The Town Manager Plan will be back before the people on June 8. I encourage you to vote Yes to adopt the plan. Our Town needs the consistent daily management and oversight only a Town Manager can provide. Our Selectmen voted to support the plan and you should too!
In meeting with residents going door to door I hear many of the same concerns about a Town manager, so I put together an information sheet to explain the benefits of having a real Town Manager and adopting the Town Manager Plan. You may download it here to print and circulate to your friends and neighbors.
Why do we need a Town Manager, we pay Selectmen already? Won’t this person will be just another lackey and or relative to warm a chair at the town hall?
- A Town Manager is a hired professional with a degree typically in finance and or administration, and a well rounded knowledge, backed with proven municipal history.
- Our Selectmen are part-time regular folk like you and I who are challenged by not having enough time to review and investigate issues thoroughly, lack of expertise in enough areas, and cannot provide the detailed oversight that is necessary to be truly effective.
- A Town Manager focuses on one thing, running the business of the Town.
Won’t the Town Manager position be expensive and cost us a lot of money?
- A Town Manager will be an expert in grant application and will seek out opportunities for State and Federal aid, which will actually bring much more monies into the Town.
- Cost savings will be realized through more effective management of staff, town resources, process improvements and record keeping.
- A Town Manager will ensure money we do spend is spent wisely and work is bid out properly.
- A good Town Manager will more than earn their keep, and they will be more accessible to you as well.
The Town is a multi-million dollar business and must be operated like one.
- You wouldn’t operate a multi-million dollar enterprise with three part-time volunteers, you would use professional management.
- Selectmen are great individuals and do their level best, but at the end of the day the scope of job requirements is just beyond what their time, expertise, and experience can cope with effectively. Things routinely slip through the cracks, overall costing us more money.
- The Town handles millions of dollars over the course of each year. We could do better for ourselves with a Town Manager and have far more to show for our taxes with the oversight and benefit professional management affords.
- The issues facing our town today are much more complex than they were 5, 10, 20 years ago. The old ways simply are not enough. We need to manage today as well as set the course for the future; a Town Manager can provide the necessary leadership and guidance on addressing these needs.
- There are “Best Practices” for doing anything, even managing a town. We need to adopt and follow these. There is no need to re-invent the wheel; some 46% of Maine towns have a Town Manager / Administrator.
I like the Selectmen and the way things are, will I lose control with a Town Manager?
- The Selectmen still play the key role in the oversight of the Town Manager and the Town in general, but the multitude of problems and challenges faced each day can be met head-on, timely, and in the detail required by a full-time Town Manager.
- The Selectmen are voted into office and the Town Manager is an interviewed and hired position, if you don’t get the service and results you can hire a new person.
- You actually will have better access to voice your concerns directly as they come up. The Town Manager is a full-time position and available during normal business hours.
I am worried, I know we need to do something; I have seen and been disappointed in the way elected officials have performed and represented my interests in the past. Will this really improve things?
- NOT adopting a Town Manager plan almost certainly ensures there is NO chance for improvement.
- If we don’t see results and we know we have hired the right people, we can always change back.
- Town Manager is only one piece of a needed more formal framework for managing the Town. Other pieces would include a Town Charter which sets the rules the town operates by and a Comprehensive Plan which is a plan to manage town growth and town needs like a road map. A Town Manager is a needed step.
- Once a Town Manager is adopted there is no reason why Selectmen couldn’t have their wages reduced to a small stipend since the heavy lifting of management will be done by the Town Manager. Same for the Road Commissioner the position really isn’t required.
Thank you for posting this too. I would not have spent so many hours gathering signatures to put this on the ballot if I did not believe it will be a positive change for Lebanon.
Please everyone put Election Day on your calendars, June 8th and be sure to vote! Hours are 6am – 8pm at the Elementary school and if you are not registered to vote you can do it right then and there : )
I have asked this several times before, and after the response from Shorty about one of our elections, I am going to ask again. Is someone going to oversee at the end of the day when elections are over so no one can mess with the counter? We have so many items on the ballot this year that would help to make our town a better place and I am sure others are worried it will change their way of life if you catch my drift, if things are voted in such as town manager, town charter and so on.
.
Won’t a town manager want a town secretary and then a town bookkeeper etc?
Will a town manager really write grants or will he\she want to hire a grant writer?
