ROCKLAND – It was a packed house at Rockland City Hall Monday night as the Council held its agenda-setting meeting for the upcoming regularly scheduled March 13 meeting. In addition to municipal business, the Council held a workshop was on the proposed resolution promoting an open, respectful, healthy community.

Thirty four speakers lined the walls surrounding the room, all awaiting their chance to speak. Not all spoke to the resolve, but the majority did, both in favor and in opposition.

Much of the discussion seemed to center around Mayor William Clayton’s proposed changes to the document. Though the mayor said he had not entered his revision into the agenda, people took a position of not wanting any changes to the original resolution.

Councilor Ed Glaser, the original sponsor of the resolution, said he favored the original version.

“I think it is a good document,” he said. “We also invited the police here and since they are professionals, to get their take on what’s been going on in Rockland since the election. If there is an issue, how do they deal with an issue and if there isn’t, what are they doing that’s going right.”

Rockland Police Chief Bruce Bucher said that in his previous involvement with hate crime and bias incidents, two thirds that occur do not get reported.

“We only hear about a third of what’s going on,” he said. “That’s the just the nature of it. And that’s not only locally, but nationally, too.”

Bucher said it is a requirement to report all hate crimes to the FBI.

“We deal with hate crime incidents and we also deal with incidents that turn out to biased incidents,” he said. “Four of our officers are trained and certified by the Attorney General’s Office.”

Boucher said that when they do get an incident reported it is immediately investigated.

“We see to what level the law has been broken and then we report it to the Maine Attorney General’s Office,” he said. “We also report biased incidents. We will get a complaint, we do a report we do an investigation and it won’t rise to that level where it’s a crime, where the District Attorney’s Office won’t label it that. We will still forward that information to the Attorney General’s Office.”

Mayor Clayton said he wanted to bring communication into the discussion.

“To me, is how big the problem is, “he said. “It’s a big problem to me that two thirds are not reported.”

Clayton asked Hannah Faesy, who works at both Oceanside High School and New Hope for Women, to describe what she has been doing and what she has seen.

“Understanding there are social and emotional aspects that might keep kids from succeeding academically, I’m another layer at the school to support kids in that,” she said. “What I mostly do is advocate for healthy relationships.”

Clayton reiterated his question. What has she seen?

“What I have seen is confidential,” she said. “I started at the school in September, so I don’t have much of a reference. There was one incident that was bigger then the other ones I’ve navigated. A large population of the LGBTQ students were feeling unsafe coming to school and not coming to school because of things that were said by other students.”

She said that some LGBT students have lived in fear since the election. She said some students have made comments that the current president will do to LGBT students, "what Hitler did to the Jews."

Shelley Kushner, president of the Adas Yoshuron Synagogue in Rockland, said several weeks ago pellets were fired at the basement windows in the Synagogue.

Kushner said she did not know why the windows at the synagogue were shot at. Kushner related the vandalism to the current political climate and was not sure if it was a coincidence; but he said there has never been an act of vandalism before and said the current political climate could be a factor.

"It's almost like a free pass for the worst side of human nature," said Kushner.

Glaser asked whether people will feel more comfortable going to the police, if the resolution is passed.

“Will we get up to 50 percent of the reports,” he said. “If, by passing this, have we made a step towards improving that communication?”

Councilor Valli Geiger said it is an opportunity as a city to what its values are.

“We can say out loud what our values are, so people don’t have to guess,” she said. “They know they’ll be welcome. One of the reasons I wanted the chief to be here tonight was because I know how hard they work to get diversity training and to provide safety to our community. Part of this resolution and part of our communication is to get that word out.”

Geiger said this is the kind of community Rockland is and this is what citizens can count on when they go to the police.

Clayton summed up by explaining what will now happen procedurally.

“It’s very rare that we have a workshop based on a resolution,” he said. “Generally there is not that much community input. We love to see this many people. We want to leave it open to further discussion —meaning between councilors — to change, amend, to keep or move forward. And that comes forward Monday.”

Clayton said that the resolution in its current form is what will be discussed Monday, March 13.

“At that point, it’s a four-person council, so a two, two tie is a defeat,” he said. “You’ll notice that my resolve is not here. I did not bring it forward.”

A resolve is not an ordinance. It holds no weight in law. It is a statement, or a resolve, stating what the city council adheres to.

Clayton paced the meeting, and adhered to decorum as every citizen had his or her say. 

In closing, Councilor Geiger said she supports the resolution.

“I want it to pass,” she said. “If it’s not going to pass I am more then happy to work to create a document that will pass and for us to pass it unanimously.”