Augusta Council Weighs Opioid-Fund Use for EMS Safes, Reviews Bus Pilot Expansion

[6:14] Mark O'Brien: Hello and good evening, everyone. This is an informational meeting of the Augusta City Council. Today is Thursday, September 10th, 2026. Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance, followed by a moment of silence. [6:31] Speaker C (unidentified): I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [6:52] Mark O'Brien: Thank you. All right, when the city manager and I met on Tuesday,, talk about the agenda, I think he called tonight's agenda pleasant. [Jared J. Mills: So pleasant.] He always has some characterization of the agenda. So pleasant tonight. so as, we do with our informational meetings, they're broken up into 3 sections. Part A is persons wishing to address the city council who submitted a formal request to do so, and we have none tonight. Part B is the open comment period for any persons wishing to address the City Council. And Part C is items for discussion which have been submitted by the councilors or the city manager or both. And we have— you'll see 3 items on our agenda tonight. C1 is the opioid funding for a DEA mandate. C2 is discussion of public transportation. And C3 is a rebranding committee update. And speaking about item C3 specifically, we're going to pull that from tonight's agenda. There was a meeting of the rebranding and logo committee last night, and that engendered some more discussion about where the committee is and what the recommendations may be to the— or not necessarily the recommendations, but the update to the council. So that's going to be put off for a couple of weeks. So we're going to focus on these 2 listed items tonight, as well as any public comment that we have from people here in attendance. If you do want to participate in the open comment period, we'll just— we'll have you sit down at the end of the well, introduce yourself and where you're from, and public comments will limit to 5 minutes. And with that, I will open it up to open comment period. Any persons wishing to address the City Council invited to do so. [8:56] Jane Whiteside, public commenter: Hi, I'm Jane Whiteside. I've been here a number of times lately this spring and late spring and summer. And I just wanted to say I'm from Ward 4. And I know about your agenda. I really appreciate you putting that together and let us know the updates. date about it, but I am going to talk a little bit about your 3 items of what I read from your information: opioid funding from MDA, public transportation, and even a little bit on the rebranding. And then I have a little bit more to add. And I have been in communication with you about— via email, and as always, I appreciate that. On the opioid funding information that I read, I would— I know that it has to do with ambulances and supplies. Are you going to be looking at all about any sort of— it may not even be required, but when you go to certain businesses, if they— if you're going to have overall data on visiting those, like somebody to present that each year. Secondly, on the community transportation, I know you're changing the bus service, KV, the KV bus, and it sounds like you're having more of an official city relationship with the bus service. Is there any policy, or is there— maybe it's probably like a bigger place like Bangor would have this, like about what happens if there's an episode on a bus regarding drug abuse? And then on the logo, it sounds a little bit more fun, but I know that's sort of important, rebranding. Are you going to have any pictures, or maybe it's just a suggestion about maybe like Lyfco Library on it, or the mental health agencies and social services? Because that's been a really important part of Augusta. Then with the information on community development, I know there's a lot of official sources that you get from government about data from Maine, the federal government. But just to consider, it sort of has to do with image. what you see on like a resource, which is like WalletHub. I know that's been mentioned before, as well as all the individual businesses, sort of get an idea how they're doing on Yelp. That would be good. So you know that my focus is on restaurants and information and how the environment is clean. And you have been doing a lot better job, which I really appreciate. I noticed that down by the Bread of Life to the Mill Street, it seems a lot— I've driven through there quite a bit. It seems a lot cleaner in the last 2 weeks. And I remember doing things when I was young, like 4-H outside cleanups near the road. So I really appreciate that. And I know it's like when you do a project like that, a project or trying to work on a certain area, it's a lot about consistency and routine and keeping up consistency and routine on just about anything. But that's one of the things too. And just as a comment on the opioid concerns, I heard that a social media influencer just— I look at this person who says just get a job to them. But I get— have concerns about people who have drug concerns or abuse, particularly in a restaurant sort of environment. They can make more mistakes. They can get injured, have accidents. So this is all a public safety— food service is a public health responsibility. but also a lot of public safety concerns come with running a restaurant. So thank you very much for your time. [12:41] Mark O'Brien: Thank you. All right, anyone else? Madam Chair. [12:52] Michael Michaud: Thank you. [12:55] Martha Witham, School Board Chair: Good evening, I'm Martha Witham, School Board Chair. Good evening, Mayor O'Brien, councilors, Manager Mills. Since the Augusta School Department is a department of over 475 employees, 350 which are full-time, the others are coaches, bus drivers, et cetera, the board wanted to make sure that we had a way to share information with you before we get to budget season to sort of keep you up to date on what's going on in the school, what our successes are, what our challenges are. So the plan this year they decided was, well, Martha, what if you go every once a month at the informational thing and share with them what's going on with the school? So here I am at their suggestion. So the plan for this year is to— for me to, or another representative of the board, to attend the informational meetings to update the council on challenges and successes as the school progresses, rather than to share them all, try to get all that information to you at budget time. And I'm going to try to make sure that I tie each of these presentations to you to one of our district goals, those being briefly academic competency, comprehensive and consistent systems and innovation, financial stability, and stakeholder engagement and communications. And you're included as one of our stakeholders that we want to make sure that we engage in communication. So these plan presentations address one of these goals, and as a board, we want to improve our communications with you. We want to— we want there to be transparency with the council and to give you heads up on areas of concern as they develop. So tonight I'm going to mostly focus on the first goal of the academics, and something new that we're trying, and you've probably heard about, is the MTF, wondering what the heck it is, and it's the multi-tiered systems of support. Back in the day it was called RTA, Response to Intervention. And this has been a state mandate since the mid-2000s and 2010s to get this established in schools. The Augusta School Department began this work 6 years ago trying to implement a multi-tiered system of support. And I'm happy to share with you that is going to be fully implemented for the first time this year in our schools. But this is not without a challenge. Just as a reminder, in the past 2 years, 39 positions have been eliminated in the Augusta School Department. This year, we eliminated, several ed tech positions to meet our budget requirement, and Assistant Superintendent Thibodeau reorganized how we're going to look at ed techs and their roles. So we're trying something new. We've rebranded our ed techs as MTSS interventionists. And where we had different types of ed techs before, where there might be a special education ed tech, there might be a Title I ed tech who worked with reading, there might even be a library ed tech who ran the library, we've decided to take specialized ed techs, that term away, and they're all going to be called MTSS interventionists. And what this allows us to do is to move those,, that personnel to be better focused maybe on an individual child, such as maybe a child is recognized as needing special education in math, and maybe that same child is recognized as needing support with Title I reading, and maybe that child also gets support in the classroom from a regular ed tech classroom ed tech. education technician. So what they can do now is one ed tech can be assigned to that child and help him with each of those services rather than that child spending time with 3 different ed techs. Maybe there's a redundancy in services that way. This can help to maintain consistency. And the other thing that allows us to do is that same ed tech I talked about might also pull their salaries from 3 different pots of money. That being the special education account could be for part of that, the Title I federal programming could be part of that, and the regular education budget could be part of that for any services provided in— within the regular classroom that wasn't designated as a needed— in either a Title I or a special education IEP. As we've tried to implement this, it's becoming challenging and there's a little bit of robbing Peter to pay Paul, that we have to maybe pull somebody to do a mandated recognized IEP service, but we're going to give it our best shot. So we're really hopeful that this might be a new and innovative way of addressing things. So Assistant Superintendent Thibodeau has really been working hard to get this. It meant new job descriptions. It meant people moving positions. It meant people moving buildings. But the school year really started great. And if any of you listened to our meeting last night, there was a lot of positive feedback on how this school year has started. And This is my 6th year on the board, and I feel like last night when we walked away from the meeting, it felt like everybody there is pulling the sled in the same direction, that we've got consistency across our elementary schools, we've got consistency across our programming, and that was a really good feeling. So we also are recognizing, as Assistant Superintendent Thibodeau has worked on this aspect, she also took on the role of the special ed director this year. That was a position that we eliminated trying to save some money, and that, 's starting to pinch a little. So just to give the heads up that may not be something that we can maintain. We're certainly going to try to do it for the rest of the year, hoping that we can do that. But just to give you a heads up, while we're try— trying this new innovative way, we are feeling a little pinch in someplace else. so when I talk about the MTS intervention plan, it also covers our second goal of systematic implementation of programming across the district. [18:55] Mark O'Brien: Do you, do you want to save that for another night? [Jane Whiteside: What?] Your next topic. [19:00] Martha Witham, School Board Chair: Oh, I'm just— I'm still on the same one. Okay, am I 5 minutes up? [Deputy Chief Leach (Steve): Yeah.] Okay, I will save it for the next time. I'm— that's what I'm going to try to do is identify a goal each time. But if you have questions that you would rather me address, please let me know and I'd be happy to do that. So this will be preview of coming attractions. I thank you