Why are we trying to grow the government rather than have selectmen that actually oversee our small government and hold people accountable for their actions?
how much accountability does our current selectmen do ? why would a town manager need a secretary,bookkeeper or a grant writer when this is what they do ? a town manager handles the day to day operations of the town.one prime example is his job to verify invoices paid by the town.if we had a town manager would we be paying lebanon new hampshires tire disposal costing thousands of taxpayer money?how long has this been going on and does it continue ’til the budget committee meets next fall?was this department head reprimanded ?hell no he’s a selectman so lets pat him on the back and tell him he’s doing a great job!!
doesn’t the town already have a selectmen secretary and a treasurer?why would the selectmen recommend a town manager if it is not for the best interest of the town?
I have been watching the truth being told about what is REALLY going on here in our town. What goes on here goes MUCH further then at town hall. But we have to start here in order to get things to be better.
When my husband and I were going through this horrific ordeal with our neighbors, someone mentioned we should go to the selectmen for help. Well guess what, we did with Selectperson’s Churchard’s help. We got SHOT DOWN by the town attorney and the other selectmen and were told not to go their. I never felt so alone in my life.
Another case in point, the gentlemen that went to court with the town for cutting trees on the waterfront. HE got a $5,000 fine. The LOGGER, got nothing because the town said that the logger helps the town.
Ask yourself, do you want to be able to rely on a selectmen who is going to be there for YOU? Or do you want a selectmen who is ONLY IN IT FOR HIMSELF????
VOTE GLEN STADIG FOR SELECTMAN and CHRIS Gilpatrick for Budget Committee on the 8th if you REALLY are ready for making things better here in town!!!!!!
I wish we could have had a local town manager come to the public hearing to clear up the misconceptions of the town manager position. does anyone know how to go about this? i think this was a missed opportunity to inform people on what a town manager does and how much revenue they can bring in as opposed to a part time selectman who has other jobs and priorities. in my opinion this isn’t expanding our government it is simplifying it. by limiting the leg work of the selectmen we can cut their salaries and have a professional to interpret laws and by-laws in laymans terms to all of us who don’t speak legalize. This is a big decision to consider but if you look at all the local towns that have managers they are far ahead of us as far as return on monetary investment per tax dollar. I say give it a try, there are plenty of people out there and like Selectman Candidate Stadig said, ” if we don’t like the person we hire we can always find someone who better suits our towns needs.” To me this is a win – win situation for our town and I hope you people feel the same way.
You think you can just fire him\her if we don’t like the person? More than likely he\she will be protected by their contract. If they don’t end up working with a contract they are probably a low-bidder that is hired just to fill the position.
This talk of writing grants is far fetched as well, anyone actually see the grants that are out there?
It’s not a win-win, it’s taking a chance, a big chance.
How about we elect Selectmen that actually understand government and can handle the SMALL task of being honest and staying informed of our SMALL government?
The real problem is that the Selectmen are not doing what they should be doing and they are turning a blind eye to the fraud, waste and abuse.
If only this were a perfect world. You are right, they are turning a blind eye and have done so for as many years as i can remember. So what changes? simply the faces of those in charge and nothing else. And who are these selectmen who are all knowing with doctorates in business management and economic development? No one person is going to have the answer and I really dont understand this small town thing. Lebanon is a multi-million dollar operation and should be run as such and as a shareholder i would like to see a better return on my investment to this town. Not improper road repairs, or Selectmen setting their own wages for departments they oversee. On the topic of grants just ask Selectman Cole he comes up with all sorts of grants for the rescue department so it is obvious they are out there. I dont know who you’ve been talking to but when South Berwick had issues with their Town manager they found due cause to terminate him contract or not. I’ll be blunt I think our current system of government is antiquated and is hindering this towns chance for real change. So I’ll say again a town charter and town manager are the revamp this town needs to stay competitive and to create a better quality of life for its residence giving peace of mind knowing our tax dollars are spent the most efficient way possible.
Yes and the ONLY way we can have peace of mind as far as our tax dollars are concerned is to VOTE YES TO TOWN MANAGER AND TOWN CHARTER.
Do you really think that your tax dollars are being protected with SOME the people that are in town government now? Think again. They have been doing it their way for years and years and think they know all the ends and outs of how to get what THEY WANT and we all know what that is!!!!!!!
One question? you said “The Selectmen are voted into office and the Town Manager is an interviewed and hired position, if you don’t get the service and results you can hire a new person.” Who is the one that does the hiring? If I was the one doing the hiring and firing and was corrupt I would hire my friend and things would go on like normal. He may even have better ideas on how to help me look better and do more corrupt things.
I am for a town manager and hope it goes through