Selectmen’s
policy for the use of the Meeting Room located at the
Southwest Harbor Fire Station
The Southwest Harbor Fire Department meeting room is available to be used
to enhance the educational, cultural and community life of the residents of
Southwest Harbor Maine. The Meeting
room is available for Municipal use in accordance with
this policy daily from 0800 hrs until 2200 hrs. Except as follows:
On the 1st and 3rd Thursday of each month, the meeting
room will be reserved for the Fire Departments regular training session.
The
Meeting room may be used beyond the above regular hours with the permission of
the Fire Chief or his designee after determining that such use will not
interfere with any other activity scheduled for the Room.
The Fire Department’s meeting Room is available
to the Fire Department, it’s members
and sponsored association, and for
Town sponsored meetings and programs, including The Town of Southwest Harbor
departments, boards, commissions and elected bodies as well as meetings and
programs sponsored by groups and organizations affiliated with the Town, State
and Federal government. The Fire Department, for its own purposes, shall have
first priority in the use of the Fire Station meeting room in the Fire Station.
The
meeting room may be used for civic purposes on a case by case basis as determined
by the Town Manager when it is deemed to be for the benefit of the community
at large. Subject to First Amendment
rights, it may not be used for any purposes deemed to be inimical to the interests
of the residents of Southwest Harbor.
All
meetings and programs must be open and accessible to any member of the public.
All meetings held in the Fire Department meeting Room are to be considered
open to the general public and free of any admission charge. There may be
no closed meetings. Any meeting may be visited by the Town Manager, Fire Chief
or by their designated representative.
Authorization
to use the Fire Station meeting room by any organization does not imply Town
or Fire Department endorsement of the aims, policies, activities or affiliation
of any such group or organization. Permission to meet at the Fire Station
does not constitute or imply an endorsement of the user’s beliefs, policies
or programs by any Municipal or Fire Department official. Use of the Fire Department
meeting room does not constitute the Town of Southwest Harbor’s endorsement
of viewpoints expressed by participants in any program. Advertisements or
announcements implying such endorsement are not permitted.
Requests
can be made via email addressed to bgaiser@swhfire.org, by Regular Mail addressed
to “Fire Department”, PO Box 745, Southwest Harbor ME 04679, or by contacting the Public safety dispatcher
at 26 Village Green Way, (207) 244-7911.
Each
user shall name a contact person to be responsible for seeing that Town policies
regarding
meeting room use are followed. The contact person for each group will be responsible
for seeing that lights are turned off, the heat turned down to minimum and
that all the doors to the meeting room are closed after an evening meeting,
and to address any other issues that
may arise either before, during or after any use.
The
Town Manager, Board of Selectmen or the Fire Chief can pre-empt any group
or organization which has reserved the meeting room provided, however, that
an attempt will be made to find the group or organization that is “bumped” from the meeting room
an alternative meeting place.
The
conduct of meetings and those attending meetings must not disrupt Fire Department
operations or official business. The Fire Chief reserves the right to deny
the use of meeting rooms for purposes deemed to be disruptive to Fire Department
operations. Entry into any area where
Fire Department equipment or apparatus is stored is strictly prohibited unless
expressly authorized to do so by an officer of or accompanied by a member
of the Southwest Harbor fire Department. An adult
leader shall be present at all time and be responsible for the supervision
of any groups of children under the age of eighteen using the public meeting
room.
Attendance
shall be limited to the room's capacity as determined by the State Fire Marshall
and the Fire Department. The applicant shall be responsible for adhering to
capacity limitations. The meeting room capacity is
about 60 people.
Candles
and other open flames are prohibited within the Fire Station unless such use
is authorized by the Fire Department Officer of the Day.
The
Fire Department meeting room shall not be used for religious services.
The
Fire Station Grounds in general and the meeting room/rest rooms and Kitchen
area specifically are cleaned and maintained using volunteer labor provided
by the members of the Volunteer Fire department and the Fire Association. Where it would be unfair to burden these members
with additional tasks not directly related to their chosen volunteer program,
the following will ensure that continued volunteer participation in the operation
of the Fire Station will occur.
All groups or organizations using the
Fire Departments meeting room shall be responsible and liable for any damage
to the room or its contents. Group
activities involving more than normal wear and tear will not be permitted. No items shall be attached to wall surfaces.
Simple refreshments (coffee, doughnuts, punch,
cookies, hor d'oeuvres, etc) or box lunch may be served at meetings however,
pre-approval for the use of the kitchen facilities must be obtained. The entire
contents of the station’s kitchen, including the appliances, cabinetry, cutlery
and dinnerware as well as the supplies and consumables and the tables and
folding chairs found throughout the station have been provided by and are the
property of the Southwest Harbor Fire Association Inc. The usage of the tables and chairs is
assumed, however, should a user desire to use the kitchen facilities, the Fire
Chief will secure such permission from the Association leadership to do
so. Donations for the use of these
facilities would be appreciated and replacement of any consumables will be
required including food stuffs, propane and disposable dinnerware.
Liability
The Town of Southwest Harbor is not
responsible for the loss or damage to any equipment or materials owned or
rented by an individual, group or organization while using the public meeting
rooms.
Any
individual, group, or organization holding a meeting in the Meeting Room must
fully release and discharge the Town of Southwest Harbor, its officers, agents
and employees from any and all claims from injuries, including death, damages
or loss, which may arise or which may be alleged to have arisen out of, or in
connection with the meeting or program.
RIGHTS RESERVED
This
policy supersedes and replaces any prior policy related to reserving the
meeting room at the Fire Station made by or on behalf of the Town of Southwest
Harbor.
1. The Board of Selectmen reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to
waive any provision contained herein, and to modify or revoke any permission
for use previously granted by the Fire Chief or his representative.
2. The Board of Selectmen reserves the right to amend or cancel any or
all of these provisions at any time.
Adopted by the Southwest Harbor Board of Selectment 28 July,
2009