Bangor finance committee approves park and airport contracts, energy audits and grant application

The Bangor City Finance Committee on an evening vote approved several contract awards and procurement actions including a low bid for Union Street Fields drainage work, an airport de-icing stormwater maintenance contract, upgrades to parking revenue control equipment, and funding for energy audits for five city buildings. The committee also approved a consent package that included four homeowner workout agreements and two one-year workout renewals related to expired tax liens, and gave pre-approval to apply for the Federal Aviation Administration’s Airport Terminal Program grant for a TSA checkpoint relocation and expansion project.

The approvals affect city parks maintenance and drainage, airport stormwater and parking operations, and energy-efficiency planning for municipal buildings. Committee members pressed staff for additional procurement detail on several items and for a clearer breakdown of how a $75,000 community resilience grant and the city’s climate action fund will be used for the energy-audit work.

The committee voted without recorded objection to approve the consent agenda that included four new workout agreements and two renewals for homeowners with expired tax liens. Treasury staff member Stephanie Kimball told the committee that workout agreements split lien amounts into quarterly payments over a one-year term and require homeowners to stay current on current property taxes during the agreement period. Kimball said the four workout balances range between $2,560 and $22,380 and the two renewal amounts are $6,770 and $59,550.

For park improvements, the committee approved staff’s recommendation to award the Union Street Fields drainage contract to Eastern Maine Excavation of Bangor, which submitted the low bid at $52,002.98. City staff said the project — funded from FY26 parks and recreation project funds — includes installing two catch basins, roughly 800 linear feet of underdrain pipe and drainage flumes between existing softball fields.

At the airport, staff recommended awarding the Phase 4 de-icing stormwater treatment maintenance contract to Sargent Corporation after a rebid produced three offers ranging from $369,000 to $401,200. Airport Director Francis Robbins told the committee the contract typically includes a penalty clause if the contractor misses the agreed timeline; staff recommended Sargent in part because its schedule showed 30 days to completion versus 80 days from another bidder.

The committee approved a staff recommendation to proceed with energy audits for five city buildings using funds from a $75,000 community resilience partnership grant. Community Development Officer Robin Stanek said $25,000 of that grant was already budgeted for bike-rack infrastructure and roughly $50,000 was placed aside for the energy audits; she said the city expects to pay “a little under a thousand dollars” from the climate action fund toward the work. Staff told members they disqualified the lowest bidder, Energy Efficiency Investments, because the company did not provide references or work samples; the next-lowest responsive bidder listed in the memorandum was Pura Veritas at about $29,900. Council members asked staff to provide the follow-up bid breakdown showing per-building prices and line items for optional tests such as blower-door testing and decarbonization testing.

On parking system upgrades, PCI Municipal Services recommended replacing entry and exit terminals and adding six new ticket dispensers and five exit terminals for the airport’s long-term, short-term and remote lots. Staff proposed purchasing Amano equipment through local dealer CTR Maine so the new hardware would integrate with existing gates and card readers. Technical Director Sean (last name not given) said the regionally distributed product was already deployed at other local facilities and argued the city would need a full replacement if it selected incompatible hardware. The committee approved the purchase; the total project cost listed in the memorandum is $283,559, within the $300,000 budgeted amount.

Finally, the committee granted staff pre-approval to apply for the FAA Airport Terminal Program NOFO (notice of funding opportunity) for the TSA checkpoint relocation and expansion project. Staff said the NOFO was expected to open soon and to remain open only a few weeks. The memorandum contained a truncated design estimate figure that could not be verified from the meeting record.

Committee members requested additional procurement documentation for the parking equipment (to show a good-faith review of other suppliers for the sole-source finding) and asked staff to provide the follow-up bid breakdown for the energy audits. Several motions carried with motions and seconds and no recorded objections; the meeting record shows no roll-call tallies for these items.

Looking ahead, staff will return follow-up procurement detail on the energy audits and the parking system procurement as requested by the committee and will proceed to submit the FAA Airport Terminal Program grant application if the NOFO opens as expected.