AUBURN — The city’s series of community meetings will all start with the same question, but City Manager Clinton Deschene figures they’ll all end up in different places.
“What determines each meeting is the people who attend,” Deschene said. “They may evolve a different conversation in each area — that’s what we’re hoping for. That will help us better understand different areas and different problems.”
The series of seven meetings designed to boost community involvement in city affairs kicks off Tuesday at Edward Little High School.
The meetings, facilitated by University of Southern Maine Community Planner and Auburn resident Mary Sylvester, will continue through Oct. 15. Sylvester is working on the conversations free of charge to the city.
Deschene said each of the meetings will begin by asking the same question: “Given the difficult decisions that our community must face and the reality that property tax increases must be minimized, what are our priorities for Auburn’s future?”
The meetings are part of a City Council effort to make better contact with residents, taking City Hall to various neighborhoods for more intimate and less threatening discussions.
Each meeting is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. and would be two hours and 30 minutes long — a 30-minute social period, followed by two hours of discussion. Chairs will be set up in a circle, encouraging residents and neighbors to talk and interact, rather than make speeches.
Meetings will move around the community and most will be hosted in neighborhood schools, including Park Avenue School on Sept. 24, East Auburn Community School on Sept. 25, Sherwood Heights on Oct. 2 and Washburn Elementary on Oct. 15.
The Danville Grange will host a meeting Oct. 1 and the Auburn Public Library will host one Oct. 8.
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