Westbrook council approves police, public works purchases and contract

[3:05] Speaker A (unidentified): See, this is this isn't a good thing. All [3:15] Mayor David Morse: right. I call to order the special city council meeting from Monday, September 21st, 2026. [3:28] City Clerk: I'd like to just quickly read the call for today's special city council meeting was called by Mayor David Morse on Friday, September 18th. The notice was published on the city's website and sent to city council for the land acknowledgement statement. The Westbrook City Council understands, honors, and acknowledges that the City of Westbrook is located on the traditional and unceded homelands and waters of the indigenous people of the Presumpt Scott River. We recognize that the Wabanaki people have been displaced by the advancement of colonization, yet have belonged to this land for countless generations and thousands of years, and their presence continues in Maine to this day. Roll call, please. Council Member Cambridge. Here. Vice President Shaughnessy is absent. Councilor Chau. Here. Here. Councilor Turcotte is absent. Councilor Falchion. Here. Councilor Reardon. [4:15] Mayor David Morse: Here. And President Monroe. Here. Please join me for the Pledge of Allegiance. We [Councilor: have] no minutes to approve, so we are on to the Mayor's message. Thank you, everyone. I am pleased to begin tonight by announcing my selection of Bruno Nacio to serve as Westbrook's next Finance Director. Bruno brings more than 20 years of leadership experience across the public and private sectors with a strong background in finance, budgeting, operations, and strategic planning. Most recently, he has served as Director of Finance and Administrative Services for the Maine Secretary of State, overseeing a budget of more than $70 million and the department's finance and administrative operations. He previously served as Deputy of Public Services for the Maine Bureau of Motor Vehicles, leading work to modernize operations and improve service delivery. Before entering state government, he spent approximately eight years with Unum in several leadership roles, including corporate strategy and operations. What stands out to me is this combination of financial experience and an understanding of how government serves people. Our finance department supports every part of the city's work. We need leadership that can maintain strong financial controls, help us plan responsibly, and work collaboratively with departments to bring the best use of resources and of the resources entrusted to us. I believe that Bruno brings the experience and perspective to help us do that well. Bruno will begin working with the city on September 28th, and his appointment will come before the council for confirmation on October 5th at our evening at our meeting that evening. He'll be joining us at that meeting. He will be joining us at that meeting so that counselors and the public can hear from him directly. I also want to express my sincere thanks to Laura for her hard work serving as our interim finance director. She has done an excellent job guiding us through the budget season while also implementing several valuable improvements within the finance department. Taking on that responsibility during such a demanding time was no small undertaking. And Laura, I just want you to know that I am grateful for your dedication, your steady leadership, and the work that you have done to leave the department stronger as we move into this next chapter. I also wanted to thank Counselor Chow for serving on the interview panel and for contributing his time and perspective to this process. We look forward to welcoming Bruno to Westbrook. I also want to share an important announcement for residents who are struggling to keep up with their rent. The Maine Eviction Prevention Program reopened to new applications today, September 21. Administered by Maine Housing in partnership with Project Home, the program provides up to $9,600 in total rental assistance to eligible households that are behind on rent and at risk of eviction. Eligibility depends on household income and other program requirements. Funding is limited and applications are prioritized according to the household circumstances, with those already facing an eviction court case receiving the first priority. Payments go directly to participating landlords. Residents can find program details and apply through Main Housing's website. For help with an application, you can contact Project Home at 207-274-1240. You can also reach out to Harrison Dia in our own general assistance and social services office here in Westbrook for information or help with the application process. That office is located at the community center, the Fred C. Westcott building at 426 Bridge Street. And Harrison can be reached at 207-854-0676. If you're unsure where to begin, please reach out. Applying does not guarantee funding, but help is available to navigate the process. And I encourage residents who may qualify to submit a complete application promptly. Promptly. Keeping people in their homes matters to the well-being of our entire community. And I thank Harrison for helping connect residents with this resource. And I encourage everyone listening to share this information with someone who may need it. On tonight's agenda, there is included a final consideration of the collective bargaining agreement with our general unit employees. As we