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Episode 12 - The Greed & Weed Episode
With surprise guest star, Dexter Kimball future MMA podcast host.

This week our Legislative Bulletin we cover MMA's platform bill for Cannabis Revenue Sharing LD 88 -An Act to Provide Qualifying Municipalities a Percentage of Adult Use Cannabis Sales and Excise Tax Revenues, sponsored by Rep. Sean Paulhus of Bath;

Provide and update on LD 422 - An Act to Eliminate the Requirement That Municipalities Provide Public Notice in Newspapers, sponsored by Rep. Daniel Newman of Belgrade;

Break down a bill to limit candidate speech on election day, LD 750 - An Act to Eliminate the Limits on Candidates' Speech at the Polls, Sponsored by Sen. Jim Libby of Cumberland County;

And preview MMA's platform bill LD 673 - An Act to Direct the Maine Criminal Justice Academy to Develop a Nonresidential Law Enforcement Training Academy, sponsored by Rep. Michel Lajoie of Lewiston. 

Plus we have a sweet interruption by young Dexter Kimball!

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Episode 11- The Newspaper Empire Strikes Back!

This week we break down hearings on:
LD 422- An Act to Eliminate the Requirement That Municipalities Provide Public Notice in Newspapers, sponsored by Rep. Daniel Newman of Belgrade 
and preview:
LD 405 - An Act to Prevent False Reporting Leading to Evacuation , Shutdown or Lockdown sponsored by Sen. Ann Carney of Cumberland County
and MMA platform bill with an upcoming public hearing,
 LD 88- An Act to Provide Qualifying Municipalities a Percentage of Adult Use Cannabis Sales and Excise Tax Revenues sponsored by Rep. Sean Paulhus of Bath
and possible fixes for the gigantic loopholes passed last year in
 LD 290 -An Act To Stabilize Property Taxes for Individuals 65 Years of Age or Older Who Own a Homestead for at Least 10 Years  originally sponsored by Sen. Trey Stewart of Aroostook 

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Episode 10 - ELDT, What to do with Dead Bodies & Engineering Projects Over 100K

A Qui*t (We don't say that word out loud, just like actors refer to the "Scottish Play") week in Augusta on the municipal front except for our monthly LPC meeting, trainings targeting municipal public works and CDL training, and bills of interest. 

This week we break down Entry Level Driver Training work arounds, review some interesting legislative proposals for composting loved ones and tackling inflation on statutory project levels requiring engineering review. 

If you're squeamish about human remains....you might want to give this one a miss.  

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Episode 9 - Tax Acquired Property, Elections & Cops Oh My!

 This week, an exhausted Potholes Crew, Rebecca Squared, break down legislative proposals around: 

LD 101 - An Act to Return to the Former Owner Any Excess Funds Remaining After the Sale of Foreclosed Property 

LD 34 - An Act to Require a Person to Show Photographic Identification for the Purpose of Voting

 LD 237- An Act to Require a Registered Voter to Update the Registration

 LD 26- An Act to Provide Postage Prepaid Return Envelopes to Voters Who Send Absentee Ballots by Mail

LD 237 - An Act to Require a Registered Voter to Update the Registration
 
And updates on:
 LD 142- An Act to Fund Climate-related Service Work
 LD 143 - An Act to Support Rural Service Programming and Promote Volunteerism
 LD 127 - An Act to Eliminate Television Recycling Fees for Charitable Entities
LD 96 - An Act to Ensure Release of Relevant Background Investigation Material to Current Employers of Law Enforcement and Corrections Officers

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The Legislature is back in session and back in person! 
What has changed since Covid? What has remained? How does it effect the public policy debate? These will be the continued questions we explore. 

This week our podcast and Legislative Bulletin covered bills effecting municipal operations and the public hearings that happened. 

