Road Commissioners and Petitioning for Change
Authored by: Kelly Bonsant, Erskine Academy and Pam McKenney, Palermo Elementary School

Grade Level: 9-12 (easily adaptable to Middle Grades)

The MLR performance indicators listed below are for illustrative purposes. Depending on the focus of the lessons as developed by individual teachers, these indicators may or may not be addressed. Conversely this is not a definitive listing of all of the performance indicators which could be addressed in this lesson.

MLR -   Secondary Grades: Social Studies: (Civics A - 1); Language Arts: ( Reading A - 11), (Information D - 1, 3, 4, 5, 6), (Writing/Speaking E - 1, 2, 3), (Conventions F - 3), (Stylistic/ Rhetorical G - 2, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11), (Research H - 1,7, 8, 9, 10); Mathematics: (Probability D - 2), (Reasoning J - 1), (Communication K - 1); Career Prep: (Preparing for future A - 2, 4), (Integrated/applied learning C - 4), (Responsibility D - 1)

Task Description

Students will become familiar with the position of road commissioners in Maine and the process of bringing a referendum to vote.

Student Products/Performances

Goals:

1. Students will explore the appointment, responsibilities, and budget of Maine's road commissioners.
2. Students will form an opinion about some aspect of the road commissioners job based on research.
3. Students will discover the process of bringing a  referendum to vote.
4. Students will discover the the voting process and the benefits of active citizenship.

Outcomes:

• Students will generate a list of questions and chart answers to those and budget information in reference to three Maine towns.

Possible guided questions:

1. What are the duties of road commissioners in our town and neighboring towns; how do they differ?
2. How do they get the job (elected vs. appointed)?
3. What are the advantages to electing the road commissioner; what are the disadvantages?
4. What are the qualifications?
5. Who is the road commissioner in your town? What does he like most about the job; like least about the job? What changes would he like to see?
6. Who has the final word - the elected selectmen or the elected road commissioner?
7. How might we change the position from elected to appointed/appointed to elected?

Budget:

1. What is the road commissioner's budget?
2. Who decides how much the town spends on its roads; what percentage of the total budget is spent on roads. How does your town compare with other towns of similar size -   miles of roads.
3. Compare the budget of the road commissioner to the town's municipal budget.

• Students will write a position paper which addresses some aspect of the road commissioner's job.
• The first part of the paper should focus on points they agree with.
• Areas they feel need change and reasons why will be the focus for the second half of the paper.
• As teams, students will decide on a position that they would like to see changed, write a referendum for that change, and explore three possible ways of bringing it to vote.
• Students will develop a ballot containing their referendum questions and participate in a mock election.
  

Resources:

Road Commissioner Resources:

The Road Commissioner, Maine Townsman, April 1993
Relationship between Selectmen and Road Commissioner, Chapter 9, Municipal Roads Manual, 1992
Guidelines for Road Commissioners, from Municipal Roads Manual, 1992
Road Commissioner's Duties,  Legal Note, Maine Townsman, September 1985
Job Descriptions:
        Road Commissioner (elected)
        Assistant Road Commissioner (working under the Town Manager who is Road Commissioner)
Interviews with Road Commissioners (current and/or retired) and Town Manager or Selectmen

Income and expenditure information from the Local Government Fiscal Survey and Fiscal Updates is available for participating towns.

Petitioning Resources:

Petitions for Town Meetings, Municipal Officials Handbook, Maine Municipal Association
        Local Option Election in a Municipality (M.R.S.A. 28-A § 121)
        Results of Vote (M.R.S.A. 28-A § 124)
        Sample Petition Form for Classroom Use

Sample petition activity: Buxton Residents Petition for Right to Recall Officials (from the Portland Press Herald, Sept. 11, 1998) by David Connerty-Marin, Staff Writer.

General Resources:

Annual Reports
Local Government in Maine, Kenneth L. Roberts, Town Office

Extended Activity: Find other positions within your town that are appointed and elected (2 each). Examples: Board of Trustees (Library, Academy), Clerks [Should municipal clerks continue to be elected to their positions? Maine Townsman, March,1996]

Criteria for Evaluating Quality of Product or Performance

Students will be assessed according to individual teacher standards on how well they meet the student outcomes, as listed above.