You're live. Thank you.
>> Item two is adjustments to the agenda.
>> Um, we do have a couple of adjustments.
I apologize. Uh,
>> I need to add accepting Victoria Gan's
resignation from the energy committee.
We can put that right at the end as
would that be 6.
Please.
>> Sorry.
>> You need to speak up.
>> No, no, hold on. That's a problem.
>> You're on. Brian, just
>> give me
>> How about now?
[laughter]
» Little we may have room. Bring me down a
bit. Just my just my ch
um we have two adjustments. Yeah.
Accepting Victoria Gan's resignation.
>> No minutes for the public hearing.
>> Sorry.
>> No minutes for the public hearing.
>> Right. The other one will be um 8B we
delete because there was a public
hearing. I have no minutes to approve.
» You're putting it under um
6T
>> the acceptance of Victoria's
resignation.
>> Y
» do I have a motion to that effect?
>> I'll make that motion.
>> A second.
>> Been moved and seconded. Any further
discussion on the motion? Hearing
none. Roll call, please. Sarah.
>> Councelor Danny Cummings.
>> Yes.
>> Councelor Ray,
>> yes.
>> Councelor Stevens,
>> yes.
>> Councelor Cely,
>> yes.
>> Councelor Boon,
>> yes. Item three, public hearings. 3A is
amendment of the of liquor license. Ye
old hookers.
For information sake, is is upgrading
the premises uh to a restaurant to a
main lounge uh to a restaurant lounge.
Um it has some changes uh with respect
to how the state regulates it and and it
does you'll see there's a map in there
to expand their premises for increased
services.
>> Anybody from the public like to speak
for or against?
Seeing none, I'll close the public
hearing. 3B, renewal of liquor license
for Horn Run Brewing.
Anybody in the audience like to speak
for or against that?
» Seeing none, I'll close that. We're on
item four, public open forum.
» Since you haven't voted me yet, Victoria
Gans, I'm here representing the energy
committee. And since you haven't voted
for non-residentation yet, the uh energy
committee is going to do another window
dressers bill this year. We have folks
who have already done audits. We have
much less money. Our funding was cut
severely.
The build is going to be sometime in
November
and we are looking for volunteers both
for the committee and for window
dressers for the actual build. If you
are interested in either, please get in
touch with G Peacock because we have
less funding this year. We're going to
do less number of windows, 10 windows
per household instead of an entire
household at one time. And the folks who
have had an energy audit already will be
uh top of the list. So they will be the
first folks offered window dressers,
window inserts and then if we don't use
all of those insert slots with the
audited folks and they will take from
other people. So anybody interested get
in touch with team ASAP.
That's all I have.
>> If I may briefly just realize what we
don't have is action on public hearings.
So I'm going to suggest that we just
read five is action on public hearings.
Continue the public report.
>> Okay. Thank you. Thanks.
All right. Thank you, Victoria. You're
welcome.
>> John.
» Oh jeez. Feel free just to take it right
out. That's easy.
>> For me, it actually is. My voice is so
loud. Probably carries the entire place.
Benefits of being a theatrically born
person.
So, uh, I'm standing in front of you to
give an update. It's really hard to get
actual time.
The project that I have been working on
has reached two flaws. Plus number one
is that there seems to be no follow-up
emails from the city or
um any emails that seem to have been
sent out from the city to the grant
managers making it impossible for us to
receive any grant funding this year.
John, can you be clear what you I'm not
sure when the automatic uh grant for
automatic snow removers for our
sidewalks. Uh for the people who don't
know, I've been working on this project
for 2 years and in the process of these
two years um
trying to get all of the paperwork
together for April. Um the last date
that it can be submitted to my
understanding is August 1st for uh any
type of 2027 funding.
So if we do get a grant out, it will be
2028. The problem that we're going to
run into is twofold. Number one, we are
processing currently a voter amendment
to restrict data management in the town
support that will have a direct effect
to how much we can actually get if it
goes through. It's what I've spoken to
earlier about unintended consequences.
Currently each one of the individual
machines counts as a data collection
uh computer and the whole uh system
would have been
uh funneled in the overall management
and I'm not really sure under the
ordinance how that would work. I haven't
really gotten into it, but with the
amount of sidewalks we have, the
buildings that we use, it would
definitely go over the 12,000 square ft
um
collection. So, that's something to be
considered since we are considering
action on that at some point either by
voter or by council. The other problem
we're running into is we are now 3 years
behind. The Department of Transportation
of Canada has been running a similar
program within the province of Ontario,
which is now being expanded to Quebec
and to Saskatchewan to clean the
sidewalks. They have been testing and
had great success with automatic snow
removal of their sidewalks. This year,
five communities in Ontario will be
getting upgraded equipment to clear
their streets. This equipment is an
autonomous snow plow that runs at about
15 to 20 m an hour and it could clean a
mile of street in about 15 minutes.
>> It is electric. It can be ran on a power
grid or it can be run on autonomous
power such as a generator or a solar
power panel.
If we had looked at the proposal that I
had drafted up that has been at some
point 2 three years ago sent to council
and the city manager, we were asking for
$150,000.
This year that would have moved up to
$250,000
just because of inflation. And that
right now as I see the project, we're
going to be looking at $267,000.
That includes, but is not limited to the
autonomous plows themselves, which are
really, really great. If you've ever
seen these things in action, they can
clear driveways in a matter of minutes,
blowing snow up to 8 ft in the air to a
direction anywhere that you choose.
They're really, really lovely things.
Um, that would include 10 of those
units. It would include 10 solar power
units. That's a 5x3 solar panel
[clears throat] that can be plugged
directly into the power grid. That will
cover the times that we lose power here
in Eastport. When the solar panels are
plugged into the power grid when they
are not producing power for the objects,
they will be producing power that goes
back directly to the grid that the city
receives funding for. It would also
include new computers and equipment as
well as interns from the University of
Maine robotics department. That's how
the grants had currently been uh drafted
up. That was the cover letter that was
drafted up 3 years ago that has been
sitting somewhere in city hall waiting
to go out in email. So, as it stands
right now, we're looking
probably at 29 before this project
should even be off the ground
>> because of our delays.
Having said that, there's a similar
process going on in Michigan, in upper
state Michigan. Because these devices
are so successful at removing snow, it
cuts down on the municipal
cost.
Thank you, uh, whoever said that, but
also cuts down on the municipal manpower
hours. You have to spend an incredibly
less amount of time for manpower hours.
If the project got upgraded to include
one or two of these new wonderful
autonomous
vehicles for clean streets, which would
have been the obvious next place for it,
you would be looking at a significant
reduction in the manpower hours and the
project literally pays for itself within
a decade. So, I am hoping by bringing
this to the council's attention today
that the communications will start
flowing again since it hasn't flown
since May and we can get on this for the
fiscal year 2029. If people could get
back to me, I would appreciate that
very, very much. And thank you for
letting me give the update.
>> Thank you very much, John. [applause]
>> Oh, if you have any questions, I'm here
for questions.
>> I have a question, please.
I have a question.
>> What's the lifpan of one of those
machines?
» We'd have to be going on dairy right now
because these this technology is so new.
But the lifespan currently is probably
somewhere between 10 and 15 years, the
same as you would expect for a normal
snow plow.
>> Thank you, John.
Anyone else from the public?
What's the maintenance expenses on them
per year?
>> Oh,
>> I think these are these are these are
long. This this is a public forum. We
can have a discussion with John on all
of the issues, but we need to move on to
the council's meeting. [laughter]
I'm sorry, John, but we we have time. We
do have time and we will be discussing
it and we'll make sure that the emails
start following. Thank you.
>> Thank you, John.
Are we doing that? I'm Jamie P from
County Road.
>> Thank you very much.
>> Here we go. Um, I have two quick
questions on the agenda. One was
I'd like to understand why we think we
need another police cruiser from Fort
Fairfield.
>> Have you spoken to the police chief yet?
>> No.
>> Okay, you should.
>> Okay, we'll discuss it at that agenda.
