perhaps may be interfering in relationships with other members of the board.”

Select Board member Doug Cole said: “I don’t have the time, nor the skill set to be involved at this late date.”

McKinley also said he did not have the time. Kelley said he didn’t have the time.

Casas then elaborated on the issue, citing his attendance at the town’s recent Freedom of Access training with the town attorney.

When people recuse themselves from governmental proceedings, it is often to do conflicting family relationships or financial ties to a particular issue or project. And then there are circumstances involving unreasonable bias.

“And I reflected on that,” he said. “Do I have an unreasonable bias? No, I have concerns with a different aspect of the school board and how their process went.”

Casas said he is more convinced that he carries no unreasonable bias toward the school district nor middle school project. Casas had served on the ad hoc middle school visioning committee last year, which preceded the June bond vote, and the subsequent formation of the Building Committee.

Casas said he kept friction with certain board members outside the meeting room, and has been involved with different construction conversations about the new school; e.g., roofing and solar panel questions, heat recovery through wastewater treatment, and playground needing granite scraps.

I do feel like I have something to add to the committee,” he said. “The building of the building itself, can be constructed without having to tear down the Mary E. Taylor and I'm just focused on building the building we have been charged with overseeing it.”

Kelley responded: ”Make your pitch, mend fences, and see what happens. But you’ve got to have people that ask questions. You’ve got to shake it up now and then. See what you can do to get back in favor.”

“Obviously, there’s some damage of your relationship between different members of the school board and administration and they have to decide if they can work through that or not,” said McKinley. “It’s their right to make that decision in a different way if they like.”

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