complete that process, I just want to take a moment to speak about how these agreements fit into our budget and our responsibility to maintain the services that our community depends on. Our municipal and school budgets are primarily budgets paying for people and the services that they provide to us. Wages and benefits, much of which are established through these collective bargaining agreements, they make up the lion's share of our budgets. And behind those expenditures are the people who teach our kids, maintain our streets, respond to emergencies and help residents get the information and the services that they need and rely on. As I discussed during the budget season, an increasingly competitive wage market is one of the primary forces driving increases in municipal and school spending. Maintaining the level and quality of services residents expect requires us to recruit qualified employees and retain the experienced people that are already doing this work. Westbrook does not lead the region in wages, but we also cannot allow ourselves to fall so far behind that we lose employees and struggle to fill their positions. Vacancies and turnover carry costs of their own, both financially and in our ability to provide dependable services. At the same time, our taxpayers have real limits. Limits. Many households are facing rising costs for housing, utilities, groceries and other necessities. And we have a responsibility to keep those pressures firmly in mind as we negotiate agreements and make budget decisions. That balance is part of the work that we do throughout the year. When a contract is due to be renegotiated, we anticipate adjustments during our budget process, even when the final terms have not yet been settled. The resulting The resulting agreement then comes before the council for consideration. That's what is being finalized this evening. The FY27 budget anticipated this renegotiation and included funding for wage adjustments in the contingency line with the mayor's office budget. That contingency line appropriates, they serve several different purposes and it's not exclusively for this contract. The impact of this agreement in FY27 is within the funding that's already been provided by the council and does not require an increase to the adopted budget. I believe that this agreement strikes an appropriate balance between remaining competitive as an employer and respecting the financial capacity of our taxpayers. It recognizes the contributions of our employees, supports continuity in the services residents rely on, and fulfills the planning we undertook during the budget season. I thank our employees and everyone involved in negotiations for their work towards this agreement and I support its approval tonight. Finally, a topic that I've been hearing a lot about, I just want to acknowledge the proposed Amazon facility in Gorham and the concerns about additional traffic that it could bring through Westbrook. Some residents may have seen, you know, a lot of news articles about this recently and I just wanted to address it briefly. I am concerned about what the additional traffic could mean for our residents and roads and I have reservations about the project, but those potential impacts have our attention and we take them seriously. Westbrook does not have a vote on whether or not this project proceeds in Gorham. We do, however, have a responsibility to advocate for our community and the city is participating in the main DOT's traffic movement permit process and will review the traffic study to identify what improvements would be necessary in Westbrook because of this additional traffic. traffic. We will press for meaningful measures to address those impacts and for Amazon to pay for the improvements its projects makes necessary. Westbrook residents and taxpayers should not be left to shoulder that burden. Our role is to make sure that Westbrook's concerns are heard and addressed, and we intend to be firm and persistent in advocating for safer roads, improvements along the affected routes, and measures that lessen the traffic impacts on our community. Thank you. Thank you. Next we have city council messages. Anyone have anything they'd like to say? I'd like to take a moment just to thank everyone who came out this weekend for the Westbrook Education Foundation's inaugural disc golf tournament. We had over 60 disc golfers come play and over I think 15 to 20 families join us to come learn and it was a really fun day so thank you for when they came out counselor [13:44] Speaker A (unidentified): Yep I would just like to reiterate that I've heard quite a few people from home that can't hear especially when presenters come up and I know that microphone is kind of low and a few of us put it up and then put it back down but if we can be aware of so the people at home can hear us you know if you speak softly maybe one lady at the store I saw said use your outside voice so that they can hear you so thank you [14:20] Mayor David Morse: Thank you no student representative update on to our first public comment if you'd like to come up say your name and whether you're a resident of Westbrook and limit your comment to three minutes I see no one we're on to there's no unfinished business so we're on to orders of the day second and final reading Mr Lidu the [14:52] City Clerk: First order of the day is order 2026-96 found on page 11 of your packet authorizing acceptance of federal asset