Kennebunk Charter proposal under fire: Two members oppose town council shift

KENNEBUNK, Maine — The Kennebunk Select Board will hold a public hearing on Sept. 10 for a proposed town charter calling for a new form of local government.

When residents speak that evening, they will weigh in on a document crafted by a Charter Commission that includes two members who oppose it. After more than 18 months of work, the commission presented its final report to the Select Board earlier this month.

Included with that document was a minority report written by members Susan Bloomfield and Christopher Babbidge .

In their report, the two believe the commission has “overstepped” by proposing a charter that would “significantly” shift authority from the voters to a newly established town council.

For years, voters have decided municipal budgets, borrowing, and proposed land uses. Under the new form of town government recommended by the commission, voters would keep their authority over budgets and borrowing but lose their command over land-use proposals to the council.

“We believe this results in an unnecessary and unacceptable transfer of power,” Bloomfield and Babbidge wrote.

The two members also felt their colleagues on the commission “did not follow common procedure” and strayed from the usual presentation of a final, “red-lined” proposal that would give voters a chance to compare current charter language to what is being recommended for changes.

“We lament that this procedural decision will likely make it more difficult for voters to do an article-by-article comparison,” Bloomfield and Babbidge said.

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Minority report: Public sentiment to keep Select Board was ignored

In their report, the two members take issue with what they consider to be a lack of enough public input in crafting the final proposal.

“Community participation was always solicited,” they wrote. “However, results from a public survey that indicated strong voter preference for retaining a Select Board were rejected. We believe more public input would have balanced and enriched our decisions, and likely reflected that improvements can be achieved without changing our form of government.”

Bloomfield and Babbidge also disagreed with their colleagues on the cited reasons for the recommendation of a switch to a town council form of government. Those reasons, they said, were “uninformed voters and inefficiency.”

“We not only disagree but recognize those points as long-held criticisms of democracy itself,” they wrote.

Regarding the charge that voters are “largely uninformed and naïve” when it comes to the issues on which they vote, Bloomfield and Babbidge said it is “presumptuous to assume what a voter “may or can know.”

“Robust outreach and education efforts should be practiced to increase voter awareness on countless issues and help ensure an informed electorate,” they wrote. “We believe that the voting majority should continue to be trusted with the future of Kennebunk.”

As for the charge that the current system is inefficient, Bloomfield and Babbidge said they were presented with “very few examples” of how that is the case. They said they agreed with adding new budget procedures that would allow a town council to act quicker during emergencies, but they stopped there.

“We believe that the wish to streamline the process compromised our current methodical and organized governance,” Bloomfield and Babbidge wrote.

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Minority report: Voters’ power would diminish under new charter

According to the proposed new charter, if a town council made a land-use decision, or any other decision, with which voters disagreed, then voters would have steps they could take to try to overturn it. In their minority report, Bloomfield and Babbidge said that the process, as proposed, would be too cumbersome, in that voters would need to collect 500 signatures and submit them to the town within 30 days of the council’s vote.

“Even the most passionate, civic-minded individuals could feel that number is insurmountable, leading to more apathy and less engagement by the public,” Bloomfield and Babbidge wrote. “We were uncomfortable with this burden and believe this new form of government makes it easier for people not to participate. That is fundamentally wrong.”

Bloomfield and Babbidge also felt that the commission should have presented its recommended new form of government as a separate, stand-alone vote, as opposed to including it in a single vote for the overall proposed charter.

“Had there been any way for the commission to put the change in form of government to voters in a separate up-or-down vote, we would have voted in favor of that option,” they said.

Bloomfield and Babbidge concluded their report by saying that the commission proposes diminishing the voters’ power.

“In this time of unprecedented threats to democracy and its institutions, is it wise to diminish the rights of citizenship in our town?” they asked. “Elected public servants should always acknowledge that ultimate authority rests with the people ... For two centuries since our town incorporated, we have relied on the wisdom of our citizens to determine their future. Nothing is broken that warrants that to end.”

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Select Board reacts to Charter Commission minority report

Among the Select Board members, reactions to the minority report were mixed.

During a meeting on Aug. 6, Chair Miriam Whitehouse and board member Lisa Pratt said the minority report concerned them.

Whitehouse noted that board members tend to unite and support a majority decision once all discussion takes place and votes are taken. She said the commission worked hard to get to the final product it will put before voters during the election in November and expressed hope that Bloomfield and Babbidge “will support the charter for the greater good.”

“If the charter does not pass, all that work would be for nothing,” Whitehouse said. “It’s concerning to me.”

Pratt acknowledged that commission members are allowed to dissent and submit a minority report to the Select Board, but she too said she was concerned.

“We, as a board, accept the decisions that a majority vote makes,” she said. “If I were on the commission, I’d be very disappointed with the two people that wrote the minority report.”

Select Board member Bill Ward, however, said he was glad that the minority report was included alongside the commission's final one.

"Sometimes the dissenting views get lost," he said.

In an email on Wednesday, Bloomfield explained why she and Babbidge went beyond their dissenting votes to include a written minority report.

"It was an administrative opportunity that we took to assure that the public has a full understanding of the issues prior to voting in November," she said.

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This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Kennebunk Charter proposal under fire: Two members oppose town council shift