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Sanford manager updates council on encampment cleanup, outlines push for "grave disability" authority
Summary
Manager Steve Buck reported a cleanup at the International Woolen Mill site, said public works removed 20 cubic yards of material, and said the city will press state legislators to authorize a "grave disability" process to allow medical assessments or diversion to treatment for individuals with severe substance use and mental-health disorders.
City Manager Steve Buck updated the Sanford City Council on July 7 about homelessness-response efforts and a recent cleanup at the International Woolen Mill site, and urged greater state-level authority to permit diversion to treatment for people he described as gravely disabled by substance use and mental illness.
Buck said administration will launch the community stabilization intervention team initiative (CSIT) and intends to add the director of a county medically assisted treatment facility to the team. He told council he has been coordinating with the district attorney's office and MaineHealth to bring medical professionals and judicial partners into the work sessions. "We're still trying to coordinate with the judicial system," Buck said.
On the cleanup, Buck said the city obtained permission from the mill's legal counsel to criminally trespass and that public works removed "20 cubic yards of stuff" from the encampment that afternoon. He said notification had been sent to the owner of record and the administration will present a proposed abandoned-property designation at the July 21 meeting under Title 30-A ' 3106-b to expand enforcement options.
Buck also said the administration will seek state legislative support to adopt a legal definition and authority for "grave disability" that could allow police or medical personnel to commit or direct individuals for medical assessment and treatment when they lack capacity because of substance use and mental illness. "We will be seeking that again in this upcoming long session," he said, and noted an earlier effort by a representative had not passed in the last session.
Why it matters: The city is balancing immediate public-safety and health responses with longer-term policy changes that would require state action; cleanup actions were executed after owner permission and criminal-trespass authority was obtained. Councilors thanked public works for the cleanup and raised the need for coordinated judicial and health-system capacity to implement diversion options.
Next steps: Administration to invite treatment-program leadership to a work session, present an abandoned-property designation at the July 21 meeting, and pursue state-level legislative changes in the forthcoming session.
