Bangor council hears revaluation, homelessness updates

The Bangor City Council held a workshop Monday covering the city manager's update, the assessor's report on the ongoing property revaluation, and a presentation from the new homelessness response coordinator. The council also voted to enter executive session to discuss a personnel matter and labor negotiations.

Key points

• City Manager Carollynn Lear said the Cross Insurance Center drew about 40,000 guests over 11 days of high school basketball, roughly a 25 percent increase over last year.
• Lear said she would send a letter of support, with no objections from the council, for a Covenant Health request of about $3 million in federal funds for building upgrades that would also benefit the city's public health department.
• City Assessor Phil Drew said the KRT revaluation is progressing, with residential inspections on track and commercial inspections about a month behind, but KRT still expects to deliver property values in the first week of June.
• Drew said the interior inspection success rate is about 35 percent, within the typical range of 20 to 40 percent, and encouraged property owners to allow inspections.
• Homelessness Response Coordinator Bruce described his first months on the job, including outreach to unhoused residents, landlords, and business owners, and work on shared living and transitional housing models.
• Councilor Joseph Leonard and others raised concerns about a seasonal surge in people needing services and the possible return of encampments as weather warms; Chair Susan Hawes said the council will keep revisiting the issue.
• The council voted by roll call to enter executive session for one personnel matter and one labor negotiations matter under state law.

Next steps

• Lear will submit a letter of support for Covenant Health's federal funding request.
• Lear will email councilors about the April 15 chamber annual awards event to coordinate attendance.
• City staff will continue testing the conversion between the assessor's real estate software and the tax collector's software.
• The homelessness response office plans to hold office hours and to begin regular quarterly data reporting from the HMIS system.
• The council will continue discussing homelessness strategy at future meetings.

Read the full transcript