Maine Association of Planners

April 5, 2002 Meeting- Maine State Planning Office- Augusta

 

Board Members present:  David Schmidt, Theresa Oleksiw, Matt Nazar, Fred Marshall, Jean Marshall, Doug Webster, Noel Musson, Sarah Flaks, Jim Fisher, Maureen O'Meara.

 

Board Members not present:  David Carpenter, Karen Martin, JT Lockman, Jim Fortune.

 

Item 1:  President Schmidt opened the meeting at 10:53.

 

Item 2:  Minutes from 3/1/02.  Theresa moved to approve the minutes as written.  Motion passed unanimously.

 

Item 3A:  Treasurers Report.  Fred handed out an 8-page summary of account balances, expenses, and income including a listing of paid memberships.  Fred reported that he would be moving monies from the checking account (presently $8267.69) to the money market account. 

 

There was discussion about moving most of the money in the reserve account (presently $2440.87) to CD's that would periodically roll over to ensure access to the funds if necessary without incurring a penalty.  The purpose is to increase the interest on the principle.  Sarah moved to accept the treasurers report and move monies in the money market into CD's.  Motion passed unanimously.

 

Item 3B:  Matt handed out a proposed budget for calendar 2002.  He used figures from Theresa and the budget format utilized by NNECAPA which works well for their organization.  Some figures needed to be estimated including the number of attendees for the annual meeting.  The legislative committee and workshop(s) are not included in the budget since the Executive Board is unsure how important these matters are to the majority of the MAP membership.  It was suggested that these questions could be raised at the upcoming annual meeting for an informal consen sus.

 

Matt and Fred will work together to compile a budget for 2003 that could be presented to the membership at the June 2002 annual meeting.  The purpose is to have MAP operating from a budget rather than half a year from a budget that has not been adopted by the membership.

 

Item 4:  President's Report.  President Schmidt reminded the Board that the theme of the Spring Newsletter is "trails".  Mary Coolidge needs articles (e-mail is best) by April 10th. 

President Schmidt reported that it seems likely that he will need to leave the state for personal reasons although it will probably not occur until after the June annual meeting.

 

Item 5:  Awards programs and Nominations.  Jim Fortune has received 9 nominations to date.  The Committee will be meeting to discuss the nominations.

 

Item 6:  Nominating Committee for MAP Executive Board.  Jean handed out a summary of present Executive Board members and their willingness to continue.  A few vacancies are anticipated; various potential Board members will contacted.  The objective is to present a complete slate of officers and Executive Board to the membership at the June 2002 Annual Meeting.

 

Item 7:  Legislative Committee.  President Schmidt reported  that he and Theresa have talked with Paul Shumaker at SMRPC about being the primary staff support for the Legislative Policy Committee (LPC).  There was discussion about what SMRPC's role would be and how it would fit into MAP needs.

 

The consensus of the Board was that SMRPC could provide an organizational role.  Summaries of pending legislation are presently provided by SPO which seems to work well. 

 

There was discussion about what role the list-serve should play in deciding what the MAP position on a particular bill should be.  The consensus was that the list-serve should be used to communicate the substance of legislation.  MAP members could correspond about their perspectives but the final MAP position should only be determined when the LPC physically meets in Augusta. 

 

Once MAPS has a position, SMRPC and MAP members should communicate the message.  President Schmidt will talk with Paul Shumaker to determine if this is a role that he is willing/ able to perform.

 

Item 8:  Membership.

8A:  Jim Fisher has an up-to-date list of MAP members who have paid 2002 dues.  President Schmidt will be compiling a mailing to those members who have not paid once he receives the list from Jim.

 

8B:  Matt is working on the membership directory.  The Board would like to hand out a paper copy at the Annual Meeting.  Matt showed the Board what the New Hampshire planners had produced; a spiral bound half-sheet sized booklet with harder paper stock on the front and back cover.  The Board seemed supporting of creating a similar format for MAP.  President Schmidt is working on burning some CD's containing design guideline standards from municipalities throughout the state that he would like to give to Annual Meeting attendees.< /P>

 

8C:  Progress is being made on the Welcome Packet.

 

8D:  Two questions were posed to the Board regarding membership.  The first is; does a member have the option of paying for multiple years of membership in advance.  The consensus was that this would be logistically difficult to track from an accounting perspective as well as the possibility that the annual dues fee may change from year to year.

 

The second question is; if an individual MAP member is both a PB member and a professional planner, do they pay the PB member rate or the professional planner rate for their annual dues.  The Executive Board determined that such an individual should pay the professional planner rate.

 

Item 9:  Website update.

 

Item 10:  Annual Meeting. 

Speakers:  President Schmidt reported that Terry and Sam have signed the contract for the presentation at the meeting.

Location Connection:  Cottages are still available for overnighters.

Boat Ride:  The sailboat is not an option this year given the expected number of attendees.  A motorized boat large enough to accommodate the group is available to pick up at Spruce Point at 2:00 P.M. for a one hour run.  Expectation is that people could BYOB since no food/ beverage service is available on board.  Cost should be $5 for MAP members and $10 for non-MAP members.

 

Item 11:  Other business.

Theresa reported that the Code Officers association (MBOIA) is considering options to compile a new state-wide board for the purposes of influencing legislation.  The board would be comprised of members from existing professional organizations such as MBOIA and MAP. 

 

The consensus of the MAP Executive Board was that MAP could address this on a case-by-case basis.  It does not seem practical to form a standing "board" with other professional organizations at this time given the diversity of issues typically associated with pending legislative proposals.

David Schmidt, AICP
Kittery Town Planner
VOICE: 207-439-6807
FAX: 207-439-6806
EMAIL:
Kittery_Planning@yahoo.com  TOWN WEBSITE:
http://www.town.kittery.me.us/

 



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