5:00 - LD 202 - Clarifies the rules on sales of cannabis products at outdoor events. 
 8:00 - LD 96 - Disclosing background checks back to a current employer for police officers applying to another agency.
12:30 - LD 23 - Making all personally identifying information held in the e-citation system confidential. 
16:00 - LD 142 & 143 - Maine Service Fellows and Climate Corps for rural Maine.
19:30 - LD 127 - Keeping municipalities from charging waste handling fees for TV sets disposed of by charitable organizations. 

Don't forget to like us, subscribe and share this podcast with all your friends. You know you want to.....
[email protected]

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Episode 7 - New Year, New Legislature, New Co-Host

How does the Advocacy Team determine what bills to place before the Legislative Policy Committee to determine the municipal position on any Legislative proposal? 

What is more important than a title of a bill?

What is in store for our newest Co-Host and part-time advocate full time Municipal Issues Specialist, Rebecca Lambert? 

Will Potholes & Politics stop  when everyone is too busy at the State House? Or will the episodes become shorter and punchier? How will we stay sane while championing our beloved municipal heroes? 

Find the answer to all of these questions and what horrible things we watch in our "spare time", in this week's episode and get ready for the Legislative Bulletin shift to our podcast. Don't worry, we will be taking deeper dives into municipal stories with our colleagues again after Augusta adjourns. 

This episode features Host Rebecca Graham, Co-Host Rebecca Lambert (Rebecca Squared), Advocacy Air Traffic Controller extraordinaire, Laura Ellis, and Director of Advocacy and Communications, Kate Dufour.

Don't forget to like us and subscribe to stay up to date on the latest municipally relevant legislation being proposed in Augusta! Email us at [email protected]. 

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Housing and Homelessness in Maine is primarily discussed through the lens of Maine's largest cities. This episode Potholes and Politics features three local government leaders, Aroostook County Administrator, Ryan Pelletier, Madawaska Town Manager, Gary Picard and Presque Isle City Manager, Martin Puckett discussing the housing crisis, and growth in homelessness in Maine's largest county, and the collaborative way local government leaders are responding.

In this episode we also say goodbye to co-host Neal Goldberg, and hello to new co-host Rebecca (Becky) Lambert who will join Rebecca Graham for our future episodes. Additionally, we layout the way the podcast will increase in frequency as we pivot to pumping out important municipally impacting bills as they are proposed in the 131st Legislative Session.

Episode Break Down:
1:30 - Ryan Pelletier, Gary Picard & Martin Puckett discuss homelessness and workforce issue in the county.
17:00 - Martin Puckett discusses the collaborative way Presque Isle is engaging with Northern Maine Community College's unused college dorms to attract individuals who need housing, provide workforce development in the heart of the industrial center where employees are needed. 
19:30 - Gary Picard talks about the future housing needs of Madawaska and the looming "Silver Tsunami" and how workforce housing is an issue for labor needs.
24:00 - Ryan Pelletier talks about how the County is using ARPA funds to address the looming crisis of a growing population of unhoused in a shelter system that is over capacity and in conjunction with all municipalities.
28:00 - Ryan, Martin and Gary talk about emergency heating needs, and how to manage keeping people warm in the oldest housing stock. 
30:30 - Gary Picard talks about the changes in Madawaska before, after and during the pandemic.
35:30 - Martin Puckett discusses the problem with codes and address emergent issues. 
40:00 - We start Neal Goldberg's long "goodbye" and talk about the changes to the podcast during the legislative session. 

Don't forget to like us and subscribe to stay up to date on the latest municipally relevant legislation being proposed in Augusta! Email us at [email protected]. 

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As Maine prepares for elections next week, Rebecca sits down with, current Deputy Director of the Georgia Peace Officers Standards and Training Council and former 2020 Director of Elections for the State of Georgia, Chris Harvey, to discuss the increasingly hostile environment for those delivering democracy in our towns and cities. 

