[2:45] All right. Oh, it's on. I'm gonna bang this thing. Are we ready?

[2:52] » Sure. >> All right. That's me calling this August

[2:57] 24th meeting of the Cumberland Town Council to order. Chair Eids is out this

[3:01] evening, so I'm driving the bus. Um, the finance committee met beforehand at 6

[3:06] PM, went over some cool stuff. Um, some of which we'll touch on later. And

[3:13] first up, we have the approval of the minutes.

[3:17] » Anybody wants to give a motion? >> I'll give you a motion. Motion to

[3:22] approve the minutes. Second.

[3:25] » Great. >> From the August 10th, 2026 meeting.

[3:28] » All right, we have a motion and a second. All those in favor?

[3:32] » Oh, unanimous. All right, moving on to this meetings

[3:40] business highlight,

[3:44] we have Daniel Tracy of the com of the community food pantry. um

[3:51] if you'd like to introduce the organization for those who don't know

[3:55] much about it or maybe provide some updates on current happenings or needs

[3:58] or anything the community should know. Thank you and welcome.

[4:01] » Thank you. This on Hi.

[4:05] I've been here for so many other occasions, not for a town council

[4:08] meeting. Um hi. Well, thank you for inviting me. My name is Danielle Tracy.

[4:13] I am um the president of the food pantry, which really just means I get

[4:20] stuck giving the speech um [laughter] because, you know, we couldn't do it

[4:25] without everybody else. Um but so the food pantry of course was started by um

[4:32] Bill Jane and Linda and it's been about a year, it's been a little over a year

[4:35] since um lovely Linda and uh and Bill have headed south for crazy warmer

[4:41] weather. Um and you know and also similarly about a year since we've lost

[4:46] our dear friend Tom Gruber. So um so we are proud to say that we didn't miss a

[4:53] beat. Um it might have looked a little different and uh felt a little different

[4:58] but um we have been open every other Friday. Um and we haven't missed it

[5:05] since um you know since losing three founders. Um, but again, like I

[5:12] said, I we couldn't do it without volunteers. I mean, we are all

[5:16] volunteers and you know, I'm happy to say we've got some great ones here,

[5:20] Elaine and Danielle and Dean and Dana and uh, you know, I mean, really, we've

[5:26] got we've we've got an amazing um, group of people, Susan and Christine, and, you

[5:31] know, I could stand here and name a hundred people. Um, but so every other

[5:36] week we're open on Fridays from 3 to 6. Um and we have 90 to 100 um families

[5:42] that visit with us every other week. Um mostly from Cumberland in North

[5:46] Yarmouth. We do have some outliers. Um we started with the churches in the area

[5:52] with White Pines, with UCCC, with Holy Martyrs, um with a number of other

[5:56] churches in the area, uh Tuttle Road. So, um, we had some friends from those

[6:02] churches that came and, um, we've kind of kept a lot of them along and

[6:07] sometimes people move from one place to another and they ask if they can stay

[6:11] with us. Um, so we are, um, you know, we try to help that out. God bless you. Um,

[6:18] so, you know, we go up to maybe 120 families or so around the holidays. Um,

[6:23] you know, different times of the year for sure, we see u bumps in people. Um

[6:29] but um you know it's really since co um every other Friday we don't have clients

[6:38] come in the pantry anymore. We um I think what is you know a little special

[6:45] about us um is that we communicate with our clients um some a volunteer um every

[6:54] week or every open week. So every other week we communicate with them and we

[6:58] find out what their needs are. We have personal conversations with them. Um you

[7:04] know we we know their patterns. Sometimes we have sent um you know

[7:08] county sheriff's department for a wellness check if we don't hear from um

[7:11] from some of our clients. So, I you know, it's a really it's a great

[7:15] connection. And, you know, when when you come here on Friday night, um if ever

[7:19] you try to come by, you know, if ever, you know, Matt's parked in the parking

[7:24] lot, uh they're lined up by like noon. You know, we don't open our doors till

[7:28] 3, but they, you know, obviously, um have made friendships among themselves.

[7:33] And, um so, you know, it's a social it's definitely a social event. Um, you know,

[7:38] like I said, we do the shopping for them in the pantry. So, the stable goods, the

[7:46] dry goods. Um, when they come, we put in um some meats that they requested, some

[7:52] frozen items, you know, milk, eggs, cheese, um, you know, deli, uh, those

[7:58] kind of things. And then they get to get out of their cars and go into what is

[8:04] the police bay next to us, next to the food pantry, which we set up on Friday

[8:08] morning at 6:45, um into a market that they can shop for

[8:13] their own fruits and vegetables and breads and pastries, you know, which

[8:17] generally um are, you know, a significant amount from the local

[8:20] Hannerford. Um, so as far as technically, um, every one

[8:27] of our clients fills out paperwork that, you know, we have Cumberland, uh,

[8:31] community food pantry paperwork. Um, every one of our clients fills out part

[8:35] of that paperwork is the TFAP form, the, um, emergency food assistance program

[8:40] from the federal government. You guys, I'm sure, are all familiar with that

[8:44] because in October, November, you all um uh agreed to the forms that come out

[8:52] that have uh income eligibility guidelines on it. Um have the SNAP, you

[8:58] know, and Tannif and any wick and anything else on there, the boxes that

[9:02] they can check. So, everybody fills that out. Um, you know, Paige Kbakus, who is

[9:09] your GA administrator. She is also I'm I'm from Felmouth, by the way. She's

[9:14] also a Felmouth GA, so she's a lot of regional She does GA for a lot of the

[9:19] regional communities. She sent us all, including you, I'm sure, uh, the DHS

[9:24] um, information last year on the number of SNAP recipients in the area, you

[9:31] know, written out by towns. And you know, here in Cumberland, you're over a

[9:36] hundred um friends and neighbors on SNAP. Um and so Paige works with them

[9:43] on, you know, GA and things that she can things that you as a community support.

[9:49] Um you know, heating assistance, rental assistance, those kind of things. She

[9:54] sends them to me for food. We are food. We begin with food and we end with food

[9:58] and we do as much food as we can. So, um, but you know, but Paige is a great

[10:03] resource and she and I connect and she's here on Thursdays in the little

[10:06] conference room over there and she's a wonderful resource for everybody. Um,

[10:11] and sends people my way when they need some help. Um, you know, as far as the

[10:17] world that we're living in now, uh, SNAP is hurting people in this community.

[10:22] SNAP is hurting people all over for sure. Um, but but for sure, you know, I

[10:27] always want people, you know, like I said, in my community of Felmouth and in

[10:31] your community of Cumberland, there are people here that are hurt by this, well,

[10:36] by what was the snap cuts in the big newspaper, still is the snap cuts. Um,

[10:41] so I can say that that's still a thing that we um have. I don't do personally

[10:47] help them, but I try to help them further in food because I know that SNAP

[10:50] cuts hurts a lot of them. Um what I can see is the USDA cuts has definitely made

[10:56] a difference in what food I can get. Um local farmers um we're not getting the

[11:02] food or the fresh produce we used to get. For instance, this week I order

[11:09] from the good sheeperd um and the wayside food program. I was not order

[11:14] able to order potatoes and carrots and onions. Your basic 50 lb bags. We used

[11:19] to always have four 50 pound bags of potatoes and carrots and onions. Um, but

[11:23] I couldn't get any this week because I'm hopeful that the good shepherd has a

[11:28] little bit of them and they'll give me a few in the van when we go up on

[11:31] Thursday, but those are cuts and the farmers aren't farming for food pantries

[11:38] anymore. So, those are kind of specific things that are in the news that are

[11:44] truly happening to us or to all of our people. Um, but you know what?

[11:49] Hannerford's been amazing. They, you know, we get a lot of food. And again,

[11:53] we can do it because we have amazing volunteers every Thursday, every Sunday

[11:59] that um picks it up, brings it to us, and sorts it. You know, some of it's not

[12:05] good. We do a lot of um pig runs. Danielle and Dana and Dean know where

[12:11] the pig farm is very well. So, um, but, you know, we do get a lot of stuff. And

[12:16] again, without our volunteers, we couldn't take all of this food because

[12:21] we couldn't deal with it. Um, and we also have great refrigeration.

[12:27] We have a great walk-in freezer, so everything gets immediately um put all

[12:33] of the meats, all of the pastries, all of the breads go in the walk-in freezer

[12:37] until the night before we're open. Um, so there's a lot of different things

[12:44] going on. Um, but it's good. It's, you know, it's there's a lot of, you know,

[12:48] some scary things that are happening. The Good Sheeperd is doing a great job

[12:51] at trying to manage it all. Um, you know, Don Morrison over at the Wayside

[12:55] Food Program is doing a great job trying to manage it all. You know, Paige here.

[13:00] Um, but you know, I have to say Cumberland has been an amazing

[13:05] community. Um, you know, we have amazing partners here in Cumberland. I mean,

[13:10] Matt, Whitney, Helen, you know, and um library, lots of library folks and, you

[13:16] know, lots of volunteers that that we have here and and Jessica in the finance

[13:21] office as well. And Christina and Devon and Ally and, you know, at the at the

[13:25] clerk's office and um you know, and certainly the police department puts up

[13:29] with us. You know, we try to be a good neighbor and keep the place clean and

[13:34] stuff, but um you know, doors are open and and when it's hot, I'm sure it

[13:38] affects them. um you know with their air conditioning but um you know but they

[13:41] put up with us. So um you know the the schools have been amazing. May I Wilson

[13:46] um does a lot with you know bringing us food once a month. They have little

[13:51] collections at the school. The middle school does Scholastic book funds and

[13:55] brings us books for our we can donate to our kids and money. Um, you know, I had

[14:00] I worked with um some students from um the high school from a world studies

[14:06] class, I think it was, that wanted to do something and so we, you know, talked

[14:10] and and they made us some food to give out to our friends. Um, you know, the

[14:16] cafeteria is great. When they go on break, they bring us all of their food

[14:20] and, you know, we're thrilled to be able to um give it to everybody and, you

[14:25] know, pre-made sandwiches and soups and things like that. Um certainly Fab Fab.

[14:29] I'm sure you've seen the bus with the big Fab Fab. Filip Fil a bus. Um it's a

[14:36] huge program every year. Um and uh you know, gosh, I I like I said, I could go

[14:43] on and on. Um the library has been amazing and has um you know, done a lot

[14:47] for us as well. Um, you know, Cumberland Crossing group of friends, Village

[14:53] Green, Food Stop, um, you know, [clears throat] local farmers, Sicilian

[14:58] Table, Tuscan Table, Maggie Mays, you know, all these relationships that we

[15:02] have, um, you know, help us, you know, even the farmers market, um, they have

[15:07] Maine Harvest Bucks and they, you know, give us some help as well. So, um, so

[15:12] it's great. You know, bottom line is it's every day is a struggle for some

[15:17] people and we do everything we can to help them out. Um, we try to be

[15:22] friendly. I think we have fun. I think we laugh and joke and, um, smile a lot

[15:26] with our friends and I think that they just think they're coming grocery

[15:29] shopping and that's what we try to make it feel like. So, um, you know, we do

[15:33] special events Thanksgiving and Christmas. I'm sure you guys know

[15:36] because this whole town council chambers is full of stuff. Um, you know, we just

[15:41] did school supplies, so you know, we all know how expensive that is and trying to

[15:45] help teachers so that they don't have to supply everything. So, um, yeah, I mean,

[15:50] it just it's it's we go on and on with the things that we try to do to help.

[15:57] Um, and the things that I don't think people understand that even those that

[16:01] get SNAP, you can't buy toilet paper with SNAP. Um, you know, you can't buy

[16:06] dish soap with SNAP. um you you know there's so many things you can't buy. So

[16:11] we try you know we with our cash donations we buy everybody gets three

[16:14] rolls of toilet paper and a roll of paper towels every other week. Uh you

[16:18] know dish soap, laundry soap, um you know other things, cleaning supplies,

[16:23] you can't buy them with um with SNAP. So you know if you're money is limited,

[16:27] you're going to buy food, you're not necessarily going to buy those kind of

[16:30] things. So we we recognize that we get a lot of food donated that we can give.

[16:34] the money we get donated, we try to spend on other things that we feel um

[16:39] you know, me as a as a mom, as a parent, as a person living in a home needs and

[16:43] that other people would appreciate. So, um

[16:48] so I don't know if that I got no agenda for

[16:51] what I was supposed to talk about. [laughter]

[16:54] Matt just said, "Come on over." And I said, "I got permission from my town I'm

[16:57] a town counselor at Felma. So, I got permission from my town manager to be

[17:01] late to my um council meeting." And um but uh so I I have no agenda other than

[17:08] that um laid out for you and you know if there are any um specific questions you

[17:16] know I'm going to take off after this but we have we do have an email cfpo421

[17:22] um pretty simple atgmail um or we have a phone number downstairs 558-9121

[17:29] um which instantly sends me an email that says you have a voicemail and you

[17:33] You know, I it's a fascinating again, town of Cumberland has set it up.

[17:37] Brandon's a great IT guy. Uh, you know, set it up for us so that we can um, you

[17:42] know, we don't have anybody that actually works in the office. So, um,

[17:46] but I thank you. >> How did I do? Did I cover it all?

[17:49] » My people. [laughter]

[17:52] » I learned more than I ever knew I wanted to know. I appreciate it. So, um, we

[17:57] have, uh, councelor Filson will go first and then councelor Vil has a question or

[18:02] comment. Thank you so much um just for all of the great work and for you all

[18:06] being here. This is so wonderful and a privilege for us to be able to recognize

[18:09] you. Um I had two questions. Uh so for folks to qualify um to get uh food for

[18:19] paper towels uh everything um that you provide. So for the paperwork,

[18:25] say someone loses their job and you you so your your income statements from last

[18:30] year aren't going to reflect that. Is there flexibility with all of that or do

[18:34] people have to kind of qualify on paper per their last like tax return?

