As you may remember I was appointed by Governor Baldacci to the task force to on Maine’s Natural Resource Agencies. We met throughout the summer and fall and completed a variety of tasks outside of meetings. At the end of the process there was only one proposal with much support. The proposal put forward by the Natural Resource Network had the support of more than half of the task force members. But because we were operating under consensus rules voting on various proposals was not done. There was an article in the Brunswick Times Record about the meeting and this was in the Portland Press Herald last evening.
A task force charged with planning the merger of several state natural resource agencies has ended its work without reaching agreement on a merger, state officials said today.
The group was able to come up with some recommendations to streamline operations and share resources, according to Karin Tilberg, the governor's senior policy advisor on natural resources, and a member of the task force.
"I think fear of the unknown was a big factor," Tilberg said. "I think if we had another year, we could have gotten there. We ran out of time."
The task force met about 6 times, including a two-day retreat.
The governor will now review the task force's recommendations and use it as part of the upcoming budget proposal, according to Deputy Chief of Staff David Farmer.
"On the big systemic changes, they did not reach agreement. We were hoping that they would have made more progress, but this is difficult work," Farmer said.
It is very disappointing to think that the work of the task force will be simply ignored by the Governor as he prepares the next budget. The natural resource agencies represent places where the Maine economy makes money and spends less than 3 percent of the state budget. Clearly any savings that might result from even total elimination of these agencies is not significant even in these difficult budget times.
Add new comment