for your time. I'm sorry if I went over. I totally understand the importance of the— [19:23] Mark O'Brien: Do councilors have questions? Councilor Morris-Pawley? [19:25] Martha Witham, School Board Chair: Yes, thank you. [19:26] Speaker H (unidentified): Thank you very much, Rafiq, for explaining that. just a, thought here is that as a mom of a special ed student for a number of years in the Augusta school system and having, multiple different ed techs, there's oftentimes that a child learns differently and that a different ed tech works very well with a child and then another ed tech doesn't. So where we're narrowing this down to one MTSS interventionist. I just want to make sure that we have the ability to be flexible if the child is not able to adapt to the learning style of the one that they have, that the parent and the special ed department are flexible with changing out who the MTSS interventionist is. [20:07] Martha Witham, School Board Chair: That certainly is a valid concern, and I'm sure that they will keep an eye on that because they want to make— our goal is for success and increased achievement for all of our kids. And we don't want anything to stand in the way of that. But thanks for that consideration. [20:21] Speaker H (unidentified): Thank you. [20:22] Mark O'Brien: Councilmember Allen. [20:25] Speaker J (unidentified): Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you for coming down. I just wanted to take the opportunity to thank the staff at Coney High School. As a mom of a newly special needs child, particularly in the physical health realm, the Coney staff have risen to the occasion for our family. And I'm also getting to see the school through a very different lens than I have normally been able to see it. My kiddo has always been a pretty average school participant, and now he has a lot of accommodations that he needs. And I will just say that the principal and the vice principal have been at all hands on deck to ensure that the school was accessible to him on the first day, and I've been highly impressed. So thank you to the Cony staff for what you've done for my son, but I imagine that is what you do for every child who needs access. to our schools in all the various different ways. So, thank you. [21:18] Martha Witham, School Board Chair: You're more than welcome. [21:20] Speaker C (unidentified): Others? [21:22] Mark O'Brien: Councilor Sienkiewicz. [21:24] Speaker K (unidentified): Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Hi, Muffy. Thank you for coming down and giving us this information. I got a preview last night at the board meeting, and it was great to hear people really diving into this. I know MTSS has come up at board meetings for years now, and hearing that it's going to be fully implemented this year is a big achievement. So, thank you all for your hard work on that. I wanted to take a moment to echo the remarks from last night about how well the school year has started. I know there was a lot of shifting that happened. The faces at my kids' school are quite different this year, and it has been a very positive start to the school year. People are working very hard to make it positive for our kids, and that even as things are shifting, my kids are still identifying the school as their school community, which I think is so important for our kids, even as we're going through these large shifts with the Farrington expansion, with whatever's going to happen on the west side. The staff are really stepping up, and that's impressive. I would love, if possible, to get more information about this MTSS kind of switchover into the different roles for the ed techs. I'm having a hard time understanding how efficient. I, know Shelby probably could tell me very well how it is, but I would love to better understand that sometime. [22:47] Martha Witham, School Board Chair: And I just have one more thing I want to add to you that I had planned that's, that's timely. September 29th, I believe it is, at, at 6 o'clock at the high school, there's going to be a forum for a new universal start time. for a delayed— delayed— not a delayed, but a later start time for the high school. And we did get a grant to work on that, and they were going to be presenting that information, and we'd like to invite you to attend that. What goes along with that later start time is also going to be a universal bus run that we'll be taking a look at too. So if you'd like more information specific to that topic, that will be on September 29th, 6 o'clock at the high school. Hope to see you there. [23:35] Mark O'Brien: Glad to hear you've got a good start to the school year, and I think you'll all find us always receptive to news from the school department. [Jane Whiteside: Thank you.] All right, thank you. Are there other persons who would like to address the city council at this time? Okay, going once, twice. All right, let's move into our, the topics listed on our agenda tonight, and we'll begin with C1, the opioid funding for DEA Mandate, City Manager and Deputy Chief Leach. [24:08] Jared J. Mills: Thank you, Your Honor. I'll have Deputy Chief Leach come up. I did provide a memo to the council on this. I'll let Steve explain to you the new DEA mandate with their medication situation and how— what it is currently and what it's changing to and the bit of a financial burden that it will cause the fire department that we didn't plan on. Steve did talk to— or Chief Leach did talk to his colleagues, and some of them have explored using opioid funding. So we just wanted to be able to bring this to your attention to talk about as a group and provide us with some guidance as to how you would like to proceed with funding on this. Welcome. [24:53] Mark O'Brien: All right, are you right-handed or left-handed? [Deputy Chief Leach (Steve): I'm right-handed.] Of course you were. [24:58] Deputy Chief Leach (Steve): Of course. Mr. Mayor, councilors, city manager, thank you for the opportunity to talk about this project that got thrown to us earlier this year. The DEA had pushed out a new regulation. They've been talking about it for 10 years that they were going to include ambulance services into the same requirements that hospitals and clinics and veterinary offices that have scheduled medications that they dispense to meet the same regulations. But it had never happened and it just seemed like it never would. So earlier this year, they out of the blue Here's the new regulation. You have 30 days to comply. And it's like, oh, wonderful. The federal regulation was in opposition to the state Maine EMS rules and regulations. So Maine EMS was like, well, you can't do that and still meet our rules. So they were kind of, They had worked with the DEA. Everything got put on hold for Maine for a period of time. The new rules proposal is out for public comment currently. That closes in another week or so, and then they should have that rule process will follow through over the next month or two, and that will be in place. But they're going to adopt language that meets the federal regulation. I don't see any other way around it. So when this came up, it's going to require all the ambulances in the state to have a safe basically in every ambulance and a central location for restocking. So what we're looking to do is put— we currently carry our medications for the paramedic-level service in all 6 ambulances. and 3 fire apparatus. So we would need safes for those. And we also need a storage system at the Hartford Station to restock and supply through. So what this has put us into is it happened at the end of budget cycle. There wasn't really any opportunity to try and get anything in there. We did have a grant through Maine EMS that was ending about the same timeframe, but they were pushing back on being ready to accept all of this at once. So it's come down that we're looking to utilize opioid funds to fund the safes up to $50,000. At the same time, Maine General has always been our medication supplier. They've supplied the drug boxes, fill them. When we're done with them, we take 'em back, put a lock on it, exchange it, they refill it. We pay, we get billed monthly for the medications that we use. So we have budgeted for those medications that we use, but we've never budgeted to cover expiring medications. They've always eaten the cost of that. And just having a general restocking supply of medications. So that's something new this year that we hadn't planned for at the end of the budget cycle. So there would be a small upfront cost for that. We did get word from Maine General that they're gonna donate all of the medications that we currently have in stock. There was a question whether they were going to bill us for them. They've decided that they're going to donate them. So that's, that's a big help. That's tens of thousands of dollars. So that will help a lot. The cost of the safes also come with a tracking system. The medications will have an RFID label that's put on them, scanned into the system, and then that will track that medication throughout the life cycle of being in our organization, right up through a wasting at the end of the use. And that's part of the DEA regulation. So that's all included in it. The cost of this will be An upfront cost of the safes, and it includes a 4-year service agreement for all of the equipment, the software. And then in year 5, we would be looking at about a $200— currently it's a $200 per safe fee for ongoing maintenance agreement and software licensing. So we would obviously budget for that. out of our general budget. [30:31] Mark O'Brien: Could you tell us a little bit about the analysis that went into concluding that we could use opioid funds for this? [30:40] Jared J. Mills: I did most of the research on that. Looking at, you know, Steve provided me with the idea that other agencies were looking at that. I did consult with our Moss Center folks that just basically provide guidance and not finality or anything like that. But before I engage corporation counsel and spending any money on any research. They did indicate a particular area in Section 3 of Exhibit E, which you have on your person. I handed it out, the handout, if you will, in Section 3 where it talks about infrastructure and staffing for government, that might be an avenue to explore. So before I go any further, with that. I would just kind of wanted to get the council's feeling on this, if you wanted us to continue or look for other revenue sources within the budget and things like that. [31:43] Mark O'Brien: Councilor Sienkiewicz, then Councilor Lilley. [31:47] Speaker K (unidentified): Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, Deputy Chief Leach, for bringing this forward and helping us figure out how to manage this. I have a few questions to better understand some aspects of this and then the relationship to the opioid settlement funds, which may be for City Manager. You mentioned that Maine General's going to donate medication. How long will those donations get us, you think, before— I'm understanding we're gonna have to kind of wholesale buy them ourselves after that? [32:18] Deputy Chief Leach (Steve): Yeah, so we would have to purchase some right up front so that we have a replacement stock. The amount that we currently have, some of it would last. There are some drugs in the drug box, non-scheduled medications that we use very infrequently. [Speaker E (unidentified): Mm-hmm.] And I wouldn't see us having to buy more than 1 or 2 doses to have in supply. Other medications we use daily, so we would have to have enough on stock to keep replenishing those. And most of those that we use that frequently, they're kind of in the budget already. [Speaker K (unidentified): Mm-hmm.] It's just a matter of that first initial purchase