[18:39] » Absolutely. If you come to the food pantry because you need food, I'm going

[18:43] to give you food. Okay. I'm not I don't ask people to bring We are asking them

[18:46] to bring an ID so we can see where they live. Um, but I'm not, you know, and we

[18:51] and we tell them to fill out the TFAP form. They don't have to circle um their

[18:55] income on the TFAP form. They just have to check the box that says that they

[18:59] have reviewed it and so that they understand what the eligibility

[19:03] requirements are. But I do not um we don't ask if you need food um and you

[19:09] come to us, we're going to give you food because you're right, there are, you

[19:11] know, we've had divorced a divorced mom and you know and and and I just said to

[19:16] her, I want you to be safe and if that means you have to get divorced and go

[19:21] live somewhere else, then I'm going to give you every food I can give you. I

[19:24] mean, I you know, I've got nothing else, but I can give you a lot of food. So,

[19:27] yeah, for sure. we don't um you know check their last year's tax returns and

[19:33] all that kind of thing. So >> awesome. Um and then my second question

[19:36] was um so right now you don't have enough onions and carrots and um are

[19:41] there parameters around like where you were able to accept food from i.e. if I

[19:49] grew way too many gigantic zucchini this year and I have 15 chickens so we are

[19:54] always have lots of eggs. Are people able to just regular citizens able to

[19:58] donate or do you have to work through some of the organizations that you

[20:02] mentioned? [snorts] >> No, we will take food from regular

[20:05] citizens. You know, you're not you're not a regular citizen. You're a town

[20:09] counselor. Uh [laughter]

[20:13] » I'm below a regular citizen. Um so yeah, I mean, you know, especially at this

[20:18] time, we do get some people that come by on a Friday. You know, the hard part is

[20:22] we're open every other Friday, so I don't want to take your fresh

[20:25] vegetables. I could put them in my refrigerator, but I don't want you to

[20:29] leave them in the grocery cart out front. Again, we have volunteers that

[20:32] probably almost every day check the carts and bring them downstairs, but it

[20:36] would help us more if you sent us an email or, you know, and said, "Hey, I've

[20:41] got, you know, [clears throat] 10 pounds of zucchini." And I would say, "Okay,

[20:45] well, come either I can meet you here at a certain day or tell you when people

[20:48] are here." um generally all day Thursday before our open day Friday and we are

[20:53] open this Friday. So you know if you look from there on out for the

[20:57] foreseeable well it till maybe January 1st but um or Sunday mornings Danielle

[21:04] is here we get Hannerford here. So, so there are opportunities for sure. Um,

[21:08] even to the point where, you know, I have a dear friend whose dog died and

[21:12] she said, "I have this giant bag, half bag of dog food. Can I bring it over?"

[21:16] And sure. Um, so you know, so again um and we have somebody I think from the

[21:22] council or from prior council brings us um some deer meat that is processed. And

[21:29] again, we kind of need to know. I don't just take it from just anybody. I don't

[21:33] if it's in the cart and it's something that's perishable, I'm gonna throw it

[21:37] away. But if I get a call or an email that says, I have, you know, we had this

[21:42] big retirement party and and we, you know, took whatever and we're going to

[21:47] bring it to you or something, we can make that work. For sure.

[21:49] » I think it's good for people at home to know, too.

[21:51] » Yeah, for sure. Yeah. [clears throat]

[21:55] » I want to thank you for all you've all do and all the people that that are here

[21:59] that uh put the work behind it. Uh we had a former town counselor, Tom Gruber.

[22:05] Uh Bill Rashane, his wife, uh all three of them put tremendous amount of hours

[22:10] in. Uh and I I just it's it fills such an important part of the needs of the

[22:16] community. Uh the thing that I appreciate your you mentioning is that

[22:20] you speak to the people that come and so those conversations, you know, people

[22:26] who have food insecurities also have other insecurities. And I hope that

[22:31] there's a uh that you're you're reaching out to them and questioning them, you

[22:35] know, whether it's a set of winter tires or a car repair or a roof patch or

[22:40] something like that. There are organizations, the Lions Club for one.

[22:44] Uh but there's also other people that in the community who will step up and and

[22:49] provide some of those things that that as a as needed basis. So, uh, I'm hoping

[22:54] that you those conversations are ongoing and and that you you know the people.

[23:01] » We do. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. Like I said, I I don't provide those kind of

[23:05] things. And you're right, Bill Shane, you know, had more connections than I

[23:09] did, but um but you know, Cop Motors and Story Brothers and you know, there's a

[23:14] lot of community groups that do um a lot of work here and that can be connected

[23:20] to these people to help. You know, like I said, Paige helps do some I think

[23:24] Devon works with the seniors and she helps them connect with others. So, um,

[23:29] yeah, there are some great community connections here. And we do, you know,

[23:33] feel comfortable that we know our people pretty well.

[23:38] » Anyone else on the council questions or comments?

[23:41] » Yeah. I I just given the changes in the SNAP

[23:46] benefits and the u you know the qualifying levels are you guys going to

[23:52] adjust yours your levels? I know you say you don't really ask but you are asking

[23:57] them to do the forms. Are you going to kind of keep it at historical levels or

[24:03] » so the the TFAT form that we have them fill out is something that you as town

[24:07] counselors us at as all town counselors in the region um is something that we

[24:12] approve. So, um it's not uh the income eligibility statement is not something

[24:17] that um that comes from us. It's a state form. It's a a TFAP federal form. And I

[24:25] don't see it changing dramatically. I mean, you know, maybe Matt is in on the

[24:29] on the conversation a bit more or, you know, it might be a good question to

[24:33] catch up with Paige someday and have um her come and talk a bit more about um

[24:38] how it happens, but it comes through DHS and um you know, and and it is way above

[24:46] my zero dollar pay grade. [laughter] >> Yeah. I just I guess my question was

[24:51] just is like just because the federal mandates changed, are we going to be

[24:54] able to maintain the same level of service? Right. that that that's the

[24:57] goal is to maintain the same level of service.

[24:59] » Absolutely. >> Yeah.

[25:00] » Yeah. Great.

[25:04] » All right. >> Yeah. Go for it.

[25:06] » Just wanted to say thank you for everything you folks do and uh

[25:10] appreciate appreciate all your efforts. Thank you.

[25:12] » Thank you. Thank you so much, Danielle, for coming tonight. For real. This is

[25:16] very enlightening. I had no idea all like the interconnected web of

[25:20] everything that the food pantry does and >> community partnerships and everything

[25:23] like that. It's really awesome to hear more about your day-to-day and just how

[25:28] it all works. I appreciate it. >> Well, I'm thrilled that the library is

[25:32] on the is on the agenda because I didn't ask my friends to come tonight, but

[25:36] [laughter] >> bonus. So, thank you.

[25:39] » Thank you so much. >> Send and send us an email or, you know,

[25:42] give us a call. I'm gonna fly out of here, but uh happy to answer any more

[25:47] questions. >> Yeah. Thank you.

[25:49] » Thank you. >> All righty. Next up is our manager's

[25:53] report. Turn it over to you. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Uh this evening

[25:58] uh we you get a two for one special and uh that and I'm I hope I'm wise enough

[26:05] at this point to get out of the way because we have a fantastic uh library

[26:09] director in Stacy Mer who's here this evening and she's given us a uh she

[26:14] she's given the council a lot of background information as well as u our

[26:18] impact report for this year. So, I had asked her when we met at our monthly

[26:22] meeting if she'd be willing to come to the council this evening and lo and

[26:27] behold, she did. So, I'll get out of her way that I have a few items after after

[26:31] that if it'd be okay that I can circle back on.

[26:34] » Sure. >> Thank you.

[26:34] » Oh, yes. Yes. [laughter] >> She's coming to get me.

[26:41] » Okay, here we go. >> Hi.

[26:44] » Hello. >> Good evening. [laughter] I'm Stacy Maer,

[26:47] the director of Prince Memorial Library. Uh, thank you so much for having me

[26:51] tonight. I'm just here to do a sort of short wrap-up of fiscal year 26.

[26:58] We have had record high attendance at library events. Um, really good card

[27:03] holder growth this year. And for every dollar invested in fiscal year 26, we

[27:09] saw a $1.75 of return on that investment.

[27:14] Um we saw really we've seen really great through the door statistics for visits.

[27:19] We are sort of holding steady at around 60,000 visits right now post the

[27:23] pandemic and that's an increase over before the pandemic which is more around

[27:28] the 50,000.

[27:32] We are seeing incredible growth within our events. Uh this year alone we saw a

[27:38] 12% increase over last year and we've seen three straight years of increase

[27:43] which is in part because we have made this very deliberate choice over the

[27:48] last five years to invest in our staffing. So I'm very thankful for that

[27:51] and I'm thankful for all the hard work that our staff has done to get that um

[27:56] that engagement with our community.

[28:00] So as you know in 2024 we joined a 60 area library consortium called Manurva

[28:07] and since that this is our first full year in Manurva and we've seen this

[28:11] really awesome growth of our library card holders. We added around 600 new

[28:16] library card holders this year which is about a 15% increase which is great. So,

[28:21] what our goal is though, um, by fiscal year 28, we hope to have 6,000 library

[28:26] card holders overall. And stay tuned in September, which is library card signup

[28:32] week, uh, signup month, um, we're going to be launching a new initiative, and we

[28:35] hope you will join us in that initiative.

[28:40] Along with all of the work that we did to get ready for Manurva, we've done a

[28:44] lot of weeding in our collection. And so weeding is basically basically where we

[28:48] uh withdraw um old outdated material, worn material, just things that aren't

[28:53] really very active in our community. And typically when you do a really good job

[28:56] at weeding, it produces really good results because people are more able to

[29:01] find the the items that they want. Your collection does a lot better. And we

[29:05] have seen that this year. We are also seeing this first year of engagement

[29:09] with Manurva going very strongly. We've had uh our patrons request 12,000 items

[29:15] from other libraries and we have sent out 12,000 items as well. Um I'm looking

[29:20] forward to fiscal year 27 when we see what our first full year of Manurva is

[29:24] versus our second. I'm really hoping that as people get comfortable with

[29:28] Manurva, we start to see more growth of that within our community.

[29:33] So as I said uh what we did is there is a uh a calculator online. It's the main

[29:38] state libraries value calculator. So they assign a retail value for every

[29:42] book, every event, every reference question, anything that you could think

[29:47] of. Uh the value calculator is actually from 2019. So let's imagine the

[29:52] appreciation that's probably happened since then. But with that calculator, uh

[29:56] we have found that based on appropriation last year, as I said,

[30:01] we've seen a $1.75 of investment returned on what we uh committed to the

[30:06] library, which I think is fantastic. has around $1.5 million that our community

[30:11] shows has engaged in our library. So, what we're hoping to sort of focus

[30:17] on in the next couple years, um we are hopefully doing a building assessment.

[30:22] We're going to do a community needs assessment. As I said before, we're

[30:26] hoping to increase our card holders to 6,000. And we're going to continue to

[30:30] pursue investing in our youth services uh staffing because we do feel that if

[30:35] we continue to increase hours within that that service pool, we'll see the

[30:39] response from our community. They've shown that already when we put it out

[30:42] there for them, they come to it. Any questions?

[30:52] Questions, comments? Anyone? Yeah, go for it.

[30:57] I have a lot of questions. Um, and what I really want to ask you is the best

[31:01] thing you've read in the last 12 months, but I'm not going to ask you that

[31:03] question. [laughter] Um,

[31:05] » dungeon [clears throat] crawler Carl. >> Dungeon crawler car.

[31:09] » Carl. >> Carl.

[31:10] » Carl. Thank you. >> Don't expect it to be high literature.

[31:15] [laughter] >> Just fun.

[31:17] » I'm just glad you didn't say yester year. Um, uh, which is also wonderful.

[31:21] But anyway, um so one of the So, uh I love like I think that I love the

[31:28] library. Um but I think the library um especially for um I mean every everyone

[31:33] has different things that they love about the library, right? Um I'm in the

[31:36] phase of life where uh when school is closed um and it's on a weekday uh

[31:42] that's not Monday. Um, you know, we try to get over there as quickly as

[31:45] possible. Uh, because you are a port in the storm, especially when, uh, you're a

[31:50] working parent and you're trying to mangle your, you know, naughty children.

[31:54] And one of the wonderful things about the library is that parents can work and

[32:00] um, you know, kind of their kids can be entertained in a safe environment that's

[32:03] not in front of a screen. Knowing that the library is closed and you mentioned

[32:07] kind of special programming, I wonder if you guys had ever talked about or

[32:11] considered maybe doing like some kind of programming or maybe even a couple of

[32:16] hours on like certain holidays when that might fall onto a Monday or like if

[32:21] that's totally crazy. Uh, understood. Not trying to add more to your already

[32:26] very full plate. Um, I just I I know it is like such a port in the storm as it's

[32:32] such a wonderful thing and um not trying to milk more out of you, but is there

[32:36] any opportunity to I think it's a service that a lot of parents

[32:40] desperately feel when they're like, "What do I do when my kids are off, you

[32:44] know?" >> Yeah. So, the library I came from, we

[32:47] would typically actually be open um two Mondays. We picked two that we would

[32:51] randomly try to be in service. Um it's economics. We would have to budget for

[32:55] it. That's that's what it comes down to. It's staff hours. Um

[33:00] » that's good to know. >> And but I mean Mondays in general, I

[33:04] think we could be open every day of the week. People basically asked us to be

[33:08] open every day of the week. >> Sure.

[33:11] » Um I sure give us some money. We'll do it. [laughter]

[33:15] » Okay. Great. Great. >> Thank you. But yes, that that certainly

[33:19] sounds like yes, we see it on the on the holidays and on the the early release

[33:24] Wednesdays, we are very busy. We have a lot of children that come over and are

[33:28] engaged in gaming and Legos and hanging out and their parents come in, they get

[33:33] books. Yes. So, we know that we are one of the many resources that families use

[33:39] when it's >> and love.

[33:40] » Yay. Yes. >> I have a question, but you can go first.

[33:45] » Uh, this isn't really a question. It's just more of a comment. Uh, thank you

[33:48] for getting Libby. >> You're welcome.

[33:51] » I've been waiting for years and years and, you know, having to use it for

[33:56] other libraries that are much further a field. Um, so thank you.

[34:00] » That was one of the big initiatives we just did this past um, year and that is

[34:04] in part because our lovely, wonderful friends at the library did help

[34:08] supplement the funding for that. Um, that is a, if you don't know, uh, we get

[34:12] cloud library through the state. that is an ebook service where you can read

[34:16] ebooks or e audiobooks. And then we have decided to invest part of our budget

[34:21] specifically into a new platform that's not new called Libby. Um it works a bit

[34:26] more on some of the other types of Kindle readers. And so we started with

[34:31] our very little libby library. It was just um but we have been fortunate

[34:37] enough that uh Wells and Kabunk have agreed to basically share collections

[34:42] with us. So we have formed our little tiny consortium of three libraries and

[34:46] so you can check out books from Wells and Kennabunk and us and they all show

[34:51] up in the app now very easily. You don't have to like hunt and peck for them.

[34:56] » So if I go on and look for a book and it says that it's available at Prince

[35:00] Memorial, even if it's not actually Prince Memorial as well as kind of bunk

[35:04] that will >> show it a little different on your app.

[35:06] Why don't you just come on by the library and I'll show you and I can walk

[35:09] you through it. [laughter] But yeah, the the icon for the library, I think it

[35:12] like changes color for the library card itself. So,

[35:14] » okay. But I don't need to put a a card in for Wells or Kabunker. Okay. Just

[35:20] great. >> It just works.

[35:21] » Perfect. >> So cool.

[35:23] » Yes. >> All right. My question because I'm

[35:26] looking at um one of your like key priorities going forward is like the

[35:30] teen attendance and the drop in kind of engagement with them. Do you all know

[35:35] why that's happening or have like a strategy for how to bring that back? Is

[35:39] it the activities [clears throat] or timings or

[35:43] » so? I wouldn't say that um while attendance at teen events is kind of

[35:47] down, that doesn't mean that we aren't seeing teens in the library. The library

[35:51] is very busy for teens after school. Um it comes down to staffing. Um Jennifer

[35:57] and it was previously Melissa only have so much time in their day to both host

[36:02] events, manage collections, and do all the other things that they have to do.

