Scarborough Government 101

Scarborough Government 101

By Cory Fellows, Town Council

Many residents don’t give much thought to town governance, and that’s completely understandable. People tend to spend most of their time focusing on their jobs or families, attending athletic events and other school-related activities, or just enjoying our beaches, conservation areas, and everything else our area has to offer. If you’re like most of my friends and neighbors, the way the Town of Scarborough is managed doesn’t typically enter your mind unless it’s property tax season, a budget referendum is on the ballot, or a new development has cropped up or is proposed nearby.

As a relatively new member of the Town Council who was elected last fall but previously served on the Planning Board, I have viewed local governance and service through a couple different lenses. I’d like to offer a brief overview of how it all works – and my own thoughts on the role of a Councilor.

Scarborough has a Council/ Town Manager form of government, in which the town’s voters elect seven councilors to represent them. Councilors serve staggered three-year terms, and can be elected up to three consecutive times. A professional Town Manager serves at the pleasure of the Council and oversees a team of skilled staff who handle duties including public works, planning and code enforcement, community services, assessment, and election administration. 

One element of this system which I find particularly important is that Councilors all serve “at large,” meaning that all seven represent the entire town and not just certain neighborhoods. This encourages each of us to think about the town as a whole, and discourages factional thinking which could pit one part of Scarborough against another. 

Another key feature of our form of local government is that, unlike in a Town Meeting system, elected Councilors are tasked with enacting ordinances and making most budgetary decisions on the voters’ behalf. Potential expenditures over $600,000 require direct voter approval, which is why the proposed school solution will be on the ballot next month in the form of two related referendum questions. Annual school budgets are also subject to voter approval. Those notable exceptions aside, the Council determines how much will be spent in which areas each year and directs the Town Manager and their staff to implement the budget accordingly. 

The Town Council generally meets in Town Hall at 7:00 PM on the first and third Wednesday of each month – with the exception of July and August, when it only meets once a month unless circumstances dictate otherwise (you can check the Town Calendar to be sure). The Council also frequently holds pre-meeting workshops on a wide range of timely topics. All of these meetings are open to the public and are streamed and recorded digitally, as are the meetings of Council committees which generally convene monthly. The Council committees, including Finance, Ordinance, and Communications, typically comprise three Council representatives and serve a vetting function for potential policies or initiatives before they are sent to the full Council for discussion and votes. 

A host of independent boards and committees, ranging from the Coastal Waters and Harbor Advisory Committee to the Long Range Planning Committee, are made up of appointed volunteer residents who offer their varied expertise and perspectives. Their work, which is often supported by Town staff, informs Council decision-making.

The underlying premise of the Council/Manager system is that voters expect elected representatives to invest substantial time and effort developing an understanding of sometimes complex issues, and they entrust those representatives to deliberate and decide on policies and spending – all with the support of the Town Manager and their staff. The Council solicits public comment on all items on its agenda, regardless of how preliminary or advanced, and takes that input to heart. There are inevitably instances in which Council decisions leave some residents disappointed or frustrated. Representative democracy can be messy and unsatisfying, but I think that all of us Councilors truly want what’s best for Scarborough – and my personal approach is to seek common ground wherever possible but to follow my conscience and try to exercise independent judgment and leadership when it seems appropriate.

As previously mentioned, the Scarborough Town Council welcomes public comment on every topic that we consider. During these comment periods, and in the many emails that we receive, residents frequently identify themselves as taxpayers and implore the Council to act accordingly. Sometimes it feels like the implication is that the Council is a force apart – when in reality we are all taxpayers as well, and we experience the same sensation when those bi-annual bills show up. We also experience the same traffic and have the same desire to protect our natural resources. And though we won’t always agree on issues, those shared experiences inform everything that we do.

If you’re still reading at this point, you must really be interested in how our town is managed – and you probably have some opinions about it. Please feel free to reach out to me at cfellows@scarboroughmaine.org with your thoughts, or any questions. 
 

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Scarborough Town Council.