Request for Proposals Community Resilience Planning Services

Start Date: October 18, 2024
End Date: November 15, 2024
Type: Requests for Proposals (RFP)
Email: lauren.jennings2018@gmail.com

The Town of Frenchboro, Long Island, Maine, is the recipient of an award under the State of Maine Community Resilience Partnership (CRP) Community Action Grant. Pursuant to the approved award, we are issuing this Request for Proposals (RFP) to solicit proposals from qualified individuals or firms with proven experience in project management planning services to serve as both as a resilience planner and as a community discussion leader/facilitator, to coordinate the projects identified in the grant award (Resilience Coordinator).  

Introduction to Frenchboro: 

The Town of Frenchboro is situated on Long Island, Maine, at Blue Hill Bay’s entrance. It lies two miles southeast of its much larger neighbor, Swan’s Island, and eight miles south of Mount Desert Island. The village, centered around Lunt Harbor on the northwest side of Long Island, has a rich history as a fishing community, and lobstering and, to a lesser extent other aquaculture, remain the main drivers of the island economy, supplemented by off-island employment outside of fishing season. There is little tourism, and with upwards of 80% of the land both on Long Island itself and on the eleven other virtually uninhabited islands comprising part of the township owned by conservation organizations, there is little opportunity for further development. 

Approximately 29 individuals call Frenchboro home year-round, approximately 30 seasonal residents spend several months on the island, and an additional approximately 30 people own property and spend anywhere from two to four weeks on the island. The primary mode of transportation to and from the mainland is private boat, with a state ferry providing passenger and vehicle access three days a week, and passenger-only access one day a week from April to November. The community has a median age of 68.5 years, and 75% of Frenchboro’s residents are self-employed (2022 American Community 5-year Survey).  

Project Background:  

The Town has charged the Municipal Advisory Council, a committee comprised of six volunteer residents of the Town (MAC) with oversight of the Town’s participation in the Community Resilience Partnership and its performance of the projects identified in the CRP grant award. The Resilience Coordinator will work primarily with members of MAC, however members of the Town’s Selectboard and Harbor Committee, as well as the Island Institute, likely will be engaged with some aspects of the project.  

The CRP approved application identified three tasks within the project:  

    Community Resilience Visioning and Engagement Process (Community Engagement) 
    Local Emergency Operations Plan (Emergency Preparedness) 
    Vulnerability Assessment for Town Dock and East Shore Road (Infrastructure Assessment) 

The role of the Resilience Coordinator is envisioned primarily to address the Community Engagement objective identified in the application as: 

“Development of a climate change education, outreach, and engagement program focusing on mitigation and adaptation for residents and businesses.” 

Outside consultation and engagement for the Emergency Preparedness task will primarily be provided by Hancock County Emergency Management Agency. Primary outside consultation and engagement for the Infrastructure Assessment will be provided by the engineering firm, Wright-Pierce. While other outside consultation is critical for these tasks, the role of the Resilience Coordinator will be to oversee and co-develop all three projects. 

Scope of Work: The Resilience Coordinator will be responsible for:  
 Leading the entire Community Engagement process, focusing on meaningful, sometimes challenging discussions. 
 Using up-to-date research on climate change, lobstering, aquaculture, and projections from the Maine Lobstermen’s Association. 
 Encouraging broad participation in a community that may be unfamiliar with facilitated discussions on sustainability. 
 Conducting surveys, interviews, and visioning sessions to gather community input on future resilience needs. 
 Facilitating sessions where residents share ideas on resilience priorities like waterfront infrastructure and economic development. 
 Helping the community collectively prioritize needs to ensure long-term economic wellbeing and sustain the Town as a year-round, working waterfront. 
 Using findings from community meetings and assessments to: 
    o Identify and assist with grant and loan applications requiring a vision statement. 
    o Provide clear guidance to the Town and its committees for informed decision making. 

Required Skills and Qualifications: 

 Practical knowledge of lobstering and aquaculture industry, as the economic base for individual families and communities, as it is impacted by current and projected future climate change on the industry, and as it is a cultural and societal driver of a community. 
 Proven project management, organizational, communication and facilitation skills working with small coastal communities, with demonstrated ability to engage and coordinate between multiple stakeholders.  
 Ability to incorporate feedback from community, together with other resource materials and information, into visioning generally for a sustainable community future and more specifically for project planning. 
 Ability and willingness to make in-person visits to the island as appropriate. 
 General familiarity with climate resilience and vulnerability assessments. 

Application Process: Interested candidates are invited to submit their qualifications and a proposal outlining their approach to managing this project. Submissions should demonstrate relevant experience and a clear understanding of the project's goals and required deliverables. The Municipal Advisory Council, with support from the Island Institute, will review all submissions and select the most suitable candidate. 

Submission Information: All materials submitted in response to this RFP will become the property of the Town of Frenchboro and part of the public record, except for any proprietary financial information, which should be clearly marked as confidential. 

The selected candidate will serve as both a resilience planner and community facilitator, leading a community resilience visioning and engagement process. More details can be found in the RFP. The RFP can be found using this link   

Proposals should be submitted via email to Lauren Jennings, Municipal Advisory Council Chair and to Sarah Saxby, Municipal Advisory Council Secretary, by November 15, 2024, 11:59 PM EST.

The Town of Frenchboro reserves the right to reject any or all proposals and to accept the firm deemed to be in the best interest of the Town.