Yeah, we will. But uh but any of those
questions you can certainly ask.
>> Okay. They're going to be approved
tonight. It's hard if we don't have the
information,
>> right? But the police chief's been in
all week, I think.
>> Okay. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. He Yes, he
hasn't been in, but the doors are open.
The police chief, the city manager,
we're all willing to talk about any of
this stuff. We don't need to do it here.
But either way,
>> so that's going to include the MMA risk
reduction grant, too.
>> Yes.
>> So, we can't get any answers before this
is approved.
>> You can anytime city hall's open.
>> Okay. But okay. At this point, I can't.
>> I would I would say no. We will be
discussing it during the meeting. Yes.
>> And it's an application. It's not an
acceptance.
>> Yeah.
>> Okay.
>> But thank you.
>> Thank you.
And I certainly don't mean to be
sounding harsh, Jean. That's not my
prerogative. It's just city hall's open
and a lot of these questions can be
answered before we even get here that so
that we can do our meeting.
>> Would it make sense to answer those
questions for everybody who's in
attendance at this point?
>> We're going to we are going to answer
during the during the during our
meeting. We're going to be voting on it.
And if
No, this is for the
if we don't have the information for
that.
>> Yes,
>> it's kind of
>> You're right. It is. But but the
agenda's been posted since last Friday.
Nobody's read it.
>> But thank you. And I'm sorry. And I'm
sorry, Jean. Again, I'm not trying to
pick on you.
>> Not a problem.
>> Okay. Thank you.
>> Hi everyone. I'm Bernie East. Um, I'd
like to say a few words about the voter
approval measure that um, the council
lawyers have recommended that the city
throw away. Uh, the voter approval
measure, it's a sister petition to the
AI data center ban. We've watched the
data centers all over the country um,
circumvent local bands by rebranding
themselves. So sometimes they're calling
themselves um, remote collocation
facilities or digital surveillance
centers to get around the language of
municipal.
Um for that reason, um the voter
approval measure would give Eastport
voters the right to approve hyperscale
development in our in our on our island.
Um we use the largest building um here
as our witness test. That's the former
Canary building at just under 25,000
square ft. So, what the voter approval
um measure was hoping to do was to give
uh voters um the opportunity to
um accept or deny industrial development
that's larger than the biggest building
that's already here. Um I think that's
pretty fair and it gives us cover in
case no m you know no matter what a data
center wants to call itself next year
and the year before and the year after.
Um it it means that approval power still
stays with the voters. Uh last week the
city lawyers at Richmond published a
memorandum giving the council basically
a blueprint to toss the voter approval
measure on what I think are some pretty
flimsy mentalities. Um they argued that
the voter approval petition didn't
define the scope of temperature change
which would count as pollution. Um but
on reviewing Eastport's own city codes,
uh Eastport city codes don't define
pollution either. So I'm not sure why a
citizens initiative is being scrutinized
more than their own lawmakers are. Um
the city attorneys also cited case law
for why the petitions should be thrown
out. But both cases were situations
where an ordinance attempted to either
change the threshold for a vote to
succeed that would be vtown harbor of
town or harbor or whether the ordinance
um specified a vote must be you must use
a secret ballot
but town conducted a vote in open
meeting that's uh the town of Walder.
Neither of our voter approval measures
want to do any of these things. Um I
don't think they're relevant. Now, under
the city charter 2.02C4,
the council has the power to amend any
public petitions before [clears throat]
adding them to November ballot. Uh city
lawyers are paid out of our taxes, and I
think they should work for us. Regular
people shouldn't need to hire private
attorneys to participate in democracy.
Citizens initiatives, it's right in the
name. They're supposed to be accessible
to regular people. And I think the
council should honor the spirit of the
petition and the will of the people
here. They should have asked city
lawyers to strengthen strengthen
policies instead of killing it. Um I
hope the council does the right thing. I
hope I'm wrong. I hope they do the right
thing. I hope they make whatever
ministerial changes need to be made and
they move the voter approval measure to
November ballot. Uh but given the
council's resistance to the petition
from the start, I personally don't
believe that will happen. Um, I hope I'm
wrong, but in case I'm not, the
commissioners committee uh has remediate
all of the objections raised in the
voter approval measure, and this morning
we filed affidavit to repeat the, uh,
signature gathering process.
So, this is a wildly popular initiative.
We did it before, we'll do it again. So,
to council, um, do as you will. I hope
you guys do the right thing. Um, if you
don't, we'll be ready for that. To the
community, we need 150 signatures to get
this thing on the ballot. If you're
interested in signing, find somebody
with a blue folder just like this.
There's a couple other folks here who
have them and that petition is to sign
and weeded the issues. So, thanks. We
appreciate it.
[applause]
[snorts]
» H
I'll leave the AI to the professionals
so we don't see anything wrong.
>> But I wanted to voice a couple things.
The new patrol car that we're getting,
>> Al, could you please state your name
first?
>> Alan Skinner 67.
>> Thank you.
>> The new patrol car that we're getting
and I have utmost respect for all of the
police department. I probably have more
of these
in my family than I do in the than I see
in the city. But will this car be
traveling 90 miles back and forth to
home too? So the citizens are paying for
the fuel up the other as does the chief
or are we going to do something
different with that? You know, something
just to think about.
Uh,
I look at it and I see all the employees
are part-time. Wouldn't it be good to
have some full-time employees and give
them insurance and benefits and stuff
like that? So, we have
every time when I talk to somebody, they
say that, oh, there are part-time
employees.
It would be nice to have some full-time
employees, but
>> for you,
>> but thank you.
>> Not enough. Go ahead.
>> I asked for the financials the other
day.
the audit and asked if they were audited
and uh I was answered back. They're
working on them. Uh now they got 2024
online
and they're working on 2025, but a lot
of people emailed the city asking for
the audited
financials.
They never got a response. Yeah.
>> Um I'm not aware of that.
>> Huh?
>> I'm not aware of that. the state auditor
that lives in one of the missions show
I'm sorry I couldn't hear you
>> the state auditor that lives across you
know down the street from me she was
showing me how many emails and stuff and
I know I have in the past so I haven't
received as you stated 2024 audit and
I'm sorry I tried is online
well yeah it was given to us a month ago
>> a month ago
>> that's we're doing the best we can Alan
the auditor's behind we have a 2025
audit underway right now we're getting
it out as fast as we can it's online. I
can provide we can provide you 2024. I
hope to have 2025. It's it's on the
auditor's schedule, but we paid quite a
bit for it. I hope to see it in I'd like
to see it by December. Um but it it's in
their hands
and I see the taxes went up and
everybody feels it and the sewers are
going up also. Is the service going to
be better or is it just costing more for
everything? Yeah, that's what
>> everything is costing more for
everything.
>> And the reason that Yeah, it's more for
everything. But the reason I say that
the houses that I build, they're 20 uh
1,200 square f foot when they get
assessed right after they're finished
and even the ones that I rebuilt, but
these 1,200 ft houses, they're getting
assessed for about 3,800 in taxes for
the 12,200 ft house.
But then I see the commercial building
that sold for $799 on Water Street with
a view and they're paying $3,300
and it's been going on forever. So, it's
kind of a misbalance. There's a lot of
money out there. That should be
collected and it should all be even.
Uh,
so it's good for the taxpayers. That's a
lot of money just sitting out there
every year that's not getting collected.
You know what I mean? Even on the house.
>> Mr. Council President, we've talked
about this before. I'm I feel some
impulse to help explain because I I
think he's making you I typically try to
avoid making sure we don't turn this
into a debate.
>> Yeah.
>> If I may, I'll just give some
information here and if we need to go
deeper when we speak offline.
>> Quickly, we are in desperate need of a
revaluation. Part of what you're talking
about is is having to recalculate the
factors that go into assessment. I know
you sat with Wes for many, many hours.