forfeiture funds [15:01] Councilor Chow: What are the wishes of the council Councillor Chow thank you I'd like to read six of the seven orders for second and final reading I'll read it by title only as we've discussed these items in detail at our previous meetings so I'd like to make a motion for order 2026-96 authorizing acceptance of federal asset for forfeiture funds order 2026-97 confirming emergency expenditure for a replacement police vehicle order 2026-98 authorizing acceptance and expenditure of Edward CORD BURN MEMORIAL JUSTICE ASSISTANCE GRANT. ORDER 202699, AUTHORIZING AGREEMENT FOR POLICE DEPARTMENT CAMERA REPLACEMENT. ORDER 2026100, AUTHORIZING EXPENDITURE FOR PERSHINGWAY PUMP STATION ROOF REPLACEMENT. AND ORDER 2026101, AUTHORIZING PURCHASE OF VIBRATORY PLATE COMPRACTOR FOR PUBLIC SERVICES. THANK YOU. [15:59] Mayor David Morse: Is there a second? Any discussion? Any discussion from the Council? Would anyone like any of them separated? Any discussion from the public? Roll call, please. Councilor McCambridge? Yes. Councilor Chao? Yes. Councilor Falkingham? Yes. Councilor Rierton? Yes. And President Monroe? Yes. Five in favor, none opposed. On to the next order, 2026-102. [16:29] City Clerk: This is order 2026-102 found on page 116 of your packet approving the 2026 through 2029 collective bargaining agreement with the Westbrook General [16:39] Mayor David Morse: Unit. What are the wishes of the Council? [16:48] Councilor Chow: Chow. Thank you. Make a motion for order 2026-102 approving the 2026 through 2029 collective bargaining agreement with the Westbrook General [16:58] Mayor David Morse: unit for second and final reading thank you is there a second councillor falkingham any DISCUSSION FROM THE COUNCIL? I KNOW WE HAVE A PUBLIC COMMENT. IS THERE ANY OTHER PUBLIC COMMENT IN THE ROOM BEFORE WE GO TO THE ONE ONLINE? OK. I HAVE [17:24] City Clerk: one e-mail to read into the record. This is from Mark. Administrator Holmes, as a concerned Westbrook taxpayer, I saw this in the special City Council meeting packet. Order 2026-102 is up for final vote on Monday. The packet describes the 2026 through 2029 Teamsters General Unit contract. The packet describes the deal in vague terms, about 20 administrative and clerical positions, 3% annual COLAs, longevity bonuses, and language updates. It does not include a multi-year cost estimate of what these costs will look like to taxpayers. Before the City Council takes final action, I am asking the administration to provide a written fiscal impact. So students, so residents and the people voting on it, counselors, can see what these costs are and what this contract will cost taxpayers. I am asking if you could provide the three-year cost estimate before Monday's meeting, including one, current payroll for this unit and the cost of the three percent COLAs, step increases, CSR upgrade to level D, and longevity bonuses to overtime and premium pay cost 3. Vacation and sick leave cash-out slash sell-back liability plus the $500 attendance bonus. 4. City share of health insurance and HRA costs. 5. City retirement contributions. 6. The total city costs versus each year of the new contract and the three-year increases over current costs. Please include this into Monday night's record and also share this with the mayor and City Council before Monday's vote. Once again, I feel the taxpayers and City Council should understand the cost of this three-year contract. Thank you for your help with this. [19:16] Mayor David Morse: Miss Holmes, I [19:19] City Attorney: sent an email response to Mr. Fournier this afternoon to address some of his questions, and I think it'd be beneficial for the record to be able to share this with the council before you vote this evening. So my response to him outlined that pursuant to one MRSA section 402-3d, the following records are not considered public records: that is material prepared for and used specifically and exclusively in preparation for negotiations, including the development of bargaining proposals to be made and the analysis of proposals received by a public employer and collective bargaining with its employees and their designated representatives. Historically, the city has not prepared separate fiscal impact analyses for negotiated collective bargaining agreements. For the first year of an agreement, the associated costs must be accommodated within the funds appropriated through the annual budget process. That being said, I can provide some additional information regarding order 2026-102. As he noted, the order authorizes a three-year contract negotiated between the City of Westbrook and the general unit. During the development of the fiscal year 27 budget, the City anticipated the need to negotiate in good faith with bargaining units and included funding within the Mayor's Office contingency budget line for that purpose. Based on prevailing market conditions and the expected personnel costs, funds were budgeted to address anticipated collective bargaining agreements. It's important to note, as the mayor did at the beginning of this meeting, that the contingency account also serves as a funding source for non-union employee cost of living adjustments and other unforeseen or unknown expenditures that might arise during the course of the fiscal year. The total fiscal year 27 cost associated with the general unit's COLA increases and longevity bonuses is $45,573.56. That's 45573.56. This amount is within