Making sure that we're not ruining our ongoing budget for medical supplies for the year. [33:25] Speaker K (unidentified): Yeah, I imagine purchasing a bunch at once is different. [33:29] Deputy Chief Leach (Steve): Our assumption is it's going to be far less than $10,000 that would be towards any of those. [33:38] Jared J. Mills: The primary cost is the infrastructure of the boxes is what we're really looking at. [33:45] Deputy Chief Leach (Steve): Yep. [33:45] Speaker K (unidentified): Is that rolled into the— is that $10,000 a part of this $50,000, or is the $50,000— [33:51] Deputy Chief Leach (Steve): That's part of it. [33:52] Speaker K (unidentified): That's part of it. So the infrastructure and the software and things like that are around the $40,000 mark? [Deputy Chief Leach (Steve): Yeah.] Okay. [33:59] Deputy Chief Leach (Steve): The other component would be, we're also looking at putting a camera in the room that will be doing the, logging and You know, when we receive a shipment of scheduled medications and they get the RFID tags put on them, I'll probably be the one doing that. But we'll have a camera in that room so that there's a camera on that, the main supply of scheduled medications, just as a protector for everyone. [34:34] Mark O'Brien: Right,. [34:36] Speaker K (unidentified): We understand, as we just went through multiple years of trying to get body cams, right? And protection for Did this change from Maine General, is that related at all to the DEA or is that just a happenstance that these happened at the same time? [34:51] Deputy Chief Leach (Steve): I think it's an opportunity. [Speaker C (unidentified): Okay.] Most of the hospitals are doing the same thing. The piece that I think drove all of the hospitals is, I know Maine General is not a wholesale pharmacy, so they can't technically sell us a scheduled medication. They, can transfer it, but then they stay in that reporting for that medication throughout the life of that vial. So we would have to report as a registered DEA registered agency, and they would also have to report for it. So they're not interested in doing that. [Speaker K (unidentified): That makes sense.] Which I don't blame them. [35:38] Michael Michaud: No. [35:39] Speaker K (unidentified): Hopefully that efficiency helps all of us out with our efficient healthcare at the hospital. Is this adding a lot to your admin time? Will these changes add much there? [35:51] Deputy Chief Leach (Steve): After the implementation of all of it, there'll probably be a little bit of admin time as far as the tracking. It won't be stuff that I have to do every day, but monthly there'll be reports that have to be pulled, which the software is very capable of making that easy. The biggest piece will be loading new medications into the system. [Speaker K (unidentified): Okay.] We have 3 medications that meet the scheduled criteria. One of them we use monthly. One of them we use Weekly, and another one we use multiple times a week. Okay, so, it shouldn't be— it shouldn't be too bad because we'll have to buy those in a, in a case lot. So maybe a day or month or something like that. There'll be some time required. [37:00] Speaker K (unidentified): Moving to the connection to the opioid settlement funds, Is the heart of this DEA mandate around protecting from opioid misuse? Am I somewhere close to that? [37:17] Deputy Chief Leach (Steve): It's all about diversion. [Speaker K (unidentified): Okay.] Whether it's the purpose for the safe is so that medications won't be stolen on the side of the road at a scene, or if the crews stopped at let's say they stop at the store on the way back from the hospital to grab a soda or something, they have to lock the ambulance. That's part of the new DEA requirement. It's got to be locked if there isn't somebody sitting in it. If they're on a call, there are changes that are in that requirement. The scheduled medications have to remain in the safe unless they're Once they arrive on scene, they can take them out of the safe for a call that they are anticipating needing them for. So if they go to someone who, non-traumatic injury, just not feeling well, they're not going to take them out of the safe unless there's a reason to believe that they're going to be utilized. So they'll stay right locked up. [38:24] Speaker K (unidentified): And the drugs that we utilize that are scheduled are opioid-related drugs? [38:30] Deputy Chief Leach (Steve): One of them is an opioid and one is a benzodiazepine. [38:34] Speaker K (unidentified): Okay, so within the realm of the settlement. I think my last part of this is some of the memo indicated that some of the uses of these scheduled drugs are at particularly overdose response scenes. Can you elaborate on that? [38:53] Deputy Chief Leach (Steve): the piece that ties that in, at an opioid overdose, we would be using Narcan, which isn't a scheduled medication. [Mark O'Brien: Mm-hmm.] But there are some situations where you may be required to sedate somebody in, It's not going to be somebody that's had an opioid overdose that's unresponsive when we get there, typically. But there are some overdose patients that we wind up having to sedate just because of their violent tendencies. So those are scheduled medications that we would have to use in those situations. The other piece of it is If we don't comply with the regulation, we can't carry scheduled medications. If we don't carry scheduled medications, we can no longer be licensed at the paramedic level and carry the other medications at the paramedic level. [40:02] Speaker K (unidentified): What kind of medications would that affect? [40:05] Deputy Chief Leach (Steve): As far as that— [Speaker K (unidentified): That you'd lose.] Link to that? [Speaker K (unidentified): Yeah.] 80% of the medications in our drug box. There are only a few medications that are administered at the AEMT level. [Speaker E (unidentified): Mm-hmm.] So we would lose a number of the cardiac arrest medications or like chest pain medications. We wouldn't be able to medicate somebody having a heart attack with fentanyl, which we would typically do for chest pain. Number of different situations, pain medications. Our limit would be giving somebody Tylenol. [40:54] Speaker K (unidentified): That seems like a pretty stringent limit. [40:57] Speaker C (unidentified): Yeah. [40:58] Deputy Chief Leach (Steve): Yeah. [40:59] Speaker K (unidentified): For what we have qualified to give. [41:00] Deputy Chief Leach (Steve): We could give aspirin, we could give Tylenol, we could give like an EpiPen, those type of things at a lesser level. But if you drop back from the paramedic level of care, you're losing a significant— it's not something you're interested in doing. [41:20] Speaker K (unidentified): I live across from an apartment complex that is not strictly retirement, but is heavily retirement. And I see how often and how well you all are responding. And that would be a devastating loss to my immediate community. community in Augusta. So thank you for the work that you do there. And I think I want to give other councilors some time. My first orientation to this is that I would be most comfortable partially funding this with opioid settlement funds because it does seem tied to, but also it is affecting the entire community as well. And I would like to hear if we have any TIF funds that could be expended for this. [Martha Witham: this.] If— I know TIF can be expended for fire. I don't know if it can be expended for EMS, but that's kind of where I'm— [42:10] Jared J. Mills: I can check, but it's not off the top of my head. I don't believe so, but I can verify that. [42:14] Jane Whiteside, public commenter: Thank you. [42:15] Mark O'Brien: Councilor Lilley. [42:17] Speaker L (unidentified): Thank you, Mr. Mayor. have, we explored any federal funding for, this at all? [42:25] Speaker J (unidentified): Steve? [42:32] Deputy Chief Leach (Steve): Other than like grant opportunities, we haven't seen any. I've looked at grant opportunities. There isn't anything open currently that I think meets for like the Fire Act grants, those type of things. There are none currently open that would allow for that. I can look at additional opportunities. [43:02] Speaker L (unidentified): Is there an additional cost for any new training or anything like that for this new system that is going to incur as well? [43:11] Deputy Chief Leach (Steve): The company for the safe that we were looking at, they charge— part of the cost of it was $395 for training for administrative staff that would be dealing with the software. The rest of it we would be able to do on shift at no additional cost. [43:30] Speaker L (unidentified): And then for the safes themselves, would, the city own those or would those be leased through that company? [43:37] Deputy Chief Leach (Steve): The city would own them. [43:38] Speaker L (unidentified): And then my last question is the timeline. If you get the funding for this and we move forward with it, How soon are you able to implement with these new safes and this new system? [43:50] Deputy Chief Leach (Steve): Maine General is looking to stop supplying medications November 1st. And talking with the vendor that we were looking at, their timeline would be about 3 weeks after purchase that we would have them in stock. So we're on time. [Speaker L (unidentified): Beginning of October.] Yeah, well, end of October we would have them in place and operational. [44:19] Mark O'Brien: Yeah, thank you. Others? Councilor Judkins. [44:24] Michael Michaud: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So Steve, this— so as I understand, I mean, this is an unfunded mandate. Got to do it and you've got to figure it out. That's, that's what the deal is. So we're now purchasing these medications from Maine General now, and I do know that like Maine General, if they have patient in-house, they're going to bill for this medication. What's our process to bill out as we use this medication to the people that we give it to? Is there any process that we get any money back on this? [44:57] Deputy Chief Leach (Steve): The billing process for EMS services, they don't allow you to itemize bill. So what would happen when we use 1 medication or 2 medications, it's billed out as a as an ALS call. If you use 3 or more, it's an ALS 2 call. So that those rates increase for the more medications that you use, or it also looks at procedures. So if you had 2 medications and additional procedures that are expensive procedures, then you can bill at a higher rate for that. So they do have 2 levels. [45:40] Michael Michaud: So we are billing for some of this? [45:42] Deputy Chief Leach (Steve): We do bill currently. So we do collect. for the amount of medications we use does influence the rate that the bill can be sent out for. [45:54] Michael Michaud: And I would imagine these are for folks that actually have insurance or some such thing that— [Deputy Chief Leach (Steve): Typically.] Beyond that, and some of this population I'm sure doesn't. [Speaker E (unidentified): So—] Correct. Is a good amount of the cost we just eat? [46:11] Speaker C (unidentified): How much do you write off for medications? [46:13] Deputy Chief Leach (Steve): There's a fair amount that we write off, but I think the majority of the medications, when we're billing out for an ALS trip, the insurance companies are pretty good about paying for that. At least they pay a reasonable percentage. The ones that we get a lot of pushback on are the BLS trips They question the medical necessity of using an ambulance for some of those. And there's a little bit more pushback on some of those than there is the true emergencies with a lot of medications. [46:55] Michael Michaud: I can understand that. [46:55] Deputy Chief