So, you put in a bunch of stuff, you get
a number at the end. Yeah. So we have
now that we completed the taxation
process. Wes has the post tax process
and dealing with people now that is our
next priority is to move forward on a
reevaluation. Realistically
one to two years just to be able to get
someone started because there's so few
people who are doing it and will do it
out here. But we're we've accumulated
some things. We're moving forward. But I
I'm not going to speak to any particular
property versus another. But the general
sense that things might be out of whack,
that's why we do the revaluation.
>> But when a house sells or is fixed up,
like Washington Street, that was $1,800
a year
uh on that house for 15 years, you know,
>> so we can discuss this offline. At this
point, we'd have to look at the
individual property and see what
happens. So, I'll I'll pull back.
>> But supposedly, you could look at the
listings, what they sold for, and go
from there. And all he has to do is push
the buttons. That's what he told me.
That's why either mine you know
>> again if we want to talk at this point
I'm not going to get into
argument but like I say it's all
right that's all I have
>> Alan thank you for your comments
» anyone else [snorts] from the audience
okay y
» I just have a quick And um when I was on
the disability committee, our one thing
that we really tried to get through was
the crosswalks. And we're about to get
thousands of people who aren't familiar
with our city. There's no crosswalks. I
wondered if you could I understand how
he answers to Brian. So I wonder if
Brian could we had So we have been
working on the crosswalks on Water
Street. We've been staying off the
crosswalks on Washington Street because
both of those ADA ramps are being
rebuilt as part of the sidewalk project.
We didn't see any point. It may sound
silly, but the reflective paint we use
for that stuff is expensive. It's over
$100 a gallon. So, we were saying and we
had typically in the past point painted
them right before school. So, we are
hoping we're going to be painting them
right before school now when we get
those two rebuilt. But that's why we
haven't gone. I wonder about the one
because I did by the post office.
>> Yeah, the one by the post office and the
one on High Street are both being
rebuilt by the state and they they
should have done it when they rebuilt
Washington Street, but essentially they
said, "Oh, they have a sidewalk ramp
going. We're running late. We'll just
lump it into that and that's why it's
being done now."
>> Okay. Um, and the other thing is is I
know you're on our side about the data
center. I I I get that. But the next
time you talk to our lawyers, you could
ask instead of saying what's wrong with
the petition, you could say how do we
fix it? You know, they could give us
professional, you know, instead of us
having to try to do it. That would be great.
>> Thank you.
[clears throat]
>> Okay, John, I I'll allow it.
>> We got to kind of wrap it up here and
get going.
Please, the chair will cooperate with
me.
>> [laughter]
>> I didn't expect that I would be adding
this, so I apologize in advance. Having
served on the same disability committee.
Um, it was our determination in 2024
that the best time to be painting
crosswalks was at the end of May, not at
the end of September. The reason being
is that when you paint them in
September, snow flies in October and the
snow and the sand phase those things out
so they're not there for the summertime
and for the tourist season. It would be
within the city's best interest to be
painting them at the beginning of May
just for people safety as well as
getting the best bang for your buck.
>> Very good point. Thank you.
Anybody
[applause]
else from the audience?
[clears throat]
Seeing none, I'll close public uh open
forum. Item five is action on the public
hearings.
[clears throat]
» So the ye old hookers with this it looks
like it's all internal. Mhm. So, yes,
it's not any of the external stuff we
talked about before. They're just
reconfiguring their internal space to be
more of a restaurant.
>> Would that reduce their need to go out
into the
>> I can't speak to
>> No.
Make a motion we approve um both
ordinance.
>> No. [laughter]
What?
>> 3 A 3B license application.
>> Yes, that
>> 3 A and 3B.
>> I'll second that.
>> Been moved and seconded to approve both
of the public hearings. A being the
amendment to the liquor license for
Yield Hookers. B being the renewal of
the liquor license for Horn Run Brewing.
Any further discussion on the motion?
Seeing none. Roll call, please. Sarah,
>> is there a date for the public hearing?
>> No, we're [clears throat] approving the
public hearing. We had
>> Okay. Councelor Dana [clears throat]
Cummings.
>> Yes.
>> Councelor Ray,
>> yes.
>> Councelor Stevens,
>> yes.
>> Councelor Steely,
>> yes.
>> Councelor B.
>> Yes.
>> Item six, new business, consider a
temporary 6A, consider a temporary
moratorium on data centers and
associated infrastructures.
uh that was brought forth by councelor
Ray and I appreciate all the work she's
put into this. Uh she's done much more
than I
but thank you Karen.
>> You're welcome. Um so in your packets
you had um a draft and then this evening
I gave you an additional draft. So let's
talk about the one I gave you tonight.
Um the only change between what was in
your packet and what is before us is
section two, the duration. Um because of
the process that we're in and the
potential to have to amend what the
petitioners committee did to make it
stronger. Um
originally this said one, two or three
the duration and I just combined it. So
it's now the duration is completion of
the citizen initiative review process
and adoption of permanent ordinance
amendments addressing the matters or um
180 days from the date of adoption. So
that's the only change from what you had
in your packet and I would make a motion
that we approve and I would be happy to
speak to my motion.
» I'll second that.
>> It's been moved and seconded. Any
further discussion on the motion?
>> I the only thing I want to add to this
is this is in no way in no means um is
meant to be a replacement for the
potential ban. This is a tool in our
toolbox. This is a way to protect us um
if the process takes longer because we
are going to have to it is a longer
process because we are going to
hopefully I one member of the board is
going to work to make it stronger.
I I would agree with that statement, uh,
Karen, and I I I'm not sure and I'm not
going to try to remember cuz,
uh, some of those things just don't
happen anymore. Um,
one key thing that I that I feel
sometimes here is there's no enemies in
this room. We're all into this together.
We're all want the same results. We
don't want the AI. We don't want the
data center. We all want the same thing.
So, we need to just work together and we
can accomplish that and and like Karen
has said, make it stronger, make it more
effective. That's all we're asking. Um,
so that's my two cents.
Any further discussion on the motion?
>> Uh, we have a motion.
>> Oh,
>> thank you, though. Um, hearing none.
Roll call, please.
>> Councilor Dana Cummings. Yes,
>> councelor Ray.
>> Yes,
>> councelor Stevens.
>> Yes,
>> councelor Cely.
>> Yes,
>> councelor [clears throat] Booth.
>> Yes.
>> 6B. Council's depart departure from
council.
» Yes. Uh,
[laughter]
as all of you guys know, I am leaving
for a military deployment. So, uh, I am
going to resign effective September
30th.
a future date. Um, I won't be able to
attend any October meetings, so I
figured September 30th is probably the
best time.
That'll give you guys plenty of time to
put it on the ballot for the remainder
of the term.
» Yeah, that's so our reading of the
charter is so long as you accept it
tonight, that gives us plenty of time in
advance of the election to put the
remainder of his term uh on the ballot.
reading this is the occurrence of the
vacancy. It's a future date that he'll
be gone, but this way we know that
that's that's what's happening. Um, this
allows you to keep the amount of time
that the seat is left open at a minimum
while meeting the charter requirements
to be able to put it on the ballot. Um,
that way you have enough time to to act
on it. Um,
technically you should probably look
into appointing someone for the month of
October. Um, if [clears throat] you do
not, you would actually be required to
hold a special election in December to
cover the month of October. In other
words, it would be a meaningless special
election. So, you would have to wait to
December to do it.
>> The the um it would be effectively be
for October, November, and December
since since new terms would be effective
on January 1st
term,
>> right? which would be effective the day
after the election.
>> We would his seat would be go for
election for filling the remainder of
his term on the general election.
>> So the person could be that person could
be sworn in in November
>> could be sworn in that's my
understanding could be sworn in in
November because you're because he's
leaving the same way Karen left and was
appointed position immediately.
I mean, if there's a concern about this
process, we can raise it. But I I I've
you know, look to the count of charter
does not anticipate the situation where
you would have a resignation that would
be provided at a future date. It is a
legal thing to do. Um I'm
spoken about this and try to have a way
that he can serve as much of his term as
possible while still providing the
people the opportunity to fill the
remainder of the term.
