Maine Association of Planners

Executive Board Committee Meeting

State Planning Office, Augusta

April 7, 2006

Attending in Augusta:  Jane Lafleur, Stacy Benjamin, Tom Marcotte, Doug Webster, and Matt Nazar  

Attending in Ellsworth via phone: Jim Fisher, Linda Johns

Attending in Yarmouth via phone: Hugh Coxe, Maureen O'Meara, Carl Eppich

After a brief discussion, the Committee decided that Jim should chair the meeting as the next ranking officer since Noel, Rich and Fred were unable to attend.

Jim opened the meeting at 10:30.

Item 1:  Minutes

Jane moved to accept the minutes from the March meeting as written.  The motion carried unanimously.

Item 2:  Presidents Report

As Noel was unable to attend the meeting.  Maureen reported that Noel has talked with her and indicated that he did not expect to have time in the upcoming year to be president. 

Jane reported that she has talked with Noel regarding the inadequacy of the MAP presentation materials.  This item was discussed in more detail later in the meeting (see Treasurers' Report below).

Item 3:  Treasurers' Report

Fred was not able to attend the meeting but there was discussion about the proposed budget that should be presented to the membership prior to the upcoming annual meeting.  As with past practice, this is usually most efficiently done via the newsletter.

The consensus of the Committee was that Fred should send a draft budget via e-mail to the board members and that it could then be included in the next newsletter.  There was discussion regarding whether or not the board should include any special budget items other than the "normal" items (i.e. newsletter, annual meeting, etc.). 

In connection with the budget, Jane suggested that MAP should consider moving into a technical assistance role for local Planning Boards.  Hugh raised the larger question of what should MAP be sponsoring.  Maureen suggested that MAP should not be considering additional workshops and sponsorships if, for example, we are having trouble staffing the few workshops (such as Envision Maine) that MAP does presently participate in.  The consensus seemed to be that the Board should look at the Strategic Plan to identify the types of activities and projects that MAP should be devoting resources to.  

One item in particular was the lack of professional quality presentation materials that MAP presently has.  These could be re-used every time MAP had a booth or area at a conference or workshop.  Jane reported that occasionally a pre-owned board/ materials can be found for a reasonable price at places such as "Nimlock" in Portland.  The consensus was that MAP should propose $1,000 in the upcoming budget as a separate line item to be used to purchase re-usable presentation materials.

Item 4:  MAP Annual Meeting

Jim and Rich are working on the logistics of the room, set-up, and tours that may be available that MAP attendees could also participate in.  The expected cost is in the $25-30 range and the cost is expected to be the same whether or not attendees participate in the bus tour.  The conference is a joint meeting of the MCDA and MAP. 

The MAP business meeting portion is expected to run from 8:30 to 9:30, then the main speaker will take over until lunch.  The speaker, Jimmy Hicks, will discuss the economic shock of base closures and other large plant closings and opportunities that become available.  There is expected to be time at the end of his presentation for questions and open discussion.  Following Mr. Hicks presentation, the awards will be presented by Rich at lunch.  The bus tour of the BNAS and other presently military facilities that will be closed will occur between 1:30 and 4:00. 

There was a suggestion that there be an informal meeting following the bus tour but the consensus was that it could be suggested that attendees that wanted to do this could all meet at a restaurant or other location.  Jim encouraged Board members to solicit additional sponsors to further help defray meeting costs. 

Jim will create a final draft of the registration form and will forward the form to MMA who will be responsible for collecting the registration forms and fees from MAP members.  MCDA seems to work well with MMA and it seems to make sense to have one organization collect the forms and fees.

Slate of Officers/ Board Members:  Beth had forwarded a memo dated 4/6/06 to the Board outlining the present status of members willing to serve for FY 07.  Noel does not expect to have the time necessary to continue to be president.  Fred indicated at the March meeting that he would be willing to continue to be Treasurer in the event that no one else was interested.  Maureen has generously offered to continue as newsletter editor.  Rich and Gwen are off the Board for FY 07.

The president post is open although one present Board member may be willing if there is a nomination from the floor.  Doug has indicated that he would take the VP position if no one else was willing with the understanding that he would not commit to president the following year in accordance with the informal MAP policy.  Jim is "on the fence" regarding both being a Board member and recording secretary due to some other commitments he may have in the upcoming year. 

Anne Kreig and Helen Edmonds have suggested to Beth that they would be willing to be on the Board for FY 07.  Given the vacancies, MAP still needs 2 or 3 Executive Board member depending upon what Jim decides to do once he knows about his other commitment.

Awards:  Jim reported that input from Rich in needed and, to Jim's knowledge, only one nomination for the awards have been received to date.  The submission deadline is April 15th so it is coming up fast.  Ideally, there would be at least two nominations for each category; Student planner of the year, Professional planner of the year, Citizen planner of the year, Plan of the year, and Project/ Program of the year.  USM/Jack will take care of the student as with other years.