Leach (Steve): We usually get paid for those pretty well. [46:57] Michael Michaud: Thank you. Appreciate it. [46:59] Mark O'Brien: That's a mission. [47:01] Speaker M (unidentified): Just listening to all this information, potentially, So the opioid settlement funding could fund this whole project, the purchase of the safes and all of these things? [Jane Whiteside: Yes.] Is that what I'm understanding? [Deputy Chief Leach (Steve): Yes.] So which would potentially incur no extra expense to the budget of the taxpayers in Augusta? [Speaker J (unidentified): Correct.] Thank you. [47:32] Jane Whiteside, public commenter: Yes, thank you. [47:37] Speaker H (unidentified): So I'm sitting here thinking of it this way, is that we are looking at the reason behind the mandate is because opioids have gone missing from ambulances, and so they end up on the street and somebody may end up overdosing. And so the idea of the opioid settlement funds is to prevent this diversion and to stop the misuse of opioids. In my experience, Scheduled medications have always had to be kept under double lock and key, and they've had to be counted by two individuals, and they have to be under camera in some situations. And it's for this exact reason: is because we had a lot of diversion of medications in hospitals, in nursing homes, places like that. And so, to me, the idea of requesting funds. To prevent the misuse and the diversion of opioids by following federal law that is now going into place for EMS services but have been in place for a very long time for every other dispensing company seems to be very appropriate. I know that you guys had referenced 3, from invest in infrastructure or staffing at a government level for opioid misuse I believe that's where you're pulling that from. [Mark O'Brien: Yes.] Yeah, I'm also wondering whether or not— I see it fitting very well under Part 2, prevention, in regards to dispensing of opioids. Number 8, educating dispensers on appropriate opioid dispensing and where double lock and key, double counting, all of that, and having the ability and the actual tools that you need to do that. Seems to me that you would be educating them on the appropriate way to keep opioids off the street, dispensing them correctly, and training them on how to do that. So I see this as a good way of using opioid funds to keep our city safe and to keep our medications safe as we go around and help individuals. I'm not sure that meds that are not opioid reversal medications decisions should be covered underneath this, but certainly the infrastructure for keeping level medications safe is appropriate. So my thoughts on that. Thank you. [50:00] Mark O'Brien: Anyone else? Councilor Gary Allen. [50:04] Speaker J (unidentified): Jared, could you help me understand why there is a memo, one memo in my packet and one memo on my desk? [50:11] Jared J. Mills: I sent an email out earlier on it. Yeah, no. So, but for the public, when I crafted my memo explaining my conversation with the Moss Center, they had reviewed it and wanted a couple alterations to it. So I provided their changes to that. And it's essentially really clarifying that they're a guidance and they provide, you know, information, but they're not a— [Jane Whiteside: A requirement.] decision-making body or anything like that, which I thought I articulated in the first memo, but I had them put it in their words, and you have their words. [50:50] Jane Whiteside, public commenter: Okay. [50:53] Speaker J (unidentified): do you know if the city has any interest from the Opiate Settlement Fund? [51:00] Jared J. Mills: I'm not sure. I'd have to check with that. I know with our accounting system, everything goes into a fund, and we do draw our interest on it, so it's highly possible. [51:14] Speaker H (unidentified): Okay. [51:15] Speaker J (unidentified): And could you check when you go ask that whether or not that fund is allocating back the interest to the funds of the Opiate Settlement Fund? [Speaker E (unidentified): Sure.] Thank you. [51:28] Speaker C (unidentified): Others? [51:29] Mark O'Brien: So what's the council's pleasure? Are they ready to put this on an agenda? Or I know that there was a couple of things that were going to be looked at whether there's another source of funding or whether grants, but it seems to me that trying to find a grant, get it funded in 60 days is, or 45 days is kind of unrealistic. But yeah. [51:53] Michael Michaud: Feels like timeframe's pretty tight on this. I think we got to move. [51:57] Jared J. Mills: If I may, we're doing this one way or the other. We have to. So it's coming out of his budget or the chief's budget or the fire department budget and something else will have to get shorted. if we don't backfill the cost. So don't worry, it's going to get done because we have to. But this was a thing I thought, kudos to the chief responsible to bring forward to the council to make a decision, you know, on this as a possible funding source. [52:25] Mark O'Brien: So why don't we put it on an agenda and at that point the council vote on it up or down, or if they want to amend it to for a lesser amount or But let's, let's, let's move on it and make a decision on it at our next business meeting. That makes sense. And if there's any information you can glean or find out about other alternate funding sources, that's something you could share at or before that time. [Speaker C (unidentified): Sure.] Okay. Mayor and council? [52:54] Speaker C (unidentified): Mayor and council? [52:55] Speaker J (unidentified): No. [52:55] Mark O'Brien: No. [Jared J. Mills: City manager? Anybody?] All right, so we get, we get, 2 no and the rest yes. [53:07] Speaker C (unidentified): Yeah. [53:07] Jane Whiteside, public commenter: Okay. [53:09] Mark O'Brien: Anything else that we, like to ask of Deputy Chief? Yes, Councilor Singowitz. [53:16] Speaker K (unidentified): Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Chief, if I, send you an email, I,, I will be bringing, an amendment to tie the amount of opioid funding to a similar amount of either the drugs that are in the safes or responses to opioid overdose or use. Is any of that data easily accessible for you? [53:41] Deputy Chief Leach (Steve): I can get data on, like, the medications that will be in the safe, how frequently they're used, if you're looking for that. And I can get you numbers on number of overdoses, those type of things. [54:02] Speaker K (unidentified): Yeah, I don't want them to be heavy lifts. So when you get my email, if something is a heavy lift, let me know. [Speaker J (unidentified): Okay.] Thank you. [54:08] Jared J. Mills: Sure, he's done. [54:20] Mark O'Brien: Anything else from you? You all set? [54:23] Deputy Chief Leach (Steve): I think so. [54:24] Jared J. Mills: Thank you, Steve. [54:25] Mark O'Brien: All right, thank you. [Deputy Chief Leach (Steve): Thank you.] I hope you're healing well. [54:28] Deputy Chief Leach (Steve): It's coming along. Yeah, it's, just finished week 3. I've got 6 weeks in the sling, so yeah. [Speaker M (unidentified): All right.] Thank you all. [54:49] Mark O'Brien: Thank you. We'll move next to item C2, discussion of public transportation. Would you set it up for us, Mr. [54:57] Speaker C (unidentified): Manager? [54:57] Deputy Chief Leach (Steve): Certainly, Your Honor. [54:58] Jared J. Mills: It looks like we have our folks from KVCAP here. If you want to come up and introduce yourselves, they did provide a document to all of you that is titled Augusta Public Transit Service Continuation and Deviated fixed route pilot. That will be the topic of conversation tonight. As you know, we discussed last week or the week before— last week. The 4-month pilot program that consists of one route west that we discussed funding for a 4-month period for the cost of about $33,000. I've provided you with that agreement. agreement as well. That is something that you empowered me last week with a council order to look at that and Greenlight. I haven't had any further information from Greenlight. I did have another inquiry, but I haven't heard from that individual yet. Not— they're here today, they can certainly come forward as well. But so that is one piece that I'll be working on that you all have, and I'll check with you at the end of the night if there's any questions before I sign any agreements, and I'll make you aware care of the 4-month pilot. But tonight we're going to talk about the longer pilot that is available after that 4-month period. So I'll turn it over to our folks from KVCAP. [56:25] Speaker C (unidentified): Thank you. Good evening, Mr. Mayor, City Manager, council members. Thank you for having us back tonight. Did you want to start, Michelle? [56:33] Speaker E (unidentified): Sure. Good evening, Mr. Mayor, Mr. Manager, and City Council members. Thank you for having us here. I'm Michelle Prince. I'm the Chief Operating Officer at KVCAP, and I did attend the last couple of meetings where we discussed transportation. Our incoming CEO, Dave Pelton, was also there, and I just want to assure all of you that we, definitely heard your feedback. We definitely hear your concerns, and that is helping to inform the plans that we're putting forward. And one of the things that I would encourage is with the demonstration project, and then also if we go forward with a pilot, that we get feedback and we get feedback in real time. Because the best way for us to make adjustments, to try to troubleshoot any issues that come up, is if we have the information and we can get right on it. And we are, you know, pledging to do our best to do that and be responsive. I'm going to let Kirk actually talk about the, the plans because he's much better at that and he knows that better than I. But as, one of the administrators at KVCAP, you have our assurance that we want to be a good partner with the city and we're going to do all that we can to make this a successful endeavor for the city of Augusta and most importantly for the residents of Augusta. [57:58] Mark O'Brien: Thank you. [57:59] Speaker C (unidentified): Thank you, Michelle. So good evening, everyone. My name is Kirk Belavance. I'm the senior transportation director at KVCAP. Thank you for having me back tonight. I've provided you with a proposal for a 6 to 12 month pilot based on the results of the demonstration project that you all are considering approving at this time. And I think this, demonstration project is key to this proposal because we're asking to get some data to support the need for more service in the City of Augusta. And I believe in our prior conversations I've shared with you that was a concern the agency had in the past when operating, that we saw ridership drop and it became that the service was not as viable as we wanted it to be. And that resulted in some changes. So our Talk tonight is going to be, primarily where we are. Let's start where we're at. So we currently offer demand response service in the City of Augusta. We produce about 800 trips for riders, every month with that service. that service is costing us about $365,000, a year, and currently, we have not received match for that, and I'm not sure if the city wants us to continue that going forward. So I am looking for a commitment tonight or a future agenda item to talk about that funding being continued. The demonstration project for Augusta West is set to launch as soon as we get an agreement. I have a driver lined up, I have a vehicle lined up, I have marketing materials just about ready to go. I need to add some logos. I've shared those with Jared. So we really just need to know what you want and what you think of this presentation we're about to This will run through— the demonstration project will run through January 12th, 2027. Again, that's one