[36:06] So if we are able to in the next couple years increase our hours for that youth

[36:11] service position. We we have seen in the region Thompson literally in their most

[36:16] recent fiscal um report the library not the town talked about how they had um

[36:24] previously like a assistant director teen librarian shared position and they

[36:27] had these low attendances and when they made the deliberate decision to break

[36:31] those out. They immediately saw this >> when there's that human there that's

[36:35] just for you >> right

[36:37] » it it brings it brings people in. So, um, if if we get to that point, that

[36:41] would be fantastic. I think that will address it.

[36:44] » Great.

[36:48] » Questions, comments from the council. >> Thank you, Stacy.

[36:51] » Thank you. So, before I leave, I just want to say one thing or two things or

[36:54] two things. >> First, thank you so much to my amazing

[36:57] staff. They are the reason that our community comes to our library. Their

[37:02] generosity and the care and love that they show everybody that walks through

[37:06] that door. They challenge me every day to be a really good leader. Um, so if

[37:12] you are wondering why our library is so great, it's them. Um, and also thank you

[37:17] very much to our amazing friends of the library. They fund all of our events.

[37:22] All of the work they do, the hard free work they do is how we have all the

[37:26] events that we have in this town. And of course, thank you and thank you to our

[37:31] advisory board. >> Okay.

[37:35] » Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

[37:41] » Just do it. >> All right, back to you.

[37:44] » That is one very tough act to follow after you. [laughter]

[37:48] So, thanks Stacy. She's amazing and and councelor Filson. She is uh our library

[37:54] director is very good in the no judgment area for what we read for books. and uh

[37:58] she's [laughter] she doesn't mind the the the uh the

[38:01] reacher books that I read, but uh no, it's just great. I mean, it's

[38:06] it's a se it's a celebration. So, thank you very much for that. Uh I I have a

[38:11] couple different items to talk about with the council this evening. Uh I'd

[38:14] like to circle back on uh I some conversation at the last meeting that I

[38:18] wasn't at um that I [clears throat] want to talk about with u regarding the

[38:22] reval. And then uh I had another just I'll start off some quick updates. uh

[38:27] the village green gazebo. I don't know if you had a chance to look at that. It

[38:31] was in a mess. I mean, it was in disrespect disrepair early in the

[38:35] summer. >> Well, uh Mr. Baldick has done a great

[38:39] job moving Heaven and Earth and getting the right folks in there. It's uh now

[38:43] have a full refresh, so it's in great shape now. Um has a brand new roof,

[38:48] decking, structure repairs, uh put some good drainage in there. Uh and a lot of

[38:53] lot of really good work. A lot of our work was done by our public works staff

[38:57] as well. Uh and uh it's it's back to uh back to being ready to to rock and roll.

[39:04] So, it's it's beautiful there. Now, uh I do want to thank Wallace Roofing because

[39:08] they donated the roof u the roofing job. So, that was really nice of them to do.

[39:13] Uh so, their sign's going to be out on the out by the road for about another 75

[39:18] days. Um that was part of part of the deal, but that was a really nice nice

[39:23] gift by them to do that. And this it just looks great and it it really sits

[39:26] perfectly in there. And speaking of the uh of the village green, there is a

[39:30] brand new sidewalk in there. We had all that torn out and Story Brothers did a

[39:33] great job on that. We did that all as part of the uh part of the bid work for

[39:37] the some of the work that they had to do for the school project. Uh that so that

[39:42] work was done right at the same time after they finished up the the new

[39:45] sidewalks on Tuttle Road. So, uh that all kind of came together and we wanted

[39:49] that to be ready uh in time for the school year to begin. So, and you might

[39:53] have noticed this in really nice new flashing uh I always murder this

[39:57] acronym, but it's like RRFBS or reflecting flashing beacons uh that

[40:03] we've got on there and I think we're doing another one up on Main Street that

[40:06] we had talked about earlier, Council Mun. So, uh so we're in good shape

[40:09] there. Very excited about that and have that ready. Um there there will be

[40:12] another sidewalk done next summer and that's going to be from uh Main Street

[40:18] down Blanchard Road uh to just after Sweetzers. So that's all part of that

[40:23] same project. Uh but that's going to be on next year's next year's work

[40:27] workload. Uh there is if you are on Main Street, you're going to notice there is

[40:31] a nice new water fountain at Moside. And uh I I will say I got to give credit to

[40:38] Jess Grandon. She was bird dogging me from like the second month I was here to

[40:43] uh to replace that one that had been shut down during the pandemic and it was

[40:47] old and uh needed a refresh anyways. But it's got a bottle bottle filler fountain

[40:53] and a dog bowl. >> So uh it's a triple threat water

[40:56] fountain right there on Main Street. So pretty excited about that. Uh when I uh

[41:01] a couple marathons ago, I I relied on that uh as a water stop all along the

[41:06] way. So, my thrifty nature, I could refill my bottle without having to spend

[41:09] money. But it's it's great to have that back back in action now. So, uh let's

[41:14] see. We're wrapping up a paving work and driveway uh replacement at Hawthorne

[41:20] Court. That was well overdue. So, I think they're going to have that all

[41:23] tied up or wrapped up this week, which is good. The road was in rough shape.

[41:27] And uh so, that'll be done uh this week. in the, you know, we we are grateful for

[41:31] the patients of our residents who who live there because they have to park in

[41:35] the in the circle in the middle while we do all their driveways over. So, they've

[41:39] been great to work with on that. Um, the work on the cover replacement on Route 9

[41:45] is ongoing. Uh, but the detour is still in place. This is a state of Maine DOT

[41:52] project, not a town project. So, uh, please don't kill me or our good people

[41:57] who work for us. Uh that is they were supposed to have that opened up at the

[42:02] end of last week. It is not. So they've got some they've got some issues that

[42:05] they're working on there, but we do anticipate the road to reopen this week

[42:09] and uh just in time for school to begin because uh the detour is about ready to

[42:13] be done. Now on to the uh other item. I've got a

[42:18] couple items relating to taxes and and the reval. Um, if you looked at your tax

[42:23] bill that you received hopefully in the past few days, uh, good, bad, or

[42:28] indifferent, uh, you'll notice the breakdown of the rate. It's a little bit

[42:33] odd this year. Uh, that was due to just an error in figuring out the the the

[42:39] portions. The tax rate itself is is is right. $1412 is the rate. However, the

[42:45] distribution between the town, the county, and the school uh wasn't that

[42:52] the math on that wasn't done 100% correct. So, um you'll notice I think

[42:58] the school was at like 55%, the town was at like 40 some odd percent, and the

[43:02] county was at like 3%. Um what happened was it just was

[43:07] miscalculated. They were looking at the overall uh expenditures versus the net

[43:12] expenditures for the town. And so that kind of it tweaked or it misrepresented

[43:17] the allocation on your second half tax bill. The correction will be there on

[43:21] the town's website. We've got an update that's going to be flowing out there. So

[43:25] it'll show the actual uh correct allocation. Uh it should be that the the

[43:30] schools are at 68% of your tax rate, which is where they've pretty much

[43:34] always have tracked. Uh so uh and then the town's at about 28 and a.5% and the

[43:39] and the county is at three and a half%. So that second half tax bill will show

[43:43] those proper ratios, but I just wanted people to see that if it looked a little

[43:47] odd, that's because it was. So, uh, it's repaired and like I said, the tax rate

[43:52] itself is fine and that's all accurate. It's just how how it was divvied up. uh

[43:57] looking at the revaluation uh based on the conversation that the council had uh

[44:02] two weeks ago and uh when the tax assessor was here and trying to talk

[44:06] about uh what the impacts are of the of the reval, I thought it might be

[44:11] important for council and uh and and our good citizens to understand uh what the

[44:16] real impact of the reval itself was versus saying like a lot of it la at the

[44:22] last meeting was talking about um how it impacted and how was how uh like so many

[44:27] properties had their taxes go up by this amount or were within this bracket here.

[44:32] Well, that included the the annual increase in the budgets for

[44:37] the town, the county, and the and the schools. So, um

[44:42] that would be your normal like the impact of your normal tax rate increase.

[44:46] Uh so what I thought it might be important to do is a little bit of a

[44:50] deeper dive and an analysis of the assessment database to better understand

[44:54] as to where like what did the reval really mean as far as if if you if

[44:59] everything was flat and nothing changed on the spending side how did that really

[45:04] how did that get distributed across across all the properties in town. So

[45:08] what I did was I took last year's budget and this year's budget and looked at the

[45:13] net overmount to be raised and then found the difference between the two and

[45:18] figured out what the percentage increase was going to be from last year to this

[45:21] year. Now offsetting that is and that was

[45:25] roughly okay let me get to this offsetting that is the normal growth

[45:29] that we have. So if like year over year houses get built, lots get split, um

[45:36] people do renovations, uh new personal property comes to town that's taxable,

[45:40] things like that that change and we can we know on average it's about 1.2 to

[45:44] 1.5% annually is what the value increase happens. Um

[45:50] so we take that into effect as well. And then you also look at okay the school

[45:55] budget increased or the t let's see the town went up by about two and a half

[45:59] percent this year. The school went up by seven and three/4ers percent and the

[46:05] county increased by 7.6%. So what I did was I took that amount

[46:10] there and figured out the impact of the new value and the net impact of that

[46:15] those three budget increases was about 6.3%.

[46:19] So we stripped that out. So that kind of brings us back to flatline. You could

[46:23] compare apples and apples at that point in time. So then I took that and figured

[46:27] out what the new rate was. Well, um, long story short, uh, the impact of the

[46:34] town, school, and county budget increases resulted in about a dollar

[46:38] increase on the tax rate. So without those increases, it would have been

[46:42] $1312 versus 1412, which is what the tax rate is.

[46:47] So after that I took that new rate and said okay now I know with the budget

[46:52] increases stripped out what's the true impact of the reval meaning that it was

[46:56] revenue you know revenue neutral and all that jazz but it it now I could say okay

[47:01] if if this house went up by this amount what would it be if there was no tax

[47:05] increase so then I took that math and I applied it to uh 3,923

[47:12] properties that's what we have in town that are taxed So, and I know if I'm

[47:17] glazing you over, please forgive me, but I'm just trying to get to the bottom of

[47:20] to try to see where it's at. Um, but looking at that and comparing what the

[47:24] impact was due to the value change, uh, it changed the picture a little bit. Um

[47:31] so the net uh so looking at all those properties there was uh properties that

[47:37] had a decrease in in their taxes if just because of the reval there was roughly

[47:42] about 1 1630 or about just under 42% of the properties had their prop had their

[47:47] taxes decrease or would have had them decrease if everything else had stayed

[47:51] flat. 16 properties had zero change like it

[47:56] would have been like to the penny the same. That was like 4/10en of 1%. So

[48:00] that was that was an easy one. Um but then really the the lion share like or

[48:05] or good let's look at the increase size but from onetenth of 1% up to 5% there

[48:11] was like 1,272 properties or 32.4%.

[48:16] sets. So if you think about it, that's roughly about 74% of the properties

[48:21] either saw their property taxes either decrease or uh have 5% or less increase.

[48:28] Um so that kind of shows you the impact as to how it hits with the with the with

[48:33] the year-over-year budget increases. Now between uh from like from 5.1 to 10%

[48:39] there's about 13.7% or 536 properties. from 10.1 to 15 is just under 200

[48:46] properties at 5% of that. And then anything from 15.1 to 20% which is uh

[48:54] there was 84 properties there or 2%. And then uh 20% or greater or 40% or greater

[49:00] there was roughly 1.4 and 3.3%. On those larger numbers those are

[49:05] usually what if it's a big number like that it's that was a new house. uh some

[49:10] you know something was built at uh Kland Crossing or uh or over at the pit uh you

[49:16] know u a new a new house a new lot something that had a very low assessment

[49:21] the year before or was not assessed before. So that comes in with like a a

[49:26] very large percentage change year-over-year.

[49:29] So I thought that was hopefully that's going to be interesting. We put that on

[49:33] the we're going to have that on the town's uh website. Uh let's see. Is that

[49:38] is it this one. There we go. Awesome. Thank you. So, um, so we're going to

[49:43] have the these graphics here on the, uh, on the website. This one's already

[49:47] there. Uh, this kind of shows the, uh, impact of the reval as I, as I was

[49:52] talking about earlier without, uh, oh, sorry, with all the growth put in there.

[49:56] So, that kind of shows you 3,900 properties. Uh, this is the effect like

[50:01] 20% saw decrease taxes, 1% no change, uh, 12% of 1 to 5%. Uh so that kind of

[50:10] offsets that 74% of properties that would have seen it. But that's again you

[50:15] take out that 6% of a change and that kind of gives you the bottom line. So

[50:20] that's a lot to digest but it just and then the second one I have here is uh

[50:25] with the reevaluation in there as to where we're going to be. So we'll have

[50:28] that if people have further questions I'm always happy to answer them. But I

[50:33] was trying to dig in deeper after the last one because you kind of want to

[50:36] know like what's that baseline that you start at and then you know going forward

[50:41] people can at least have a feel as to where where they're going to be at and

[50:45] it kind of tracks comparably to what what you know anecdotally assessors will

[50:49] say like a third go up a third stay the same and a third go down.

[50:54] It's pretty close to that. Um, if you think about the the first two categories

[50:59] about with the 74% that saw it either stay either go down or go up to like a

[51:04] 5% range. So, um, that's that's where I'm at. Madam Chair, I'm happy to take

[51:10] any questions for sure. >> Sure. Go ahead.

[51:13] » Just out of curiosity, you take all the tax property tax revenue collected. I

[51:19] don't know the number off the top of my head, but it's probably a couple

[51:22] million. um like how many millions goes to operate

[51:26] the town, how many millions go to the county, and how many millions go to the

[51:31] school. And if you don't have it right now, Matt, that's that's fine. I just I

[51:35] think probably some of the people in the town might want to know that.

[51:39] » Oh, sure. Um

[51:43] you know, give me just a quick sec and uh I I can get there, too. Um

[51:48] » sorry, I didn't mean to stump you. >> You're all right. I'm not completely

[51:52] stumped. I'm partially stumped. >> Dollar amounts are helpful as well. So,

[51:55] I see where you're going. >> Yeah.

[52:00] » Let's see.

[52:16] I think you should have that. Let's see.

[52:26] Okay. So, the school assessment on that, Council Mahik, thank you for for your

[52:30] question. Um, the the local education appropriation is roughly 20 I got to

[52:36] zoom this in. Sorry.

[52:40] » It's easier to do that. >> Oh my gosh.

[52:42] » Manual zoom. Sorry. [laughter] 28.75

[52:47] uh million is the annual school appropriation. Uh the the town is

[52:52] roughly um 9.6 million and the county itself is about 1.5 million.

[53:00] » Thank you. >> Yes sir.

[53:04] » Follow question on the same thing. when when I look at the numbers that we have

[53:08] in our council pack for the uh 26 actuals and I see that right we've spent

[53:17] the actuals for the year are 44276 million

[53:22] um and if I take away the capital reserve fund for example 887 and then I

[53:27] look at the MSAD expense is 26676967

[53:34] doesn't get me to 72% %. It gets me more to like 60% of the budget. What am I

[53:38] missing? >> 68% of the budget.