Um the other option is to not accept the
resignation now to allow me to make the
resignation on September 30th at which
point will not be able to not go on the
ballot. You would have to appoint
someone for the remainder of this term.
» So our only question is when what is our
question whether or not someone is sworn
in?
>> Yeah. Well, I am calling this the Well,
there are two things I I'm sorry. I did
not think there was any question about
when you fill the I mean we've seen a
couple of these when a seat goes empty
and someone's in there they're appointed
to the empty seat it doesn't have wait
until January um the question is I am
putting some weight on the term
occurrence here which the charter does
not define to call the occurrence today
the occurrence has to occur at least is
it 45 I've got ordinance timeline now 45
or 60 days I believe it's 45 before the
election but maybe 60 to be able to do
it again so to be able to put it on
ballot. That's why it's important we
accept it and call it the occurrence
tonight. It has been council expressed
the concern in previous and and absences
that they would like it to go to bot
rather than be asked to app. So that's
my read right now. Someone objects to
it. Uh you may take your own.
» So we just need a motion to accept
>> a motion to accept his resignation
effective September 30th.
that motion.
>> I second it.
>> Moved and seconded. Any further
discussion on the motion?
Um, councelor Sely, I will miss serving with you. Uh, it's
been a pleasure, AJ. Um,
never easy to say goodbye, but uh,
>> be here next month.
>> I know, but [laughter] I mean, it's it's a permanent thing. and uh and I do
wish you well. Um
>> I'm sure you'll be reading 40 cards and
keeping up as much as you can on it or
Facebook.
>> Yeah.
>> But uh but thank you for your service.
>> Thanks.
[applause]
» Any further discussions on the motion
hearing? None. Roll call, please. Sarah.
>> Council Dana Cummings.
>> Yes. Councelor Ray,
>> yes.
>> Councelor Stevens,
>> yes.
>> Councelor Cely,
>> I can't really.
>> Councelor Boon,
>> yes.
>> Uh 56 C, hold September
9th, 2026 city council meeting at shed
high school gymnasium.
>> I make the motion to hold the September
9th city council meeting at the shed
high gymnasium.
>> Second.
>> Moved. Any further discussion on the
motion?
>> Why is the planning board will make
their presentation to us and we'll be
having the conversation about the
ordinances. We assume it'll be a large
crowd.
» Roll call, please. Sarah.
>> Councelor Dana Cummings.
>> Yes.
>> Councelor Ray.
>> Yes.
>> Councelor Stevens.
>> Yes.
>> Councelor Cely.
>> Yes.
>> Councelor Boon.
>> Yes.
Uh, we're going to get a lot more
meetings in before the 30th, I guess.
[laughter]
Uh, 6D, appointment of Rita Harmon as
deputy tax collector.
>> We just need to have a deputy. We ran
into this when Ella went down. You need
a deputy in place or else you have to go
through a whole thing
>> and there was something she had to be
in and you had to do a whole thing. We
couldn't there was that time.
>> Make the motion to accept Rita Hartman
as a deputy tax collector.
>> I'll second move and seconded. Any
further discussion on the motion
hearing? None. Roll call, please. Sarah.
>> Councelor Dana Cummings.
>> Yes.
>> Councelor Ray,
>> yes.
>> Councelor Stevens,
>> yes.
>> Councelor Cely,
>> yes.
>> Councelor Moon,
>> yes. 6E, Paul Tarial, 7:30 2026
resignation from school committee.
>> I'll move to accept Paul Tariel's
resignation from the school committee.
>> Second.
>> Moved and seconded. Any further
discussion on the motion? When do we
have the conversation about replacing
them?
>> So, as opposed to the council where we
have all sorts of deadlines that we just
negotiated here, the charter is quite
lax about what happened with the school
committee member. You have the power um
which I guess is a little unusual, but
the council the council have power
responsibility to name one name someone
to the uh remainder of the seat. The
seat does go up in the next election.
So, um unless you got someone you're
considering right now. There are no
deadlines. There are no requirements. It
just says you.
>> So, should we be asking for people to
submit their letter of interest?
>> I would I would point out that the um
school board itself has not had a
regular meeting since his resignation.
So, my guess is
>> they're having one soon
>> that they're having one tomorrow. And my
guess is the school board will come
forward with a recommendation. Um
not that we have to listen to it, but
that's probably what
that's what they they will do.
Having spoken to a school board member
today, [laughter]
>> I would still ask recommendation letters
of interest.
» So the
motion is to accept the resignation. I
guess we can discuss the
building of that seat when the time
comes. Uh any further discussion on the
motion hearing? None. Roll call, please.
Sarah.
>> Councelor Dana Cummings.
>> Yes.
>> Councelor Ray. Yes.
>> Councelor Stevens.
>> Yes.
>> Councelor Cely.
>> Yes.
>> Councelor Boon.
>> Yes. 6f. Accept membership of Greg
Gordon's the airport advisory committee.
» Is this a request of the advisory
committee that he be joined?
>> Yes.
>> Both of both.
>> Okay.
>> I move to accept the membership of Greg
Gordon to the airport advisory
committee.
>> Second.
>> Moved and seconded. Any further
discussion on the motion
hearing? None. Roll call, please. Sarah.
>> Councelor Dana Cummings.
>> Yes.
>> Councelor Ray,
>> yes.
>> Councelor Stevens,
>> yes.
>> Counselor Celying,
>> yes.
>> Councelor Boon,
>> yes.
>> 6G. Accept membership of Jeremy Cooper
to the airport advisory committee.
>> I move to accept the membership of
Jeremy Cooper to the airport advisory
committee.
>> I'll second.
>> Moved and seconded. Any further
discussion on the motion
hearing? None. Roll call, please. Sarah.
>> Councelor Dana Cummings.
>> Yes.
>> Councelor Ray,
>> yes.
>> Councelor Stevens,
>> yes.
>> Councelor Cely,
>> yes.
>> Council,
>> yes. 6H, acceptance of an FAA grant,
EPM-
NG-3-23-0053-027-026.
in the amount of $185,62
for the purchase of a snow removal
equipment for the airport requiring a
$4,870
in local match.
>> This and the next motion um are for
equipment that we discussed during the
budget committee process and about the
match that would be going there. I'm not
sure if we've done the you know
application approval whatever process.
So I wanted to make sure there was some
question about whether I actually had to
bring it to you based on that. So I
brought it to you anyway. So these are
both these were anticipated in the
budget. It's slightly higher than the
AIP match that we had in there. We
talked about potentially drawing on fuel
funds if that was a concern.
>> So then it will be covered airport
budget.
>> And if people want more discussion about
what the equipment is like I'll defer
maybe we can Victoria. Ultimately, it's
a it's a great big piece of equipment
plus a stone plow plus a brush, right?
>> It's a loader. It's a front loader. It's
a loader that's brush with it.
>> Yeah. The case 21D.
>> It's a It's a It's [clears throat] a
huge loader that's going to have a brush
and also a snowb blower attachment. It
comes with a bucket. We'll just park
that. But, um, that will make quick work
of cleaning that runway in the winter
time. And when we have slush and ice on
the runway, we'll hopefully the brush
will be able to get that off and before
the snowblower before it has the
opportunity to freeze and just shut our
runway down completely. So that's why we
purchased it.
>> And I believe the reason it's in two
pieces essentially we had some money and
then we went and had some other money
and put it all together, but it came
through just two different lines. So
both of these together
>> um
>> cover the whole thing.
>> And these are they have already been
awarded. We just need to accelerate.
>> Correct.
>> Can I make a motion to that we um accept
items 6H and I
>> as printed?
Second that
>> so that Billy doesn't have to read those
numbers. [laughter]
» Well, I is just a continuation of it,
but it is a it is a separate
>> part. Yeah, that fly needs to be dead,
but he's um any further discussion on
the motion. It's uh $335,000
for the airport for a cost of 10,000 to
taxpayer. That's a pretty good turn on
$10,000.
>> It's more than that. It's $450 plus,000.
