ROCKLAND — On July 23, the Rockland City Council held a special work session to discuss developing a municipal work plan for the 2015 fiscal year, a new process for Rockland.

Mayor Larry Pritchett opened the meeting with a general discussion of his findings after contacting other towns and cities that have developed municipal work plans. He also spoke about a services outline from Craig Freshley, of Good Group Decisions, who has experience facilitating city work plan development.

Pritchett said there are three classic steps to developing a work plan. First, the city manager meets with department heads to identify priorities and issues. Second, the city holds a public forum to give citizens a chance to express their concerns and priorities. Finally, the city council takes the lists generated from the first two steps and has a work session or a retreat to decide on the projects and issues that will go on the work plan.

After a comment from Councilor Frank Isganitis, Pritchett said that the three steps could be completed in six weeks. Some of the projects considered would probably have multi-year components, so that a 2015 work plan would set clear goals for that year and would also identify longer term projects.

“It means council isn’t having the same circular discussion every budget cycle,” Pritchett said.

Isganitis described having a work plan as “dealing with issues of differed maintenance in a practical way, instead of an emergency, put out a fire way.”

Councilor Louise MacLellan-Ruf raised concerns about hiring a consultant, like Craig Freshley, to facilitate the meetings and a work session or retreat.

The council discussed whether a consultant would be necessary and, if so, for which of the steps.

Councilor Eric Hebert suggested a facilitator would be helpful overall.

“I think it’s good to have someone to walk us through the process, make sure we don’t miss a step,” he said.

Isganitis agreed, but added that the cost estimate Freshley provided was too high.

Pritchett pointed out that the estimate, approximately $5,000, includes all the services Freshley can provide, and the council can choose which, if any, they would want.

The council divided on this subject.

Isganitis maintained, and Hebert agreed, that having a facilitator would be valuable for the public forum and would free up the council to be participants in the discussion.

When asked for his opinion, Luttrell said department heads might be more open about their concerns and goals with a facilitator in the meeting.

MacLellan-Ruf argued that the council or a qualified volunteer could manage the forum.

When asked if he could start the process of meeting with department heads without a facilitator, Luttrell said he could, but repeated his opinion that a facilitator might lead to greater honesty.

Councilor Elizabeth Dickerson stated that she did not understand why they needed to spend money on developing the work plan.

“Let’s just figure out what we need to do and get it done,” Dickerson said.

Isganitis replied that cost savings would cover initial outlays.

After more discussion, Pritchett concluded that it seemed as if a majority on the council liked the steps for developing a work plan, but were divided over the possible cost and on which steps a facilitator would be useful. He suggested that he bring a revised cost estimate with fewer services from Freshley as part of further discussion at the agenda setting meeting on August 4.

For the last part of the work session, Luttrell excused himself and the council went over records from the previous town manager search in 2011, and talked about the upcoming search.

Pritchett and others stated that having a final draft of the work plan would be a helpful tool when they start interviewing candidates, since the plan will lay out goals the town manager will be working toward.

Hebert suggested adding a more informal interview to the process where a top candidate spends a day or a weekend in Rockland with city councilors to get a sense of the city.

The council agreed to differ hiring anyone to conduct an executive search yet.

The meeting closed with the setting of an executive meeting to further discuss the town manager search.

For a complete video of the proceedings, when it becomes available, click here.