[53:41] » 68% of the budget. It still doesn't The math doesn't work, right? It's a lower

[53:45] percentage for the school percentage [snorts]

[53:47] than 68%.

[53:52] » Tiff. >> Yeah. Uh TIFF impact.

[53:56] » Okay. So, okay. >> Yeah. Does that because that comes uh

[54:01] yeah that that comes off the out of the equation

[54:05] » out of the but it comes out of the town right so the tiffs offset the town

[54:08] expenditure. >> Yes. Yeah.

[54:11] » But the town expenditure though for the year isn't nine is right is so what the

[54:16] net is is 9 million bucks but the town expenditure for the year is actually if

[54:20] you're saying there's $4 million in tiff the expenditure is more like $13

[54:25] million.

[54:29] I think just a quick second. I got to get back to that spreadsheet.

[54:34] » Yeah. Yeah. >> While while you're contemplating that,

[54:38] Bill, I think I'd add a little bit of more fuel to that. So, the school the

[54:45] the municipal budget is 2 and a half%. Uh the school budget

[54:53] is seven and a 7 and 3/4 of a percent, but that's divided by two towns.

[55:00] And then the county budget is a 7.6% increase over 15

[55:09] from last year to this year. So, but I guess I what I'd like to see

[55:14] is the dollar value of those three percentages.

[55:18] Uh and I don't need that tonight, but what is the dollar value impact

[55:24] of those three budgets? Because you take the school impact and you you divide it

[55:29] by two towns. You take the county budget and you divide it by all the towns as a

[55:33] county. So, the the budget went up 7.6% 6% but the

[55:39] impact to the town of Cumberland is a a small number. You want driving that?

[55:47] » Yeah. Um yeah, obviously the big driver on that would be uh

[55:52] is I mean ultimately like I'll say this year like last year um

[55:59] yeah I guess you could see like the the sorry the county impacts like 3.5% to

[56:05] the overall tax rate. So it's that's >> that's really small.

[56:09] » My my my revaluation was was basically flat if you will. I I you know and I I

[56:15] think comparing it with my neighbors and other people in a in the valuation

[56:21] doubled but it the you know and it threw off a $1,500 bill. And so I'm I'm I'm

[56:28] concerned that if the expending our spending rate for next year, it's going

[56:33] to throw off another $1,500 bill. So I think I'd like to see a way to

[56:40] instead of looking at percentage, look at the actual numbers.

[56:45] » Yeah. And and um yeah, we want to look at that early.

[56:50] » Yeah. Yes. >> That's that's I think that's where I'm

[56:54] driving. And then um our uh let's see I'm trying to

[57:02] uh let's see to councelor Paul's question. Yeah on

[57:07] some of that like you'll find the let's see 20

[57:20] Yeah, Mr. Manager. It's just really looking at the and when I look at the

[57:24] actuals, right? And I look at all the line items and the actuals

[57:27] » is that at the uh in the in in the packet, which part are you looking at?

[57:31] » So when I look at the I look at total expenses for say the 20 26 actuals,

[57:37] right? And then I look at the MSAD 51 expenses,

[57:44] right? So our overall actuals for the year are 44.25. 25

[57:51] million, right? And MSAD1, MSAD 51 out of that is 26 677

[58:01] million.

[58:04] So I just I just when I look at it just I mean I'm I'm expecting that I'm

[58:09] missing something in the math here, you know, just as someone who's new looking

[58:13] at the budgets. But I I just think it's one of those things on messaging, right?

[58:16] When we say it's like part of our mun municipal budget is this, this is how

[58:20] much for the school department, this is how much, right? It's kind of a

[58:24] depending on how you look at it, you can come up with a very different story.

[58:27] » Also, if you take into account if you're going to bring in tiffs into it, how

[58:31] much that tiff sheltering benefits the school as far as funding goes, there's

[58:35] that trade-off as well. And I I don't know if we break even somewhere along

[58:39] the way to where that math doesn't matter anymore. But as far as breaking

[58:43] it out on the tax bill, yeah, those are the numbers. But I

[58:48] appreciate you letting us know that the percentages were off and correcting us.

[58:53] Yes.

[59:00] subtract out the non-t tax revenue which means you also so the number you're

[59:07] looking at on on your sheet for the financials is the net impact for what we

[59:13] need to pull for the school. So basically, it's the their amount minus

[59:20] revenues. When you're looking at what that total is, the 44 million, you're

[59:24] forgetting to subtract out our non our non-t tax revenues, which is the 9

[59:30] something million that that we had, budgeted.

[59:35] » So, >> thanks. Yeah, I figured there was a

[59:36] there was an better explanation. >> Yeah. And then and then on part of that

[59:40] too, I just found the email that I was looking for as well where I did a little

[59:43] bit. So on the school side of it, it was 28745

[59:47] uh 465 and then the gross overall appropriation was 40 like that needed to

[59:52] be raised by property taxes was 42,536. So we took that the school number

[59:58] divided it by the overall net to be raised that got us at roughly 68%. on

[1:00:03] the county it was a million495 divided by that same baseline number of 42 40

[1:00:08] let's say 426 or 425 and that's going to set our three and a half% and then the

[1:00:14] the remainder uh is roughly that you know 12 uh roughly 12 $12 million there

[1:00:22] at the 28 and a half% that was allocated to the town or what needed to be raised

[1:00:27] and then part of that too there's yeah there's overlay in there as well which

[1:00:31] is basically it's a little bit of a gap that takes place surrounding. Uh

[1:00:36] that's a whole other I could glaze the whole room over if I get into

[1:00:41] » So a little more education on my part. Yeah. Yeah. Appreciate.

[1:00:43] » No, I'm happy to go through it too uh in depth if you ever want to. We can we can

[1:00:47] lay all kinds of paper out on my desk.

[1:00:52] » Thank you. >> No, thank you.

[1:00:54] So Matt, we saw the breakdown of, you know, 40ish% saw because of the reval if

[1:01:02] you you not everything equal saw a decrease

[1:01:05] um you know less than half a percent saw no change and then you know almost a

[1:01:11] third saw up to a 5% change. So this was a reval after what 18 years. Um, is

[1:01:19] there a I know there's you're talking about the sort of the adage of like a

[1:01:23] third, a third, a third of that increase. Is there a rough, you

[1:01:30] know, it should be if we do it every two years or every, you know, a much shorter

[1:01:34] amount of time? >> That increase should usually only be for

[1:01:39] the vast majority up to this percentage. And then realizing that you'll get the

[1:01:43] the 40 plus percents when you turn, you know, vacant land and put a, you know,

[1:01:47] however many hundred,000 million dollar house on it is that's obviously going to

[1:01:51] change a lot. But for most people, houses have been around for ever.

[1:01:58] What should we be? Can we look forward enough to be able to

[1:02:03] say like, yeah, we should roughly see if it's going to go up, it's probably going

[1:02:06] to go up reval alone by x amount, realizing that the budget is a whole

[1:02:12] another increase potentially. >> Yeah. Uh, that's a great question,

[1:02:15] Council McGon. Uh oftentimes we we look at that as you could say um

[1:02:23] if you did it more regularly or more frequently like every two years which is

[1:02:27] kind of the plan going forward uh you will see not gigantic swings or large

[1:02:32] swings between assessments so that that doesn't like time gives space I guess

[1:02:39] would be a way to look at it. So space between properties if they're

[1:02:42] undervalued or overvalued that gap or that space between those that

[1:02:48] discrepancy grows over time. So if let's say your rate of appreciation is maybe

[1:02:53] 4% in the market 3% in the market those differences where one property may be

[1:02:58] valued more than another uh and when one's a little bit lesser valued that

[1:03:03] that 3% grows faster as that as that difference enhances. So if you did it

[1:03:08] every couple of years, you'd look at more of a stabilized tax rate as well as

[1:03:15] uh stabilized or lesser impacts. So you don't have that swing like council veil

[1:03:19] going up $1,500 on his property taxes as a result of the reval. Um looking at

[1:03:25] things like that, that's uh that's smoothed out a lot more. So, um, there

[1:03:29] may be, you know, the the I guess you could say the the adjustments aren't as

[1:03:35] significant when you do them more more frequently because you're not letting it

[1:03:38] get too far away from, you know, most of the properties being equitably assessed.

[1:03:43] So, it's just a question of refreshing that uh their overall values and maybe

[1:03:47] making that adjustment and uh finding some corrections that have to take

[1:03:50] place, but it's not as dramatic as saying, yeah, waiting 18 to 20 years.

[1:03:54] It's usually, you know, sadly it's a whiplash effect or at least it sure darn

[1:03:58] feels like it. >> So, should we be thinking like, you

[1:04:03] know, just revalone that fiveish% is

[1:04:12] » wouldn't be too far wouldn't be too far a field.

[1:04:15] » Okay, >> I can see that. The next question is,

[1:04:17] this might just be something I'd be interested in, but would there be a way

[1:04:20] to put a calculator on the website where if you say, you know, all right,

[1:04:26] my taxes are, you know, went up this much, how much of that was the reval,

[1:04:32] how much of that was just the budget and, you know, to break it down uh with,

[1:04:37] you know, the budget increase caused by this much,

[1:04:40] but then within that budget increase, you know, this much for the school, this

[1:04:43] much for the county, you know, and all to

[1:04:46] see like where th those changes are from.

[1:04:50] I don't know how much use that would be if people would actually use it, but

[1:04:54] could be interesting to say, you know, okay, it went up by this much. Well,

[1:04:58] yeah, because your house wasn't reval, you know, 18 years or because the budget

[1:05:02] went up by x%. >> It's a combination of both.

[1:05:06] » I know it sounds funny, but they're classes of property that some appreciate

[1:05:10] greater than others do. So like that first year of a reval like that when you

[1:05:13] reset the bar so to speak or reset the floor uh you're closing those gaps that

[1:05:20] really magnified over that time period. So it's it's hard to say uh what it

[1:05:25] would have been because u just because like a waterfront property

[1:05:31] may may appreciate at a greater rate than say uh a property next to um

[1:05:37] you know next to like I don't know next to next to the turnpike for instance

[1:05:44] where you know some neighborhoods appreciate better than other at greater

[1:05:47] rates than others do. Um, so it's that one's hard to tell when it's been that

[1:05:52] much time. Um, going forward, you can look at that and say, well, if you know

[1:05:55] the overall market has changed like two to three% a year for the past couple

[1:06:00] three years, then you're going to you're going to know that you're going to go up

[1:06:03] by about this amount of percentage and and then you look at it. Then that's

[1:06:06] exact then you still have to do that same performance performative behavior

[1:06:10] of saying okay um you know even during that time period if the tax rate went up

[1:06:16] or the or budget budgeted spending went up by x amount per year over those that

[1:06:21] period of time that has to be factored in as well.

[1:06:26] But for this year, from last year's evaluate, you know, taxable

[1:06:32] um amount to this year's taxable amount.

[1:06:37] Can we put something in there that says like, okay, you know, it went from

[1:06:40] 100,000 to 500,000, but your taxes only went up by X amount.

[1:06:45] Like, you know, most of your tax increase, X% of your tax increase was

[1:06:50] the reval and the rest of it was a budget.

[1:06:53] » Yeah. >> Kind of thing.

[1:06:55] » Yeah. You could I mean I I've got a spreadsheet that kind of shows that.

[1:06:59] » Um >> I I don't know if it might be

[1:07:02] interesting to put that if we could easily put that on where all the math is

[1:07:05] done in the background. >> Yeah.

[1:07:06] » And you put in simple numbers and then it spits out you know

[1:07:11] » if we do not have the time or person available to do something like

[1:07:16] that on the townwide level. Are people welcome to come to you as individuals

[1:07:20] and ask you those questions and you can break out that.

[1:07:22] » Yeah. Or or talk to Clint, our assessor. He should be able to

[1:07:26] » Yeah, >> I'd prefer if they spoke to Clint

[1:07:28] because if [laughter] there's there may be bigger fish to fry that, you know, if

[1:07:32] someone had some of those questions generally tend to snowball into other

[1:07:36] questions and uh he's our assessor. So, >> you shouldn't have done this exercise

[1:07:40] then because you just shown your hand. >> Hard [laughter] madam chair. I did it

[1:07:45] for 30 years. So, >> I really appreciate you breaking all

[1:07:48] this down because I know I came away from that conversation wondering what

[1:07:52] the heck like where do we find where did we fall out

[1:07:56] in the breakdown you know like of you know 30 3030 what actually was it? So,

[1:08:00] um at first I was a little shocked of course like wow that that was actually

[1:08:05] um an enormous increase for everyone but then as now of you you've broken that

[1:08:09] out and >> kind of sanitized the data so we can see

[1:08:12] really exactly what the rebell did. So, it's enlightening for sure and I'm glad

[1:08:16] that we have that >> on the the website or will because I

[1:08:19] know everyone else is probably wondering the same thing.

[1:08:21] » Well, it's to to be honest, it's something that we're you know, you want

[1:08:24] to be really sensitive to because even a dollar impact on anybody, it's

[1:08:28] significant and uh we we take that we take that seriously because it it has

[1:08:33] different impacts across all different spectrums of life that we know. So, you

[1:08:38] take that uh you want to have a high level of sensitivity to to those impacts

[1:08:41] and >> where they're at.

[1:08:43] » Okay. Anybody else have any questions or comments before we move on?

[1:08:46] » All righty. >> That was a big manager report. That was

[1:08:50] I'm like, "Oh, wow. We're only on I'm just kidding.

[1:08:52] » My biggest in two and a half years." [laughter] So, sorry. That's why we had

[1:08:54] a skim agenda. >> All your speaking time for the year now.

[1:08:57] You're done. I'm just kidding. Okay. So, now we'll move on to public discussion.

[1:09:01] Um public discussion is for comments on items that are not on the agenda. If you

[1:09:06] want to talk about an agenda item, you can do that later. Um, comments are

[1:09:09] limited to five minutes per person and rebuttal comments will be limited to two

[1:09:12] minutes per person. Public discussion topics may be brought up again under new

[1:09:16] business for further council discussion. Do we have anyone who would like to make

[1:09:21] a comment? Yeah, just um come on up. Let us know your name and where you live.