>> No, 150 and 185.
>> 335.
>> That's what I thought.
>> I thought it's 259 and 194.
>> No, the motion would be 185 and 150.
Either way, any further discussion on
the motion hearing? None. We'll call
Sarah.
>> Councelor Danny Cunnings.
>> Yes.
>> Councelor Ray,
>> yes.
>> Councelor Stevens,
>> yes.
>> Counselor Celely,
>> yes.
>> Counselor Bo,
>> yes.
>> 6J, acceptance of the community impact
grant of $10,000 for the Eastport
community window dressers build.
>> Actually, J and K probably.
>> Yeah, I think they should. Uh this again
this is the window dressers program that
Victoria spoke about in open forum. It's
a reduced amount of funding but it's
what we've got and there is no local
match.
>> Person Power has put 5,000 toward that
project. So it the motion should be for
five uh six J and K.
>> Make a motion that we pass items 6 J and
K.
>> Second.
>> Moved and seconded. Any further
discussion on the motion
[clears throat]
hearing? None. Roll call, please, sir.
>> Councelor Dana Cummings,
>> yes.
>> Counselor Ray,
>> yes.
>> Counselor Stevens,
>> yes.
>> Councelor Cely,
>> yes.
>> Counselor Bo,
>> yes.
Item 6 L, approval of application of for
MMA risk reduction grant by police
department, $5,000 total for upgrading
PD technology.
>> So, this is a request for an
application. We have not made the
application. It has not been submitted.
We actually haven't started writing
again, but this is part of what I would
have been speaking about in general.
Hopefully, in when we do grants, we'll
ask you in advance so you're not
surprised and then we ask when you
accept. Um, this is a standard MMA
grant. What we are talking about doing
with it right now is upgrading um the
cameras that are currently in use for
the police department. Um, I don't have
a lot of detail. We're still putting it
together and you'll get
>> cameras at the PD
>> at the PD that that we test. We have
cameras that look out onto Water Street
into our parking lot and at the Windows
City Hall. We're also going to see if we
can get money in there. There's been
some requests for body cams on the
police. Um, and we're looking into that
maybe. So, we're not entirely sure
exactly what we're spending, but you
would be you would be notified of that.
>> One of the time and there's no match
required for this one.
>> There's not. Okay.
I make a move a motion that we approve
the application for the MMA risk
reduction grant.
Can I just point of order? I don't think
I heard it correctly. Is that MMA or is
that EMA? MA municipal association.
Okay. Thank you.
>> I have a motion. Do I have a second?
>> Second.
>> Been moved and seconded. Any further
discussion on the motion?
» No. The council needs to ask the
questions. We got a motion on the table.
Say, roll call, please.
>> Councelor Dana Cummings,
>> yes.
>> Councelor Ray,
>> yes.
>> Councelor Stevens,
>> yes.
>> Councelor Cely,
>> yes.
>> Councelor Moon,
>> yes.
>> 6M. Approval of application for housing
community program ordinance amendment
grant $7,500 total.
>> This is a state program. As some of you
may be aware, the state has been making
a great number of changes and
requirements on um land use ordinances
related to um the housing crisis.
They've made them, they've changed them,
they made them again. Um and all of them
demand that you alter your ordinances.
We have had neither the time nor the
effort to put that together and they all
require legal review. Happily, there is
a program this one that we can apply to give us money to go through and do
our all of our revisions. The majority
of this will go to our lawyers to the to
Mitchell to go through and just make
sure that all of our ordinances are in
compliance. They won't be. There will be
amendments that will have to come
forward.
>> And again, this is an application.
>> This is an this is an application that's
not been accepted and there's no local
match.
I move to approve the application for
the housing opportunity program
ordinance amendment grant.
>> Second.
>> Moved and seconded. Any further
discussion on the motion
hearing? None. Roll call, please, sir.
>> Councelor Danny Cummings.
>> Yes.
>> Councelor Ray,
>> yes.
>> Councelor Stevens,
>> yes.
>> Councelor Cely,
>> yes.
>> Councelor Boon,
>> yes. 6N approval of contract adjustment
for seaw wall engineering for sidewalk
project. So I'm not super happy about
this one. Uh but I'm not sure we have
anything the sidewalk project is well
underway. It is has been a bumpy ride.
Um the those of you who may have noticed
it you'll notice the part I'm working a
10ft trench to put in a sidewalk. Well
that's how you put in a sidewalk
properly. Apparently I've learned you're
putting you putting in drainage. There's
quite a bit of drainage and then there's
stone on top before you put the dirt on
and you go through all of that. We've
had quite a run um of pipes getting
broken and some other things and I've
got some issues with that. This however
is about whenever SUL put their initial
estimate together. They estimated a uh
construction timeline that's about half
what it actually turned is going to turn
out to be. Um SU provides the clerk of
the works who is a guy that walks back
and forth, protects our interests, make
sure the doing things correctly. They
had initially bid uh $45,000 a guy, give
or take a few bucks for that position.
They now be twice that. Um because
>> they started late
>> because well, it's a combination. No,
it's not that they started late. It's I
mean, honestly, there's an estimate in
the bid package. It says this long. EMX
says, "No, it's going to take this
long." And to be fair, at this point,
given what they're running into, they
hit ledge yesterday. that we're going to
be dealing with. Um,
you know, I I it's frustrating. I
inherited this project. Uh, the bid
documents were done already. The
estimates were there. We could not pay
for it, in which case someone like me
would have to go do it instead because
this is a LP local project administered
project. So, we are technically the city
is responsible for administering it. We
have handed those responsibilities in
our plan to school. I will say the guy
who's down there looking out for us is a
great guy. I have no problem paying this
amount for the quality of what over what
we're getting. I believe
and this is a belief I am concerned
about cost overruns on this project. I
believe this amount brings us right to
based on what we have for the
construction brings us right to the
amount we thought we were going to be
spending on the grant. So of this
additional 45 are paying 20% about
$8,000 $9,000.
However, this is a project that once you
hit the grant amount and you construct
it there, you owe every dollar on top of
that. So, we have about $120,000. We
have 120 set aside in our capital fund,
which is actually more than we need for
our local matchup by about $25,000.
I will be keeping a very close eye on
this, but we've we've accepted the
project. It's underway. And although I'm
not happy with this kind of change uh
short of being willing to hire our own
person to do this work because this is
federal money coming through the state.
This is a project requirement.
I see no option on behalf of it.
[clears throat] I'm not really happy.
» Well, dang.
>> Yeah. Here you
>> I'm really hating this sidewalk project.
>> I hope it's beautiful when it's done.
>> I hope it's done.
[laughter]
>> I hope it's done before you get home.
So we are making a motion
>> to accept the contract adjustment
>> to accept the contract ad judgement
adjustment for the skill
>> engineering for the sidewalk project.
» Oh second [clears throat]
>> been moved and seconded. Any further
discussion on the motion
>> hearing? None. Roll call, please. Sarah.
>> Councelor Danny Cummings.
>> Yes.
>> Councelor Ray.
>> Yes. Councelor Stevens.
>> Well, yeah.
>> Councelor Cely.
>> Yeah.
>> Councelor Boon.
>> Yes.
>> 60. Approval of of rate for part-time
police and for festivals and selected
holidays.
>> Yeah. This is a request from the police
department to um approve time and a
half, which would be 3250 an hour
instead of $125 an hour um for part-time
police that we're trying to go to the
4th of July, specifically July 3rd and
4th pirate festival. um Thanksgiving and
Christmas, these are days we have
traditionally had trouble managing
coverage. And uh while we had enough
coverage on July 4th, July 4th was
entertaining enough uh that night that
we had a couple people say essentially
I'm you know it's not worth it to come
out for this. So this is a request from
the police. It's a it's a risk, but
we'll see if it works. We'd like to
think that I my understanding is that
you know we've already kind of put out
the word. We think we might be able to
do this for primary festival and we're
getting better response but um
>> and how's it going to affect their
overall budget?