Chris and Rebecca discuss the tendency for municipal officials to develop “thick skins” over years of fielding with public complaints, and how it might be time to set aside their hardiness to encourage reporting of threats.  The discussion also touches on the ways law enforcement and clerks would benefit from understanding each other’s thankless tasks better. 

At MMA’s annual convention, Neal grabs an interview from newly minted Deputy Town Clerk, Gillian Gaddis of Cutler, who talks about the gravity of her new role and the amount of training and diligence required to conduct an election. Neal also sits down with Secretary of State, Shenna Bellows to discuss Maine’s mechanisms for reporting election harassment and interference for officials.

LD 1821 -An Act To Protect Public Election Officials, became law on August 8, 2022.

Episode Guide:

1:40 - Gillian Gaddis, Election Clerk, Cutler- https://www.cutlermaine.net/ 

5:30 – Secretary of State, Shenna Bellows - https://www.maine.gov/sos/cec/elec/index.html

13:20 – Deputy Director, Chris Harvey, Georgia Peace Officers Standards and Training Council, https://www.gapost.org/

Every town and city needs citizens like you to help administer the election. Visit the Maine Election Worker Recruitment webpage for more information about the qualifications, duties, and benefits of helping your town at the polls on Election Day.

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Join us on the exhibit floor at MMA’s annual convention, where your podcasts hosts capture the sounds and energy from members, vendors, and partners in attendance. 
Check out this bonus episode to find out who sat down at Potholes & Politics’ recording booth and what was on their mind during this celebratory two-day event.  

Interview Timestamps: 

7.05 Debbie Laurie – Bangor City Manager 

11.10 Jim Bennett – MMA President and Biddeford City Manager

18.20 Elaine Aloes – Incoming MMA President and First Selectperson in Solon

20.57 Diane Hines – Incoming MMA Vice President and Town Manager of Reed Plantation and Ludlow

26.21 Durlin Lunt – Mount Desert Town Manager and 2022 Manager of the Year by the Maine Town, City and County Management Association 

32.32 Kurt Schaub – Turner Town Manager 

38.57 John Simko – Androscoggin Bank 

43.15 Kay Rand – TFIC 

48.30 James Neal – Efficiency Maine

51.42 Christine Landes – Chelsea Town Manager

54.18 Judy Mathiau – Winslow Assessor 

58.05 Yanina Nickless – Assistant to the Kennebunkport Town Manager

1:03.38 Gillian Gaddis – Cutler Deputy Clerk

1:08.10 Shenna Bellows – Secretary of State

1:12.51 Bruce Van Note – Commissioner of MDOT

1:18.55 Marty Grohman – Biddeford City Councilor

1:23.04 Bryan Roach – Volunteer Maine

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Episode 4 - How We Get There From Here: Step 1
Join us as we “drive” around the topic of Maine’s road. In the course of three interviews, Episode 4 travels from the Town of Jackman, through Augusta to chat with MDOT, all the way south to Town of Gray.  

In Jackman we explore the local reality of maintaining a network of roads. The conversation covers state-local partnerships, the budget crunch for public works departments, and a local hero who came to the rescue to save drivers from a 163-mile detour. 

In Augusta we meet with MDOT to hear about the Community Services Division, road inventories and classifications, local road assistance program (LRAP), local road plans and the fallacy of “worst first.” 

Finally, we stop in Gray to dissect the pesky issue of private roads its intersection with the environmental responsibilities of local governments. This episode will be part of ongoing dives into road related issues so...stay tuned! 

Episode Breakdown

03:50 – Town of Jackman, Public Works Director Doug Worster and Town Manager Cheryl Nadeau

21:00 – Peter Coughlan, Director of MDOT Community Services Division and Planning Board member in the Town of Randolph

47:25 – Nate Rudy, Town Manager of Gray

1:07:45 – Municipal Good News: “Celebrate” MMA’s upcoming convention

Corrections and Clarifications
49:55 - The budget for plowing private roads in Gray was originally estimated at $300K per year, however that cost is actually closer to $150K per year.