[1:09:30] » Okay. Um, my name is Danielle. I live in Cumberland and uh it's on the agenda but

[1:09:36] I guess it's when I'm supposed to come up. It's about the library. Talking

[1:09:39] about the library. Um thank you for your time in advance. Uh when my family and I

[1:09:44] moved to Cartland three years ago, um Prince Memorial Library was one of the

[1:09:47] first places we visited. Um I was immediately drawn to the atrium and its

[1:09:51] comfy chairs and the bright light coming through the windows. Um pretty soon I

[1:09:56] started to craft there at night and I met friends crafting

[1:10:00] also. Um, while we have family in Maine, we didn't know anyone in town. Um, and I

[1:10:06] went looking for community and boy howdy did I find it at Prince Memorial

[1:10:10] Library. So, um, while the library is meaningful to lots of people for lots of

[1:10:14] different reasons, I just wanted to give a sample of how the library has enriched

[1:10:19] my family's life. Um, my family, especially my foodie son, look forward

[1:10:24] to cook the book every month. We pick the recipes in advance and my son gets

[1:10:28] excited to bring the dish he made to share. Um, he also participates in the

[1:10:32] Thursday night Dungeons and Dragons group and in the tween book club at the

[1:10:36] library. He routinely walks or bikes to the library after school and spends time

[1:10:40] in the teen center like a lot. Um, if you ask him what his top three favorite

[1:10:45] places are in town, the library will be in that top three. Food stop is number

[1:10:49] one. >> [laughter]

[1:10:51] » Um this summer uh I participated or well

[1:10:57] this summer he went to California for a month and he didn't get to go to the

[1:11:00] library [laughter] and one of the uh Mondays that he was gone was a day that

[1:11:04] we had bingo and he nearly cried when he found out he was going to miss a bingo

[1:11:08] night. Um we all love bingo. Um he's looking at me funny but he but he

[1:11:14] was devastated. >> I was afraid too. It's okay. [laughter]

[1:11:17] And for people who are planners, uh there are usually four Mondays in July

[1:11:22] because there's only four weeks in a month. Um but in 2028, there will be

[1:11:25] five Mondays in July. So there will be a bonus bingo night. And if that means

[1:11:29] anything to you, it means a lot to me. So I I just wanted you to know that.

[1:11:33] » Um right when we moved here, I started nanning for a local family and the

[1:11:37] enclosed toddler room at the library was a godsend. Like you know, Tick had said

[1:11:42] or council member Filson had said. Um uh it was great um to just have a change

[1:11:47] of pace, get some fresh air, walk, new toys. Um it was a really wonderful place

[1:11:53] uh space to have. Um a few months after I moved here, I joined a book club in

[1:11:58] Westbrook and the first few books they picked were always available at the

[1:12:02] library, even like obscure titles. And I sort of cut to thinking this might be a

[1:12:06] magic library. Um anyway, so uh now I'm in the monthly book club on Saturday

[1:12:12] mornings at the library and it's uh really wonderful to sit in the prince

[1:12:15] room when I could be sleeping on on a Saturday, but I love to go and listen to

[1:12:19] what the ladies have to say about that month's book and it's really been I

[1:12:22] think a value ad to my life for sure. Um,

[1:12:26] I also love the Prince Room because it's very unique and architecturally

[1:12:31] interesting and I know like building plans might change but that room is it

[1:12:35] feels historic and so it's just nice to be in there and be touched with history.

[1:12:40] Um, I also participated in the yearly summer reading challenge and the 18

[1:12:44] prompts in 12 months and if you are a fan of reading things you might not

[1:12:49] read. One of the prompts was read a memoir by or biography of someone you

[1:12:52] think you wouldn't like. And I read Britney Spears's memoir and I still

[1:12:57] don't like her, but I'm was glad to have read it and I wouldn't have otherwise

[1:13:00] without the library. Um, let's see. Uh, we also make sure to attend Oh, I can't

[1:13:07] wait for the Banana Grahams tournament in February. I do practice all year

[1:13:10] long. Doesn't really help me, but I do practice. And the Banana Grams

[1:13:13] tournament is highly coveted prizes of like banana bread, banana socks. Like,

[1:13:17] it's a wonderful event. This guy last year came from Bath because he put it on

[1:13:21] his calendar. Drove all the way from Bath and he won.

[1:13:25] Um anyway, we also make sure to attend as many special events we can. We really

[1:13:29] appreciated the Gone Guys documentary that was put on earlier this year. Um

[1:13:33] the community plate storytelling stoppers and the star party. I'm really

[1:13:37] bummed that the weather did not cooperate this year. Um, what I wanted

[1:13:40] to say about the star party in particular, um, is that it's pretty

[1:13:43] magical to lay on a blanket surrounded by people in your community, all looking

[1:13:46] at the stars, all interested in learning about the stars, and being there for ice

[1:13:50] cream. Um, okay. So, like, you're around people that care about the same things

[1:13:55] you do is what I wanted to say. Uh, I want to end by shouting out my love and

[1:13:58] appreciation to all the library staff. Um, one of the biggest reasons this town

[1:14:02] feels like home to my family is because of them. Because they made us feel

[1:14:06] welcome and engaged. Um, I heard about the library being on the

[1:14:11] agenda today and and this is also my 13th wedding anniversary and I love the

[1:14:16] library so much that I should be out celebrating but instead I'm here

[1:14:20] nervously talking about how much I love the library. Um, anyway, it's it's a

[1:14:24] it's been a wonderful opportunity for us to be here for it and to enjoy it and

[1:14:29] for my family it's just been like a gem of a place. So, thank you for your

[1:14:34] support of the library. Thank you, Danielle, and happy anniversary.

[1:14:38] [laughter]

[1:14:41] » Does anyone else want to try to follow that up? I'm just [laughter] kidding.

[1:14:46] I don't follow her. I don't have much to say, but um my name is Barb Hul and I am

[1:14:53] a friend of the library. Um, and I just wanted to say Stacy said pretty much

[1:15:00] everything and I don't know what else I can say about

[1:15:04] her, but um, uh, just our mission is to raise funds um, to expand, enhance, and

[1:15:11] support all the library programs, events, and services for our community.

[1:15:16] And most of our money comes from the appeal.

[1:15:20] But we have I think around 20 volunteers who weekly sort the books, who work in

[1:15:26] the garden, do the major book sale, basically do anything that the library

[1:15:31] needs to make the librarian's job easier. And we just are so they always

[1:15:39] tell us they're grateful for us, but we are so incredibly grateful for them. Uh

[1:15:46] they're so very friendly, inclusive for all of us. Um and they help make our

[1:15:52] jobs easier. We're so so happy to be able to provide them with the money so

[1:15:59] they can do the wonderful programs that they come up with. Um I don't think

[1:16:05] there's a more gratifying volunteer experience that you could have and we're

[1:16:10] always looking for more. So if anybody wants to spread the word, we would love

[1:16:15] that.

[1:16:18] » Thank you. Would anybody else like to come up for

[1:16:23] public comment? Going once, twice. All righty.

[1:16:30] We will then move on to legislation and policy.

[1:16:34] There will be an opportunity for public comment. Per article 2, section seven of

[1:16:38] the town charter. There will be an opportunity for public comment on each

[1:16:42] item on the agenda. Comments are limited to five minutes per person.

[1:16:47] We will start with 26-094 to hold a public hearing to consider and

[1:16:52] act on amendments to chapter 48 coastal waters of the Cumberland code of

[1:16:56] ordinances as recommended by the ordinance committee. And I believe we

[1:16:59] have do we have Chief Ramsey here to talk about that?

[1:17:02] » We certainly do, Madam Chair. >> Had a hunch. So we will have Chief

[1:17:06] Ramsey introduce the amendments and perhaps afterward maybe councelor Veil,

[1:17:10] chair of the ordinance committee might want to have some additional ordinance

[1:17:14] committee background that you might want to share.

[1:17:17] » Thank you councilors. Uh I believe in your packet you have a memo from myself

[1:17:23] and a copy of the proposed ordinance changes. So just in brief, what we're

[1:17:28] asking you to consider approving tonight is a few changes to the ordinance which

[1:17:32] would do the following. uh explicitly prohibit the placement of a float on a

[1:17:38] mooring for any purpose other than commercial fishing. We actually updated

[1:17:42] this ordinance language a little while ago, but there was some concern

[1:17:47] following our update that the language wasn't clear enough to ensure that no

[1:17:54] one would ever try to put a float onto a moing for anything other than commercial

[1:17:58] fishing. And what we're concerned about is something like a a float that would

[1:18:01] be placed on a moing to be used for a party spot or a tiny house or, you know,

[1:18:06] whatever kind of uh potential um potential other use there could be other

[1:18:13] than mooring a boat or putting a a commercial fishing platform out there.

[1:18:18] So you have that for your consideration. Also the uh harbor masters and the

[1:18:23] coastal waters commission for a number of years have been talking about ways to

[1:18:28] maximize the use of the number of moorings that we have in broad cove and

[1:18:33] have observed that use of moorings that have been permitted is at about 50% each

[1:18:39] year and so one of the measures that we are proposing is to require moing

[1:18:46] holders to actually put a boat on their mooring so that We started out, we just

[1:18:51] gave, you know, when we first created the Broad Cove Reserve mooring field, we

[1:18:55] would just permit you to have a moing and then we didn't do anything else.

[1:18:59] Then we made a change to require you if you received a moing to actually install

[1:19:04] a moing. So, what we've learned is that there are plenty of folks that will

[1:19:09] receive a moing permit, pay an installer to go out and put a moing out there

[1:19:13] without ever having having the intention to put a boat on there. They may have a

[1:19:18] mooring in some other moing field. They may be happy to just take that mooring,

[1:19:23] uh, put it out there and have it sort of as a hedge against, you know, some

[1:19:28] potential desire to have it for future use. So, we have this pretty big mooring

[1:19:32] field that just isn't being used by by folks for moing their boats. So, we are

[1:19:37] proposing that change and then proposing a third change which basically states

[1:19:43] that if you are on our wait list and as we go through um assigning moorings in

[1:19:49] the Rodco Cove Reserve moing field every spring, if we offer you a moing and you

[1:19:55] say, "Thank you, but I don't want to take a moing this year. either my boat's

[1:19:58] on order or just had a baby or whatever the reason might be, we'll allow you to

[1:20:03] pass and keep your spot on that wait list. If we ask you again, you can pass

[1:20:09] and keep your spot on that wait list. If we offer you a third time that year, you

[1:20:13] have to accept the mooring, install a moing, and put a boat on your mooring,

[1:20:18] or else we remove you from the weight list, you can immediately reapply and go

[1:20:23] back on the wait list, but you would then be at the bottom of the list.

[1:20:27] Uh the harbor masters and myself are hopeful that if we pass these the two

[1:20:32] particular recommended changes that have to do with the way we um expect folks to

[1:20:38] use moorings in the broad cove mooring field that we will have a much more full

[1:20:42] moing field and that we'll have a much shorter weight list. Both of the things

[1:20:45] that we think would be really great for the the Cumberland community. So happy

[1:20:49] to go into any more depth or answer any questions that you may have about any of

[1:20:53] that language, but that's a brief overview for you.

[1:20:57] question. >> Uh so two things one uh just to clarify

[1:21:01] with the the weight list that's asking once a year correct. So they the first

[1:21:05] year you ask they can pass then the next requ or next ask would be the second

[1:21:10] year and then the third year it's take or leave it.

[1:21:14] » Okay. Um, and then with the floats, is it really a safety concern of not having

[1:21:25] non-commercial fishing floats out there in terms of, you know, people putting

[1:21:30] [sighs] diving off the a dock, you know, a float or something like that and then

[1:21:34] not seeing other boats come in and all. So, sort of why just commercial fishing

[1:21:39] and not anything else? I think safety concern and then a potential

[1:21:44] proliferation concern. If we if we start allowing them on permitted moorings,

[1:21:49] then there could suddenly be a bunch of them that could have other hazards for

[1:21:54] um creating issues with our ability to u monitor what's going on. And again, you

[1:22:00] know, our our former harbor master had heard of some communities in the US

[1:22:05] where people were putting floats on moorings and then putting tiny houses on

[1:22:09] them or, you know, small structures that people were basically like renting out

[1:22:12] as an Airbnb or VRBO, uh, having parties out on those platforms. And so it was

[1:22:19] never the intention of our mooring ordinance to do anything other than

[1:22:23] moore a boat. And uh when we discussed limiting it to just mooring a boat, we

[1:22:29] realized we needed to also allow lawful commercial fishing activities and

[1:22:34] sometimes those do require a float. So has not been an issue here trying to

[1:22:38] head off a potential issue that we uh saw coming down the pike from other

[1:22:42] areas of the country.

[1:22:47] I'm just curious what analysis has been done to understand why people aren't

[1:22:52] using their moorings. Um, and also it's my or I was on I'm not on the Coastal

[1:22:58] Waters Commission anymore, but when I was my understanding was that not

[1:23:02] everyone that had a moing also had a dinghy on the float. Is that still the

[1:23:05] case? >> So, if I understand your two-part

[1:23:08] question, yes, we did make an attempt to understand a little bit about what was

[1:23:12] going on out there by doing a a poll. We pulled all the folks that had a moing, I

[1:23:17] think it was two years ago, to ask them, "If you had a moing, did you install

[1:23:22] your moing? Did you put a boat on the moing? If not, why not?" And we didn't

[1:23:26] get great response. We can't compel people to respond back to us. And so the

[1:23:31] response was yet, you know, between yes, I did, no, I didn't. My boat was in the

[1:23:36] shop being repaired all summer or busy with the family or I had my boat

[1:23:40] somewhere else for the summer. So, it didn't really create it didn't really

[1:23:44] create a clear picture for us to understand. And and I assume because if

[1:23:49] there were some people that received a moing, installed a received a moing

[1:23:53] permit, installed a moing and never intended to put a boat on it because

[1:23:56] they have a moing somewhere else, uh they're not going to respond to the to

[1:24:00] the poll and tell us that probably. So, it didn't it didn't help us carve our

[1:24:06] path forward, I help us chart our path forward to that extent. And then the

[1:24:11] second part of your question, I knew I should have been able to remember it in

[1:24:14] a very short >> uh dingies, but on the first part, um,

[1:24:18] sorry, it just seems installing a boring is really expensive. Um, and so it seems

[1:24:25] just like a big amount of money to put forth with not having the intention of

[1:24:33] putting a vote on it. And so I'm just wondering

[1:24:38] like is there something else that could possibly be going on?

[1:24:42] » Um I thought so as well and I'm not a ocean varying person but my

[1:24:47] understanding is that owning a boat, operating a boat, mooring a boat,

[1:24:50] especially depending on where you're doing all those things is very

[1:24:53] expensive. And so the prospect of purchasing um a moing and then having a

[1:25:01] mooring installer put it in for you is probably in the realm of hundreds of

[1:25:06] dollars when owning and operating a boat on Main's coast is much more expensive

[1:25:11] than that. And and I think compared to what folks are paying in some of the

[1:25:15] moing fields in Falmouth and Yarmouth, it's a very small amount of money

[1:25:20] compared to what they may be spending somewhere else. So I think comparatively

[1:25:23] it's not a ton of money. Uh so that's been sort of our analysis on that.

[1:25:31] » Okay. Um I guess my my second question was around uh dinghy access. So

[1:25:39] the folks that have moorings that does not guarantee

[1:25:45] on the dock, right? >> So speaking this. Okay. So the um

[1:25:53] we have currently approved 48 moings and out of those 48 approved moings all but

[1:25:59] five may have a dinghy

[1:26:04] docked at our town floats if they want to.

[1:26:06] » Okay. >> So up to 43 of our moing holders could

[1:26:11] dock a dinghy there. >> And that doesn't include the um like the

[1:26:15] dry racks or the correct dry storage. >> That's correct. It does not include the

[1:26:19] we call them personal watercraft storage racks because it could be a paddle

[1:26:22] board, canoe, kayak that's up there. >> Okay.

