Maine Association of Planners 2005 Annual Meeting

Minutes

05/26/05

Due to inclement weather, the meeting was moved at the last minute from the baseball stadium to the University of Southern Maine Law Building, Moot Court Room.  The meeting was called to order at 11:30 AM. 

Attending:

[Note: I counted 30 persons in the room, but only have 23 here.  Who am I missing?]

X	Benjamin	Stacie	SPO
X	Bowyer	Robert	Planner
X	Bunker	Kevin	City of Rockland
	Chace	Jay	Town of HarpswelL
X	Colby-George	Judy	GIS Guru
X	Coxe	Hugh	New England Planning Concepts
X	DellaValle	Beth	Consultant
	Emerson	Dawn	Town of Yarmouth
	Eppich	Carl	Town of Kennebunk
X	Fisher	James	HCPC
	Gulnac	James	Town of Sanford
	Hamblen	Bob	City of Sacco
	Hilton	Gwen	Consultant
X	Johns	Linda	City of Brewer
X	Kartez	Jack	USM
X	Kent	Brian	Kent Associates
X	Lafleur	Jane	Friends of Midcoast Maine
	Larson	Donna	Town of Freeport
X	Lockman	Jonathan	SMRPC
X	Lysen	James	Community Clinical Services
X	Marshall	Fred	Plymouth Engineering
X	Melanson	Rod	Town of Topsham
	Merrill	Henry	Merrill Associates
X	Musson	Noel	Civil Engineering Services
	Nazar	Mat	SPO
	Oman-Saltmarsh	Jamie	SMRPC
X	O'Meara	Maureen	Town of Cape Elizabeth
X	Richert	Evan	USM
X	Roedner	Rich	Town of Topsham
X	Schumacher	Paul	SMRPC
	Tansley	Greg	City of Biddeford
	Thebarge	George	Town of Falmouth
X	Versel	David	SMRPC
	Walker	Amanda	Kent Associates
X	Walton	Joan	AVCOG
X	Webster	Douglas	Town of Casco

Welcome

Introductions – All of us introduced ourselves to the assembly.

President's Report

Noel Musson introduced the Legislative Committee Chair - Maureen O'Meara

· Maureen acknowledged the efforts of people on the MAP Legislative Committee

· MAP worked on about 7 pieces of legislation

· LD 991 Granting local governments greater flexibility. MMA opposed the bill, but after time the opposition was mitigated.  Final vote was unanimous ought to pass. 

· LD ... to eliminate the State Planning Office, then only to remove their function of comp planning oversight.  Bill did not pass, but SPO is on notice to work better with towns.

NNECAPA - Bar Harbor September

Coinciding with International Ecotourism Conference

Rich Roedner - Thanks Muskie School for today

Jim Fisher - website is good for job announcements, keep them coming

Jon Lockman - list serve is being used well

Treasurer's Report - Fred Marshall

MAP is in a pretty healthy fiscal position

· FY 2006 NNECAPA will be an extraordinary event, but we have a good chance to break even or come out ahead.

· Annual Meeting - target is to balance the registration fees with expenses.

· Sponsored GrowSmart Conference

· Some costs are predicted to rise.

Management of reserve

· Joan Walton - suggest that some of the reserves be placed in a CD or other investment to increase our interest rate. 

· Maureen O'Meara - want to minimize the work for Fred

· Jim Lysen - We should use the funds to benefit the organization and members.  Good to hear that MAP is involved in the legislative process.  Might use some funds for hiring lobbyists. 

Membership survey - Beth DellaValle - have received 7 responses to the survey.  Will try again next week.  Too early to summarize findings.

Noel - MAP is cosponsoring events is a good strategy

Motion on the Budget: Maureen moves the budget, Jim seconds. Passed. Thanks Fred.

MAP Board is using conference calling.  Working well.

Thanks to David Galbraith for his work on the board.  He needs to step down.

Election of Slate of Officers

· President - Noel Musson

· VP - Rich Roedner

· Treasurer - Fred Marshall

· Secretary - Jim Fisher

· Newsletter - Maureen O'Meara

· Membership - Matt Nazar

· Directors: Hugh Coxe, Beth DellaValle, Carl Eppich, Gwen Hilton, Linda Johns, Tom Marcotte, Doug Webster, Jean Marshall, Jane Lafleur

Next Board Meeting - August or September

General Discussion

NNECAPA

Donna White - Tad Redway was Maine Director of NNECAPA

Looking for a new Maine Director

NNECAPA nominating committee seeking people  Several former NNECAPA board members recommended the position

· Meetings are teleconferenced now.

· David Versel has volunteered to be on the NNECAPA Board - Maine Director? Applause for David Versel.

Open enrollment for AICP Fellows

· Noel read the list of names

· State Associations can nominate people

· The application process is demanding - paper work and endorsement letters.  Application period closes in October for two years.

MMA

Maureen was publicly criticized by MMA in their Legislative Bulletin

Question: What should be our relationship with MMA?

· Jack - MAP should keep to the high road and stay engaged with MMA.

· Jim Lysen - can we have a meeting with MMA to deal with this event.

· Beth DellaValle noted three issues:

· MMA handling of our guest speaker at the 2003 Conference

· MMA editorial about Maureen and MAP

· What was that third issue?

· Beth suggests meeting with MMA to review our concerns. Also need to assess the costs and benefits

· Evan Richert - suggest meeting with the MMA Board rather than the staff. President or Municipal Chair. 

Question: Should MAP continue participating in the conference?

· JT MAP should stay engaged with Municipal Officials - this is a good opportunity to work with them.  JT Is volunteering to help organize a MAP presence at the MMA Conference.

· Jim Fisher noted that preparing these sessions is a lot of work. We need volunteers to step up if we are going to handle multiple conferences in the same month. Next autumn with have MMA, GrowSmart and NNECAPA in quick succession.

· Participation at MMA would be more compelling if we have an issue that fits with their program.  Military Base Closure would be a compelling topic. 

Jim Lysen and others - consideration of the overlap between economic development and planning.

Evan - Hope that MAP will stay involved with GrowSmart.  GrowSmart and MMA have different constituencies.

Jack Kartez - working on accreditation for the Muskie School

University of Rhode Island is closing their program.

continuing education programs

· workshop on CommunityViz planning held recently, hope to repeat it.

· Choosing Resolving Land Use Disputes with Lincoln Land Institute - repeating in October. 

Announcements

Jim Lysen - Kids as Planners Conference June 27-28 at Sunday River

NEARC is in Portland Maine right after the NNECAPA conference.

Richard Berman will be speaking at Friends of Midcoast Maine Conference

Presentation of Awards

Student Planner of the Year – Presented by Jack Kartez to Sarah Hennessey, Muskie School MRP Student

Professional Planner of the Year – Presented by Jim Fisher to J.T. Lockman, Southern Maine Regional Planning Commission

Program of the Year – Awarded to “The Great American Neighborhood: Contemporary Design Principles for Building Livable Communities” Awardees include The Maine State Planning Office, GrowSmart Maine, Terrence H. Dewan and Associates Kent Associates and beth DellaValle..

Plan of the Year – “Compact Development Study: A Report of the Falmouth Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee” Awardees include Hugh Smith, Committee Chair, George Thebarge, Town of Falmouth Community Development Director, Ethan Croce, Town of Falmouth Assistant Planner, Mark Eyerman, Planning Decisions, Inc.

The meeting adjourned at 1:00 PM.