Three area high school students have been awarded a total of $1,500 in college scholarships from the Chenette Scholarship Fund.

The foundation’s Leadership Scholarship is awarded each year to students at Thornton Academy, Old Orchard Beach High School, and Bonny Eagle who exemplify qualities of community leadership and civic engagement. This year’s recipients are Tyler MacVane, Derrick Webber, and Gregory Brunk.
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“Their passion for helping others is truly their authentic form of self-expression,” said Justin Chenette, York County Commissioner and founder of the scholarship. “No matter their chosen path in life, their futures will involve making a difference and improving the quality of life of those around them.”

​While it’s gotten more divisive in recent years, I do believe pride can be a great unifier and bring us together in celebration and recognition of our shared humanity, love, and diversity. While the basics of the human experience might be universal, there are different groups of people who have struggled with the pursuit of happiness because of society’s slow pace towards progress.
 
It’s great seeing so many communities host pride events, whether it be via a parade, festival, walk, or some unique way to bring people together. Pride events can help promote an atmosphere of acceptance and inclusivity while creating a safe place to truly be your authentic self. The strong sense of community and support from fellow LGBTQ+ people and allies can be extremely helpful to those struggling with their sexuality or gender identity. It can give you a sense of not being so alone in your journey. That there are others out there like you and who share your values.
 
During Pride Month in particular, the focus can feel external, the progress made on equal rights, the policy work still ahead, the acceptance or lack thereof from others, but at the heart of the often colorful display of self-expression is a personal journey towards self-acceptance and self-love. Pride helps individuals feel seen and valued.
 
Creating a more inclusive society, free from harm and discrimination of marginalized communities, takes deliberate and intentional leadership from those within positions of power.

​With each passing storm, the severity of the damage and erosion seem to be getting worse. It’s becoming a very common occurrence to hear about disaster declarations being called for our county. This trend is headed in the wrong direction. We must do everything we can, everything at our disposal, to protect homes, businesses, and our quality of life.
 
Our coastal communities will soon have a critical tool to help restore our dunes and beaches and make our coast more resilient to future storms. York County Commissioners are moving forward with operationalizing a dredge, first purchased with Federal relief dollars from the American Rescue Plan Act.
 
During construction of the dredge by Ellicott in Maryland, county officials were busy determining the appropriate path forward for operations. While the initial intent was to transfer ownership to a new outside nonprofit entity to handle operations, Federal rules around how that would work kept putting up roadblocks. It was becoming clear that county-led operations, with dredge contractors and specific municipal contracts for dredge projects would be the ideal path.
 
After construction, the dredge was housed temporarily at Saco Public Works and in April the dredge was transported to the Portland Pier where it could be worked on. Final assembly and painting were required to get the machinery ready to get into the water. In May, the dredge was towed down to Wells Harbor where it will be moored until operations can begin. 

​ALFRED - The York County Budget Committee has several vacancies to fill ahead of the 2024 budget season.
 
The caucus for the selection of the 10 vacancies will be held on Wednesday April 10th at 6:30PM at the York County Government Building, 149 Jordan Springs Road in Alfred.
 
The budget committee is comprised of 3 members from each of the 5 commission districts, with two being elected municipal officials and one representing a member of the public. Members are selected at an annual caucus, typically held in April, where any elected municipal official in the county can vote on the selection. It can also have a non-voting member from the legislative delegation.
  
“I would encourage the communities in my district to send elected officials to the caucus to vote on the vacancies and put forward individuals interested in serving on the committee as we have 2 spots open,” says County Commissioner Justin Chenette, who represents Saco, Old Orchard Beach, Hollis, and Buxton. “This part of the public process is entirely separate from the commission and is a critical step towards ensuring that the county budget is finalized by the communities throughout York County in a transparent and accountable way.”
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The county budget process involves county commissioners hearing budget presentations from the county manager and various department heads in late March and early April. After the commission passes the initial version of the budget, it then goes to the budget committee where there will be deliberations and a public hearing, likely in May. The committee then adopts its version of the budget and submits it back to the commission, who can either adopt it as is or modify it. If commissioners decide to modify the budget, it then goes back to the budget committee for final passage either by overriding the commission decision or agreeing with the changes made as the final step in the process. The budget must be adopted prior to the start of the new fiscal year starting July 1st.
  
Questions about the process or the budget committee’s work can be directed to the budget committee chair Jo-Ann Putnam at [email protected]. 

​“Our shared goal, everyone’s goal in this room, everyone’s goal at the county level, is that the dredge will be operational in the water for the next dredge season,” Chenette said. “No one wants to delay that any further.”