>> Uh they say they can manage this within
the budget. It's not so it's an
additional $1250 an hour or I have to go
and do the hours off my heads but we're
looking at you know less than $1,000
altogether or maybe right around $1,000
if I do this right. an additional cost,
>> but it was in the budget.
>> If we're going to stay within the
budget, we have a very large part-time
line in the budget. Maybe this is a good
time for me to address Allen's point
about full-time police, which I'd like
to go there. Um, during open forum, Alan
Skinner made a, you know, point.
Wouldn't it be great to have more
full-time police? I wholeheartedly
agree. When I started here, we had no
full-time police and only two part-
timerrs that were regularly on there,
basically there for administration. Um,
as we've been building the police
department back, um, we had, uh, two
police and two part and two full-time
positions that we could fill. The first
year and a half, two years, we could not
keep those positions filled. It was
really very, very difficult. And so, we
moved about this time last year, I
think, to say, you know, we have a lot
of people are expressing interest to
come down in Eastport, work part-time.
Can we actually make that work? We are
budgeted at about 2/3 coverage. In other
words, the amount of money we have in
the budget for personnel covers us about
for 2/3 of 24 by7.
We're covering 95% of our costs at that
level of coverage. So, I'm pretty proud
of what we're doing. Having said that,
would we like to have another full-time
policeman? Would we like to offer
benefits? We would. We're not budgeted
for that right now. We are doing some
we're looking into some possible grant
opportunities
>> and that comes comes with a price to the
tax dollar too far right now but yes we
could certainly and round numbers let's
be I'm going to be as transparent as
possible about this round numbers a
full-time employee just off the top of
my head I could say $100,000 because
when you take uh when you take what
they're being paid plus their benefits
plus everything else it might be
depending on who it is 80 it might be a
little bit more but it's a chunk out of
$100,000. So that's right now your
taxation is at about 4.2 million. I want
to say if I looked at let's say 4
million for round numbers that's 2% of
taxation. Okay. To add another employee
but you get rid of them part time.
>> You get rid of most that's correct get I
took my glasses off and now I can't see.
Correct. And so this is worth talking
about a budget. So I just want to
acknowledge that we're considering that
in the short term we're running with
partners. if you can find a full-timer.
>> Yeah,
>> we have some hope that things are stable
enough here that we might be a more
attractive destination than we were.
>> PDR,
>> but the the market of police is still
kind of is still very difficult. So I I
even if we I mean that was one of the
issues that there was a line in the
budget that kept being not filled and
it's like why are we taxing for this?
Well, now we're will tax where we will
be spending.
>> Make a motion we approve 6A as
presented.
I'll second that.
>> 6, not 6. [laughter]
» Moved and seconded. Any further
discussion on the motion?
» Hearing none. Roll call, please. Sarah.
>> Councelor Dana Cummings.
>> Yes.
>> Council Ray,
>> yes.
>> Councelor Stevens,
>> yes.
>> Councelor Cely,
>> yes.
>> Councelor Boon,
>> yes. 6P, approval of purchase of used
police cruiser from Fort Fairfield.
>> Yes. So, we have in our cruiser fleet
right now, we have one vehicle we bought new
>> the top the one vehicle we bought and
I'm sorry I should I do not have all the
years in my head right now. Apologize
for that. I should have looked that up
there. We have the one that we bought
from Washurn that was three or four
years old at the time we bought it. We
have our hybrid vehicle, white hybrid
vehicle, which has just come out of
warranty. Um, which you you may not
have, but we've had some issues with
that that vehicle. [clears throat] And
right now we have to take it to Hampton
if we get a check engine light because
of the nature of the electronics on that
vehicle. Um, and the black vehicle
because of the relative age of the
vehicles, I had intended to put a brand
new vehicle in the fiscal year 28
capital plan, a brand new. And we were
probably going to look at tacos again.
Right now, those appear to be the crown
fix of the 2020s. Um,
we when we bought our previous one, it
came in at about $54,000. So, I'm
imagining that's going to go
>> without outfitting. Plus, it cost us $10
to $12,000 to outfit it, to put in the
cage, to put in everything else. So,
when forfield Fairfield offered us this
vehicle, it's old. It's a 1990. It's got
95,000 miles.
>> 90.
>> Yep. Just like our I'm sorry that
>> IT'S LIKE JOE. I MOVED MY VOTE. Holy
moly. [laughter]
>> I don't know what I said. I don't know
why that came out of my mouth. 2020.
Good job. Wow.
2020. [laughter]
I know that was good. Glad because if
you didn't catch it, it showed up in the
[laughter] paper.
Um 2020, 90,000 mi on it. $22,000.
Outfitting would usually run 10 to 12.
The vehicle itself is worth between 22
and 26 according to the blue.
>> And it's in good condition.
>> It's in good condition. We sort of we
know a guy who knows a guy who's who's
using it right now. And we feel pretty
confident. and our experience has been
dealing with other departments that
they're not interested in uh you know
giving us trouble for you know the acco
vehicle we got from less points given us
time. So this means I push off a brand
new vehicle into fiscal year 29 at least
>> we are I will just acknowledge we're
doing a bit of a Washington county thing
here picking up a bunch of older
vehicles and hoping they'll hold us
together. This vehicle will stay in
town. Um it's going to be the you know
the the number one additional patrol
vehicle. It's there. If the hybrid, you
know, sorry, I've got
the hybrid's battery fails. I had a more
colorful way of saying that, but
[laughter] I was going to do it. If if
that battery fails, we could be looking
at a $5 a five figure repair bill. Um,
that sort of thing. So, I just feel more
comfortable having that additional
vehicle. It's a bargain for a police
vehicle. It really is. Um, I, you know,
it's a little bit of risk as with any
used car, but I think, um, altogether,
it's not much. And I would ask you that
you approve to take this out of the
capital.
It's 30 years newer.
[laughter]
>> Wow.
>> I move to approve the purchase of the
used police cruiser from Fort Fairfield
and take it under the capital funds.
>> Second.
>> Moved and seconded. Any further
discussion on the motion?
>> Hearing none. Roll call, please, sir.
>> Councelor Dana Cummings.
>> Yes.
>> Councelor Ray,
>> yes.
>> Councelor Stevens,
>> yes. Councelor Cely.
>> Yes.
>> Councelor Moon.
>> Yes. 6Q. Accept donation from Sheep Cove
Associates for Sky Hope.
>> Conor, do we have an amount on that?
>> 500.
>> Is that the 500? It's in the packet.
Thank you.
>> I thought that was for the airport, not
for Sky Hope.
>> What it says here? I think it says
>> TVs and support systems for the airport.
>> That's for the airport. It's not Skyh
Hope. It's airport. donated
>> and it it's donated to the city. Okay.
Um
» your motion.
>> We will check we will check with the
donor and make sure that we have for
some reason it's wrong. We'll correct.
>> I believe you're correct.
>> Yeah. Okay.
>> I move to accept the donation from Sheep
Cove Associates for the airport for TVs
and support systems of $500.
>> Second move and seconded. Any further
discussion on the motion?
Uh, only. Thank you. Um,
roll call, please. Sarah.
>> Councelor Dana Cummings.
>> Yes.
>> Councelor Ray.
>> Yes. With appreciation.
>> Councelor Stevens.
>> Yes.
>> Councelor Cely.
>> Yes.
>> Councelor Boon.
>> Yes.
>> 6 R. Accept perpetual care request for
by Judy Trot for Hillside West Cemetery
section Memorial Hill lot 143A.
Move to accept federal care lot.
>> Second.
>> Moved and seconded. Any further
discussion on the motion
hearing? None. Roll call, please. Sarah.
>> Councelor Dana Cummings.
>> Yes.
>> Councelor Ray.
>> Yes.
>> Councelor Stevens.
>> Yes.
>> Councelor Cely.
>> Yes.
>> Councelor Moon. Yes. 6s. Accept
perpetual care request by Steven and
Susan Moore for Bayside West Cemetery
section E lot 24 and 25.
>> Make that motion.