route. It's designed off the previous stops that were on that route when we operated it in the past. And this again is designed to see whether or not we can explore and continue, and it's viable to have a regular fixed route service in the city, which based on rider feedback and concerns I've heard from the council, I think, and what I've shared with you, is we didn't market well in the past. And that's one of my goals. So I think with the proper marketing and the right people in place, and I believe I have the right team in place, we can execute this and we can be successful and provide the residents of the city the transportation access they're looking for. Any questions so far? [Mark O'Brien: Okay.] So the 3-route proposal. Will be a continuation of the demonstration route, which is the west route. We'll also include a north route that will hit the shopping areas, Walmart, and an east route that would hit the east residential side of Augusta. This is a deviated fixed route pilot, so words matter, especially with the FTA, on what we're doing. So the, project we're doing on the west route is a demonstration project. We're demonstrating the need, and we're doing that before we do the pilot. Otherwise, we have to go through a lot of planning and a lot of data gathering. This is just a shorter, path to get to that same result. But this project, these pilots are going to be built off of what we learned. So I've purposely kept the project very loose. We will deviate for any rider. That was a concern of ours in the past when we did this type of service. We had too many deviations. deviations, but I'm not going to understand the data and what the need is and what I need our policy to be unless I clearly understand how many deviations we're going to have. So the demonstration project is going to feed a lot of that information. For this project, we're asking for the city to combine a total requested match of $148,785. That's $46,000 to restore the demand response federal match, and then $102,785 to cover the local match for this 4-month pilot. That local match for the 4-month pilot would match dollar for dollar with federal funds. What we're finalizing now, the deviation policy. We are exploring an electronic fare system. I had conversations with Earl regarding our current depot location, which is on Water Street. When the city changed the traffic pattern for Water Street, going from one-way to two-way, that made the street a little narrower for our buses with the mirrors sticking out the sides. So we had a couple instances where we clipped cars going down that road because it's just so narrow, so narrow. So I'd like to get the council's conversation going and authorization to move our bus stop Mill Park. It's better access for us, it's safer access for us, and I think easier access for pedestrians. We know that this project and these pilots, there's a lot of work to do associated with them. KVCAP is about to enter, or is entering, a broker transition for our non-emergency transportation that has a go-live date of February. So we're going to be very busy with that as well. So we are looking to partner with Moving Maine Network to do the public meetings, the public outreach, the community involvement and engagement and partnerships for this project, for the pilot, before we get to a launch date. There is a cost associated with that with Moving Maine that is not combined in the local match. That cost total with materials is about $21,500. We would ask the city to cover 50% of that cost, and KVCAP would cover the remaining 50%. So for a timeline, we expected to begin doing public meetings in September or October. Of course, that depends on when we get a final vote and when we can move this forward. But I'm confident with Moving Main running this. We could move this very quickly. Earl has offered city space to hold the public meetings as well, so that would be very helpful. Moving Maine will also provide surveys and community outreach as required by the FTA. We'll continue doing route mapping, stop sitting, and deviation zone definition. So we need to make sure all of our stops are ADA accessible. We need to make sure that the vehicles can get in and out of those areas without hazards to the riders or the drivers. We need to discuss the Mill Park terminal relocation in September or October. Driver hiring, background screening, we're actively working on that. And then we have to build out trip planning, GTF Flex, so that the service is eligible with online trip planners for people to We'll also need to communicate timetables, fare setting, and written route deviation policies, produce route maps and schedules printed and distributed by December, and then a soft launch in early January if the demonstration project is going well, and then a full public launch of the 3 routes in late January of 2027. [1:05:32] Mark O'Brien: Ready for questions? Yep. Councillor Jenkins. [1:05:44] Michael Michaud: I need a little clarity. You're throwing a whole lot of numbers out here in different formats. I'm going to take it one step at a time. My understanding, we're looking at a 4-month demonstration project to see how things go, correct? and the quality of your service. [Speaker L (unidentified): Correct.] My understanding was that this was going to be to about— to about $33,000. [Speaker M (unidentified): Correct.] That's still correct? Okay. I'm not interested in committing to any other programs or any other cost beyond 4 months and $33,000 until we get through that and we see where we're at. [1:06:22] Deputy Chief Leach (Steve): That's where I'm at. [1:06:23] Michael Michaud: That's where I'm at. [1:06:23] Speaker C (unidentified): Thank you. [1:06:24] Mark O'Brien: Councilor Mitchell. [1:06:29] Speaker M (unidentified): Per the feedback of last week, the demonstration project will go on, as you mentioned last week, on Western Avenue. [1:06:39] Speaker C (unidentified): That was— that's the intended definition of that route. It would go up Western Avenue and then go into the back neighborhoods behind the Target. [1:06:47] Speaker M (unidentified): And I'm just curious how you determined that would be the best demonstration area as opposed to through, you know, like somebody said, the hospital and Walmart and down the downtown area. [1:07:01] Speaker C (unidentified): So the West Route in the past was our strongest route ridership-wise. It had the most regular, consistent ridership, and that was the route that we felt would best represent the ridership for the city if we were going to test something. To really look at what stops it should be, that would be a much longer process than what we're doing now. So this is a short-term test to see what the market is like and what it looks like without going through a full study. [1:07:32] Speaker M (unidentified): Okay. [1:07:34] Mark O'Brien: Thank you. For purposes of the first 4-month demonstration project, you're going to be doing a second route? [Speaker C (unidentified): Yes.] On your own. [1:07:46] Speaker C (unidentified): It's not connected to the city. Correct. [1:07:48] Mark O'Brien: But that's still— but for purposes of data compilation, I presume? [Speaker C (unidentified): Yes.] Yeah. Okay. [1:07:55] Speaker J (unidentified): Yeah, I just wanted to further clarify that you all went back and you removed one of the stops, or 2 of the stops, the State House and KB Kmart, and then you added an additional route on your dime for the 4-month project, correct? [Jane Whiteside: Okay.] I wanted to thank you for hearing the feedback that I and others provided. I saw that in your memo. I saw that you took that into account and also were willing to kind of step to the table to kind of what I see as a match of what the city provided for the 4 months and for what you all will be providing. So I wanted to thank you for that. [1:08:35] Speaker C (unidentified): Thank you. You're welcome. And just if I can add on to that, the requests— I understood your requests. I understand those are key areas that people need access to. If we do move forward with the 4-route, with the 4-month, excuse me, the 3-route pilot, that north route will hit Walmart and the shopping areas. And our goal is to continue that intercity run that we're doing on our own dime. And that will reach the hospital, continue to reach the hospital, but then also branch out to reach urgent care And the state offices, the BMV, DHHS, the career center. [1:09:17] Jane Whiteside, public commenter: Okay. [1:09:19] Speaker J (unidentified): And that we're talking about the pilot project, correct? [Jane Whiteside: Okay.] I think we're— I'm ending up blending these 2 and I'm wondering— [1:09:25] Jane Whiteside, public commenter: Yeah. [1:09:25] Speaker C (unidentified): And I knew that would happen. [1:09:26] Speaker J (unidentified): I'm wondering if the public is blending them too. So the pilot project is the 3-month pilot project. You all, we funded one of these routes. You guys are kind of coming. Can you clarify? [1:09:38] Speaker C (unidentified): Yes, I will. So the demonstration project is the 4-month, 120-day demonstration project that is one route that will operate on the west side of Augusta. And it is pretty much the same pattern that our west route in the past when we did routes followed. We removed the State House at your recommendation because they're not in session during this period. And I believe we removed Kmart. I was not aware that there was a location there that we used to have a lot of ridership go. That's no longer there. It wasn't Kmart, it was another location there. and then I believe we moved the stop for Union Street. It was the Y, but we moved it to 33 Union Street. So that is the 4-month demonstration project, just one route that the city paid for, that the city will pay for. [1:10:30] Jared J. Mills: $33,000. [1:10:31] Speaker J (unidentified): Okay, is there another route that is also happening on your dime at the same time? [1:10:38] Speaker C (unidentified): Yes, so there is another route that KVCAP is running that's going to be from Fairfield. That's going to start at KVCC. We're still working through the details on that and meeting with the partners, but the plan is to start a soft launch of that on Monday also. And that route will come down from Fairfield every hour and go back up, and it'll access Main, General, and Mart before it comes downtown Augusta. So people on the west route will be able to transfer to that bus and then get to those locations. And the next hour, that bus would return through on a, on a southerly journey, southern journey, and they could get on that bus to get back to— [1:11:15] Speaker J (unidentified): Okay, that was my understanding. And I see that as your good faith effort to hear the council's needs and to almost match what we're doing with what you can provide for the city for the next 4 months? [Michael Michaud: Correct.] Okay. Thank you. I'm going to put that one to the side. And now I'm going to talk about this one, which would begin after the 4-month period? [Speaker E (unidentified): Correct.] Okay. [Jane Whiteside: I'm tracking.] Thank you. So I was putting— I'm not just like playing on my laptop. I was putting together a spreadsheet on the Augusta demand response. [Speaker M (unidentified): Yes.] So it looks— so you're saying that you get 800 monthly on average rides, so about 200 a week or 40 a day. I was trying to put together a cost analysis of that. Do you know what your split between the fares are? So how much— how many people are getting The senior rate versus how many people are getting the general rate? [1:12:21] Speaker C (unidentified): Off the top of my head without data, 60% of our fares are discounted fares. [1:12:29] Speaker J (unidentified): So the $3 rate. Okay, I went with 