[1:26:29] » So, as one of the folks that uh as the chief and I have discussed um you know

[1:26:36] to answer your question, Tig, I think one of the reasons that folks get

[1:26:39] moorings there and keep moorings is in the past it's been very very challenging

[1:26:43] to get a moing in Casco Bay. So, for example, if you were in Felmouth or in

[1:26:47] South Freeport or something like that, there is no way you're going to get a

[1:26:52] moing. So, uh myself who moved my mooring from

[1:26:56] Felmouth to Cumberland with the intent of putting my boat on the mooring, which

[1:27:00] you know, as you anyone who knows, my boat has been in dry dock in my yard for

[1:27:04] more than a few years. Um but uh I think the changes that you propose chief are

[1:27:10] are good um in that you know you you get the you need to use the mooring um and

[1:27:18] have you know a chance or two to say uh you know to continue to use it if you if

[1:27:25] you're off for a year or something going on and then being able to go back on the

[1:27:29] list again right off the bat I think is a is a big deal. I I think people just

[1:27:33] keep the moorings because it's it's it has been historically very

[1:27:38] challenging to get one and they also have ambitions to have their boat in the

[1:27:42] water which doesn't always work. So, um and for example, if you do to Chief's

[1:27:47] point, if you do have a moing like I did, it doesn't cost a lot to get that

[1:27:50] once you get the moing moved, it doesn't cost a lot each year to keep it going.

[1:27:54] So, uh it's a pretty cheap option to to maintain an option to to and to maintain

[1:27:59] it >> right

[1:28:00] » year on year. putting it in isn't cheap. >> It depends.

[1:28:05] » Um or sorry, I don't know if we're

[1:28:08] » Yeah, we don't want to get into that that debate yet. Yeah. Just as a piece,

[1:28:11] I think that just as a I think the changes to the ordinance are good and I

[1:28:16] I definitely support >> We're not quite there yet, though. This

[1:28:18] is just question moment. So, if anyone has any other questions,

[1:28:22] then we'll open the public hearing, close it, and then we'll discuss. So,

[1:28:26] any further questions? >> Not yet. for comments before we open the

[1:28:30] public hearing. Okay, cool. Let's do this official bit here. Um, this is a

[1:28:35] public hearing. If anyone would like to come up and speak on this topic, the

[1:28:39] floor is open. Anybody want to talk about moorings? Great. The public

[1:28:44] hearing is now closed. >> Do you have anything you'd like to talk

[1:28:48] about, chair of the ordinance committee? >> This is an item that came from the

[1:28:53] coastal water commission, the harbor master, and the police chief. the

[1:28:57] ordinance committee as as a matter of policy reviews it. Uh so but this is not

[1:29:03] something that the ordinance committee drafted but we have supported it and it

[1:29:08] came out of the ordinance committee with a should pass uh recommendation. So the

[1:29:14] recommendation is from the ordinance committee that this be adopted.

[1:29:20] » I have a question if uh no one else does. Um, so I think we're at 57 waiting

[1:29:26] list applicants or something and we've got 48 moorings. Um,

[1:29:33] do you anticipate the people on the wait list also going to be kind of like

[1:29:40] active users or I'm I'm just wondering I'm I'm I'd be glad to see some turnover

[1:29:45] on the wait list, but what if the weight list people also

[1:29:50] are going to pass? I'm just wondering if we reach a point where we have no weight

[1:29:52] list but we also have no one using the morings. Um what would we do then?

[1:29:57] » Well, our intention is that at the end of this year, provided that you all vote

[1:30:01] to to make these changes to the ordinance, we would be having

[1:30:05] conversations with the roughly 50% of current moing holders who haven't put a

[1:30:10] vote on their moing to say, listen, the there's been a change to the to the

[1:30:13] ordinance which is going to require you to have a a mooring. uh this year is

[1:30:18] fine, but next year that's going to be an expectation. Do you reasonably expect

[1:30:21] to have a more a vote on your mooring next year? Do you want to talk about

[1:30:24] surrendering that mooring? And we think that that's going to probably have some

[1:30:28] people bow out and not come back again next year. Then we would start on the

[1:30:31] wait list. And if folks, as we mentioned, passed, we would work our way

[1:30:36] down the wait list. And so >> when we call the wait list this time, we

[1:30:40] would be saying your your number's up. You're welcome to have a morning if you

[1:30:44] want to. keep in mind this is the expectation, right?

[1:30:47] » And then uh folks will have to make their decision then take the moing, get

[1:30:52] a boat on or I'll pass. And then we do think that

[1:30:56] » uh those two changes are going to result in a number of people just self-

[1:31:01] selecting to not be on the wait list anymore and that it's going to result in

[1:31:06] a more full mooring field. >> That's going to result in issues with

[1:31:10] dingy dockage. We realize there will be a ex u an increase in dinghyd dockage

[1:31:14] space right this coming spring when the floats are expanded and then we will uh

[1:31:20] well I will work with the coastal waters commission to be keeping an eye on

[1:31:23] things down there. Have we have we solved one problem created another one?

[1:31:27] How do we sort of keep our hand on the throttle right for that moving forward?

[1:31:30] But we think that it'll be a good way to increase the use of that resource for

[1:31:35] the town uh be fair to folks that have been on the waiting list for a long

[1:31:38] time. And you know, I I would love to think we would reach a point where there

[1:31:41] isn't a wait list anymore, but I suspect we'll have one of some some length for

[1:31:47] the foreseeable future. >> Anybody have any comments or opinions or

[1:31:55] take a motion? >> Oh, I have a lot of comments and

[1:31:57] opinions. Sorry. [laughter] >> Go for it.

[1:32:00] » Okay. So, a couple of things. Um, first, so I think that take I think that rather

[1:32:08] than removing someone entirely from the weight list, it might be a better move

[1:32:14] to ask them one, do you still want to be on here?

[1:32:18] » And they might just say, "No, no, thank you. Um, take me off. I sold my boat."

[1:32:24] But what we could also do, which would actually be more consistent with what we

[1:32:28] do on the shellfish commission, is they get moved automatically to the bottom of

[1:32:34] the weight list. Um, because I'm on the wait list, right? I've been

[1:32:38] on the wait list for a while. Our boat is in dry dock. Our engine is screwed.

[1:32:45] And unfortunately, um, we can't afford right now to buy an $8,000 new engine.

[1:32:52] We can't. Do we have every intention of putting our boat on a mooring when we

[1:32:57] are in a more financially stable position? Like absolutely. But what'll

[1:33:01] happen is that if we're at the top of the wait list and we say no, it's not

[1:33:05] going to happen this year. It's not going to happen next year. And boat

[1:33:08] people who are real boat people know that boat problems are problems. They're

[1:33:12] money pits. They're not something that you should necessarily get because you

[1:33:16] will constantly be looking at your wallet and saying, "Why did I do this?"

[1:33:19] You can probably agree with me at least on that, right? Um, but you know, like

[1:33:24] we come off the wait list and my husband's just going to reapply, get put

[1:33:28] to the wait list. We'll have to pay the fee again. And like I don't know. I just

[1:33:32] I don't think that that's I don't love that. Um even though I know it's a very

[1:33:36] very small fee. I just for the residents I just I don't think that's cool. And I

[1:33:39] think that it would be more consistent for our code if we were to do it the way

[1:33:44] that we do for the shellfish with the shellfish commission commission. The

[1:33:47] other part in here that I don't love is um the harbor master may refuse to renew

[1:33:54] any mooring assignment or permit in the broad cove reserve boring field that is

[1:34:00] not used by the permit holder for one full boating year season rather. Um so

[1:34:05] I'm trying to understand like enforcement here like how do you know

[1:34:11] whether or not someone is putting their boat there? the harbor master here might

[1:34:15] not be the same type of harbor master that we have in a much more robust

[1:34:20] waterfront. Uh like we don't have a boat, right?

[1:34:24] » Correct. >> Um and so h how are we determining

[1:34:30] because this language I think is sort of subjective like so how are you

[1:34:33] determining what the use looks like? So, great question. And so, what we've

[1:34:38] done this year, I anticipate is what we would be doing in future years is that

[1:34:43] in the spring when the moorings go out, a tag goes on the moing that just says,

[1:34:46] "Hey, when you put your boat on this moing, would you remove this tag?" And

[1:34:49] reach out to the harbor master. So, then folks get their boat out, they go to mo

[1:34:54] their boat, they see that tag, they remove it, they reach out to officer

[1:34:57] Marman, our harbor master, and say, "Hey, Matt, my boat's on the mooring."

[1:35:00] And Matt says, "Check mark that that moing is being used." We go out and

[1:35:04] inspect our moorings. We're trying to do it about four times over the summer. And

[1:35:09] so I think at the end of a at the end of a boating season, if there's a moing

[1:35:14] that has a a tag on it that has not been removed during the times they did their

[1:35:18] four checks, they never saw a boat on that moing, there's a pretty good

[1:35:20] argument that that mooring has not been used during that full boating season.

[1:35:25] And then Matt would be having a conversation with that moing holder.

[1:35:28] What's happening? What's going on with you? And we wrote the language

[1:35:32] to be um flexible for Matt. So when Matt talks to someone, if the person says, "I

[1:35:38] had a death in the family. I've been battling a serious health concern or

[1:35:42] whatever the case may be that Matt can provide some grace to that person to to

[1:35:47] understand that and let them push it out by one more year or just have the

[1:35:51] conversation with them about what's what's the deal, where's your boat, is

[1:35:54] it, you know, is it in dry dock? Do you have something uh you know in place for

[1:35:59] repairs? Do you have an expectation that boat's going to be there again in the

[1:36:02] near future? and then just work through that with them um based on I think

[1:36:07] conversation and an expectation that folks are going to be candid and helpful

[1:36:10] and and um that if he needs to and he tells a person that based on whatever

[1:36:16] the the totality of the circumstances is that he's not going to renew their

[1:36:20] mooring that's his decision but his decision can be appealed to the entire

[1:36:24] coastal waters commission. So there's there's good due process involved. If he

[1:36:28] makes a decision after having that conversation, again, looking at all the

[1:36:32] the facts of the case, and he says no, then they can present themselves before

[1:36:36] the Coastal Waters Commission and make their case to that to that group who can

[1:36:39] either sustain his decision or overturn it.

[1:36:44] » And I I just would add, I think, to um to add on to some of the other comments

[1:36:49] that were made that this is very similar to language that's being used in

[1:36:52] Yarmouth and Falmouth. are obviously very close to their harbor masters and

[1:36:55] talk with them on a regular basis to bounce ideas off of them and ask them

[1:36:59] for recommendations for language. So they both use language that's very

[1:37:03] similar to this and think that it's worked well for them. Um it was also

[1:37:06] reviewed by the coastal waters commission and our town council. So um

[1:37:11] could be words smith I guess but it does provide flexibility for our harbor

[1:37:15] master and it does provide due process for anyone that feels agrieved by a

[1:37:18] decision made by our harbor master. I I would exc um I mean I would argue

[1:37:24] that Yarmmouth and Felmouth are very different harbors than Broad Cove. Um

[1:37:30] there's a lot more traffic. Uh there's a lot more use. Um

[1:37:37] it's just like it's a it's a they're much busier. So So I'm not sure that

[1:37:41] it's apples to apples. Um I'm not saying that there's anything wrong. I think the

[1:37:44] benchmarking is great. Um,

[1:37:51] yeah. Yeah. I don't know. I think it's I just I think it's unreasonable. Um, but

[1:37:56] that's me. I would be more comfortable with at least folks having the option or

[1:38:02] being put to the bottom of the weight list or as asked if they want to stay on

[1:38:07] the weight list and then move to the bottom, which is more consistent with

[1:38:10] what we do with Shellfish. Um,

[1:38:16] and I don't know, like the tagging system, I I guess I understand it, but

[1:38:20] someone could go out there, remove the tag like on their paddle board, and then

[1:38:25] they've ticked the box, you know, like I just it's it seems a little

[1:38:32] it it just kind of seems like you're like I don't love it. It seems kind of

[1:38:36] arbitrary. It doesn't really seem um like it's solving the problem, which is

[1:38:40] we want people to use this We want people, we want it to be a more

[1:38:45] bustling harbor and I'm not sure this is going to solve that problem.

[1:38:49] » So, I wouldn't be in support of it as written.

[1:38:53] » Want to say something? >> Yeah. I mean,

[1:38:56] » think about it. >> I I I

[1:38:58] Yes, I understand your uh questions, uh, Councelor Fison. Um, but, uh, you know,

[1:39:06] I think there's a, you know, as someone who is, you know, potentially going to

[1:39:10] go and have this change affect me. Um, and I'm sure others I I can see other

[1:39:15] moorings out there that I know of, folks that, you know, you, you can tell that a

[1:39:18] moing's not been used when the grass is on the right, it's sitting there, right?

[1:39:22] I went out and got my tag off the mooring with my kayak the other day,

[1:39:25] right? So, um I think that this will help move things along.

[1:39:33] Um and I think there's flexibility in there. One of the conversations that we

[1:39:38] had in the in the ordinance committee was there was initially a penalty where

[1:39:42] right where you couldn't reapply to the list for three years if you decided not

[1:39:45] to have the mooring and we took that off right Chief Ramsey took that off

[1:39:50] » and I think this in here too whereas if you choose not to go on or accept the

[1:39:54] moring and you just go right back onto the you know you start at the bottom of

[1:39:57] the list again right I mean I think that's I think that's pretty fair

[1:40:01] » all is inconsistent with what we do in our other code So, would we want to do

[1:40:07] that for the shellfish as well? >> Yeah, I don't I don't know why we

[1:40:10] wouldn't, but yeah. So, at least in Yeah, I don't know. I think this would

[1:40:15] be I would like to see this get move forward. You know, if others think we

[1:40:20] need to tweak it, great. But for my world, I think it works.

