By Kathy McCarty
Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — A joint city council meeting including councilors and city officials from Presque Isle and Caribou was held Oct. 8 at Northern Maine Community College in Presque Isle. This is the second such meeting for the group, designed to find possible ways the two cities can combine services and expenses without detrimentally impacting either municipality.
The first meeting of the group was held Aug. 7 at NMDC in Caribou. In attendance at the most recent meeting were: City Managers Jim Bennett, of Presque Isle, and Austin Bleess, of Caribou; Presque Isle City Council Chair Emily Smith, Vice Chair Randy Smith, and Councilors Craig Green, Bruce Sargent, Mike Chasse and Dick Engels; and Caribou Mayor Gary Aiken, Deputy Mayor Kenneth Murchison, and Councilors Phil McDonough II, Aaron Kouhopt, Joan Theriault, David Martin and David Genthner Sr. Also attending were Presque Isle Deputy City Manager Martin Puckett and Caribou Assistant Manager Tony Mazzucco, with several other officials from both communities in the audience.
Unlike the August meeting which followed a roundtable format, the Oct. 8 gathering began with Bennett and Bleess offering a PowerPoint presentation, with councilors then joining the discussion in workshop fashion.
Bennett began by explaining the night’s agenda, which included: talking about different collaboration models used in Maine, review of opportunities by functions, suggested timeframes, suggested next steps, with councilors providing feedback and direction.
Bennett said officials with both municipalities should focus first on “what’s attainable and have the highest and fastest return.”
Bennett reviewed the pros and cons to providing services through various options and how each would operate — joint service provider, joint agency, resource sharing, creating separate non-government agency and public-private partnerships. He used timeframes to explain when changes might be possible: immediate (by June 30, 2014), short-term (by Dec. 31, 2015), intermediate (by July 1, 2017), long-term (by Dec. 31, 2018) and into the future (after Dec. 31, 2018).
“We should start small and work toward bigger issues,” said Bennett.
“Staff can prepare possible models, then council would approve, in concept, proposed models. If we create a new joint agency, we’d create a new board to oversee,” said Bennett.
Bennett said the purpose would be to “try to either gain efficiency or tax savings.”
“If it’s not more efficient or saving money, then why do it?” said Bennett.
Bennett went department by department, explaining when a change could be implemented. His list included timeframes as follows: payroll, immediate/short-term; accounts payable, immediate/short-term; dispatch, immediate; information technology (IT), immediate; code enforcement, long-term; ambulance, immediate/short-term; public works, immediate; assessing, immediate/short-term; police, short-term/intermediate; fire, short-term/intermediate; library, immediate; and recreation, long-term. Of these, four were considered as top-of-the-list priorities: IT, dispatch, public works and ambulance.
“These are specific recommendations by functions. It’s the council’s role to decide if you want to do this,” he said.
Bennett said changes to IT services were “an immediate need.”
“It’s the skeleton we have to have to accomplish some of these things,” said Bennett. Linking the two municipalities through the same Internet system would allow departments to communication between cities, as well as provide the infrastructure for combining services such as payroll.
“My sense is in working with Austin and Tony, I think we have a good handle on what we can work on on your behalf and what we should stay away from,” said Bennett.
Aiken said it was a lot to work on in one night.
“I’d like to have information beforehand for future meetings,” said Aiken. “In my mind payroll and accounts payable are two of the easiest to get into.”
Green said some things should be easier since there’s “already a good model with the three communities of Mapleton, Chapman and Castle Hill.”
“They’re very successful and have combined all operations into one,” said Green.
Puckett gave an overview of how the tri-community works together to share services. As the former town manager there, he said it was a “simple formula” that “flows naturally.”
Murchison said he was also “a fan of taking small bites” but also wanted to “make a big impact.”
“By doing so, we grab the interest of constituents on both sides of the line,” said Murchison.
Bleess said dispatch and public works are ready to move to the next level.
“Presque Isle’s in the position to make some decisions. Having everyone on the same frequency (radios) is important,” said Bleess, noting a recent car chase that started in Caribou and ended in Presque Isle and the difficulty the two police departments had communicating, due to operating on two different radio frequencies (Presque Isle’s digital while Caribou still uses an analog system).
“If dispatching was combined, we’d be on the same frequency working together,” said Bleess.
“IT would be relatively simple, using the same provider,” said Bennett. “I think Presque Isle should also look at the work done by Caribou and work on the ambulance piece.”
“TAMC’s talked to us regarding the challenges of providing services to rural communities. They’re looking at their own budget piece,” said Bennett. “It’s not the same political animal it once was.”
“Am I to assume you and Austin will recommend dispatch, ambulance, public works and IT?” asked McDonough. Bennett acknowledged that would be the beginning.
“IT’s a matter of figuring out how to connect both systems. Payroll and accounts payable will be set aside until we get the IT piece done, since we don’t have that infrastructure in place,” said Bennett.
Theriault said she didn’t see anything in any of what was presented that couldn’t work.
“I think you guys are doing a good job. You’ve come a long ways with recommendations,” she said.
Chasse asked if the list could be prioritized.
“Since we have to prioritize, could we number them indicating which items are most likely to succeed — something indicating savings?” asked Chasse.
Bennett told Chasse, “You’re as likely to hit a number as we are.”
“My assumption is we hit the mark at what you wanted to look at, at this stage of the game. The landfill’s not on there. It didn’t work out. But I think it will work in terms of sharing resources and other things that came from discussion,” said Bennett.
“Is there potential for that to happen in the future,” asked McDonough.
“Nothing’s off the table,” answered Bleess.
The group concluded discussion on the matter, agreeing to hold another meeting before the end of the year. No date or location was set at presstime.
