The Manager Plan in Maine

 Chapter I: Early Development of the Manager Plan

There is little doubt that distinct reasons existed in each community for the adoption of the manager plan. A Bureau of Public Administration survey conducted during 1968 revealed eight developmental factors which help explain the previous growth of the manager plan in Maine (Forster & Dunham. 1968). Much of the material presented in this section has been extracted from that survey.

These factors may be summarized as:

(1) relief of overburdened selectmen,

(2) need for more effective government,

(3) satisfaction with the plan in surrounding communities,

(4) experiment with the town agent system,

(5) establishment of the emergency municipal finance board,

(6) the enabling act of 1939,

(7) pressure from local individuals or groups and

(8) political scientists in Maine.

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Examples can readily be found in local publications in which the selectmen themselves express their frustration with the increasing number of demands made upon them. In Kennebunk, the chairman of the commission that recommended the manager plan made the following statement at a special town meeting called for the purpose of voting on the plan in January, 1948:

Twenty-five years ago when I was a selectman the office did not have to open more than one night a week -- today is different. The functions of government are centralized in our state and federal governments, but part of the administration of them falls upon the town governments. It requires a good working knowledge of the laws pertaining thereto and of necessity has become a specialty job. No ordinary man can step into the head of town government today and carry on successfully (Forster, 1948).

Similar sentiment was expressed by the second and third selectmen of Boothbay Harbor in a letter that appeared in the town's newspaper:

People all over the country are demanding more and more services of their local governments. Boothbay Harbor is no exception. The taxpayer realizes that he must pay for the services if he votes for them. However, he expects and rightfully so, to see his tax-dollar stretched as far as possible. This year your board of selectmen have attempted to do just this by various means. Materials and supplies have been purchased by the board rather than by department heads; bids have been required in all cases where the sum of money involved was large.

As a board of assessors, we have been responsible for the collection of more back taxes than was collected before in any two years.

As overseers of the poor, we have sought to prevent duplication of expenses in providing for paupers. For years the town farm has been kept open for one individual while others were provided for outside of the farm. We have secured old age assistance and pensions to lighten the burden to the town.

There has rarely been a fifteen minute interval during the work week that one of us has not been called in regard to a complaint. Without attempting to pat ourselves on the back, we feel that much has been accomplished this year. Nevertheless there is still vast room for improvement. Many things are postponed necessarily because of lack of time. It has been voiced by many citizens that there should be a man in the town office all the time.

As your selectmen we feel it is our duty to examine any and all ways in which efficiency in local government can be improved upon. We feel that in another year, Boothbay Harbor should have the full-time services of an energetic competent man. It is too much to expect that such a man can be found who is financially able to devote his whole time for the $600 per year now paid our first selectman. Therefore it would seem advisable for us all to weigh the advantages of employing a town manager. Your board of selectmen have made a study of the town manager form of government and after carefully considering all of its aspects feel that it is workable from a local point of view. Over ninety Maine towns have adopted the manager plan.

Lest anyone misinterpret our motives be assured that neither of us aspire to the position of town manager in Boothbay Harbor (Forster 1946).

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Selectmen felt that they could no longer administer the town because of the increased demand for better municipal services. This demand was evidenced in many towns by poorly kept roads, rising taxes, and a general inability to cope with new problems and issues.

The desire for better use of town funds and more effective administration seems to have been a major factor in the adoption of the manager plan throughout the state. In Washburn, a small town in Aroostook County, the chronic problem was uncollected taxes (Forster, 1967). In Belfast, the local newspaper claimed that "the Highway Committee doesn't know a shovel from a pickaxe" (Forster, 1929).

The proponents of the manager plan argued that a full-time administrator, in charge of all town departments, could be employed for a small part of the cost of the town's operations. In small towns, the manager could hold the positions of tax collector, treasurer, clerk, road commissioner, and overseer of the poor in various combinations, depending on the desires of the selectmen and the town meeting.

