News

Council discusses abolishing a committee
Discussion draws ire
By Elizabeth Prata

Gray--The Community Economic Development Committee supporters said that the CEDC has been mugged, vilified, and shamed. The Town Council says that the CEDC is negative, unprofessional, and unproductive. And that was the best part of the discussion.

It all started when the new councilors were elected in June, and the CEDC committee members discussed their purpose and speculated on the attitude of the new councilors. In the past, the committee's purpose has been to further the community and economic development of the town. After Councilors had been in office for a week, the CEDC determined that "the current Council seems very cool towards economic and community development in Gray. Since it is unlikely that any initiative the CEDC undertakes will succeed without Council support, it was decided to write a letter formally requesting direction from the Council," their minutes state.

"Further, it was decided to go through the Council liaison to request guidance from the Council regarding the Council's view of the purpose of the committee, the position of the town council regarding economic development."

Council responded to CEDC members with an invitation to attend the Council meeting, but the CEDC declined.

At the September CEDC meeting, none being held in August, three councilors attended and they offered direction and guidance to the CEDC as well as support. The CEDC said that they were at a standstill with respect to projects, and that their recent projects had failed. No new ones were in the pipeline, and worse, there seemed to be a regulatory quagmire inhibiting business growth in the permitting procedures, they said.

Council liaison John Welch forgot to attend the October meeting. With no Council present, citizen Lynn Olson charged that new member Jeanne Adams should not be allowed on the committee because she had, at one time, owed taxes to the Town. Olson also accused Ms. Adams with having filed personal bankruptcy, which is actually inaccurate and false. Ms. Olson stated that Ms. Adams had no right to be a committee member. Chair Julie Sheets allowed Ms. Olson's statements to continue, and did not call them out of order.

No other member of the committee spoke up as to the inappropriateness of Olson's statements toward a fellow member of their committee. That behavior from the CEDC concerned Council, and they turned a closer and more watchful eye on the committee members.

November's meeting was attended by both Council liaison Mr. John Welch and Councilor Skip Crane. Mr. Crane offered several ideas to the CEDC but the CEDC was lukewarm to them. The CEDC contends that Gray has little to offer in the way of economic development because the zoning is confusing, commercial land is limited, and the regulatory quagmire too indelible. Mr. Crane attempted to liven the committee's attitude, saying, "If all you have is pencils, sell pencils."

Ms. Adams had noted the committee's lack of projects in progress and offered that the CEDC could buttress their economic development presence on the Town website. She researched and proposed a website report to the Committee, but they stated that it is not their purview to deal with the website.

Finally, Council gave the CEDC a task to delve into the issues of the quagmire and see where the processes were going haywire.

At the December meeting, the CEDC produced a draft of their initial research into the quagmire, but Ms. Sheets stated flatly they did not intend to look into the Planning Board in any way, shape or form. The CEDC members were cool to moving further down the road with the quagmire task, but Ms. Sheets said that they could at least give it one more month to see where the exploration went.

Meanwhile a local realtor had asked the committee to write a letter supporting economic development in Gray. He had three major clients interested in purchasing land on Rt. 100 and would like to show his client that there was encouragement endorsing the attributes of Gray to these three potential buyers. Chair Sheets stated that she could not move forward because she needs more information. Then the Committee spent time discussing how long the agritourism ordinance has take to draft and implement.

In December, the committee was again absent its liaison though he had been informed of the meeting change. Mr. Crane did not attend because the Committee had changed the date of their meeting but had failed to post the new date on the town website, or notify council as to the change.

The quagmire draft was circulated and discussed. The realtor came to the meeting and again asked for a letter of support for economic development and positive attributes of Gray. Discussion ensued about what to put in such a letter and how it would be drafted. Chair Sheets said she would draft a letter and share it with members before it went out. Then the members ended the meeting with a discussion about their disappointment in the quality of The Monument's reporting on their meetings.

At the December 20 Council meeting, under Council Business portion of the agenda, the Council raised the issues they saw with the committee being uncooperative, unproductive and unprofessional. They decided to ask the CEDC to come to the January meeting to discuss their failures and to determine if the Committee should be abolished.

And come they did. The members and their supporters showed up and the CEDC was invited to sit with the Council to discuss how a better working relationship could be broached.

The CEDC began with a combative and aggressive challenge to the council. Member Jack Goosetrey said that the timing of the discussion with CEDC and the language to abolish the committee were on the same agenda. "This is stupid. Why have us here if you're going to get rid of us?" Council Chair Gary Foster replied that no decision had been made whether to abolish the committee. He also said that the language on the Order to abolish was a notification only, no action to abolish the committee would take place until the next meeting, pending outcome of this meeting.