50. that's a high cost per ride. [1:12:39] Speaker C (unidentified): Well, it's— that's the rate that is, that's the amount of people that are purchasing the discount passes. or the discount tickets. Okay? [Speaker J (unidentified): Right.] And I'm familiar with that number because as I explored this electronic fare system, that was one of my concerns. Would those riders be able to utilize that electronic system or not? So that was why I kind of dug into that number a little bit. So I'm fairly confident that 60% of our current ridership in Augusta, which is our largest ridership population, is in that discount class. [1:13:15] Speaker J (unidentified): Okay. So that would be about 480 rides a month of discounted rate. Okay. I'm just trying to figure out— I can do this on my own, but I was just trying to figure out how much per ride the average ride costs. So I'll share the mic for Now, Councilor Lilley. [1:13:43] Speaker L (unidentified): Yeah, thank you, Mr. Mayor. The proposal that you brought to us, for the 1-year program, what's the timeline that you would need to have this started? Looks like you're looking at beginning of next month. You would need some sort of agreement from us Yes. [1:14:05] Speaker C (unidentified): So if the city decides to wait until the conclusion of this demonstration project, then we begin the public meetings once the city makes the determination that they want to move forward with the pilot. [1:14:18] Speaker L (unidentified): So if I'm looking at this, it looks like it takes about a— you're looking at a 4-month launch. So if we wait till the end of the initial agreement, And then— [1:14:32] Deputy Chief Leach (Steve): so there we go. [1:14:33] Jane Whiteside, public commenter: Okay. [1:14:33] Speaker L (unidentified): So take about 4 months to get the program off the ground? [1:14:36] Speaker K (unidentified): Correct. [1:14:36] Jane Whiteside, public commenter: Okay. [1:14:37] Speaker L (unidentified): That's all I have. Thank you. [1:14:38] Speaker C (unidentified): Welcome. [1:14:39] Mark O'Brien: Councilmember Herbold. [1:14:42] Speaker H (unidentified): Yes, thank you. The demonstration project, just to go back to that and that second route, I was looking at that and I mean, essentially, if there's 2 hours in between, so if somebody has an appointment So if they were leaving at 11:15, they'd have to arrive pretty early and then they wouldn't be leaving. So they could technically be there at the hospital for 4 hours for their appointment, depending on what time their appointment is. [1:15:10] Speaker C (unidentified): That's possible. I'd also say we have demand response service that is still a direct ride service. So people are not— residents are not only tied to just using this demonstration project. But we have our existing service where the fares are $3 or $5 as well. [1:15:28] Speaker E (unidentified): All right. [1:15:29] Speaker H (unidentified): I just think that's a long wait to have to go if they need to go to the hospital for something and didn't know the day before or didn't call ahead of time. But anyway, that's neither here nor there. That was just my comment on that second route is that there's a lot of lag time in between. So somebody could essentially be there for a 4-hour timeframe if they're unable to be at the exact time that the bus drops off and the exact time the bus picks back up. In regards to the pilot and looking at that, just a couple of things. I think it's about $38 a ride for the numbers that you were doing. [Speaker J (unidentified): That's right.] 'Cause I looked at that. And $38 a ride on a rideshare seems pretty hefty. But if you are spending $365,942 annually and doing 800 trips a month, doesn't matter whether they're paying the $5 or the $3. Essentially, it's $38 per person per ride that it's costing you. Does that sound right? [Jane Whiteside: Okay.] I'm not sure that Mill Park is the appropriate place. I think of, like, visitors who want to use this, or elderly, or families, and I'm not sure that being dropped off at Mill Park and having to wait there for the next bus to come along, or if they miss the bus and they're there for an hour or so, I don't know if there's any other area that we could explore. I'm not saying it's off the table. I just have concerns about certain populations being dropped off there and having to be there for a significant amount of time. I also think that it may be a diversion for some individuals to not want to ride the bus if that's where they're going. I want to be clear, the 3 routes essentially with the kind of the conversations that we would have prior to would be a total of $159,000 for the year. Is that correct? After you add in the half of the $21,000? [Speaker J (unidentified): Yes.] Okay, so $159,000. And advertising, you mentioned advertising. I think advertising is really important because it is— I mean, even just reading this and looking at it, I'm having trouble Trying to figure out what time would I want to get here to get dropped off at the depot, to get picked up at the depot, to end up where it is I want to go, to go back to. And that could be very overwhelming for elderly, certainly a mom with, you know, 3 kids that she's toting around with her, things along those lines. So I think advertising is a big thing. I think I'd like to hear a little bit more about what your advertising would look like and how that would be rolled out. I'm not sure that entering into an agreement before the demonstration, which is demonstrating whether or not we want to further the agreement, is a great idea. Seems to me like seeing the demonstration— I think the agreement that I saw today, I really liked the fact that every month you would be reporting out, you know, how many rides, you know, whether it was successful. I'm assuming that any complaints would probably be a great thing to see on there as well. Because that's really what the demonstration is, how are we doing? How are we engaging the community? Does our patrons enjoy the ride? Are they happy? Are they satisfied? Are they finding their way around? Things like that. So I think that's really kind of the hang-up, is it's hard to, you know, say yes to something before you've had the demonstration of it. So that's where I'm at with it. [1:18:53] Jane Whiteside, public commenter: Can I ask you— [1:18:54] Speaker E (unidentified): may I ask? [Deputy Chief Leach (Steve): Kirk, a question?] Would it make any sense, to consider if, we just did the public meetings and all that together, the data, without necessarily an agreement on all the other pieces, so that piece is done, and then if everything's going well and the council wants to then move forward, we haven't lost months and months where we have to start that. [1:19:26] Speaker C (unidentified): That is an option. Yeah, it seems like you could do whatever steps that you wanted to undertake to prepare for the anticipated 1-year pilot program in the interim without the city spending money beyond So the reason I proposed this way is there was the urgent need for transportation for 33 Union Street, and we were able to address that as quickly as possible by doing the demonstration project. [Mark O'Brien: Yeah.] So the plan that I had discussed prior, with Earl before coming here tonight was that we would probably have service in place, November, December, with the this pilot that I'd come and present to you. That was the plan. by doing the demonstration project, we pushed that out a month so that we could complete the demonstration project. But if we want to move forward and do the public meetings on those pilots, and then make that decision at the end, we can certainly do that. [1:20:34] Mark O'Brien: Got some more. Polly, you still have the floor? [1:20:38] Speaker H (unidentified): No, I'm all set. Thank you. [1:20:54] Speaker E (unidentified): I mean, I guess so. So the public meeting, we— the public meetings, we were asking for a 50/50. So I guess we'd still ask. [1:21:02] Speaker C (unidentified): I think that would be my concern is if we're going to continue doing the public meeting to prepare for the pilot so that we can make that decision that the city would support the 50% request to utilize Moving Main to provide those meetings and those services. [1:21:17] Speaker E (unidentified): That would be how much? [1:21:20] Speaker C (unidentified): That was $23,000, I believe, or $21,500. [1:21:24] Jared J. Mills: I thought it was half of that. It was like $8,000 or something like that. [1:21:30] Speaker C (unidentified): If you look at the proposal I sent, the first one was just the scope And then the second one included the stipends that were going to be included for the community partners that were not part of the original scope, but they were referenced. So the total scope with the add-ons, was $21,500. [1:21:48] Jared J. Mills: And you'd be looking for half of that from the city? [1:21:51] Speaker M (unidentified): Correct. [1:21:54] Mark O'Brien: And that would allow us to do that legwork, continue doing that legwork before you commit to the full match required for the So there would be some cost with respect in that 4-month demonstration project to investigate or evaluate whether or not a longer commitment would be appropriate? [1:22:23] Speaker C (unidentified): It's the— whether it's appropriate and it meets the needs of the riders and it meets the needs of the public. We have to get that public input. And I also mentioned that we have— we are requesting funding to support the cost of this demonstration project from another source. So if that funding is approved, and I should know within the next 2 to 3 weeks, the demonstration wouldn't cost the city anything. [1:23:03] Speaker K (unidentified): Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Hi, Kirk. Hi, Michelle. Thank you for coming and for engaging with us around this. I want to clarify a couple things for myself. The demo project that we're about to undertake, the fares are the $2 regular fare and $1 discounted fare? That seems very reasonable. And my main concern is I know that at times you've come and presented that funding is the main concern around KVCAP. What models are out there that would support this level of fare fee beyond the 4-month demonstration— I won't use pilot— demonstration project? [1:23:51] Speaker C (unidentified): Deviated fixed route. Fixed route service is the most cost-effective service of public transit, and it traditionally has these lower fares of $1 or $2. I believe our previous service was $1.25 or $1.50. This is just lowering that to make it an even— a more even split. No change needing to be made is kind of the goal here, and making sure it's affordable to everyone. [Speaker K (unidentified): Yeah, which is—] I recognize the demand response fares of $3 and $5 per boarding are challenging for some of our riders that are on a fixed income. So my goal in making this proposal was to make sure as many people as possible could ride the service. The— we're not doing passes for this demonstration project. [Jared J. Mills: Mm-hmm.] But I do foresee us doing passes if we do the pilot. Our fare system that we're considering We'll have a fare capping feature. So if you're paying daily boarding fees and you reach the amount of a monthly pass by the second week of the month, you will ride for free the rest of the month because you have paid for a monthly pass with your daily boardings. [1:25:01] Speaker K (unidentified): That's great. That makes a lot of sense to me. And it sounds like this model is something that is out there that can sustain itself With outside funding. [1:25:15] Speaker C (unidentified): Yes. Farebox only accounts for a very small percentage of the cost of service. [1:25:22] Speaker K (unidentified): And I remember seeing that