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The geographical distribution of Maine manager plan adoptions throughout the state demonstrates how the manager plan developed in clusters of communities. An investigation into the circumstances surrounding the adoption of the manager plan in these cases shows that a representative from a nearby town already using the plan was often invited to speak at a public hearing on the effectiveness of the manager plan in the nearby community.

Newspapers serving several communities also helped to spread the concept of the manager plan by reporting successes in towns which had adopted the plan. In the midst of the depression, Presque Isle citizens could not help but be impressed by a small story in the local newspaper:

WASHBURN CLOSES YEAR WITH SURPLUS

The town of Washburn ended its second year under the town manager form of government with a substantial net surplus. It is interesting to note that the poor account had a large unexpended balance. The expenditures per capita in this department were less than they have been for many years, despite the fact that it has been called upon more than ever before.

The proposed 1933 budget is approximately one-third less than for 1932 (Forster, 1933).

At the same time that Washburn was observing a surplus in 1932, Presque Isle was faced with the possibility of closing its entire school system for lack of funds, if other town services were to be maintained. In that dire situation, the success of Washburn may have loomed large in the minds of the Presque Isle voters when they adopted a manager form of government.

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Referenced in early Massachusetts province laws, the term town agent was carried over in Maine law until deleted in 1957 (Massachusetts Province Laws of 1694, Section 29, Section 4 & Moore, 1970, p. 2). The town agent was originally an elected officer who represented the town in legal proceedings. A 1903 statute authorized the selectmen to supervise the town agent with the town to fix the agent's compensation, but this was repealed in 1915 (Revised Statutes of 1954, Chapter 91, Section 1).

Little is known about the specific activities of town agents prior to 1925. In this year, under the leadership of business leaders and summer residents, the town of Camden began an experiment with a town agent whose duties resembled those of a manager. After the apparent success of this move, Camden in 1927 acquired from the legislature a special act charter which, for the first time, merged the manager concept with a town meeting-selectmen framework. Likewise in 1927, the town of Fort Fairfield appointed a town agent and after two years transferred to the town meeting-selectmen-manager form under a special legislative act charter. Between 1930 and 1958, at least 16 other Maine towns prefaced the adoption of the town meeting-selectmen-manager form of government by experimenting with the town agent (Moore, 1970, p. 2).

Certainly a key reason for the use of the town agent device in this manner was its ease of adoption -- by simple vote of the town meeting. Until 1939, the town meeting-selectmen-manager form could be adopted only by securing special act enabling legislation and subsequent affirmative vote of the town. The 1939 enabling act, however, made it possible for towns to adopt the town meeting-selectmen-manager form by vote of the town, thus precluding the need for further use of the town agent device. Nevertheless, several towns adopted and/or used the town agent long after 1939. Hampden was the last town to transfer from the town agent to the town meeting selectmen-manager form in 1958. (Hampden eventually evolved into a council-manager form).

In retrospect, the legal basis for the use of the town agent as a precursor to the town manager is questionable. It is clear, however, that the town agent was a useful transition device prior to 1939. Moreover, in many towns the town agent undoubtedly served to introduce the benefits of central administration where previously there were none.

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Spawned during the Great Depression, this state entity was created by the legislature in 1933 and was composed of the State Tax Assessor, the State Treasurer, and the Commissioner of Finance and Administration (30 M.R.S.A., Sections 5301-5310). It was authorized to assume responsibility for the operation of a community which had become insolvent until solvency had been restored. In towns of less than 5,000 population, the board appointed a single commissioner to supervise the town's affairs.

The use of the board, especially during the depression years, had two main effects upon the development of the manager system. First, it introduced professional administration to those towns in financial difficulty (several towns under a commissioner later adopted the manager plan). Second, it may have been a warning to other towns to improve their financial operations before insolvency forced the state to intervene.

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Before 1939, the only method available for establishing a town manager form of government was by securing a special charter (act) from the legislature. The enabling act of 1939 made it possible for towns and plantations to adopt the manager plan at the regular town meeting or at a special town meeting that was called to vote on the manager plan. From 1939 through 1949, 79 towns and plantations adopted the manager plan. All but eight did so initially under the enabling act. Since 1949, 52 towns have adopted the manager plan, and all but three towns did so by the enabling act. Several towns, however, which initially obtained the manager plan under the enabling act now operate under charters.

