LEWISTON — The village Board of Trustees is pondering how to change its relationship with the village’s Beautification Committee, transforming it from being an entirely volunteer-run organization to a committee fully under village control.
The 20-member committee maintains 57 different gardens in the village and planters along Center Street, with the projects it undertakes requiring cleaning and improvement of those spaces. Their efforts have been funded partly with donations, which have raised concerns about their use.
The village’s auditors have for years flagged the Beautification Committee and its use of funds. Donations that they receive are often made out to the village, so they are making determinations for how to use village monies for municipal efforts, making the village liable if they are not spending it properly.
“We’re in this limbo where we have a pseudo-committee,” said Mayor Dan Cota. “We’ve created all of these piecemeal systems around it so we don’t call it what it needs to be called. And I think we’re at the point now where we need to call it something.”
Village Clerk Shannon Fundis pointed out that it has never been an issue regarding misuse of funds, but the possibility that the system could be abused is a concern.
Cota also noted that because money is coming into the village from the donations, residents have the right to say how that money is used.
While the committee would still be made up of volunteers, the current proposal would have it made of five members appointed by the mayor, which Cota said was based on how other village boards work. The members would serve staggered two-year terms, would be the only voting members, and would be the only ones counting toward meeting quorums, though volunteers would not be limited in other activities.
The committee would also submit an annual budget to the village trustees, with all of its expenditures needing village approval and complying with its policies.
An option for the committee to become its own 501c3 organization was considered, like how the Lewiston Garden Club is, but the village board did not proceed with that since that meant it had no control over its finances or property.
During Monday night’s village board meeting, roughly 10 of the committee’s volunteers were in attendance to oppose some of the proposed changes, mainly how the five-person board appointment would change how they operate. They explained how they prefer their current majority rules decision-making and feel the five appointed members could be from outside their ranks and dictate what to do.
They added that since most of the members are retired and served other government roles, they do not want their meetings operating the same as others in the village government.
“It’s as if you’re saying right now that you might not have any control over what really happens,” said Tasha Fitzpatrick, the committee’s de facto leader, to the village trustees during Monday’s meeting. “We’re so passionate about the work we do. That’s our love, and the way it’s written today is we have no say with the board.”
A public hearing for the local laws surrounding the committee is scheduled for the board’s Oct. 19 meeting, with changes to the proposed laws expected before then.
Fitzpatrick suggested they see how other local villages with similar committees operate and learn from them.