Jim suggested that Board members call the COG's and encourage people to submit applications.  Doug will call GPCOG to encourage nominations be submitted.  The consensus was that if nominations were not received then MAP would not

Item 5:  NNECAPA Grant

The Board tried to determine the status of the NECAPPA and it became apparent that the Board members that were involved with filling out the paperwork were unable to attend the meeting.  The next step is to determine if the necessary paperwork has been filled out and sent to NECAPPA, and if so, has NECAPPA responded regarding whether or not the MAP proposal to utilize the grant is acceptable to them.  The consensus of the Board was  that more information is needed and that it should be discussed as an agenda item at the May meeting.

Item 6: Island Affordable Housing Forum Funding

Jane outlined the purposes of the upcoming forum to be held on April 28 and 29th in Belfast.  The focus is how islands, both "bridged" and "unbridged" can develop and sustain affordable housing.  John Abrams who has developed affordable housing on Martha's Vineyard is the keynote speaker.  The cost to register is $50.  Some overnight accommodations are available but preference for the overnight will be given to residents of unbridged islands. 

Jane felt that it would be great show of support for MAP to consider being one of several sponsors for the upcoming event.  She moved to appropriated $1,000 for MAP to be a sponsor.  Jim and Carl questioned what would MAP receive for being a sponsor and Jane outlined that MAP would be able to put up the logo, have space at the forum for a table, and would be announced that it had helped sponsor the event.  Jim moved that the motion be amended to sponsor $500 given the many worthy causes that MAP is asked to support.  The motion to amend to appropriate $500 was approved unanimously.  The main motion, as amended, also passed unanimously.  Jane will contact Fred for the $500 check.

Linda suggested that it would seem appropriate for the Board to be more formal about the way it sponsors various events and organizations.  There are many "worthy" causes and the manner in which the Board decides how funding is allocated should be based on a yearly budget "cap".  The consensus of the Board was that there should be a budget and established  criteria that is utilized to determine if MAP supports a given event/ organization.  This method would make the process more objective and equitable.  The Board suggested that this should be an agenda item for a future meeting.  Perhaps there could be a subcommittee that could draft some proposed language for the Board to consider.

Item 7:  Newsletter Update

Maureen reported that the latest newsletter has been sent.  A brief article regarding the upcoming annual meeting is needed and Jim said that he could put something together.  Stacy offered to help with the article if Jim wanted some help. 

The next newsletter should include the proposed slate and the draft budget which should include the $1K for the presentation materials (see Treasurers' Report) but otherwise the budget would probably be similar to other years.  Jane will put together an article regarding the April 28 & 29 Island Forum on affordable housing.

The SPO evaluation report has been printed and Matt will get something to Maureen for eventual inclusion into the next newsletter.

Item 8:  Membership/Web

Matt reported that the membership renewal notices will go out shortly.  The form will be on a two-sided piece of paper and it will be sent to current members and lapsed members.  Matt/Maureen/Jim will collaborate to ensure that the same form is sent, in the newsletter, and on the website. 

Matt will add to the form that payment should be received by May 1 in order for members to be marked as "current" MAP members in the forthcoming directory.  He expects to be able to hand out the new, updated directory at the annual meeting.  Jim reminded Board members that sponsors are still welcome and he encouraged Board members to solicit.

Item 9:  Other

A.  MAP presentation materials.  Jane reported that a reasonably good used board could be purchased for a few hundred.  This was discussed previously in the Treasurers' Report.

B.  County Health Administration.  Jim reported that the state is moving towards county health administration and that each county is expected to get $80-100K to set up the administration.  He wanted to ensure that planners were aware of this trend.

C.  Governors tea.  Jane reported that she attended the Governors tea and that administrators are trying to connect community development to public health.  Riding a bike to school, for example, is often associated with an era gone by and the tide may be beginning to turn to try to incorporate some community health aspects into community development.

D.  GrowthSmart.  Hugh reported that GrowthSmart was looking to distribute/ publicize their "briefs".  There have been a dozen or so to date, usually one page, and they are very concise and well written.  Perhaps MAP could consider printing some and having them available for the membership at the annual meeting.  Jim suggested that there could be a link on the list-serve; perhaps even add a reference to the link in the newsletter.

E.  Brookings Study.  In connection with the Brookings Study, there will be a series of  brief but important meetings held throughout the state.  Over a two-day period, there will be six meetings held at various locations for 1 and 1/2 hours each.  Three meetings each day; morning, mid-day, and evening.  Attendance by planners at these meetings is important since the Brookings staff need to get input from local level planners in order to more accurately determine the status of planning in Maine that will be reflected in their reports.  Further information about the days/times of the meetings can be obtained from Brookings and is available at www.growsmartmaine.org.

Item 10:  Next Meeting

The next MAP Executive Board Committee meeting was set for Friday, May 5th at 10:30.

Jim adjourned the meeting at 11:52.