the total amount appropriated for contingency purposes, including our collective bargaining obligations. This does not include fringe benefits, overtime, or other related personnel costs other than salary or longevity bonuses. Those costs are addressed through incremental adjustments made during the budget development within departmental operating budgets and the human resources budget in anticipation of future negotiations. As a result, the fiscal 27 impacts of the CBA will be absorbed within existing appropriations and the adopted fiscal 27 budget. The financial impacts associated with the second and third years of this contract will be determined and incorporated as part of the fiscal 28 and fiscal 29 budgets. The Finance Committee reviews the impacts of market driven wage increases during the budget review process each year. Those meetings are an excellent opportunity for residents who have questions about collective bargaining agreements and how they affect personnel costs and budgetary allocations across the variety of departments that have union members within their department operations. Through our CBA process, through the collective bargaining process, our goal, as the mayor had stated earlier, is to maintain competitive wages and benefits for our employees that support both the recruitment and the retention of quality, talented, and a stable workforce to serve Westbrook. So I hope that provides some additional clarity and information for this evening. I'm happy to answer any questions that councilors might have. [23:13] Mayor David Morse: Thank you. Any questions from the council? Any other public comment? Okay. [23:23] City Clerk: We'll call, please. Councilor McCambridge? Yes. Councilor Chao? Yes. Councilor Faulkium? Yes. Councilor Rierden? Yes. And President Monroe? [23:32] Mayor David Morse: Yes. Five in favor, none opposed. On to new business, we have no business licenses and no resolves. On to orders of the day, one regime required. This is order number [23:43] City Clerk: Order 2026-103, found on page 168 of your packet, authorizing street closures for Southern Spring Street and Thomas Drive for utility installation. [23:53] Mayor David Morse: What are the wishes of the council? Councilor Falkingham? [23:57] Councilor: I move order 2026-103, authorizing street closures for Southern Spring Street and Thomas Drive for utility installation that the Westbrook City Council hereby authorizes the overnight closures of a portion of Spring Street from County Road southerly to the South Portland Municipal Boundary Line to through traffic from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. For the time frame of October 5, 2026 to October 16, 2026 and a 24-hour closure of Thomas Drive at 34 Thomas Drive from November 16, 2026 to November 27, 2026 for utility work related to the residential project at 984 Spring Street subject to the review and approval of the City Engineer and [24:39] Mayor David Morse: Police department thank you is there a second counter burden thank you Mrs. Holmes so this item [24:50] City Attorney: authorizes two street closures as requested by procopio companies to accommodate upgrades to the sewer infrastructure as part of their residential housing project at 984 spring street due to the location of the existing infrastructure components of the work cannot be performed with alternating one lane traffic control the entire road must be closed at the location of the excavations. The first closure outlined in this order this evening is of the southern portion of Spring Street starting at the intersection with Thomas Drive from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. during the period of October 5th through October 16th. Due to traffic volumes and the inability to conduct work with alternating one-lane traffic, full overnight closure is required for this extended period. Five residential properties within the construction area may be significantly impacted by overnight light, noise, and construction activity occurring immediately adjacent to their homes. Due to those unique circumstances, city staff asked Procopio Companies to offer alternative housing accommodation for those five residential households specifically. Specifically beginning at 919 Spring Street and proceeding north, property owners will need to access their property from the County Road side of Spring Street, and south of 919 Spring Street, property owners will need to access their properties via South Portland. That's the first closure outlined in this order. The second closure outlined in this order will occur on Thomas Drive. Utility work not requiring a full street closure is scheduled to be conducted during the period of September 22nd through November 27th. However, for one 24-hour period toward the end of the construction period, and that's going to be sometime in the range of November 16th through the 27th, a full lane closure will be required. The closure dates will be finalized one week prior, and that will be in coordination with our city engineer and our police department. During that full street closure, properties east of 34 Thomas Drive will access their properties from County Road, while properties to the west of 34 Thomas Drive will need to access their properties from Spring Street. Procopio companies will have variable message boards up one week prior to each closure, notifying the commuting public of the upcoming overnight closures. And residents