[1:40:27] Bill, >> I think the u one of the things to

[1:40:31] understand is the capacity of Broad Cove is not nearly being utilized to anywhere

[1:40:38] near its capacity and and as as people use it. We have the ability to expand

[1:40:44] it. We certainly have the ability to issue more permits and and change as

[1:40:50] necessary. So, I think for tonight we should move this ahead. The this is a

[1:40:55] recommendation from uh a an appointed committee that has done the due

[1:41:00] diligence there. The ordinance committee has

[1:41:04] reviewed it. Um if if it we find that there's something that's not working, we

[1:41:11] can always go back and request the coastal commission to re-examine this

[1:41:17] and and come back with a different recommendation. But I'm I'm ready to

[1:41:21] move move it tonight. Um, I'll give my two cents before someone inevitably

[1:41:27] gives a motion. Um, I understand your concerns, especially around the

[1:41:32] subjectivity of the language of the harbor master's um, discretion and I

[1:41:39] know in this case it's for a person who's got, you know, good things in

[1:41:45] mind. There could be a harbor master working for the forces of evil who wants

[1:41:48] to go around and target individuals for the moorings. Who knows? But I do

[1:41:54] appreciate that you mentioned the appeals process because I think that's

[1:41:57] where any of that would play out. And again, you would hope that the Coastal

[1:42:00] Waters Commission is also operating in the best interests um of everyone and

[1:42:05] having some ethics there, which I know they do. Um so that makes me feel better

[1:42:09] about that language piece at least. And then I think it's pretty fair to let a

[1:42:13] person pass for two years and then they have that third time to accept. I would

[1:42:19] be in favor of just tweaking the wording a little bit um on where it says when an

[1:42:25] applicant is offered a moing for the third time, they must accept the offered

[1:42:29] moing assignment or their name will be moved to the bottom of the waiting list

[1:42:33] or something instead of just being removed from the waiting list. I can see

[1:42:36] that being a little tweak, but I wouldn't hold this whole thing back um

[1:42:41] based on that wording. I would just ask that we just revisit that sentence again

[1:42:46] sometime uh soon. But um yeah, I mean I'm in favor of it

[1:42:53] on the whole. Um if anybody has anything else to say, go for it. Otherwise,

[1:43:00] » someone make a motion. >> I'll make I'll make a motion.

[1:43:04] So >> yeah, go for it.

[1:43:07] » Item number 26094. I move to amend chapter 48, coastal waters of the

[1:43:13] Cumberland one code of ordinances as recommended by the ordinance committee.

[1:43:16] » Second. >> All right, we have a motion and a

[1:43:19] second. Any discussion on the motion? All those in favor?

[1:43:27] » Oh, sorry. All those opposed? Motion carries. Thank you, councilors.

[1:43:33] » Thanks, chief. >> All righty. Next, we have 26-095

[1:43:39] to authorize fiscal year 2026, end of year transfers. Um, this is our annual

[1:43:45] housekeeping item. And if we would like, who wants to talk about it? I'm guessing

[1:43:52] finance director. >> We do have our little on this finance

[1:43:57] director here this evening. So, is more than ready to talk about. the expert in

[1:44:02] the room.

[1:44:07] » Good evening, councilors. As discussed during our finance committee meeting, um

[1:44:12] we showed a budget um surplus of uh $1.3 million with a request to use some of

[1:44:20] those funds for urine transfers for our HR, our um our CIP budget that we've uh

[1:44:29] planned for the fire department. And um I think the total was I'm sorry I don't

[1:44:35] have the agenda in front of me. 1966 673 >> 1976 673

[1:44:42] » 196 673 that's close unless you want the extra grand [laughter]

[1:44:47] and then um as as we also discussed um I haven't completely closed the books but

[1:44:52] um I do see uh do not foresee us needing to u back any of those out. I know in

[1:44:59] the past we've put preliminary based on where we would end the year. Um, and if

[1:45:04] you had any questions about revenues and expenses, we went through those as well.

[1:45:09] So, not sure if there's any other questions.

[1:45:16] » Um, I don't have any.

[1:45:20] » Anybody want to get into the details here or we good?

[1:45:24] » I think we covered them earlier. >> Yeah, it wasn't televised. I don't know

[1:45:29] if we should give like the TLDDR of or the summary I should say for those who

[1:45:34] don't know the lingo um just the general [snorts]

[1:45:40] what was generally over budget what was under how revenues balanced out

[1:45:45] and this and that or we can just uh move it forward. I'm I'm happy either way.

[1:45:54] » I'm I'm happy to provide you a motion if you want. Um

[1:45:59] item number 26-095. I move to authorize the town manager to

[1:46:04] transfer excess and end of year operating revenues and departmental

[1:46:08] operating balances from the general fund to close all departmental

[1:46:12] budgets. And further, I also I also move to authorize a town manager to transfer

[1:46:17] up to 196 thou6,673 from end ofear excess revenues from the

[1:46:23] general fund for projects and any additional excess revenues to be applied

[1:46:27] to endofear fund balances. >> All right, have a motion. We have a

[1:46:32] second. >> Second.

[1:46:35] » Any discussion on that motion? Nope. All those in favor?

[1:46:40] Unanimous. Thank you, Helen.

[1:46:46] All right, next we have 26-096 to appoint a member to the planning

[1:46:52] board. Exciting. Um,

[1:46:55] » like to speak on that. >> Yes, indeed, chair of that committee,

[1:46:59] Mahalik. >> So, first of all, I just want to thank

[1:47:02] all the people that applied. We had a number of great applicants. Um, but

[1:47:07] after going through the selection process, you know, looked like that

[1:47:12] We should move to appoint Jane Wilson to the planning to the planning board.

[1:47:19] » And as I understand it, it was unanimously approved. Yes.

[1:47:22] » By the non nominating committee. So you guys are all on the same page.

[1:47:25] » Yep. >> Great.

[1:47:28] » So I'll give you a motion whenever you're ready.

[1:47:31] » Unless anyone wants to talk about it, I'm ready.

[1:47:36] » Item number 26-096. I move to appoint Jane Wilson to the

[1:47:40] planning board. Second. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. I was

[1:47:46] there. I love her. She's amazing. >> She's awesome.

[1:47:49] » All right. Motion second. >> Discussion on the motion.

[1:47:52] » Seeing none. All those in favor? >> Unanimous. Great. Congratulations.

[1:47:57] » Go Jane. Go. >> Welcome to the planning board.

[1:48:02] All right. Finally, we have item 26-097

[1:48:08] to set a public hearing date of September 14th to consider an act on a

[1:48:12] liquor license application for Marmain LLC. And I will note, if you didn't

[1:48:18] catch my emphasis, that this is not approving anything tonight. This is just

[1:48:22] to establish the hearing date. Um the actual hearing and decision would be

[1:48:26] scheduled for September 14th if um that goes through. So, um, if nobody would

[1:48:33] like to discuss it or if you would like to discuss it, um, you can do that. It's

[1:48:38] probably not the time for it. >> Somebody wants to give me a motion.

[1:48:41] » Would you like a motion? >> Yeah, I'll give you one.

[1:48:45] » All right, >> let's do it.

[1:48:46] » I move to set a public hearing date of September 14th to consider an act on a

[1:48:50] liquor license application for I hope I'm pronouncing this right, Mayor Mine

[1:48:54] LLC. Oh, you're here. >> Oh, I have already been looking to at

[1:49:00] that menu. I sent it to all my neighbors.

[1:49:02] » Really good. [laughter] >> Uh we have a

[1:49:06] » we have

[1:49:12] so happy you're here. Thank you. >> While we distribute these, I have a

[1:49:16] motion. Do we have a second? >> Second.

[1:49:18] » Okay. Any discussion on it? All those in favor?

[1:49:22] Unanimous. We will see you on September 14th

[1:49:26] [clears throat] where we will discuss this in detail. I'm just kidding. I'm

[1:49:30] not kidding though. I'm going to talk about this menu. All right, great. That

[1:49:36] concludes legislation and policy. Now, we're going to get into new business.

[1:49:40] And I'm left-handed, so I'm going to start on my left. Councelor Filson, if

[1:49:45] you're prepared. >> Thank you. I sure am. Um, so one of the

[1:49:49] things that I'm hoping that we can talk about, and I already um uh surfaced or

[1:49:54] bubbled this to the surface with um Lily, is um I'd like to have some kind

[1:50:00] of discussion about some kind of program for tax relief um

[1:50:06] for families who may that that possibly is an expansion of the senior program.

[1:50:14] um where families who may have found themselves in economic hardship for

[1:50:19] whatever reason, maybe it's a year where they're just really not doing well,

[1:50:23] can't afford their tax bill. Um just looking at whether or not there's

[1:50:28] something that we could do, um a program that we can put in place, uh for folks

[1:50:32] that yeah are financially struggling, may not be able to hit their tax bill

[1:50:37] that particular year. um could be temporary um or could be something that

[1:50:42] may temporary for that family. Um but I think that the economic hardship is um

[1:50:49] out there. Um there are big life events like divorces, people are unexpectedly

[1:50:54] widowed. Um you know, all sorts of things happen and sometimes it takes a

[1:50:58] little bit of time to regain your footing. Um, and so that's just

[1:51:02] something at some point I'd love for us to look at the options and see if um

[1:51:07] that's something we want to look at. That's it for me.

[1:51:10] » Great. Council follow.

[1:51:14] » What do you have? >> Ah, I have two two items. Um, so the

[1:51:20] first one is like to propose or discuss for new business is regards to the rail

[1:51:25] trail. Um, and I think that there is an opportunity since I know as as we as we

[1:51:33] hear the community, right? I think there's overwhelming support to do this.

[1:51:37] Um, and I realize that there's concerns from a Butters as well. Um, but I think

[1:51:44] that not moving forward on the engineering study is a is a bad choice.

[1:51:50] Um, and I think that's a process where we can get the uh abutters, right? Get

[1:51:55] their concerns heard in a in a process that is a normal process. But I also

[1:52:01] respect the fact that, right, we're in this world of needs and wants and trying

[1:52:07] to be respectful of the the cost of the study and the match. And again, this is

[1:52:12] just for the study, the $12,000 contribution. I think that there is um

[1:52:19] sufficient support um in town from folks who would like to

[1:52:25] see this move forward that we could um do it as a charitable uh thing, right,

[1:52:31] where people can contribute to this to fund the $12,000. And I think we'd find

[1:52:36] that that would get funded quite quickly. Um, so I just wanted to throw

[1:52:41] that out as as something that we can consider and if there's a um, you know,

[1:52:48] Mr. Manager, if there's a mechanism that we can use that would allow us to take

[1:52:52] those charitable contributions in and then use that to fund the study. So

[1:52:56] again, you know, with the we're not we're not worried about the expenditure

[1:53:01] of the study. And again, just the study, that's it. That's where it stops.

[1:53:06] » Two things if I can. Um I we haven't made that agenda obviously yet, but I

[1:53:12] think we were aiming for the end of September,

[1:53:14] » I think the 28th to revisit this. Um, additionally, I know that people can

[1:53:20] make donations to the town. I don't know if we need to have a specific like fund

[1:53:24] category set up for a a specific use or if people could donate and just say, you

[1:53:29] know, in the memo like this is for a particular thing.

[1:53:32] » We we we definitely can. >> Okay. Um the oftentimes what you find is

[1:53:37] a town can receive gifts and then uh and then uh the council can allocate those

[1:53:42] gifts uh depending upon that like uh occasionally folks will make a donation

[1:53:47] to the town uh specific to support the fire and rescue or uh an ambulance fund

[1:53:54] if there was something along those lines or

[1:53:57] certain areas. So we could uh or even uh quite honestly the food pantry is

[1:54:01] another one uh that we do. Council Mahalik donates his $20 at each council

[1:54:06] meeting. We take that and and that goes into their account. So, we could set up

[1:54:11] a fund for that and then the council could look at that and say, "Okay, we're

[1:54:15] going to receive it here. Are we going to expend it here?" And then it's a one

[1:54:17] for one uh that way we could we could keep that clean. But it's it's it's

[1:54:22] definitely a mechanism we could put in place.

[1:54:24] » So, what all do we need to do to to do that? And would it be only for the

[1:54:29] design study or can it be a that rail trail over there general fund to where

[1:54:35] if you have things over that it goes to potentially something in the future

[1:54:41] regarding it or what do you do if it goes over the 12,000 do you give refunds

[1:54:45] like how does how do the how does the nitty-gritty work on that kind of thing

[1:54:48] before we were to do something like that? It'd be a nice problem to have.

[1:54:52] » Indeed, >> would [laughter] be would be the way I

[1:54:54] would look at that, but uh not I was not trying to be flip at all with that. Uh

[1:54:59] but it would be a nice problem to have. But generally what you would do is uh

[1:55:02] you know, once you get to that point, ultimately comes down to council because

[1:55:05] council would have to say, you know, we will receive those funds and we we're

[1:55:09] happy and we will expend them based on what the donor's um desires are. Um,

[1:55:15] that's a pretty easy one, but really ends up having the council just would

[1:55:18] need to authorize that expenditure. >> So, is that something we need to stick

[1:55:21] on our agenda coming up to establish this?

[1:55:26] » Yeah, we can get that on for the 14th without without a problem at all. And I

[1:55:29] could get the language really cleaned up and and and and ready to ready to go.

[1:55:34] So, if there were willing and ready donors out there, we'd be we could set

[1:55:38] it up to do it. And then probably then you could look at the 28th and say,

[1:55:41] "Okay, uh, you know, if those funds came in, the council could then look at that.

[1:55:46] If you want to make the decision to say, "Yeah, we're going to do this and we're

[1:55:49] going to have these funds. We're going to use them." Uh, that would that would

[1:55:52] be a pretty ministerial uh item to do. I mean that to me all looks nice and

[1:55:59] neat potentially um to authorize you to go set up that kind of fund if that is

[1:56:07] something we need to do as a group like >> how do we do it? Do we have to like vote

[1:56:13] on this officially at our next meeting? Like is it just a consensus right now?

[1:56:16] It's just like yeah that seems like a good idea. Go forth and

[1:56:18] » I could do it tomorrow. >> Do your thing

[1:56:20] » or more importantly Helen could do it [laughter] tomorrow to be honest. Uh but

[1:56:25] if Because people do send donations into the town for certain things and we have

[1:56:29] to find a place to house it, >> right? So, if you even get like a dollar

[1:56:32] toward this thing, you're going to have to put it in some place and you're going

[1:56:34] to have to make >> funding. We want to account for it. Yep.

[1:56:38] » Do you want to donate a dollar to get it started? I'm just kidding. [laughter]

[1:56:43] Okay. Sure. I guess. Do you have anything else that

[1:56:48] » I do, but I didn't know if anybody else wanted to go. It's that this

[1:56:53] Wow. Thanks. Um so councelor Vale and I um put together uh some ideas um on an

[1:57:03] outline and a plan to address the need for workforce housing in Cumberland. And

[1:57:08] this is something that both he and myself and then Tig I I you know also

[1:57:14] heard when we were working on the comp plan right and I don't I don't have the

[1:57:19] statistics in front of me tonight but it was definitely uh an area of discussion

[1:57:25] across town in that you know municipal employees uh MSAD 51 employees right

[1:57:32] often have a very hard time affording finding a finding a place to live in

[1:57:37] town and um that's not going to change anytime soon, right? With the property

[1:57:43] values in town and just, you know, that's I think just the reality of it.

[1:57:47] So, we put together some some thoughts on here is how this might work. Um and I

[1:57:54] know we've gone over this ground before and and maybe somewhat painfully. Um but

[1:58:00] doesn't mean that we can't try again with a new approach. I do think it's

[1:58:04] something that's come out of the comp plan that was very uh

[1:58:12] well supported to move forward, right? A committee of all these citizens to to

[1:58:16] voted to move this forward over an 18-month period. So, I don't think it's

[1:58:21] something that we can just let lie and think it's something we need to take up.

[1:58:26] We're obviously not going to solve or go through all of this now. Um but you know

[1:58:31] in the recommendation in here is to develop a committee again like we've had

[1:58:37] a committee in the past um to go through and look at this option or look at this

[1:58:43] issue and see if we can find a solution. Um so that's the I don't want to bore

[1:58:48] everybody with every detail in here but you guys have all seen it and uh I'm

[1:58:52] sure it's now out for public view as well as as a plan or an idea.

