Why All Towns in Maine Need a Town Charter
And why is information on our planning boards so NOT transparent?
How The Home Rule Amendment Is Overwritten In Statutory Law
Yesterday I published my least popular story to date on NewsBreak. Apparently, Mainers are not interested in why every town should have a town charter, which relates to how the Maine Legislature “handled” the Home Rule Amendment.
Home Rule (1969) authorizes local control but in 1976 Governor Longley instituted central management.
The statutory institution of central management over local control is found in the difference between those two small legal terms, “shall” and ”may”. and in between the lines of what is said and what is not said.
The statute governing municipal planning boards (see my NewsBreak story) says that the appointed planning committee shall “Hold public hearings and use other methods to solicit and strongly encourage citizen input” to “Encourage the widest possible involvement by the citizens of each municipality in all aspects of the planning and implementation process”
BUT….
NO aspect …
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