By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

CASCO — Perhaps, it is best to poll the people before asking them to get behind a big expenditure.

On Dec. 3, the Casco Select Board hired Greater Portland Council of Governments (GPCOG) to help design a survey and to facilitate public forums so that the town can figure out which big ticket items the taxpayers will support. Those future expenses include a newly constructed or renovated fire station and a public works building on Leach Hill Road.

Last week, the board heard a presentation by GPCOG, which offered up a few options of how to approach a capital improvement projects (CIP) plan. Present at the meeting to answer questions were: GPCOG Director of Municipal Collaboration and Chief Operating Officer (COO) Tony Plante and Community Engagement Manager Emmy Ham.

The board decided to do a hybrid version that included both a survey and public input gatherings plus creating a citizens’ advisory committee.

The process will kick off with a survey.

Vice-chair Grant Plummer asked how to best word the survey in order to not only get residents to prioritize the town’s needs, but also to inform them of what those pressing needs are.

“We have been discussing a number of items in the past handful of years. The fire chief is looking for a much improved or brand-new building. There’s the development of a public works infrastructure. There’s the regular upkeep of buildings like this one [the Casco Community Center]. When you develop the questions, how do you address those things in the questionnaire,” Plummer asked.

Plante fielded the question.

“We would work with the town to effectively communicate with the public what the projects are. We would take that information and summarize it in a way that makes it clear to the public in a lead into a survey so they have a sense to express a sense of priority and their willingness to shoulder the cost,” he said.

“Every time that I have been involved in putting together a CIP program, there are more ideas than there is money,” he said.

Plummer agreed that money was a hinderance.

“We went through a reval. We have taxpayers who don’t want to spend money right now,” he said.

GPCOG’s Ham said that mindset is not unique.

“We are running into that everywhere. This [survey] is more about informing what the biggest priority is” than putting a precise price tag on those projects, she said.

“There are a lot of needs. Right now, you are wondering which to look at first,” she said, adding, “We just finished a comparable process in Durham. We did get into the willingness to pay for some of these things, but not in an exact dollar amount. We asked, ‘If you could wave magic wand, what would you have done first?’ Mentioning the dollar amount could derail a community engagement process.”

Plummer spoke again.

“CIPs are funny. [There are] a handful that has to be in every year’s budget like roads . . .  We are getting close to a moment in time, some of those big ones, we are stepping through that doorway now. We need to do our best to educate the public and get their support,” Plummer said.

Plante offered up a suggestion.

“A survey is the best way. A combination of electronic and paper. As much as we live our lives Online, there are still those who don’t have access to it. Then, we will be sharing the findings with the select board and with the public during a meeting to review the results. We do a survey, follow it up with a couple community workshops to test the results. You follow up with [appointing] an advisory committee,” Plante said.

“We are ready and available to assist if you need it,” he said a few times during the meeting.

He told the board that the GPCOG team was only an email or phone call away.

He continued describing the survey process.

“That survey period would be three or four weeks, sometime in the January/February timeframe. When we get that survey back, we schedule a couple public meetings. Then, we turn it over to you to have citizens advisory committee work on that,” Plante said.

Board members responded positively to the concept of creating a committee.

“We would love to establish a citizen advisory committee to continue what we’ve started,” Select board member Scott Avery said.

Mary-Vienessa Fernandes said, “I like the idea of an advisory committee.”

Vice-Chair Plummer asked about dovetailing the CIP list with the recently adopted Casco Comprehensive Plan.

“Backing up a couple steps, we just completed a comp plan that set up a basic plan of how we should move forward. Is there anything inside that we should pay attention to? Should we include a person or two from that group,” Plummer asked.

Plante answered, “Yes, we should be looking at that. GPCOG was involved in putting that together along with the Principle Group [a design, engineering and planning firm]. We want to take into account anything the comp plan say about” capital improvements and town infrastructure.

The board gave GPCOG its marching orders to prepare a future survey, which included something impossible — going back into time.

“Can we start yesterday,” Plummer joked.