Budget Committee Members Tom Devoe Chairman Ricky Beaulieu Member Harold Grass Member Paul Poitras Member Gary O'Neal Member Tom Albert Member Rodney Nason Member Clifford Rhome Member Tom Malena Member Gregory Ward Member Robert Edgecomb Alternate Sheena Page Alternate Anyone interested in serving as a Member of Budget Committee should contact the town office - 207-325-4704 Limestone Budget Committee Bylaws 1. ESTABLISHMENT: a. The Board of Select people in the Town of Limestone jointly recognize the desire and need for the establishment of the Budget Committee to review and make recommendation on their respective budget requests. The Budget Committee is a body of local citizens and is established not out of a legal necessity but as a means to review monetary requests. b. The purpose of these bylaws is to establish written guidelines to be followed by both board and committee for the establishment, appointment, and orderly review of monetary requests by an independent body of local citizens for written recommendations prior to a regular and/or special town meeting. Nothing contained herein shall be construed or be intended to delete, modify, reduce or abrogate the responsibilities of the board of Select People or School Committee in preparing, submitting or administering their mandated duties. 2. NON-DISCRIMINATION: a. Citizens shall be appointed to the committee without discrimination as to age, sex, marital status, race, color, handicap, religion, creed or national origin. b. All references to gender shall designate both sexes and wherever a male gender is used it shall be construed to include both male and female. 3. NORMAL MEANING: a. All words, phrases and terms shall be interpreted as having their normal meaning unless otherwise indicated. b. Words having specific meaning include: Committee Budget Committee Municipal Officers Limestone Board of Select people Town Town of Limestone School Committee Limestone School Committee 4. APPOINTMENTS: a. The committee shall consist of ten (10) voting members and three alternate members who shall reside within the town of Limestone throughout the duration of their appointment. Each member shall be a registered voter and shall have one vote. The alternate members may vote only when recognized by the chairperson as replacing one of the ten voting members. b. Members and alternates of the committee shall be appointed by the municipal officers each July and shall represent a cross section of the residents of the community. Members shall be appointed to a three year term and can serve a maximum of 3 consecutive three years terms. Terms for the alternates will be appointed for a one year term. Members who serve a maximum of three, three year terms must wait a period of one year before being eligible for reappointment. The municipal officers shall fill all vacancies as required. Each new member of Budget Committee will be given a copy of the by-laws when appointed. An updated list will then be provided to the chairperson. The list will include: Name, Address, Phone No. and e-mail address if available. c. No employee of the Town of Limestone, School Department or elected official shall serve as a member of the Budget Committee. A spouse may serve, but all Budget Committee members shall abstain from any voting which would constitute a conflict of interest, as defined by Maine Statute. d. It shall be the responsibility of the municipal officers to actively seek input and recommendations from interested citizens who wish to serve on the Budget Committee. 5. BOARD MEETINGS: a. The organizational meeting each year of the Budget Committee shall be called by the Budget Committee Chairman anytime between the close of the Annual Town Meeting and 1 Sept. The committee shall, as a minimum, elect a chairperson and a vice-chairperson for the ensuing year. Other officers may be elected as deemed necessary by a majority of the Budget Committee. b. The Chairpersons of the Board of Selectpeople, School Committee and Budget Committee will schedule joint meetings of the Municipal Officers and Budget Committee, School Committee and Budget Committee during the months of January or February for the following purposes: 1. A mid-year review of the current budgets. 2. Set a date of no later than May 1st for the next year budget review. The municipal budget and School budget shall be given to the Budget Committee at least seven days prior to the meeting. c. The chairperson shall serve as chief spokesperson for the committee and he/she shall conduct the meeting(s) at which the Budget Committee transacts its business. d. The official recorder of the meeting, the Town Manager, shall accurately record all business transacted. A copy of all minutes shall be provided to the municipal officers and members of the Budget Committee within (10) ten days after the meeting. e. The chairperson shall have the authority to call the Budget Committee into session as necessary, providing prior notice is given to the municipal officers and/or School Committee. 