Mr. Crane said that one of the committee's recent tasks was to look into the regulatory quagmire but that the committee had set aside any review of participation in that quagmire by the Planning Board. CEDC member Jack Goosetrey is also a member of the Planning Board.

Ms. Sheets said that she agreed that the Planning Board may or may be part of the quagmire but that she was not in a position to review that entity.
Vice-Chair Upham said that he saw no involvement from the committee, that they were commissioning others to do their work for them, that an e-mail from their own member, Ralph Wink, stated that the town does not have much to offer.

He said that he looks to their behavior, and that "you write letters and pontificate as to their value to the town, but where were you on the night that the agritourism ordinance was in front of the Planning Board?"
referring to the CEDC's failure to attend the meeting at which the ordinance, the one the CEDC had said the draft had taken so long to get ready, was finally being heard publicly at hearing.

Ms. Sheets countered by challenging Mr. Upham to reveal where he had gotten the CEDC's documents, and he said, "Elizabeth Prata." Ms. Sheets said that they had intended for those documents to remain inside the committee and that this reporter's circulation of them to council was only designed to fuel the fire.

Ms. Duda reminded Ms. Sheets that committee documents are public and available to anyone.

Ms. Sheets asked Mr. Upham, if he had had concerns as he'd stated at the December Council meeting, why he had not picked up the phone and talked to her. "Because I did not want to talk to you," Mr. Upham replied. "I wanted to talk with the group about this, at this meeting. We have an obligation to the citizens of the town of Gray. CEDC is designed to do work and if you do not, it is incumbent on us to ask you what it is that you do."

Mr. Welch said that he would rather fix things than have them be at each other.

Ms. Duda said that she had looked over the last two years of committee minutes and there were many good suggestions in there. "Can you do one doable thing? Can we move forward and smooth out some of this mess? If not, what is preventing us from getting past it?" Member Ralph Wink said that "We don't market ourselves well because we don't know what we're marketing." He said he did not know if it was fixable.

Mr. Upham said that there were four components in their Council Rules outlining CEDC's tasks, "and all I have heard is negative. "You say 'Gray doesn't have that, Gray doesn't have this.' What have you accomplished? All I hear is negative."

Ms. Sheets replied that it was not negative, just a realistic assessment. She asserted that the Council's treatment of the members was an attack.

Ms. Duda asked Jeanne Adams what she thought. "With all due respect to citizens who serve, I have found CEDC meetings to be contentious and unproductive. No work has been brought here to show you tonight. Nothing is in the pipeline. Any suggestion of mine have been shot down. It's sad for the businesses of Gray. I had hoped that we could work together for Gray."
Ms. Duda asked, "Is this possible?"

"No. At this point, no," Ms. Adams replied.

John Welch proposed that the Order to change the language in the Council Rules to abolish the committee be withdrawn and an apology offered to the committee. It was seconded by Ms. Duda.

Citizens were itching to speak, the most eager was Ms. Olson. She asserted again that due to Ms. Adams's alleged financial situation that she had no right to be on the committee. "I have a pet peeve about that," she said. Ms. Olson said that it does not do the businesses in Gray any good to have such a person on the Committee. Manager Mitchell Berkowitz, who had been silent during the two hours of discussion, mouthed 'thank you' to Ms. Olson, who in turn mouthed 'you're welcome.'

Former CEDC member Mike Alt spoke on behalf of the committee. He said that if the point was to take the committee to the woodshed, then it was "better to do it at a workshop and not in public."

Gray Business Association President Leo Credit, who also owns Gray PT, said that the model had broken down. "Whether or not you abolish this committee, we need a group, a person, someone, who can help guide people through a process. No one from this committee ever contacted me as president of the GBA or as a local business owner." He said that he is expanding his business in another town and "they shook my hand, hugged me almost" and have worked very hard with him through his expansion. "I would like to see the model changed so that things get done," he said.


Pam Wilkinson said that it was premature to abolish the committee. She reminded the Council that they were new and advised them to hire a person to do the economic development work.

Fran Monroe said that she supports this Council. She said she understood how hard change was to implement. "Any person who thinks that change will go through right away is mistaken." She also understood where the negativity is coming from and it was obvious to her that "as soon as you point to the facts, they get nervous and go to emotion."

Don Crandall supported the withdrawal motion as did Planning Board member Don Hutchings.

The motion to withdraw the Order failed, with only Welch and Duda voting for it. The motion to accept the notification of changing the Council Rules to abolish the CEDC passed 3-2, with Foster, Upham, and Crane in support.

The Council will have another Order up for a discussion and vote to actually abolish the committee at the January 17 meeting. The public is welcome to attend.