More Effective Government
This document is reprinted with permission from "The Manager Plan in Maine" published by the Margaret Chase Smith Center for Public Policy. Copies of the complete book may be obtained by calling the Center at (207) 581-1646.
Selectmen felt that they could no longer administer the town because of the increased demand for better municipal services. This demand was evidenced in many towns by poorly kept roads, rising taxes, and a general inability to cope with new problems and issues.
The desire for better use of town funds and more effective administration seems to have been a major factor in the adoption of the manager plan throughout the state. In Washburn, a small town in Aroostook County, the chronic problem was uncollected taxes (Forster, 1967). In Belfast, the local newspaper claimed that "the Highway Committee doesn't know a shovel from a pickaxe" (Forster, 1929).
The proponents of the manager plan argued that a full-time administrator, in charge of all town departments, could be employed for a small part of the cost of the town's operations. In small towns, the manager could hold the positions of tax collector, treasurer, clerk, road commissioner, and overseer of the poor in various combinations, depending on the desires of the selectmen and the town meeting.