ROCKLAND, Maine — City councilors are divided on whether the city should add a volunteer coordinator.
During a budget review meeting Wednesday, councilors also questioned the amount of projected savings to be garnered by the proposed elimination of the full-time city attorney position.
The City Council has met the past two Wednesday evenings to review the administration’s proposed 2016-17 budget. The budget has reduced expenses but will require slightly more property taxes because of a sharper decline in non-tax revenues.
At this week’s budget review session, the creation of a proposed full-time volunteer coordinator was debated at length.
Councilor William Clayton said he did not think the position was needed.
Councilor Valli Geiger said residents feel that the city focuses too much on Main Street and that the volunteer coordinator would allow city government to serve the entire community.
She cited an example of seeing an older woman on oxygen trying to shovel her driveway. She said a volunteer coordinator could develop a program connecting people willing to shovel with people who need the service.
The city’s parks also are looking shabby, she said, pointing out that Rockland is full of gardeners who might be willing to volunteer.
“We have this growing gap between Main Street and residential. There is a sense by residents that it is more difficult to stay here. This is a worthwhile experiment,” Geiger said.
“That’s an expensive experiment,” Clayton responded.
The budget proposes a salary of $50,440 for a volunteer coordinator with the total costs, including benefits, being $68,000.
Assistant City Manager Audra Caler Bell said the city has many talented people who want to volunteer. But, she said, it takes time for existing staff to properly train volunteers so that they can serve the community.
Clayton said the city already has a lot of people who volunteer and did not see the need for a paid position.
Councilor Larry Pritchett questioned whether the coordinator position needed to be full time.
“This is a bridge further than I want to go,” he said.
He said maybe the city should simply look to provide additional training to staff on working with volunteers.
The council asked Caler Bell to find information on other communities that have successful volunteer coordinator positions.
Last week, the council also debated the proposal to eliminate the full-time city attorney position and replace it with an outside contractor. This follows a year in which the manager has been critical of the attorney.
The city manager has budgeted $60,000 for outside legal services for 2016-17. The legal budget is $112,000 for 2015-16.
Mayor Louise MacLellan-Ruf said the proposed budget does not violate the city charter, which requires an attorney. She said the administration has simply made a budget recommendation.
The city’s charter states: “There shall be a Legal Department, the head of which shall be the City Attorney, who shall have been admitted an attorney of the courts of Maine, and who shall be appointed by the City Council. The daily activities of the City Attorney shall be under the direction and supervision of the City Manager.”
The city had an outside attorney for several years under the charter, however. The city has had a full-time staff attorney since 1990 when Carol Maines was hired. Before that, the city contracted out the services to private attorneys who were on retainers. Kevin Beal has been the full-time staff attorney since September 2007.
Geiger said most department heads consult with the city’s attorney and all ordinances are written by him.
“This will be a huge hole,” she said.
She said $60,000 would not be enough to cover the costs.
MacLellan-Ruf said other communities have seen legal costs go up in the first year of switching from an in-house lawyer to outside work. But, she said, those costs will decline over the years.
Manager James Chaousis said at the April 27 meeting the city will have to use its legal resources differently. He said staff can draft ordinances and then present them to an attorney for a review. He said $60,000 is an appropriate amount of money but acknowledged it could slow down the council’s ordinance development process.