City manager briefs council on state bills, recycling-plant upgrades and downtown grant application

City Manager Deb Lohrey told the Bangor City Council on Feb. 24 that staff have been tracking several bills at the statehouse and will submit testimony on items of local interest, and she outlined local projects and upcoming deadlines.

Lohrey said city staff submitted testimony on LD 210, the biennial state budget, and on an earlier supplemental budget provision that would have limited general assistance to three months in a 12-month period. The city’s earlier opposition to that limit, she said, was resubmitted in the biennial budget context. “We submitted testimony earlier today on LD 210,” she said.

The manager identified other bills and committee activity the city is monitoring: a public hearing to convene stakeholders to review the state’s subdivision statutes; a bill that would expand the state revenue-sharing pool to include meals and lodging taxes (which the manager characterized as something the council would support in principle if it does not draw funding away from existing allocations); and LD 445, which would raise the population threshold for mandatory application of the Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code (MUBEC) from communities of 4,000 people to those of 10,000, a change Lohrey said warrants further review for safety and cost implications.

“We would support expansion of the revenue-sharing pool, on the condition that it not come out of another bucket that municipalities currently rely on,” Lohrey said.

Lohrey also updated the council on local infrastructure and grant activity. She reported that municipal waste-processing operator Municipal Waste Solutions is ramping up operations, with equipment arriving and a new “fire rover” thermal-imaging, AI-assisted fire-detection and targeted suppression system being readied to reduce fire risk related to processed waste, including lithium-battery hazards.

Lohrey said the Downtown Partnership intends to apply for a Partner for Place grant of $150,000 to improve the area under and adjacent to the Union Street overpass; Wabanaki Public Health has agreed to serve as the community partner, and the city has been asked to take the municipal partner role, primarily by providing in-kind staff time from parks and recreation, engineering and public works. “Unless there's any objection, I'd like to go ahead and have that grant application as due the end of the week,” Lohrey said.

Lohrey reminded the council that the meeting would be the first to follow the council’s newly adopted public-comment policy, with a 15-minute general comment period at the start of the meeting and the chair’s discretion to reopen public comment near the end for up to 45 minutes. She also noted that three council representatives will attend the National League of Cities convention and will meet with federal elected officials during a Hill Day and will gather municipal issues to present to members of Congress.

Shortly after the manager update the council voted unanimously to enter executive session under statutory citations governing labor relations and consultation with the city solicitor; the motion was made and seconded and the roll call showed all voting members in favor.

Ending: The manager asked councilors to flag additional issues they want raised with federal officials at the National League of Cities meetings and confirmed staff will continue to circulate weekly legislative schedules and committee notices for council review.