Community Benefits Agreement Advisory Committee (CBAC) Formation and Progress to Date

On July 26, 2016, the Monhegan community registered voters gathered at the Church to vote on the following articles. All articles passed as written. At the next regularly scheduled monthly assessors meeting on August 9th, the advisory committee members were appointed by the assessors. Members are:

Tara Hire, First assessor
Greg Rollins, Third assessor
Chris Smith, MPPD representative
Members at large include: Jaye Morency, Winnie Murdock, Fred Faller, and Amy Zaref

At the August meeting the assessors approved the motion to transfer $10,000 from the Emily T. Farrell fund to the Monhegan Plantation checking account.

WARRANT
FOR SPECIAL PLANTATION MEETING

To: Matthew J. Weber, Constable, Monhegan Plantation in the County of Lincoln.

Greetings:
In the name of the State of Maine, you are hereby required to notify and warn the voters of the Plantation of Monhegan in the said County, qualified to vote in Plantation affairs, to meet at the Monhegan Church in said Plantation July 26, 2016, at 6:00 in the evening, then and there to act on the following articles to wit:
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Art. 1. To choose a Moderator by Written Ballot to preside at said Meeting.
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Art. 2. To see if the Plantation will authorize the Assessors to create an advisory committee to aid in developing a community benefits agreement with Maine Aqua Ventus. The committee will be comprised of at least 1 Assessor; 1 Monhegan Plantation Power District Representative; and 4 members at large appointed for a 1-year term. The Committee is charged with providing the Assessors with recommendations for obtaining the necessary professionals to negotiate a community benefits agreement; to oversee the development of the benefit document; to give a progress report at the monthly Assessors’ meeting.
Said community benefits agreement will be approved by the Assessors once the authority to enter into the agreement is granted to them by the voters at a Town Meeting.
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Art. 3. To authorize the Assessors to expend up to $10,000.00 from Emily T. Farrell Fund to hire professionals to aid the Plantation in negotiating a community benefits agreement, including but not limited to an attorney, negotiator, accountant, and professional surveyor.
—-End Warrant Articles—

CBAC held it’s first committee meeting in August and laid out the priorities for which it was tasked. Some of the committee members expressed an interest in meeting with members of the University of Maine to establish a negotiating relationship. On September 13, the committee met with Jake Ward and Nate Johnson from the Univerisity of Maine, essentially a meet and greet. The September assessors meeting followed at which Jake and Nate were in attendance. In early October, some of the committee members went to the MPPD facilities and met with their engineer to learn more about the technical aspects of electricity on Monhegan.
Through August and September, lawyers and consultants were interviewed. An assessors meeting was posted and held on October 25 to approve signing a letter of engagement with Eaton Peabody based on the recommendation of CBAC. The motion was approved. On November 1, 2016, a letter of engagement with the firm Eaton Peabody was signed by the assessors.
To date that is all there is to report. The committee is working diligently and thinking creatively, with the help of trained professionals, we hope to negotiate a community benefits agreement that the community can approve.