[1:58:58] » Great. >> That's all I've got. All right, Council

[1:59:00] Mahal. >> All right, so

[1:59:04] food pantry $20. Um,

[1:59:09] didn't know if we could come up with a date for West Carlo meeting like we did

[1:59:13] last year. I think that'd be think it was pretty appreciative by the citizens.

[1:59:16] And just a couple other items that probably if I paid more attention I

[1:59:20] could answer myself. But did the welcome to Cumberland signs ever get up?

[1:59:26] » I don't think we have them yet. >> Okay. Okay. But they are we've we've

[1:59:29] ordered them and I can I'll get I'll get an update tomorrow to council, but we

[1:59:34] ordered them through our our folks who normally do our assigned work. So

[1:59:40] » I'll provide an update tomorrow. >> They're they're somewhere between the

[1:59:43] vendor and here. >> Yeah. Yeah.

[1:59:44] » Yeah. They must be >> um

[1:59:45] » they're on Earth somewhere. And then the last the last meeting I brought up to um

[1:59:50] Chris about the crosswalk on Route 100 that a citizen brought forward and I

[1:59:55] know he was going to look into it, but I just didn't know if we' maybe it's

[1:59:59] already rectified. I didn't know if we'd heard anything on that. So

[2:00:02] » is is that for for painting it? >> Yeah, the one that goes between the

[2:00:05] rusty lantern and um the and House of Pizza.

[2:00:09] » I think that's on that should be happening fairly soon because all of our

[2:00:13] striping is lined up to be done. So they'll they it's the same company.

[2:00:16] Awesome. >> So, and Chris had updated me uh that

[2:00:19] that that we should be striping hopefully within the next two to three

[2:00:22] weeks. So, we should see that hopefully shortly. Be nice to do it when you can

[2:00:26] still see the road. >> Yeah. No, thank you.

[2:00:30] » Thank you, Council Hollik. >> It's everything I have. Thank you very

[2:00:33] much, >> Council Dun.

[2:00:36] Uh all I have is that the LCC, the Land Conservation Commission is meeting on

[2:00:42] the uh 2nd, so it's what? Next Wednesday. Um

[2:00:49] not this week's, but next week's Wednesday at 7 p.m. here in the Council

[2:00:54] Chambers. >> Thank you, Councelor Bill.

[2:00:59] » Uh just capitalize on Bill's uh impetus there. Thank you. U I think both of

[2:01:06] these um initiatives uh rail to trail uh it's a um

[2:01:13] I think there's overwhelming public support for this. Anybody that's used

[2:01:17] the trails uh elsewhere across the country um

[2:01:24] we hear nothing but good uh from that. Uh I think the the first step in getting

[2:01:30] that exploratory uh work done is is important for us to

[2:01:35] be able to have a fuller understanding of what the costs are. Certainly uh that

[2:01:42] that is a that's a much bigger nut to crack than $12,000 of

[2:01:48] just preliminary work. uh on the housing. Uh this is a an opportunity for

[2:01:55] us to show leadership that uh every community should be engaged in. Freeport

[2:02:00] has just finished a project and I think it'd be helpful if we reached out to

[2:02:04] them and and had a little uh sitewalk if you will uh and how they accomplished

[2:02:12] that. But uh getting the task uh force started the the committee is a is a

[2:02:18] first step for us to do uh to u give us a sense of how we can pull this

[2:02:26] project off. uh the uh every day I I walk into food sap or I walk into darers

[2:02:33] or or any other uh store in the community and you see the people working

[2:02:37] there and and uh u you know you you know they're not living in our community

[2:02:42] because there's no opportunity for them to live in our community. Uh you talk

[2:02:46] about young families, we talk about friends who have children who have

[2:02:50] graduated from college or or having their first job. And uh you know, when

[2:02:56] you talk about $2,000 for rent someplace in Poland, um you know, we we we can we

[2:03:04] can do our share to uh make it uh available for others. So

[2:03:10] I want to see this brought forward and we'll take a step towards uh making this

[2:03:15] happen. >> Thank you.

[2:03:19] Um, for my stuff, I just want to reiterate how thankful I am for Dakota

[2:03:28] Hulet of MDOT for spending so much time with us at recent workshops, um, like

[2:03:36] sitewalks with neighbors along the proposed trail site. um just being

[2:03:42] extremely helpful and answering all of our questions and being really great at

[2:03:48] answering them in an unbiased way and not taking sides, just doing your job,

[2:03:54] providing facts, sharing your knowledge, and admitting when you don't know the

[2:03:58] answer and then coming back with one. So, it's basically everything you could

[2:04:01] ask for. So, I know we had talked about sending some like official fancy thing

[2:04:07] to [laughter] to go to superiors at least like

[2:04:11] give this person a raise immediately. I >> I had an email to the commissioner at

[2:04:16] 6:30 a.m. on Thursday morning that was uh that he responded grateful for our

[2:04:22] appreciation, but I said on behalf of the council and staff and

[2:04:26] » uh the many people in attendance that Dakota just did a great job in a tough

[2:04:31] situation and uh we appreciated his professionalism and uh ability to answer

[2:04:35] questions and his just uh general enthusiasm for what he does for work. So

[2:04:40] that was really well done. >> And when I think you had mentioned that

[2:04:44] you asked like oh so is this something they train you on like no this is just

[2:04:48] me and that that kind of thing that kind of spirit can be just crushed over time

[2:04:54] working in a place that where other people around you are not up to that

[2:04:58] same standard. I'm not trying to be rude. This is just like the reality of

[2:05:02] things. And so giving that encouragement and recognition really helps keep that

[2:05:06] alive so you're not just crushed under the weight of the machine. So, um, I'm

[2:05:11] glad you did that. So, thank you. And I know Dakota probably appreciates it,

[2:05:14] too. Um, on the topic of the gazebo at Cumberland

[2:05:19] Common, thank you for that update. I think I can't remember if this was just

[2:05:24] your idea or if we had an email that came through at one point mentioning how

[2:05:29] it was had fallen into disrepair. So just those kind of things like also um

[2:05:34] during the election people were showing up on bikes and the bike racks had gone

[2:05:39] missing at one point. The bike racks are back. Um just like community feedback

[2:05:44] like if you see something busted send an email and it'll probably get fixed. Or

[2:05:48] if you want a particular feature around town that um isn't too taxing to install

[2:05:55] or expensive it it will most likely magically show up um shortly after. Big

[2:06:01] big thanks to uh Mr. Baldick who bird dogged the uh the gazebo and to our uh

[2:06:05] lovely planner Bridget Perry who uh got a grant for the bike racks. So

[2:06:10] » see >> pretty exciting. Yeah, we have great

[2:06:12] staff doing great things. We're very very grateful for them.

[2:06:16] » And then one last thing um I texted you all individually about a survey that um

[2:06:22] Chair Eids started and then abandoned me. [laughter] So now I am I have taken

[2:06:30] that on and you basically said here's my rough draft of random stuff um of

[2:06:37] general priorities and kind of projects that have kind of been floating around

[2:06:40] the council for a while. Um but we haven't had the opportunity to kind of

[2:06:47] prioritize them personally and also um our council caucus we didn't get super

[2:06:53] into those types of projects and um talk about them specifically and we have very

[2:06:59] limited time together as a group and um the idea of the survey was to kind of

[2:07:06] list out all the things that like I said have been floating around and then

[2:07:10] basically I will send out um a Google form to all

[2:07:14] of us and we will basically it's anonymous and we will prioritize kind of

[2:07:19] what key things are most important to us um to try to help us kind of pin down

[2:07:23] what we should work on like this year in particular perhaps in the next six

[2:07:27] months just things that we all kind of have consensus on that we know we can

[2:07:31] move forward as like an easy win. I think that most of us want to improve

[2:07:35] water conditions in West Cumberland. I don't know that though because we

[2:07:37] haven't taken a poll about it and um anonymous because

[2:07:44] sometimes people are really passionate about things and you might not want to

[2:07:49] disagree with them in in front of them because there is peer pressure involved

[2:07:53] in these kinds of things. So anonymous is an easy way for us to just honestly

[2:07:58] answer and say where we stand on particular things and what we'd like to

[2:08:02] prioritize. Um it's just very general. This is not like trying to make policy

[2:08:08] or anything. This is uh Mike's assignment and this is the kind of data

[2:08:12] that he wants to have as chair to try to help us go forward together. But it's

[2:08:18] voluntary. You don't have to fill it out if you don't want to. So yes,

[2:08:22] » I'm not going to fill it out. We don't we don't do things anonymously. We have

[2:08:26] a workshop. We have full input. We make decisions based on everybody's input.

[2:08:33] Um, we that's how we conduct business. We don't

[2:08:37] do anything anonymously and and I I frankly I I don't I I don't condone it.

[2:08:46] » Okay. Anyone else? >> I got something, but it's not on that.

[2:08:50] So, if you give me a second after, but >> Okay, that's fine.

[2:08:54] » I'm good with it, but >> All right. I'm going to complete the

[2:08:57] assignment as tasked and we can do it or not do it. Doesn't matter to me either

[2:09:02] way. you have something?

[2:09:05] » Yeah, I did I did think I did think of it as we were all talking. You know,

[2:09:08] Council F, I just want to say that you're

[2:09:11] » bringing up the funding idea for the rail trail is a good idea. Um, you know,

[2:09:16] and we don't know what direction we're going to go yet. And my here's my fear,

[2:09:21] right, is we have $15,000 roll into the town and let's just say we we go in a

[2:09:26] direction that isn't how some of the residents want us to go.

[2:09:31] what these people that have sent in this money, they're going to kind of wonder

[2:09:34] like what are we doing with it? So, are we if we're going to meet in say four

[2:09:38] weeks, are we better off to hold that concept until that meeting before we

[2:09:42] start looking at setting up an account? Because otherwise, we're going to, you

[2:09:47] know, we potentially have to give people their money back. We have to track it

[2:09:50] all. To me, it just seems like an accounting nightmare. I mean, I guess if

[2:09:53] you're that if you have the funds to write the check, you can grow some

[2:09:58] interest for a couple more weeks and still be ready to write the check if

[2:10:02] that's if that's the direction we go. Just it's just an idea. So, I wanted to

[2:10:05] throw it out to everyone and see what everyone's thoughts are. So

[2:10:13] » I think we move forward with it because I think it shows that when I look at

[2:10:18] this I see a world of 10 to one support for this and I think people putting the

[2:10:24] money where their mouth is says a lot. So I'm I'm for moving it forward.

[2:10:31] We we can I mean it's not going to be hard to track on that and if council

[2:10:36] decides that they don't want to do that you know we have received from you know

[2:10:41] Joe Smith $100 you know if there's 120 people who write $100 check we just keep

[2:10:47] that down name address and then we send it back if council decides they don't

[2:10:50] want to do it that's we we can do that too.

[2:10:54] » Okay. As long I mean as long as it's not going to create a bunch of work for you.

[2:10:57] Yeah. >> We we should be able to do that one

[2:10:59] pretty pretty decently.

[2:11:03] Okay. >> Um, just one quickie. Sorry, I don't

[2:11:07] want to keep everybody. It's time to go. Um, one thing when we're thinking about

[2:11:11] the priorities is and and thanks Lee for putting the priorities together. I do

[2:11:15] think that we should do it in a workshop versus anonymously as well. I I agree

[2:11:20] with Bob on that. Um, but I think one of the things is when we're looking at the

[2:11:25] priorities, let's also make sure that we're taking a look at what the

[2:11:28] priorities are on the comp plan, right? Because that's been 18 months of work

[2:11:33] with, you know, 17 citizens, right, who volunteered to do that. And that should

[2:11:37] be kind of, you know, I know a lot of the a lot of the things are there

[2:11:41] already, but let's look at what those are in the plan, you know, because

[2:11:47] that's going to come up to us here soon. So, I think we ought to just kind of tie

[2:11:50] it together if we can. So, but I appreciate the I appreciate the effort

[2:11:55] in there. I just do think we should do it in a workshop instead. Personally,

[2:12:00] » um I will say that a lot of things on the list are things that probably should

[2:12:05] wait for the comp plan to exist in its final form. I think some of these

[2:12:09] projects are jumping the gun. Um and that's my opinion on it. Um in including

[2:12:15] housing, but this is Again, I didn't put it together. Um, this was Chair Eids

[2:12:24] compiled all this stuff that's been floating around for years at this point.

[2:12:26] And, um, you can be anti- anonymous on this preliminary survey all you want.

[2:12:34] Um, I have experienced hostility [laughter] for sharing opinions publicly

[2:12:39] in the past from fellow counselors, and I'm not looking to do that. And if

[2:12:43] someone has ever felt that same way, I think they would appreciate being able

[2:12:47] to prioritize their items anonymously and not have to deal with like the

[2:12:50] glares of their colleagues on the dis while they're trying to share their

[2:12:56] opinions while knowing that they can like feel the pressure coming down on

[2:12:59] them for disagreeing. And the vast majority of the time we maintain a

[2:13:03] respectful environment where we don't do that. But non-verbal communication is

[2:13:07] real. And so that's just one way to eliminate it from the equation entirely.

[2:13:11] Not saying that anything from that survey would make anything happen or not

[2:13:15] happen. Just a way to gauge where people are honestly without any external

[2:13:21] pressure. So that was the intent. It was not an intent to go around some

[2:13:26] established process or make things secret or anything. It was just trying

[2:13:30] to get objective information. That's all.

[2:13:34] » I love the idea of the survey. Um, you know, I'm not in Mike's position or your

[2:13:40] position right now. Um, but knowing that it can be difficult to track a lot of

[2:13:46] the excellent ideas that are thrown around and put a cadence to them, I

[2:13:50] think that we all have a lot of really great ideas. We hear a lot from

[2:13:53] residents and being able to put together a focused work plan, I think, would be a

[2:14:00] good thing. Um 100% the comp plan I think needs to be finalized not just

[2:14:07] public hearing but we need a final document because the comp plan is the

[2:14:11] foundation for our zoning and that should be sort of what we are always

[2:14:15] working toward. Um but I think that it's you know and if not every counselor

[2:14:22] wants to do it that's fine. Um, but from my and in a workshop is also a follow-up

[2:14:27] great idea, but it's data. It helps us prioritize and if we can't agree on a

[2:14:34] priority list, then we're just kind of going from meeting to

[2:14:41] meeting and um I think it would be good for us to get our ducks in a row and try

[2:14:45] something new. So, I'm all for it. >> All righty. Does anyone have anything

[2:14:51] else before we adjourn? I'll give you

[2:14:55] » second. >> All right. Motion to second if there's

[2:14:58] no discussion. Oh, yeah. And unanimous. >> Everyone wants to leave. Good night.

[2:15:03] Thank you. Oh. Oh, wait. I got to do this.

[2:15:06] » It It has ended. >> This was supposed to be a quick one

[2:15:08] tonight.

Town Council - August 24, 2026

Agenda

Transcript