It was much easier for municipalities to adopt the enabling act than to ask the legislature for a charter. The ease with which the manager plan could be abandoned under the enabling act also was used as an argument in its favor. The fact that only four towns (Orient in 1950, Brooks in 1951, Skowhegan in 1970, and Princeton in 1991 with Skowhegan re-adopting a manager form in 1988) have abandoned the plan indicates the favorable acceptance of town manager government in the communities which have adopted it.

Moreover, the manager plan under the enabling act was somewhat flexible. The role of the manager could be adjusted to local needs and conditions and could be modified at the discretion of the board of selectmen. Under the 1939 enabling act, it was not unusual to find a manager in one community responsible for the operations of several town departments. In another community, the manager might be designated as clerk, constable, road commissioner, tax collector, health officer, and overseer of the poor. In a third community, these offices might be filled by town election or by appointment of the selectmen, with the manager being more of a full-time assistant to the selectmen with little real authority over town administration.

Although the enabling act provided that towns too small for a manager may form a union and jointly hire a manager, this device has not been used. Some small towns have hired a manager on a part-time basis, however, allowing that person to serve as manager in another town. In 1970, five managers held appointments in a total of 11 municipalities (Bureau of Public Administration, 1970). Currently, a unique situation exists in which one manager serves the towns of Mapleton, Chapman and Castle Hill. In 1991 the three towns adopted a formal interlocal agreement which set the rules and formulas for sharing joint expenses. The unique agreement, set into law by an act of the Legislature, grants authority to a joint board of selectmen to set all joint expense appropriations.

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In most Maine towns, an individual or group spearheaded the drive to adopt the manager plan. It has already been seen that the selectmen were an influential group in some instances. A second group which played an important role in promoting the manager plan in and around Maine's larger communities, was the local Chamber of Commerce. This is not surprising, since the Chamber is a business-oriented group, acquainted with the need for good administration. In one instance, the Chamber of Commerce in Houlton organized over 25 groups including the Democratic and Republican Town Committees, the Elks, the Rotary Club, the Music Club, and the Women's Christian Temperance Union to canvass the town in support of a town manager plan.

In other towns, a newspaper publisher, business leader, or farmer carried on a lonely campaign until more general support could be raised. In Camden, A. E. Robbins, publisher of the Camden Herald, editorialized in favor of a manager plan for three years before the plan was adopted.

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Throughout the early history of manager plan adoptions in Maine, the influence of three political scientists recurs. The first, Orren C. Hormell, a professor of Government at Bowdoin College from 1911 to 1953, was an advocate of manager government long before Auburn adopted the plan in 1917. He was instrumental in the early adoptions in Maine, appearing on request at town meetings or before clubs and civic groups to explain the plan.

Two of his students continued his work. One was Lawrence L. Pelletier, who taught government at the University of Maine and then at Bowdoin College before becoming President of Allegheny College. Among other publications, Pelletier authored the first model charter for Maine towns (Pelletier, 1953, 24 pp.) and co-authored with Hormell The Manager Plan for Maine Municipalities (Hormell & Pelletier, 1949, pp. 27). The other student was Edward F. Dow, Head of the Department of History and Government at the University of Maine from 1932 to 1966. Dr. Dow co-authored with Dr. Hormell the classic 1940 study of Portland manager government. Dr. Dow also played a large part in the organization of the annual summer New England Managers' Institutes. In 1945, he organized a unique undergraduate degree program in public management at the University of Maine. This program has graduated hundreds of students trained in municipal administration, many of whom now serve as managers in Maine or elsewhere. For several years, Dr. Dow served as an editor and contributor to Maine Managers Newsletter, the Maine Town and City Management Association publication. He also wrote numerous articles and assisted several municipalities as a charter consultant.

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