On Nov. 5, voters in Windham will decide if the Windham Town Clerk will remain an elected position or by the appointment of the Windham Town Council.
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| Voters will determine on Nov. 5 whether the Windham Town Clerk position will remain an elected job or be converted to one that is appointed by the Windham Town Council. PHOTO BY ED PIERCE |
“The Town Clerk’s position should have someone who has clerk experience and who can be dedicated to this full-time position, including night meetings, and working evenings and weekends during election time. As an appointed position you can advertise and have the ability to choose the best qualified candidate,” Morrell wrote in the memo. “If the clerk is elected, anyone in town is able to run, and you may only have one person running who could absolutely have no experience or have any idea of what goes on in the clerk’s office. You cannot require qualifications when electing a clerk. This position has many responsibilities and involves several different jobs, most of which are state-mandated. Learning these jobs requires going to classes and workshops and repeating those classes due to laws and regulations continually changing. It takes two to three years to feel comfortable and knowledgeable in this position because there are so many things to learn and become familiar with. Elections are one of the most important things a clerk has to oversee, and you need to know what you are doing.”
During a council discussion in July, Morrell told councilors that she will retire someday and that the job is tremendously challenging, and she indicated that she only wants to ensure continuity and consistency for the Town Clerk’s office when she eventually departs the job.
In Windham, the elected town clerk position oversees Dog Licensing; Hunting/Fishing Licensing; Business Licenses and Permits; and Notary and Dedimus Service. The clerk’s office assists in Tax Collection/Auto Registration in collecting property taxes; assists in Tax Collection/Auto Registration in registering Autos, Boats, and ATVs; issues marriage licenses and has Welcome Packets available for new residents. The Town Clerk also ensures that customer service is provided to the public in a courteous and friendly manner and supervises all elections conducted in the Town of Windham. The town clerk also is tasked with ensuring that all voter registration for Windham is handled in accordance with Maine Law and the Windham Town Charter.
At the Windham Town Council meeting on Aug. 20, the public was given an opportunity to express their thoughts about converting the position from an elected one to by appointment and a motion was discussed by councilors to place a referendum on General Election ballot for Nov. 5. A portion of the proposed referendum would have included language to amend the Windham Town Charter to grant councilors the ability to appoint and remove the Town Clerk on a vote of five members and to remove the Town Clerk position from provisions related to elected officials, essentially making the position by appointment of the council without a residency requirement.
CONTROVERSY
Town Councilor Jarrod Maxfield was not present for a vote on the issue on Aug. 20, and councilors deadlocked, 3-3 at that time, effectively killing the issue being sent to a referendum on the ballot. But the issue was resurrected again during a special council meeting held on Sept. 3 as Windham Town Council Chair Mark Morrison said that a councilor can petition the Town Council chair to bring up the issue again if there is a substantive change from the proposed original language. During the Sept. 3 meeting Councilor John Henry, who had voted against creating a referendum on Aug. 20 had a prior commitment and was unable to attend the meeting. Both Councilor Bill Reiner and Vice Council Chair Nick Kalogerakis spoke during the special meeting, but each left before a vote to advance a referendum for the Nov. 5 election asking voters to determine if the town clerk position should remain elected or be changed to an appointed position. Councilors Maxfield, Brett Jones, David Nadeau and Morrison voted 4-0 to do that and it is on the ballot.
Morrison said in September in an email that he supports making the position an appointed one after doing more than 20 hours of research about this issue.
“Our Clerk, Linda Morrell has been advocating for the town to change to an appointed model going back to Manager Tony Plante five-plus years ago. She is not seeking reelection, and has one year left in her term,” he said. “She wants the town to vote to change the clerk position to the appointed model and prefers to have the residency requirement removed which broadens the pool of candidates for consideration. We have a beloved clerk of 30-plus years advocating for the change to appoint. She is in the best position to know what is best for our town. We must listen to her and move this to the townspeople so they can do their own research and vote at the ballot during an election which will have the highest participation rate within a four-year cycle. Thus, the town decides with the broadest number of citizens participating.”
According to Morrison, the elected clerk is an antiquated model.
“Virtually every town over 6,000 residents has already changed to some version of appointed,” he said. “The four remaining elected clerks in Southern Maine are taking action to change from elected to appointed. This is the direction Windham should go, not because we are ‘followers’ but because we value having the best people in place for the positions they hold.”
RESEARCH
He said that during his research, he interviewed eight town clerks, and most had over 25 years of experience.
“All stated very clearly, the appointed model is the best for their town and for the integrity of the vote. The clerk needs to be a true professional given all their responsibilities,” Morrison said. “An appointed clerk model seeks to fill the position with a person who possesses a qualified skill set commensurate with their roles and responsibilities. The clerk is a department head responsible for election integrity and the collection of millions of dollars in fees. Those clerks operating in an elected capacity are advocating for ‘appointment’ over ‘elected’ as the best long-term model for their own towns. They see the limitations of ‘elected’ every day, first-hand and support change in their towns by moving to appointed. Each elected clerk said they want to move to appointed, over the next few years. When it comes time for them to leave or retire, their town will be in a much better position to fill the clerk vacancy by hiring based on merit with credentials and can choose from a broad pool of candidates and not limited by residency.”
Councilor Nicholas Kalogerakis supports keeping the Windham Town Clerk as an elected position.
“My issue with appointing the clerk is I do not want to lose my right to vote on anything. The world and government are changing at a rapid pace, and we need to be careful with what liberties we are willing to give up,” Kalogerakis said. “Our right to vote is a sacred part of democracy that people died for in order to have so I don’t take it lightly even in our small town.”
He said that although some councilors have said they don’t want to hear the words “succession planning” again, he’s going to have to keep saying it because the town has failed in preparing for key departures, such as in the Assessing Department, in Public Works and now the Town Clerk’s office.
“If we planned for it, we could have had a seamless transition and Linda, our clerk, could have had someone working alongside her for the last year,” he said. “Mark Morrison did an in-depth interview with several clerks in neighboring towns. Most if not all of the clerks supported being appointed, according to his interviews. In my opinion, I can’t imagine any clerks wanting to have to run for public election versus being appointed simply for job security purposes alone. Run for election every two years or be appointed once.”
Kalogerakis said any elected official in any branch of government needs support and training when first elected.
“This is not abnormal, and we should be supporting the new Town Clerk in the same way,” he said. “When we appoint a clerk versus electing a clerk are we to be naive enough to think they won’t need training or support? They will definitely need it so why change? Simply put we should never be willing to give up our right to vote for anything. Nor should we think that a council of seven is better equipped to make a decision than the town as a whole.”
The council could appoint a clerk that doesn’t do well just as easily as it happens in an election, he said.
“Lastly, if we lose the right to vote and the council votes to appoint someone and it does not get the five votes needed, what then? Do we run the town without a clerk? I brought this up and it was not answered.” <
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