6. QUORUM: A minimum of five (5) members of the Budget Committee must be present at all times to constitute a quorum. Failure to achieve or maintain a quorum shall constitute an informal meeting and no formal actions of votes shall be taken. 7. BUSINESS TO BE CONDUCTED IN AN OPEN AND ORDERLY MANNER: a. All actions of the Budget Committee shall be conducted in an open and orderly manner. All votes shall be done by a show of hands with a record of the vote by the official recorder. Passage of all recommendations shall be by a majority vote of those present. All members present shall be encouraged to vote. b. All meetings shall be posted in advance and are open to the general public and subject to the Freedom of Access law (1 M.R.S.A 401-410). Public participation by residents may be allowed by the Chairperson. Non-resident participation may be allowed by a 2/3 vote by the Budget Committee present. c. Robert's Rules of Order may be used as a guide by the committee. 8. REQUEST FOR INFORMATION: a. The Budget Committee has an obligation to review the budget requests presented to them and shall request information through its chairperson. b. All requested information shall pertain to the budget necessary for the purposes of making decisions on requested funds. Requests, whenever practical, will be of information obtainable from standard accounting practices, modified to provide sufficient narrative to clearly support the request for funds. c. As a minimum, the budget shall contain the previous two years (budgeted amount and expenditures), current year (budget amounts and expenditures) and proposed budget amounts with increase/decrease amount from prior year. 9. ATTENDANCE: a. All members and alternates are required to attend all meetings unless excused by the chairperson. If any member has two unexcused absences in one year his or her position will be declared vacant by the Budget Committee. b. The chairperson shall notify the Select people in writing of any vacant position declared by the committee. The municipal officers will fill vacancies as required. c. For the purpose of this section a year shall be defined as July 1st to June 30th. d. Excused absences may include, but not limited to, death in the family, and work. Each member shall be required to contact the chairperson or town manager in case of absence. 10. REVIEW OF MONETARY REQUESTS: a. It shall be the duty of the Budget Committee to review all monetary requests that are to be brought before a town meeting. b. In instances where voters petition for a special town meeting (30-A M.R.S.A. 2522) to request consideration of monetary items, the Budget Committee shall meet in a manner consistent with the review process as outlined for other monetary requests. c. The voters petitioning for such a meeting shall be invited and given the opportunity to present their request. d. The committee shall recommend an amount or no amount similar to the manner the municipal officers or School Committee recommends on their budget requests. This amount is to be posted and considered within the warrant calling for town meeting. If the amount is different from the amount recommended by the Municipal Officers or School Committee, the Budget Committee shall record their reason(s) in their official minutes as kept by the recorder. 11. SPECIAL TOWN MEETING: In instances where the municipal officers initiate a special town meeting seeking local funds, Select people shall reasonably attempt to notify the Budget Committee members at least seven days prior to posting the warrant. (By mail, telephone, e-mail or hand delivery) 12. CHANGES IN BY-LAWS: Once these by-laws have been adopted and future changes are considered by either Municipal Officers or School Committee, the Budget Committee shall be promptly notified. Before changes are to be acted upon, a meeting that shall include the Budget Committee, will be called to solicit input and recommendations on the proposed change(s). MUNICIPAL OFFICERS / DATE SIGNED ____/____/__________ Walter Elliott Fred Pelletier Paul Durepo II Tadd Devoe James Pelkey Jr. LIMESTONE SCHOOL COMMITTEE ____/____/__________ Kathy Beaulieu Joey Smith Shawn Gurette Michelle Albert Grace O’Neal Recorded by the Town Clerk in Book Page Vicki Page, Town Clerk Contact Phone: 1 (207) 325 4704 Fax: 1 (207) 325 3330 tm@limestonemaine.org Address 93 Main Street Limestone, ME 04750 Copyright © All rights reserved.