>> Second.
>> Moved and seconded. Any further
discussion
hearing? None. Roll call, please. Sarah.
>> Councelor Dana Cummings.
>> Yes.
>> Councelor Ray.
>> Yes.
>> Councelor Stevens.
>> Yes.
>> Councelor Cely.
>> Yes. Councelor Boon.
>> Yes. 6T.
Accept the resignation of Victoria Gans
from the
>> energy committee
>> and also the airport committee. She just
came up and told me she actually needs
to resign from both.
>> I move to accept the resignation of
Victoria Gans from the energy committee
and airport committee.
>> I'll second
move and seconded. Any further
discussion on the motion?
I have to
>> hearing none. Roll call, please. Sarah.
>> Councelor Danny Cummings.
>> Yes.
>> Councelor Ray,
>> yes.
>> Councelor Stevens,
>> yes.
>> Councelor Cely,
>> yes.
>> Councelor Moon, your conversation.
>> We are on number seven, old business. 7A
is a request for placement of a memorial
bench from Mary Gelada in memory of
Grace Zawaman.
>> I'm going to ask you to carry this one
more meeting. I think we've identified
the bench. I think we've identified your
location, but I need to speak with Howie
and confirm it all. We should be able to
act on this meeting. So, you can just
carry that to that.
>> I move it.
>> Can we carry it to a future meeting? So,
if it doesn't happen next,
since it's going to be coming close to
winter anyways, we probably wouldn't
place until spring. So, I think October
will be fine.
>> October or September?
>> Well, no. I was just saying I don't care
what meeting, but I think the motion
should just be at to a future meeting so
that if you don't have it next meeting,
we don't have to discuss it.
>> [laughter]
>> But then you lose track of it.
>> Ty is on it now. So I won't have a
problem with that. Yeah. [laughter]
>> So who's had the motion?
>> Move to a future meeting.
>> Second.
>> Moved and seconded. Any further
discussion on the motion?
Hearing none. Roll call, please. Sarah.
>> Councelor Danny Cummings.
>> Yes.
>> Councelor Ray.
>> Yes.
>> Councelor Stevens.
>> Yes.
>> Councelor Cely.
>> Yes.
>> Councelor Boon.
>> Yes. 7B. transfer a fiscal year 2026
boat excise tax to the harbor account.
>> Is that what this paper is?
>> Yes. Here's what happened. So, this came
up last month and then we all kind of
looked at each other and said, "Wait,
what? What is this?" So, my
understanding, correct me if I've got
this wrong. In the past, there used to
be a separate Harbor Bank account into
which OEXI used to be accepted and then
you would transfer that or kept ours.
That's not true anymore. We just keep it
separate in our accounting system and
it's automatically credited to the
harbor account as it's collected. So
what you see before you is just proof
that we've been collecting all of this
if you're curious and there's no action
to be taken. So we will not break it
just it happened to be on last year's
agenda unless you know differently but
that's our understanding.
>> We don't need any
your council is required to transfer
funds from fund to fund right. So if I
said like we did last year, please
transfer X amount from unassigned to
capital, you have to do that. It's not
doesn't need to be transferred because
it's being credited into the right
account.
» So there's no
>> we're on item eight.
8A
uh minutes of previous meetings
July 8, 2026 regular council meeting.
>> I move to accept those minutes.
>> Second.
>> Moved and seconded. Any further
discussion on the motion
hearing? None. Roll call, please. Sarah.
>> Councelor Dana Cummings.
>> Yes.
>> Councelor Ray.
>> Yes.
>> Councelor Stevens.
>> Yes.
>> Councelor Cely?
>> Yes.
>> Councelor Boon?
>> Yes.
>> Item nine, city manager report.
>> So, let's start. Financials. You've got
two financials. Uh, both. We have
details that you have from Trio, but I
gave you my summaries for fiscal year 26
and 27. I'll keep giving you 26 probably
one more month and I think we'll have
everything that should be credited there
out. Um the top line number is after
100% of fiscal year 26 our net is 94.6
um we're now um there are a couple of
items I'm going to clear up here. I
think there's an I think we're actually
in better shape than that for 26 for 27.
Our insurance number is very high and I
think that's because we credited a
fiscal year 27 payment there but I'll
clarify that in three. Otherwise, I
don't think anything has changed here
from before. I've discussed this these
overages and everything and we're
rocking the river down many times. Um,
the fiscal year 27 one is less
interesting because we're only 9% of the
way through the year. I'll just point
out right now payroll is ahead for two
reasons. Tomorrow is payday, so we're
always right at the beginning of the pay
cycle. And all the July 4th overtime and
extra expense is being collected there
right now. So, that should even out as
time goes on. acco is high because we
paid the pause lease. Um, hybrid is high
because I think we just received the
second billing for the year. Um, you
know, we paid July at the beginning of
July. We paid August at the beginning of
August. Otherwise, we are currently in
pretty good shape. Uh, this is maybe a
good point just to acknowledge. Yes,
indeed. Tax bills went out. We came in
at about
>> Oh, we know.
>> Yeah, I know. I know. You didn't even
mean to tell. Uh, we came we ended up
coming in at about 7.8%. We we had
accepted and expenses at 7.25. 25 but
business t business equipment valuation
goes down um and I can go we can sit
down with Wes and talk about that but
that's part of what happens there is
this depreciation it is however also the
one place I have spoken in this meeting
before about how doing a revaluation
doesn't like helping with the homestead
exemption from the point of view of
revenue everyone's homestead exemption
goes up and everyone's house value also
goes up and so that value of 25% doesn't
change it does have an impact on
personal property on business equipment
because business equipment isn't
increasing the way real estate is. So
this is another reason so we are losing
money on on personal property tax and we
are going that's why we're I've asked
West to make it a priority. It is
possible we will discuss it is possible
for the council to simply um basically
across the board say hey we're currently
you know our ratio right now is 47%.
state says the numbers on our books for
our values are less than half of what
they're probably worth in the market.
You guys can I'll talk with us but you
guys essentially could say no we're
going to change our factors that brings
us up to 80%. That would help us. The
only concern is as Alan Ray let you
before there if there are inequities now
if values of prop relative values of
property have changed um you're not
doing anything about that. All you're
doing is just raising everyone up and
people's valuations may look a little
off. So, we'll talk about how to address
that. But, um, we are already seeing the
Peace Port taxpayers are break. We're
already seeing significant uh, just in
the last few days, people are paying
their taxes right away. Thank you very
much. Um, I have good news and bad news
on real estate. The good news is we are
just officially listing our four
foreclosed properties and the senior
citizens center. Uh, they actually
haven't like the website or anything,
but have been notified and Mike McI is
talking to people. We are collecting um,
offers very quickly. Um, I just want to
say you can set it tonight or we can
discuss it later. But I think I don't
think we should wait until the next
meeting to act on some of these offers.
These are people are making cash offers
on a building with a quick claim.
Waiting an entire month might not be the
best idea, but I do think two weeks is
reasonable. And I was going to suggest
we hold a special meeting in two weeks
to uh look at the offers and accept
those we wish to accept.
>> Where is that printed? What houses are
>> you have to Mike McI is our uh So Mike
McY with D East Real Estate is the
city's realtor. You can contact him.
>> Okay.
>> Are they listed on
Are they listed?
>> He's listing them now. They just got
listed this week.
>> Are they on the city website?
>> They're not on the city website. We're
listing it through him.
>> But you already have offers.
>> We already have offers, but we're going
to we're not going to act until next
week. Until two weeks from now. So go
take a look.
He's contacted the budding property
owners.
>> Yeah.
>> But but you have to list it and you have
to accept all offers.
>> But how do you have an offer before it's
listed? That's what I don't understand.
>> Well, he's listed them. He hasn't put it
on the website. He's already listed.
>> As soon as Mike was As soon as we
appointed Mike at the last meeting, he
started receiving,
>> right?
>> How did people know what they're
» How do people know what they're worth?
you'll see on the listing
>> the tax text tax information.
