City Advocacy Efforts

The City of Lewiston advocates on behalf of its residents in regards to municipal services and quality of life, interacting with Maine legislators and legislative committee members. In addition, Lewiston is an active member of the Maine Municipal Association and the Maine Service Center Coalition.

Maine Municipal Association (MMA)

The Maine Municipal Association (MMA) is a voluntary membership organization offering an array of professional services to municipalities and other local governmental entities in Maine. MMA is a non-profit, non-partisan organization governed by an Executive Committee elected from its member municipalities. Founded in 1936, MMA is one of 49 state municipal leagues that, together with the National League of Cities, are recognized at all governmental levels for providing valuable services and advocating for collective municipal interests.

The Maine Municipal Association has a core belief that local government is a fundamental component of a democratic system of government. MMA is dedicated to assisting local governments, and the people who serve in local government, in meeting the needs of their citizens and serving as responsible partners in the intergovernmental system.

MMA’s services include advocacy, education and information, professional legal and personnel advisory services, and group insurance self-funded programs.

Maine Service Centers Coalition

The Maine Service Centers Coalition (MSCC) was established in September 2001 for the purpose of promoting public policy and legislation that supports and contributes to the economic and social viability of Maine’s service center communities. The MSCC is an affiliate organization of the Maine Municipal Association (MMA). The MSCC establishes policy/legislative priorities and objectives as determined by its membership and works collaboratively with MMA’s Executive Committee and Legislative Policy Committee (LPC) for this purpose.

The MSCC’s primary purpose, generally speaking, is to:

Promote and advocate for legislation and policy that benefit the economic and social viability of member communities.

Work with the interests and priorities expressed by the Maine Municipal Association’s Legislative Policy Committee.

Increase the knowledge and awareness of legislators, policy makers, interested organizations, rural communities, and Maine residents regarding MSCC issues and needs.

Mission Statement

"To provide a mechanism which will articulate the needs of service centers to our elected officials; to educate our citizenry as to the importance of healthy and thriving service centers; and to network and collaborate with municipal officials, the legislature, state agencies and non-profits in the pursuit of promoting better quality-of- life for all who visit, work, or live in Maine."

Vision Statement

"Strive to be an organization that shall operate with the best interest of those who live, work, and depend on service center communities for a myriad of needs and will advocate for:

Achieving a more equitable treatment of service center communities, and those that shall soon become service center communities, who often face significant social, educational, recreational, land use, public safety, and a variety of infrastructure pressures.

Helping all citizens and our legislature better understand the unique nature of our service centers and their importance to a healthy state economy.

Addressing escalating property tax levels and why we must move to, once and for all, comprehensively address the deficiencies of an antiquated system of taxation that places a disproportionate dependence on property taxes.

Embracing the following as the organization’s primary objectives:

1. To provide advice and support to Maine’s service centers throughout the state.

2. Recommend, develop and advocate policy positions to the legislature and to the Maine Municipal Association.

3. Create public forums for the exchange of information that concern service and or urban centers.

4. Advise the Maine Municipal Association about developments within this organization of service/urban center communities.

5. To promote the potential values associated with inter-municipal cooperation and collaboration."