Full Board – Lincoln County Regional Planning Commission
Draft Meeting Minutes – December 13, 2012
Present
Dick McLean
Michael Tomko
Bill Pearce
Don Means
Gordon Davis
Ken Maguire
George Richardson
Ham Meserve
Mal Carey
John DelVecchio
Misty Parker
Bill Blodgett
Jaimie Logan
Mary Ellen Barnes
Bob Faunce
Emily Reinholt
Position
Chair (Damariscotta)
Secretary (Boothbay Harbor)
Treasurer (Jefferson)
Representative Bristol
Representative Alna
South Bristol
Representative Westport Island
Representative Southport
Representative Newcastle
Representative Whitefield
Representative Wiscasset
Lincoln County Representative
Lincoln County Representative
Director, Economic & Community Development
Lincoln County Planner
Administrative Assistant
The Chair, Dick McLean, called the meeting to order at 6:35 pm at the Damariscotta Town Hall.
Review of Financial Statement
Bob Faunce reviewed his financial statement, noting that some funds were subbed-out to Mary Ellen and
Emily, and other projects where he felt necessary.
Dick McLean asked if Bob could describe the building layers grant.

Bob replied that this was for $5000, $4000 of which would come from Sea Level Rise Budget and the
other $1000 he has filed 2 grants for and believes the State Planning Office might be a possible source
of funds.

Dick wanted to call to attention the support received from County Commissioners which had voted to
fund this new layer, with the possibility of re-payment if other sources were found.

The ED financial statement would be ready mid-January.
Following a motion made by Don and seconded by Gordon, the Board voted to accept Bob’s financial
statement.
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Mary Ellen noted that both Bob’s and LCRPC’s budgets were approved by the County Budget Advisory
Committee.
Work Plan
Mary Ellen explained that the work plan is divided into two parts, the first is focused on Economic
Development and LCRPC activities, and the second describes Bob’s planning activities.
Mary Ellen asked the board to provide feedback on the work plan. Jaimie Logan asked what on the Work
Plan is new?

Mary Ellen responded that while much has remained the same over the past two years, transportation
has been expanded as a new relationship with Coastal Trans and other social service provides have
developed
Mary Ellen noted the need to discuss a possible contribution to MCCED – whether in kind work or cash
contribution.

Don Means asked about goals around connecting with businesses and resources
 Mary Ellen explained that she and Emily Reinholt meet with businesses and introduce them to
resources.

Don asked if we feel comfortable with the work plan.
 Mary Ellen - yes, there’s nothing on there that isn't work that we do

Dick - are there things in the plan that are in there because they've always been in here?


Mary Ellen – no
Mal Carey – a lot of the plan is opportunistic. In terms of the total capacity, how many hours does Mary
Ellen work?
 Mary Ellen responded that in general it ranges from 55-60 hrs a week, including night-time
meetings

Jaimie – the work plan is more of a description of services rather than specific line items

Mary Ellen does not feel we are doing as much as we could with direct business assistance and would
like to put more time into that

Dick suggested that plan serves the purpose it is intended to serve
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
Don suggested that the work plan be more segmented, direct, with tangible items, goals and objects,
and responsive to customers. Don also noted that ASK isn’t in the work plan and wondered if that type
of thing should be more visible? He also inquired about the direction of funding sources, stating that
the LCRPC has been fortunate with funding from the County, and while it might be difficult to spread
funding base, would it be beneficial to shift the burden and broaden funding base by providing
services?

Mary Ellen – I think that seeking additional, and a greater variety of funding should be a
goal

Jaimie – don't get rid of this document, but add an additional sheet with more specific actions,
customers and tangible steps

Michael Tomko – when going in front of commissioners you want to be able to demonstrate
deliverables

Misty noted that while everyone’s comments are very positive, was the board adding more work to
Mary Ellen, who is already working what people have identified as too many hours

Jaimie expressed concern regarding the number of hours Mary Ellen works per week

John DelVecchio suggested adding measurable outcomes to Work Plan items that we hope to
accomplish throughout the next year – example: How many businesses how to help

Dick – getting that written down makes it easier for you to make those decisions for yourself

Jaimie offered support around performance standards

Dick suggested Bob take some of this guidance from the board as well

Bob explained that nearly everything he does is part of a planned project. He, therefore, has to
complete certain activities for the State – things are very specific projects, feet on the ground

Dick noted that workforce development might be a duplication of services
 Mary Ellen feels sometimes Lincoln County falls through the cracks and wants to ensure that
doesn't happen by continuing to work and network, not doing much on our own, but leveraging
other resources and working with others including adult education

Bill Pearce – clarification about CEI – while they act, in a sense as a landlord, they are not Mary Ellen
and Emily’s performance manager/evaluator

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Mary Ellen explained that she has yearly reviews with her CEI supervisor and she acts as
Emily’s supervisor
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
Dick – asked when Mary Ellen's review at CEI is? Suggesting that there is some board involvement

Ham Meserve – suggested the Mary Ellen and Emily pick 5 topics from the Work Plan that the board
can focuses on
 Mary Ellen suggested that this be discussed further at the next executive committee meeting
The Board voted to accept the Work Plan
Economic Development Budget
Mary Ellen noted that CEDS has been removed from the budget, and less money is coming in from CDBG.
Also noted that the LCRPC is trying to use up reserve funds

Don Means inquired about off-shore wind projects because of news that Monhegan and Boothbay
Harbor received funding for off-shore wind
 Mary Ellen explained that we're going to meetings and engaging with Statoil, looking at potential
for benefits to Boothbay Harbor and Wiscasset . One challenge is that the Governor is not a fan of
off-shore wind.

