HOULTON, Maine — The town’s Community Development/ Grant Writer account will remain at last year’s funded level for the foreseeable future.
Houlton Town Councilors revisited the issue Monday evening, after several residents implored the board to reconsider the action at its Feb. 9 meeting. At that time, a full council was not present and the matter was held over until Monday night’s session.
The agenda item was prompted by a decision the council made to reduce the town’s community development department from $55,850 to $47,075 when it passed a $10,399,677 municipal budget for 2015 on Jan. 20. That department features one employee, Nancy Ketch, whose salary makes up about 93 percent of department costs.
Ketch was approved last October by the previous town council to be Houlton’s community development director and grant writer, but did not start the job until Dec. 1. Three new councilors were elected to the seven-member board in November and were not part of that hiring process.
Prior to her position with the town, Ketch worked at the Department of Health and Human Services and before that, was employed by Maine Revenue Service in Houlton for 14 years. She also has an extensive history with Houlton, and in particular its downtown economy. From January 1987 to September 1999, Ketch was the executive director of the Greater Houlton Chamber of Commerce. She was also involved as the marketing director for Houlton’s Downtown Revitalization Project back in 1987.
Houlton Town Manager Butch Asselin presented a proposal to take $8,775 from the town’s 2015 Fund Balance account to bring the department back up to the originally appropriated level of $55,850. The transfer would have reduced the town’s fund balance (surplus) account to $484,090.
“Taking the money from the fund balance is the cleanest way to do this,” Asselin said. “Otherwise, we would have to pick and choose from various accounts.”
Councilor John White questioned why the council was being asked to approve the transfer.
“I don’t recall this happening before,” he said. “Isn’t this at your discretion?”
Asselin said because the employee in question was still in her six-month probationary period, the council would have to approve the transfer.
Ketch is being paid at her originally agreed upon salary, but for how long that will continue was undetermined by presstime. She did not address the group at Monday night’s council meeting and declined to comment when asked by the Houlton Pioneer Times Tuesday morning.
Resident Sue Tortello once again stood before the group imploring councilors to put back the money that had been eliminated from the Community Development account.
“Last meeting I spoke at length about why a sizeable group of us support reinstating the community development budget administrative account by $8,775,” Tortello said. “Thank you for making that one of your agenda items tonight. This is an important issue. I strongly urge you to vote ‘yes.’”
Tortello was the only member of the public to comment Monday evening.
Councilor Dan Peabody said he was disappointed by the direction the council has taken on this matter.
“I think we shouldn’t even be here,” Peabody said. “I think cutting one line item and one particular department with no explanation was a little much. I certainly hope this gets voted through.”
Councilor White said there was an explanation of the reduction, citing the fact that the department was up 18 percent over the previous year.
Chairman Wade Hanson said one thing to consider was the fact that the current council was not responsible for the hire but was entitled to go over each department’s line items during the budget process.
“This particular instance, the choice the council made at the time of the budget hearing failed to fund a department at its needed amount for the wages that had been agreed upon through negotiations with the town manager and the employee,” Hanson said. “I think it is an extremely difficult thing both for that employee and the town manager to move forward.
“The council needs to take a deep breath and think about what occurred,” Hanson continued. “(The council) needs to put into perspective that an 18 percent increase in a $50,000 budget isn’t as much money as an 18 percent increase in a $150,000 budget. We just have to take real consideration of what is going on here and what is best for the taxpayers and the town of Houlton to move this process forward.”
Councilor Brent Dickison asked what the job description was for the community development department and added he hoped the matter could be resolved amicably, to avoid any possible legal action.
“We have this person working on the TIF districts and she is also involved in grant writing,” Asselin said. “She is one of our contacts for any businesses that wish to locate in Houlton. She is the ambassador, so to speak, for the town. And if I may say so, she has done an outstanding job.”
White said he had been contacted by more people, on both sides of the issue, than any other topic he can recall during his tenure on the board.
“It’s not about who is in the position,” White said. “You have to draw the line somewhere on departments and the budget. The buck has to stop somewhere.”
The request to transfer the funds was denied by a vote of two in favor (Peabody and Dickison) and four opposed (White, Phil Cloney, Jane Torres and Matt Carr).
The next regular council meeting is slated for Monday, March 9, at 6 p.m.
