Town of Mechanic Falls Annual Report 2019-2020

Town of Mechanic Falls Annual Report 2019-2020

Town Manager

“The Town Manager shall see that all laws, provisions of this Charter and acts of the Council, and all acts of those within his or her supervision ar e faithfully executed.” -Mechanic Falls Charter Article 3 Section 2(F) The above covenant has been the cornerstone of my actions since 2018, when I took my oath to uphold the Maine Constitution and the Mechanic Falls Charter. Unfortunately, early in 2019 my adherence to that oath became cumbersome for a small coalition of residents and officials who had grown accustomed to shirking basic municipal procedures and working around staff and residents to advance their own priorities. Still, I was shocked as the events of the summer unfolded and watched from exile how the ripple effect of this event created an environment of mistrust, suspicion and misunderstandings within the community and amongst the staff who work so diligently to support the town and its residents. Putting the pieces back together has been a tenuous journey. My focus has been to replace key staff and rebuild needed trust and dialogue between the Council, myself, and the community at large. As we begin to get back to business, I want to take the opportunity to once again encourage greater community oversight and resident input into the direction we intend to take as a community. This is essential to a participatory democracy and for the ability of our community to heal and grow. We need to encourage larger voter turnout, we need engagement and enthusiasm for committee work, and we need diligence, critical thinking, and a willingness to solve our towns problems together. We continue to seek volunteers who want to build a stronger, more resilient community by stepping up to lead essential community committees. We wish for our residents to increasingly support local candidates, help get them elected, and continue to help them be better leaders once they are sworn in. Only 190 residents cast ballots to fill positions on the Town Council at our June 2019 elections. The highest number of votes cast for any individual was only 93 votes. In this small, but densely populated town with an overall population of 3,031 there are 2,045 registered voters. That means only 3% of the population (or 4.5% of registered voters) weighed in. Similarly, many local leaders in Maine towns are routinely elected with less than 3% support from the population they will represent. Though this may be democratic, can it be called participatory? Ironically, as we see an insurgence of online political quarterbacking and calling out of political misdeeds at all levels of government, we are seeing a painful downturn in constructive community volunteerism. “Get the vote out” camp aigns for national elections do little if anything to stimulate and motivate voters for municipal elections or highly influential committee appointments. Coincidentally we’re lacking plurality of opinions, beliefs and philosophies in those taking interest in running for local office, filling vacancies on influential town committees and boards. I wanted to close with a quote from Charles Handy, an Irish philosopher who believes “citizenship is the chance to make a difference to the place where you belong. ” So, I implore you: i f you want a local government that reflects your beliefs and addresses your needs, we need you to be involved. I look forward to creating new opportunities and avenues for even more community input as we continue this process.

All the Best, Zachary W. Maher

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