>> Any other listing, you'll see what what
it's what uh what has value.
>> Um
I I want to briefly address crosswalks
again since it came up before. I just
want to reiterate I I take uh John's
point about why it might make sense in
May. We have traditionally painted them
in September, actually the end of August
because it's the beginning of school.
The primary concern is that if you're
having kids back in town, they're not
always all the way down here. I grant
you up there. That's what we've done.
I'm not saying we have to do that in the
future. Arguably, we should probably do
it twice a year. Um we'll talk about
that in budget committee because that's
another few thousand in paint time, but
um we're not we're not leaving them
alone because we don't like them down
there. And we have we we were putting
off painting all of them. And then I did
ask that we paint the ones on Water
Street um the small ones along the uh
west side. And that I I am a little see
how far we got with that if they're all
done yet or not, but I know they were
working on them last week.
And
» I think that's everything I need to
cover with you guys.
>> Should we get a date for a meeting?
>> So today is the 26th.
>> The 26th. We want to set August 26 as a
meeting city hall
>> and then Well, we
>> No, we should do it here.
>> We should probably do it here. We'll see
if we So, for now, if it may be just a
motion to set a special meeting for
August 26th, um
wait, I mean, and your call, what time
of day? Um and then we'll double check
available. And if that's a problem, um I
» you guys help me.
>> At what time?
>> Five, I would tell you. I mean, that's
the best I can get there.
>> Five or six.
>> Yeah. I mean, I don't think it'd be that
long. So 5G already with me.
» Check the building's available.
>> Don't check the mortgage. You don't
know.
>> I'll let her know. You said that.
>> Okay, you can.
>> Is [laughter] everyone available on the
26th? Just lucky.
>> Sure. But um you guys this four you
should be.
>> We have four.
>> You available at five?
>> Yeah. car.
>> I make a motion to
what? Schedule a special meeting for
Wednesday, August 26 here at the port
building. No, no, no, no, no,
>> no, no, no, no.
We can do
>> What dates are available?
» Do a Thursday or Tuesday.
>> We could potentially move it to the
airport building. Yeah,
>> it's a little noisy in there. It's a
little difficult, but um
that's really the only other building we
have available to us. City hall is not
ideal.
>> We can change the date.
>> I mean, we could do it Thursday or
Tuesday.
>> What?
>> Bring chairs.
>> Right. Of course.
>> Do Tuesday.
» Is it available the Tuesday or the
Thursday around it?
And if the answer is no, we're going to
just have to take this offline, I think.
» Well, [clears throat]
Thursday is open the 27th.
>> Go with it. Go with it.
>> Karen,
>> yep, I'm good.
>> 27th.
>> Yeah,
>> Karen, you're good.
>> Yep. Colleen, we've gotten quite
[laughter]
>> Colleen's excuse just went away.
[snorts]
>> So, make a motion to schedule a special
meeting for Thursday, August 27th
[laughter]
at the Port Authority
at 5:00 p.m.
» Oh, a second.
>> Been moved and seconded. Any further
discussion on the motion
hearing? None. Roll call, please. Sarah.
>> Councelor Dana Cummings.
>> Yes.
>> Councelor Ray,
>> yes.
>> Councelor Stevens,
>> yes.
>> Councelor Cely,
>> yes.
>> Council,
>> yes.
>> We're locked in.
>> Okay. Item 10, council liaison updates
and issues.
» I have some issues with the ambulance I
need to bring up with the the ambulance
committee. We lost a driver here. Okay.
>> Which puts us in situations. There are
some situations with the vehicles out
there. One of them isn't even
registered.
>> Not good.
>> Okay. Um, so you and I need to meet.
>> Yes.
>> Okay.
>> Indeed.
>> Thank you, Miss Stevens.
>> When is the Do you know when the next
actual board meeting is of the
ambulance?
>> Last Monday in September.
>> Okay.
» [clears throat]
>> So, I'll message you, see if we can get
together because I have a whole list of
things.
Good.
» Um, last month I forgot to mention how
well the airport's been doing. Um, under
Victoria, she's been doing a great job
out there. Thank you.
not always easy picking up a new task
and trying to learn everything all at
once. Um, and the airport has been doing
very well. In the summer months, we
normally do much better anyway with fuel
sales and um all kinds of
a lot more activity in the summertime
out there. So, um, so I certainly did
not do that on purpose last month.
Ignore that. uh uh and the airport
association and the airport advisory
committee have been working
a lot on the lease agreements between
the legacy holders. Last night we had a
meeting. Um I thought it went very well.
Um it it passed narrowly. 321 was the
vote. 3
>> 312
>> No.
>> Yes. Oh, okay. Yeah. 312. Um either way
it passed three. Um I I see it um
as two committees
that were
um strained before starting to mend
their ways and coming together. I I I'd
like to see that continue. Um and and I
think in in the overall
scope of things, we're we're just trying
to be fair to everyone. Um not we're not
singling out anybody. We're not
um
new lease hanger owners and legacy
owners each have their own rights and
their own u makeups and their own
things. We just all need to be together
on the same page. There was basically
two uh corrections in the lease that was
drawn up. Um very minor um but
definitely need the legal opinion um
just to have them review it. But I I I
think we we should go forward with it
and I that's only for council's
um
update because I'm sure it will be
coming probably in the next month's
meeting or or October. But I'd like to
see it sooner than later. We've been
going since May on it.
>> So, it's been trickling down, so
hopefully we can get there. Um,
and senior center, I attended that one
yesterday. Uh, they're doing extremely
well out there. They're looking for a
volunteer to do line dancing, and I did
not do that.
>> To do it or to teach it?
>> To teach it and do it.
Um, that's not my thing,
>> but Barber School of Dance is
>> But there uh they're if you if you have
a chance to get into the building, they
have a calendar right at the top of the
stairs. It is full every day. Every day
there's activities going on up there.
The cardio drumming, the exercise
classes, the the dinners,
every day. Um, and they're already
talking Halloween party and Christmas
party. So, it's it's quickly it's
quickly evolving. The uh the pool group
has been doing well. Um, downstairs I
think this week they're starting a
tournament. I think it's this Thursday.
Um, and I'd say probably on a Thursday
evening, you got 15 20 people playing
pool now. So, if we can get the kids
more involved, um that's what their hope
is to try to get more kids out there. Um
but it's a great resource and people are
using it and that's that was a whole
intent when we started it. So, I'm glad
to see that's coming along.
Okay. And I Yes, I'm done with my
updates. We are on item 11. I need a
motion to enter into executive session.
>> I'm sorry, we didn't get the X's in
there. IA any uh personnel and
consultation.
>> Make a motion to enter into executive
session personal matters title 1 MRSA
4056A
and consultation with legal counsel
title 1 MRSA 4056E.
» I'll second that. It's
>> been moved and seconded. Any further
discussion on the motion hearing? None.
Roll call, please. Sarah.
>> Councelor Dana Cummings.
>> Yes.
>> Council Ray,
>> yes.
>> Councelor Steven,
>> yes.
>> Council,
>> yes.
>> Councelor Billy,
>> yes.
>> Thank you everyone.
» I need a motion to come out of executive
session. Please.
>> I make that motion. Second.
>> So moved and seconded. Any further
discussion on the motion
hearing? None. We'll give Sarah a moment
to catch up.
>> She made the motion. AJ seconded.
>> Okay.
>> I know. She Rhonda. Um, no further
discussion. Roll call, please. Server.
>> Councelor Dana Cummings.
>> Yes.
>> Council Ray.
>> Yes.
>> Councelor Stevens.
>> Yes.
>> Councelor Cely.
>> Yes.
>> Councelor Boon.
>> Yes. Item 12. Action from executive
session if any. None.
>> Item 13.
>> I move to adjourn.
>> Second.
>> That's quick.
>> All those in favor?
>> Roll call, please. Sarah.
>> Councelor Danny.
>> Yes. Council.
>> Yes.
>> Councelor Steven.
>> Yes.
>> Thank you.
I lost him