in the other, in the one we're not talking about right now. Here, being able to, the demo project, those fares are going to support KVcaps, I wasn't clear where they were headed. We are putting in the $33,000 in an $8,000 monthly invoice, and then the fares are a part of the operating cost, or I didn't— I wasn't clear on that end. [1:25:55] Speaker C (unidentified): I gotta look at my notes. Hold on just a second. [Speaker K (unidentified): Yeah, no problem.] I'm trying to recall where the fares were in that demonstration project, and I don't have that document here with me. [1:26:18] Speaker K (unidentified): I remember seeing them on the pilot and that they are a harsh portion of the funding stack there. [1:26:32] Speaker C (unidentified): Give me a moment to— [1:26:32] Speaker K (unidentified): Make a note. [1:27:04] Jared J. Mills: Were you asking what happens with the fares after? So in the agreement, in the 4-month pilot— I mean, the demonstration— [Speaker K (unidentified): Demonstration, right?] It says fares for this route will be $2 regular. Farebox revenue collected during the term will be retained by KVCAP and reflected in the farebox recovery ratio reported under Section 8. It does not reduce the city's payment obligation under Section 6 unless otherwise agreed in writing. Is that what you're looking for? [1:27:30] Speaker L (unidentified): Yeah. [1:27:31] Speaker K (unidentified): So are those going toward the functionality of this, demonstration? because in the pilot they go toward reducing the local share. so I was interested in what the difference is there, if they're necessary in order to make the pilot Or if this is, also a way of, alleviating costs. [1:27:57] Speaker C (unidentified): I'm trying to find the budget that our finance department pulled together because it has that detail that I can't recall off the top of my head. [1:28:03] Speaker K (unidentified): And that can be something— I don't need to take up your time tonight, but, — [1:28:08] Speaker C (unidentified): No, and I apologize for not being able to answer. [1:28:10] Speaker H (unidentified): That's okay. [1:28:11] Speaker K (unidentified): I think I think that was my only question on the pilot demonstration. [1:28:20] Speaker C (unidentified): The fares were incorporated and were taken out of that cost. [1:28:34] Speaker K (unidentified): Okay, so it would cost the city more to do the pilot— do the demonstration had the fares not been incorporated in at the top. Okay, I understand. The fares come off the top of the operating cost. [Jane Whiteside: Great.] Thank you for that. [1:28:51] Martha Witham, School Board Chair: The— [1:28:51] Speaker C (unidentified): Can I just pause? [Jared J. Mills: Yeah, please.] And even on the pilots, there's the total operating cost, the fares are deducted, and then that's when the split occurs between federal funding and local match of 50/50 after the farebox revenue has been applied. [1:29:05] Speaker K (unidentified): So that's very similar to the 12-month pilot funding stack then. That makes sense to me. And then that other grant may or may not come through. which we will really pull for it coming through. In terms of city funding for the data gathering during this time, what would make me more in support of that is if we have, regardless of the outcome, we have access to a report at the end of it. [Deputy Chief Leach (Steve): Of course.] Of the data and what's been gathered, and that we are able to make moves on whatever comes out of that, whether or not our relationship is positive or negative at the 4-month mark. [1:29:50] Mark O'Brien: Thank you. [1:29:56] Speaker J (unidentified): Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I just wanted to say a good leader can't answer every question without the other leaders that are around them. So good job reflecting on the budget. My question was, back in the day— I sound old— you used to be able to buy the tickets in advance or buy a package of the tickets. Are we going to be able to buy a package of the tickets under the demonstration project? [1:30:20] Speaker C (unidentified): Yes. [1:30:20] Speaker E (unidentified): Okay. [1:30:22] Speaker J (unidentified): I'm very excited about that. Thank you. [1:30:23] Mark O'Brien: A couple of quick questions and I'll go back to you. So would you anticipate that your on-demand patronage would go down once the demonstration project ramps up? [1:30:39] Speaker C (unidentified): Possibly, but I believe that there are enough riders out there that, need the service that I don't think it's going to be a significant drop. I can tell you the riders that are using our demand response service now love the service. We're currently in the process of doing a annual rider survey that we do every year. Today was the 3rd day. So far the results have been extremely positive, but it's a drop in the bucket. So I didn't want to bring those results here tonight because they're not a full representation. But so far they've been positive. But the comments on these surveys have been, I love this service, I love this service, I love being picked up and not having to go everywhere. But then there's also people, I really want to see the routes back, I want to see that flexibility. [Jane Whiteside: Thank you.] So I can't tell you at this time. There's going to be some shift, but I don't know how big that's going to be at this time. [1:31:33] Mark O'Brien: We'll find out during the demonstration period, right? Maybe it's an oversimplified question, but why are we calling the second phase a pilot? I mean, I think for the first, you know, the demonstration phase is a pilot, and then, you know, a commitment to a program after that. Why are we calling it a pilot? [1:31:57] Speaker C (unidentified): The pilot is— it's the FDA terminology. So in order to do a pilot, you have to have the public meetings and the work behind it and the data collection. We haven't done that data collection. So the demonstration project is qualifying us to do the pilot. [1:32:15] Mark O'Brien: All right. So it's basically a term of art. [Speaker C (unidentified): Yes.] Okay. And just one thought that popped into my head about concern over the mill park. First of all, do you need a decision about whether or not you can change the site No,. That would be just for the longer term? [1:32:36] Speaker C (unidentified): The longer term. And I'm not set on Mill Park. That was the first option when I brought it up to Earl that, came up. If there's a better option, I'm totally open to that. I understand your concerns about the area. I have the same concerns about our area now. There's a lot of pedestrian traffic where we're traveling through with those buses. buses at our current stop. The track that we use is dirt, so in the wintertime, rainy days, all that mud gets tracked into our vehicles. [1:33:04] Mark O'Brien: Yeah, I was just wondering off to the side with the manager whether City Hall would be an appropriate place, kind of through here or the back parking lot. I think the riders would feel more comfortable here, probably. I assume there's enough space. Yes, I'm not something to think about. I just didn't know whether we needed to. [1:33:25] Speaker C (unidentified): No, I don't think we need to make a decision. I just wanted to present that as a concern tonight, but I'm open to other options, and I really like that idea. [1:33:34] Mark O'Brien: All right, Councilor Morris-Polly. [Speaker K (unidentified): Thank you, Mayor.] Waiting. [1:33:39] Speaker H (unidentified): Yeah, I just wanted to back up. You had made a comment in regards to looking at funding to cover the demo project, and that may be coming from somewhere else. Did I hear that correctly? So we're talking about the $33,000 that we would be paying— the city would be paying for the demo could be covered somewhere else? [Speaker E (unidentified): Correct.] Okay. And so I'm thinking that if that is covered somewhere else, then maybe we could then revisit covering the half of the community engagement partnership because we could use those funds that we've saved on that. And I'm assuming that this study can be used by any entity. So we would have a copy of the study, KVCAP would have a copy of the study, and we would be able to really see from that study where our patrons who live here in Augusta are interested in and able to get where they wanna go, things along those lines, right? [1:34:26] Speaker C (unidentified): As long as the public comes out for the comment period, yes. [1:34:28] Speaker H (unidentified): Right. So again, that would go back to advertising, right? [1:34:32] Speaker C (unidentified): And Moving Maine is very good at doing this. [Speaker H (unidentified): Okay.] They've done it in several locations in other transit districts. [1:34:37] Speaker H (unidentified): I see. So you would outsource it? [1:34:39] Speaker C (unidentified): Yes. [1:34:40] Speaker K (unidentified): Got it. [1:34:40] Speaker H (unidentified): Okay. And then, well, I was thinking about the rideshare and thinking about The cost, and then how many rides you're doing, and the cost per ride when you kind of break it down to being $38 a ride. I'm wondering whether or not— do you have a graph of the growth that the rideshare program has had since its inception? Like, were there 50 the first month, and 100 the second month? And has it plateaued for a certain reason? And is there any— you know, what's the advertising that's going on around that? Because again, I go back to It's really, you know, can be confusing if you're doing different bus routes. [Speaker K (unidentified): Mm-hmm.] And it can also be overwhelming if you don't have the information that you need to leave your house with, you know, your backpack and go out into the city and know what bus you're getting on and where you're going. And so, you know, again, it goes back to that advertising piece. I personally haven't seen a whole lot of advertising on KVCAP. And so, and I do consider myself somebody who listens to a lot of things that go on in the community. So, you know, some of that information would be great. [1:35:46] Speaker C (unidentified): So the— as I explained in some of my past visits, a lot of our concern around the limited marketing we did when we moved to the demand response service was related and tied to the announcement of the non-emergency transportation contract award that was going to have a significant impact on KVCAP. We waited 36 months for that appeal deal to get to the final stage. We just got to that final stage about a month and a half ago. So now we're shifted, we know what the future looks like, and we're ready to start moving forward. But we did not advertise because we didn't know— we didn't want to promise a lot of service and then have to pull back. So the growth of our demand response service has been steady. There have not been big spikes, but there's But it does not drop to the bottom either. [1:36:39] Mark O'Brien: All right. I've been spending a lot of time on this side of the table. Gentlemen, Councillor Austin? [1:36:47] Speaker M (unidentified): Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you for coming in and presenting us with this. A lot of promising ideas here. But a lot of things have to come together in a pretty short period of time. [Speaker C (unidentified): Yes.] So I was just wondering, would there be the capacity to extend the initial demonstration project, you know, if we're gathering data and we realize we've really got more work to do to iron out what would be the pilot program, would we have that capacity to extend the demonstration program to make sure that we had continuous service? [Speaker C (unidentified): Yes.] Awesome, thank you. [1:37:20] Speaker C (unidentified): the, FTA really says you really