Dick noted the extensive onshore work infrastructure required for off-shore wind

George Richardson suggested that tidal is more beneficial than offshore wind, stating that as selectman
in Westport Island he is annoyed with State regulations such as the need to pay for various
certifications, primarily those involving soil erosion. Bill suggested that this be something that the
LCRPC put attention towards as a group, and inquired as to whether or not other’s felt the same
irritation.

Bob mentioned that a plumbing inspector trying to get certified in erosion has to take an eight hour
course, take day off of work, etc.

Misty - for a CEO it makes sense because there’s a certain liability that goes along with that job

Don - in terms of contractors that attend these trainings, he thinks they see benefit in that it helps to
build a resume and adds credentials

Dick - sounds like a legislative issue and for anyone that’s concerned

Mary Ellen - should we to put together an email to send out to towns?

Jaimie - is this really an LCRPC issue?
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Dick - suggested going with Mary Ellen’s idea of drafting an email
Sea Level Rise
Bob explained Sea Level Rise project stating that building layer data will be developed by a contractor
through the use of lidar and pulling out all objects that look like structures, building a digital layer of
buildings that can be displayed in 3d.
Creating this building layer will allow GIS software to automatically count structures within the impact areas
providing a whole new database of information – each structure contains information including value and
height.

Ken – if you want a shape file of a every building in South Bristol, I have one you can have – will this
layer contain metadata?


Bob – yes
Ken - location of structures on earth is easy to determine but when dealing with sea level rise, it can get
complicated because of storm surges and storm actions – unless we consider storm surge, I think we
aren't producing something of great value.
The Board discussed at length the details of LiDAR mapping.
What's important is surge action determined by contour of land and sea ground. Ken estimated the project
for the entire county to be in the millions of dollars, and stated this to be an awareness-raising project only
and not an engineering project
Bob raised the issue that the County has no GIS capacity and the towns have expressed the desire to have
something like this – can the County or LCRPC provide something like this? How would it be paid for? What
would it entail? Bob suggested establishing a subcommittee to do a feasibility study to look into this

Dick suggested breaking this up into two pieces:
1. Bob is looking for board approval to move forward with an additional contract with Kappa that
requires Dick’s signature, which requires board’s approval. Further discussion will be ongoing but is
not what is on the table tonight
2. Of those folks here, who would like to join a subcommittee?
The Board voted to form a subcommittee, and sent around paper for folks to sign up on
GIS Sub Committee
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Bob Faunce – Staff
Emily Reinholt - Staff
Ken Maguire
John DelVecchio
Mal Carey
Michael Tomko
Gordon Davis

Ken stated that he would be comfortable with a $40,000 effort to make people aware of what’s going
to happen

Don – question regarding contract – different options available with different costs of services

Ken explained that one should be deleted
The board voted to accept the Kappa contract
Central Maine Community College
Mary Ellen discussed conversations with CMCC regarding the possibility of offering some education and
workshops to Lincoln County businesses
Mary Ellen hopes to hold at least one brainstorming session in February with chambers, businesses, nonprofits, CMCC, and other secondary education institutions regarding training and workshops for 2013-2014
Annual Meeting
Mary Ellen noted the extensive discussion that occurred at November’s executive committee meeting
regarding the Annual Meeting and that the executive committee decided that
1. A weekday evening is best as opposed to a weekend or changing the time to during the day
2. The annual meeting is a good opportunity to show off businesses and/or towns
Although the bylaws say the annual meeting will be held in January, discussion raised concerns around
weather and planning time

Gordon Davis suggested a change in the bylaws

Bob suggested Lincoln Theatre in Damariscotta as a venue

Misty asked if Mary Ellen talk for a minute about folks from Bigelow Labs as potential speakers
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
Mary Ellen - Dr. Shimmield has the twin goal of developing sciences and building regional economy –
with commercial application of research. The growth of the lab is an economic engine. Karem Durdag is
an energetic professional, very engaging speaker, who runs a small bioplastics business in Boothbay
Industrial Park – very exciting in terms of bioplastics.

Some board members liked the idea of Dr. Shimmield. Dick suggested Michael Brennan due to his
knowledge on incremental growth and the idea of as opposed to spending millions to attract
development, support existing businesses. Ken felt that Mayor Brennan would be good and very
appropriate, but the topic seems too close to last year’s. Ham suggested Angus King.

The idea of a panel was discussed. While a good idea – as many aspects of a topic could be discussed –
because of the length of the evening, most felt a single speaker was the way to go. A panel would be
great for a different event.

We also discussed a venue. Jaimie asked about doing at the Lab, if we went with Dr. Shimmield. Ken
thought in the winter for turnout, it’s better to stick to a Route One, more central location.

Jaimie asked about doing it in April, to get beyond the bad weather, though other members would like
to stick closer to Feb/March.
The Board agreed to an April meeting and will propose a change in the by-laws regarding the timing of
the Annual Meeting.
2013 Proposed Meeting Schedule
The Board reviewed Emily’s draft meeting schedule for 2013

Schedule needs to be slightly revised due to decision regarding moving the annual meeting to April

The Board agreed that, while Monday’s might be a busy night, it would be best to go with the draft
schedule with meetings on Monday through Thursday, rather than Tuesday-Thursday

Emily will make revisions to schedule and send out to the Board for final comment.
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