BOOTHBAY JECD Answers My Questions

Mackenzie Andersen	Jul 5 (10 days ago)
to Wendy

Dear Ms Wolf.

The JECD is the agency claiming it has authority to develop their master plan for our communities and so I have addressed the freedom of information request to the JECD. I am requesting authorization of JECD's authority-by the registered voters of Boothbay and Boothbay Harbor, as it regards any activity involved in the construction of buildings for industrial use. It is the JECD's selected consultants which is being funded on the taxpayers dime-per article in the Register.

 Our municipal governments are governed by the Maine State Constitution" which is very specific about the source of authority for the type of project which the JECD is clearly developing. Please explain why you feel this does not apply to the JECD.

Municipal Home Rule provides the rule of law for the construction of buildings, which it is reasonable to assume is teh JECD's master plan since the property owners of the two town's are being billed for consulting services of architects, landscaping, and engineering, with obviously even higher bills to follow;

Maine Constitution

Municipal Home Rule

Section 2. Construction of buildings for industrial use. For the purposes of fostering, encouraging and assisting the physical location, settlement and resettlement of industrial and manufacturing enterprises within the physical boundaries of any municipality, the registered voters of that municipality may, by majority vote, authorize the issuance of notes or bonds in the name of the municipality for the purpose of purchasing land and interests therein or constructing buildings for industrial use, to be leased or sold by the municipality to 

Since you are telling me that the selectmen decided to delegate authority to develop a master plan for our community, paid for by the community, without first receiving authorization from registered voters, I will address the freedom of information request to the board of selectmen as well. 

Mackenzie Andersen

Wendy Wolf	Jul 11 (4 days ago)
to me, Thomas, Dan

Ms. Anderson:

In order to thoroughly answer the questions you have raised regarding the JEDC, we contacted the Boothbay Harbor Town Attorney and she provided the following information: 

The JEDC was created as a result of an Economic Development Agreement between the Towns of Boothbay and Boothbay Harbor (see attached Agreement). The JEDC is composed of volunteer members of the public and one member of each Town Board of Selectmen. The JEDC is tasked with making recommendations to the each Town Board of Selectmen, who then vote on whether to implement the recommendations and how. Each year for the past three Town Meetings, the Warrant has contained an article authorizing the appropriation of funds for economic development. The Board of Selectmen is then able to spend those funds on economic development projects, provided they fall within the budget and within the scope of the Board’s jurisdiction. To date, the Boothbay Harbor BOS has voted to spend economic development funds on professional services for marketing and event planning, the creation of wayfinding signs, and the development of an economic development plan. Should the economic development plan result in recommendations that would require further town meeting approval, such authorization articles would be on a future warrant.

With regard to the specific question about Article VIII, Part Second, Section 2 of the Maine Constitution, that provision permits the registered voters to authorize the issuance of notes or bonds for the purchase of purchasing land or constructing buildings for industrial use. The JEDC has not been authorized to issue bonds. In the event the committee recommends any development project that would require the issuance of bonds or additional expenditure of funds, the proposal will be put forth to the voters at Town Meeting.

Regards - Wendy Wolf, Co-Chair |Joint Economic Development Committee

Mackenzie Andersen	Jul 11 (4 days ago)
to Wendy, Thomas, Dan

Thank You.

Can you provide me with a copy of that warrant and/or the agreement- which is indicated as being attached?  Can you also identify what the economic development projects are which have been funded? 

Also, who is the Town Attorney?

Mackenzie Andersen.

Please note that my name and our business name is spelled Andersen- NOT Anderson.

www,andersendesign.biz.

Wendy Wolf	Jul 13 (2 days ago)
to me, Thomas, Dan

The documents you requested are available from both Town, and the warrants are presented in the annual reports which are readily assesible at the town office.  The JEDC activities were described below in paragraph 1 and they have been covered by news stories in the Boothbay Register.  You can use the search function in the Register on line and type in JEDC to pick up all the citations and news stories.

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True to form.Ms Wolf assumes I do not know how to use online searches. Apparently she does not use the search function herself or she would know what comes up at the top of the list when searching "JECD Boothbay". (Adding "Boothbay" to the search term,eliminates results from other places as there are other organizations with those initials.)

Ironicly, the entire disqus comments to the Boothbay Register article about the JECD  displays, although when I had last checked on line the comments had been deleted and closed, but the conversation continued after that on Disqus.

Conversely, If one goes to the Boothbay Register website and searchs "jecd"- This is what returns: "Your search yielded no results" Looks like collusion between local media and local power group !