can't define a good need in less than 6 months. that's why we do the demonstration and then the pilot. But if we wanted to extend the demonstration a little longer, we could, we could do that also. [1:37:37] Speaker M (unidentified): Great, thank you. [1:37:38] Mark O'Brien: No,. [1:37:43] Speaker J (unidentified): I would support the funding half of the listening session process simply because I think we need to walk and chew gum, and that the report is going to have an impact regardless of who the next— who the provider is of that service in the end. that we need as a council. We have said that transportation is a goal across the city, and this is a pretty cheap way to get the community's input on what that goal looks like as an implementation, and it's not a direct commitment to the future relationship of the city and the KVCAP. So I would support a $10,000-ish commitment. [Deputy Chief Leach (Steve): Thank you.] of the funding that has been set aside for transportation, not general public dollars towards that effort. [1:38:35] Speaker K (unidentified): Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'm going to be a broken record tonight. TIF, economic development TIF. [1:38:44] Jared J. Mills: We did, we did look at that. We would— we haven't written any TIFs for transportation yet, but that's something for future funding. Okay, that we're going to start incorporating. [1:38:54] Speaker K (unidentified): Okay, so not for the $10,000, but in the future? [1:38:58] Jared J. Mills: I don't believe— I'll double-check, but I don't believe we have anything. Matt, 's my expert. He looked at me and he did this. [1:39:03] Jane Whiteside, public commenter: He went— [1:39:04] Speaker K (unidentified): Yeah, that's, that's probably as strong an answer as we could get. [1:39:08] Mark O'Brien: Thank you. [1:39:08] Speaker J (unidentified): Good leaders can't answer good questions without their leaders, right? Thank you. [1:39:12] Speaker K (unidentified): So, Councilor Gariano, where'd you come up with your $10,000 figure? [1:39:17] Speaker J (unidentified): It'd be half of the $21,000. [1:39:20] Speaker C (unidentified): She said roughly, so like 11-ish. [1:39:23] Speaker J (unidentified): Okay, I said roughly, sorry. [1:39:25] Mark O'Brien: Yep,. Mr. Manager, your thoughts? [1:39:33] Jared J. Mills: No, I mean, this is a great discussion. I think everybody's asked some really good questions and a good presentation by KB Cap. And I mean, I guess the only thing I would add, I know it's a kind of a quick turnaround to keep things consistent, but I like the idea of being able to continue the pilot— excuse me, the demonstration if we need to. And don't forget, we'll be in close contact with them. They're starting next week. You know, my plan is, unless I hear otherwise, is to sign the demonstration agreement so we get that going with them. And then we'll have constant— you talked about starting on Monday. Is that— is that— [1:40:10] Speaker C (unidentified): Yeah, I think your agreement said Thursday. But I had already put in place plans to start Monday. [Jared J. Mills: Right.] So it's a soft launch. [1:40:18] Jared J. Mills: Right. So we'll start to get some data, you know, for you and some feedback. And obviously you'll be getting some calls from your constituents, I'm sure. Good, bad, or indifferent. I know we still field calls at City Hall regularly for transportation. There's at least anecdotally a need because we field those regularly. So I mean, think getting this, going and the, timeliness of us reporting back, to all of you, you know, Kirk and his team have been very responsive to us, since we've started over the last week, and, I expect that to continue. So we'll, we'll continue to, report back. [1:40:57] Michael Michaud: I, 'd just like to stay, you know, stay focused on the fact that, yes, we all know That transportation is our goal. We want to have transportation around our, city. What this is as much exploratory about as anything is if this is the right provider. Got another opportunity that has put on pause to see where this goes, but I don't want to lose sight that, this is more what this is about. [1:41:33] Mark O'Brien: So first question for the group with respect to the demonstration project and the parameters of that agreement. Any objection to city manager putting his— John Hancock on that, getting that underway? [1:41:50] Michael Michaud: This is just the demonstration phase. [1:41:53] Mark O'Brien: Demonstrations. Yeah. [Speaker K (unidentified): Yeah.] All set. Good to go with that. [1:41:57] Michael Michaud: Yep. [1:41:57] Speaker M (unidentified): All right. [1:41:58] Mark O'Brien: With respect to this next phase, I wonder, I would be surprised if the council's ready to make decisions and commitments on that tonight, having just heard this one presentation. So my thought is that we schedule this for another informational meeting a little bit down the road so that we have a chance to digest what we've seen here and heard tonight. maybe to get an initial impression about how this demonstration project goes, but mindful of the fact that there's work that needs to be done to prep for and get in place the pilot. So a little bit of time, but not a lot of time. Does— am I making sense there? Okay. And does that work for you folks? [Speaker L (unidentified): Yes.] Yes. Okay. And we're definitely going to keep in touch with you because we, want this to work. [Jane Whiteside: Mm-hmm.] Council Gary Allen. [1:43:00] Speaker J (unidentified): Just super quick, what time will the first bus roll on Monday morning? [Speaker C (unidentified): 8:30.] I will be there. [1:43:06] Mark O'Brien: Where are you going to roll from? [Speaker C (unidentified): The depot.] Depot. [1:43:11] Speaker C (unidentified): Kelly will be your driver. [1:43:13] Speaker J (unidentified): Okay. I don't know where I'm going, but I'm going somewhere. [1:43:20] Speaker C (unidentified): I, believe you all have my email address. So as you hear from constituents' concerns, please feel, free to pass them on to me. I, need to know in order to fix issues as they arise. [1:43:32] Jared J. Mills: Can also be funneled through me if you need to. [1:43:35] Mark O'Brien: Anything else that anybody wants to bring up or ask about this? Councilor Sienkiewicz? [1:43:41] Speaker K (unidentified): I just want to thank our staff and our partners. This was Big lift to get this done by the time the 33 Union Street needs it, and I don't think we have a grasp of how many hours staff have spent on this. So big, thank you to all of you. [1:44:03] Jane Whiteside, public commenter: All right. [1:44:04] Mark O'Brien: Well, excuse me. We appreciate you having here having you here tonight with us, and thank you being in a position to answer our questions. [Jared J. Mills: Appreciate it.] All right, remember, we're going to defer discussion on the rebranding and logo effort. And I'm guessing we'll be— hopefully we'll be ready 2 weeks from tonight, the next informational meeting. And we'll let you know on that. Mr. Manager, I think you have something you want to run by the group. [1:44:35] Jared J. Mills: Just want to let everybody know we received in the mail from Maine Municipal Association, Their annual convention's coming up at the Civic Center, and there's going to be some voting on some items, if you will, that they're they're going to have out. So if anybody's attending that and wants to be a voting member, you can designate me. I'm going to be there. I believe the mayor's going to be there as well, and we just need, as usual, the signatures from our majority of folks. So on the way out, if you're or do want to, and we can put your name on that. Or if you want to defer to the mayor and I and just sign that for us, we'll be voting members. [1:45:16] Mark O'Brien: And as you know, we'll cover the cost of your attendance at the convention if that's what you want to do. I got to say, when I looked at the agendas, I thought this year's agenda is probably more beneficial than most that I've looked at in the past. So you might want to take a peek and see if you can— you want to carve out some time over your schedules to do that. Anything else anybody wants to bring up? Announcements? Councilor Michaud? [1:45:44] Speaker M (unidentified): I'd just like to take a moment to make sure everybody acknowledges tomorrow, 9/11, 25th anniversary. You know, a day that changed our country and the world, and, you know, it's an important day. And, I just hope people reflect, take a moment to reflect tomorrow the significance of what 9/11 is. And just wanted to acknowledge that, and that's it. [1:46:20] Speaker L (unidentified): Very good. [1:46:21] Mark O'Brien: Councilor Sienkiewicz. [1:46:22] Speaker K (unidentified): Thank you, Mr. Mayor. the library is hosting a film screening of The Extraordinary Caterpillar on Monday evening at 5:00 p.m. And I've heard talk that there will be caterpillars in attendance for people to look at under a microscope after the film. And there is simultaneously happening— so you might have to bounce between 2 places— the Active Transportation and Planned Partnership Initiative at Buiker Community Center, same time, 5:00 to 7:00. So you can stop at one and then go to the other and have a really good night. And then throughout the month of September, I know a lot of the school events are starting to ramp up. A lot of the parent-teacher organizations are starting their events, so you can always check that out at the school's calendar. But I would highly encourage people— I have seen some of the caterpillars that are going to be there Monday night, and they are quite interesting. So check out— there's no reservations needed— Lithgow, 5 to 7 PM. [Speaker M (unidentified): Thank you.] Thank you. [1:47:26] Mark O'Brien: Councilor Judkins. [1:47:27] Michael Michaud: Just like to offer congratulations to your Coney Rams football team that had a miraculous victory in Freiburg this last Friday night with a touchdown catch in the end zone at 2.9 seconds left on the clock. It was a nail-biter, but something to see. They also play tomorrow night right here at home, their first home Okay, Mr. [1:47:55] Mark O'Brien: Manager, I know you probably got things you want to add, but would you, share about our city clerk as well? [1:48:01] Jared J. Mills: I will, I— and I'll also do it next week when she's here. But, of course, yeah, I have, I have some exciting news. the council knows this, but our city-owned city clerk Kelly Goldrup, has been named Clerk of the Year, through the, Maine Town City Association and voted on by her peers. So we're very proud of her. Her picture will go up next to we have two all-stars. Nicole from GA is also GA Supervisor of the Year as well, and she her picture is up at Main Municipal. So we'll have another name to attach and a plaque for the city. So we're so proud of Kelly. You all know how hard she. works and what she does. You see her mostly with elections, but all things and the hours she puts in, we're very fortunate to have her. So congratulations to Kelly on that. So that's the most exciting part. And then a quick public service announcement. [Jane Whiteside: Yeah.] Bangor Street, everybody knows the construction going on there. The striping is going to happen tonight. So it's going— the reconfiguration is going to come in tomorrow with the 3 lanes. So if you're traveling on Bangor Street, that striping is happening tonight, and, the new traffic pattern with the 3 lanes will be,, tomorrow when you wake up and drive. The traffic light at Quimby will remain for now, but, Bangor Street will look much different tomorrow. Thank you. [1:49:26] Mark O'Brien: Thank you. If there's nothing else, we stand adjourned. [1:49:32] Deputy Chief Leach (Steve): Thank you.