along the affected portions of both Spring Street and Thomas Drive received notice of the construction ACTIVITY AND THE STREET CLOSURE REQUESTS AND WE'RE NOTIFIED OF THIS EVENING'S COUNCIL MEETING IN CASE ANYONE HAD ANY DESIRE TO COME AND SPEAK OR SUBMIT PUBLIC COMMENT FOR THE RECORD. WE DO HAVE SEVERAL REPRESENTATIVES HERE THIS EVENING FROM SERGEANT WE HAVE SHAWN POWELL WHO I BELIEVE IS HERE. THANK YOU. FROM REVELER WE HAVE MICHAEL BARTON AND FROM PROCOPIO WE HAVE JUSTIN LOCK AS WELL. SO ALL THREE GENTLEMEN ARE HERE AND AVAILABLE TO ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS THAT YOU MIGHT HAVE. [27:55] Speaker A (unidentified): I HAVE JUST ONE QUESTION. PART OF THE SPRING STREET THAT IS GOING TO BE CLOSED FROM 7 P.M. TO 7 A.M., HOW DOES THAT AFFECT THE DAY CARE AND I'M SURE PEOPLE DROP THEIR FOLKS OFF BEFORE 7 A.M. IN THE MORNING? BY THE CAR WASH BACK THERE? HAVE WE THOUGHT OF THAT AT ALL? Because I got to believe it's like 6 or 6 30. I think they can drop them off and Jenny if you can talk into the microphone. Yes I [28:41] Jenny Franceschi, Assistant City Administrator: Apologize for my lack of projection Jenny Franceschi assistant city administrator. I can let the Procopio team speak to this a little bit more succinctly but within that area would they provided a detour loop so during that time frame in order to get to that daycare there is a detour loop from Westbrook around through South Portland and that is the direction that folks would have to go to access the daycare during that time frame of the closure so but again we're talking about just folks that would have to be there at that you know that 6 30 to 7 o'clock hour but I can let the team speak to that a little bit more in detail yeah I mean I [29:30] Procopio representative: think she covered it I guess I'm not sure on their exact hours it's something [29:33] Speaker A (unidentified): we can have we had conversations with them we've had conversations with them [29:38] Procopio representative: about there's been other ongoing work we recently widened the road in front of their daycare and they've been very receptive so far it's something that the next week here you know we can definitely go over to there and you know just double-check to make sure confirm their hours and see what we can do to help minimize the impact to them yeah we're willing to work with them and [30:00] Speaker A (unidentified): We'll give them our contacts and make sure that they have everything that they need. The detour unfortunately is necessary, but it's only a few days and it'll be a short period. Okay, it's just, you know, it's good stewards to let them know, you know, it's seven to seven, and maybe they have to adjust for their parents or something like that, but it is only two days. But to them, I mean, that's probably absolutely a long two days so. [30:28] Councilor: Absolutely, I think it's more than two days, isn't it, ten? Yeah, I believe it's ten days was the duration that we requested. Oh, it's ten days. Yeah, that's a long ten days. I will say online says they [30:42] Mayor David Morse: start, they open at 7 15. [30:45] Speaker A (unidentified): That one does. Okay council [30:49] Councilor Chow: Chow. Yes, thank you, through you, thank you for coming gentlemen, I appreciate it. Can you explain the level of work that's going to be involved? There'll be a lot of trenching. How loud will it be? Are they jackhammering for all 10 days or what can I expect for noise and activity? I'm assuming just the one day to open and then the rest to work in a trench, and then but if you could explain how [31:14] Procopio representative: how loud it would be for the residents. Sure, so like you said, so the first day would be saw cutting, we saw cut the pavement that's there, and then the rest of the time would be excavation. We perform all the saw cutting in one night in terms of, you know, our, you know, day-to-day work I guess it'd be a very, there'd be a very large excavator there which would make a fair amount of noise. It'll be backup alarms, trucks, things of that nature. There'll be compaction efforts from a roller and then there'll be light plants, there'll be at least one light plant for every at every road closure, and then probably two light plants at the trenching location and for us to perform our work. So in terms of like decibel level, I don't think I have anything readily available, but I guess think of your standard construction site and it's going to be all the same, all the same stuff. So okay, and then if you [32:11] Councilor Chow: I KNOW IT WILL BE LOUD ANYWAYS, BUT BLARING BLM OR SOMETHING, THOSE ARE THINGS YOU CAN CONTROL. ABSOLUTELY. [32:24] Mayor David Morse: ANY OTHER QUESTIONS FROM THE COUNCIL? ANY PUBLIC COMMENT? ANY ONLINE? OK. ONE REINQUIRED. [32:40] City Clerk: COUNCILOR MCCAMBRIDGE? YES. COUNCILOR CHAO? YES. COUNCILOR VAUGHN? [32:44] Mayor David Morse: YES. COUNCILOR ROWDEN? YES. And President Monroe. Yes. Five in favor, none opposed. On to Order 2026-104. Ms. LeDoux. [32:52] City Clerk: This is Order 2026-104, found on page 218 of your packet. Amending the Westbrook Code of Ordinances regarding the Board of Assessment Review, Board of Trustees of the Woodlawn Cemetery, Fair Hearing Authority, Library Advisory Committee, Planning Board, Zoning Board of Appeals, and the Village Review Overlay Zone Committee. [33:15] Mayor David Morse: What are the wishes of the council? Councillor Falkingham. [33:19] Councilor: I move order 2026-104 amending the Westbrook Code of Ordinances regarding the Board of Assessment Review, Board of Trustees of the Woodlawn Cemetery, Fair Hearing Authority, Library Advisory Committee, Planning Board, Zoning Board of Appeals, and Village Review Overlay Zone Committee that the Westbrook City Council hereby amends the Westbrook Code of Ordinances relating to the purpose, membership, duties, scope of authority, THE BOARD OF ASSESSMENT REVIEW, BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE WOOD LAWN CEMETERY, FAIR HEARING AUTHORITY, LIBRARY ADVISORY COMMITTEE, PLANNING BOARD, ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS AND VILLAGE REVIEW, OVERLAY ZONE COMMITTEE AS OUTLINED IN THE ATTACHED EXHIBITS. THANK YOU. [34:00] Mayor David Morse: IS THERE A SECOND? COUNSELOR CHAO? ANY DISCUSSION FROM MS. HOLMES? [34:09] City Attorney: THIS ITEM AMENDS SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES RELATING TO THE COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW OF ALL BOARD OF ASSESSMENT REVIEWS board commission and committee ordinance language found in our code this was discussed and reviewed at the committee of the whole meetings on july 20th and on september 14th just by way of history for anyone listening at home listening at home over time portions of our code relating to boards commissions and committees either no longer reflect current operational practice or community need or are in conflict with other sections of the code or charter. So staff conducted a uniform review process to eliminate conflicting and outdated language to ensure that each body is appropriately structured for its responsibilities, aligned with best practices, and have clear guidance on functions and operations. The review elements included a review of purpose. I'm just GOING TO READ A COUPLE OF THE QUESTIONS THAT WE LOOKED AT FOR EACH OF THESE. WE REVIEWED EACH BOARD COMMISSIONER COMMITTEE FOR PURPOSE. IS IT CLEAR WHAT THIS BODY IS INTENDED TO ACCOMPLISH? Is the body's involvement appropriate and sufficient for the assigned purpose? Does the purpose of the body support and enhance departmental operations? Are there any conflicts in purpose with other law or ordinance? Are there any limitations in purpose that are unclear? We also reviewed membership. Are the membership criteria and required experience or qualifications appropriate? Is the board right sized to accomplish its purpose? Does the number of members balance the need for appropriate representation with efficiency and operations? We reviewed duties. Are the duties clearly outlined? Do they reflect operational needs? Do the duties reasonably facilitate the purpose of the body? Do they align capacity with operational need? Do they duplicate any function provided by any other agency or department? Scope of authority. Is the scope of decision-making authority clear and consistent with state law and or the charter? Are there any areas of conflict that exist? And then finally, there was a bucket of clerical corrections that we looked at as well. We have modified all term lengths to no more than three years for consistency across all boards commissions and committees, removed any word specific representation requirements, eliminated gendered language where that existed, modified term end dates for boards commissions and committees to end on June 30th, that is reflected in some ordinance language, some of them specify that, some of them don't, but through practice where it's not outlined in the ordinance, we do want to modify term end Dates to be consistent. And modifying the title of the body as well if necessary to reflect the definition of boards which are quasi-judicial or regulatory a commission tasked with policy development or a committee which is advisory a working group for a specific issue or a task so the committee of the whole reviewed this for the boards listed in the council order this evening summaries the review process are included in the packet if there's any member of the public at home that wants to review that they certainly Can the proposed amendments for the first five bodies listed, so all of them, well, actually the proposed amendments for all of these go into effect immediately except for the zoning board of appeals and the village review overlay zone own committee, which also include amendments that affect the land use ordinance. Only those amendments affecting the land use ordinance will need to go to the planning board first for review, public hearing, and approval, and then those elements can come back to this body for public hearing and review and adoption. So council will see the land use ordinance related amendments for zba and the viras committee come back at a later date once those go through the planning board process. And finally there are two final boards, commissions, or committees that are still yet to be reviewed, and those will take place at a committee of the whole meeting at a future date, likely in October. That's the recreation and conservation commission and the public safety [38:28] Mayor David Morse: commission. Thank you. Thank you. Any questions from the council? Chow? Yes, I thank you. [38:35] Councilor Chow: Through you to the administration, yes, I just want to verify that the committee members or the department heads or the boards, are they're aware of these changes? They've had a chance to review those and provide feedback, and also they're aware that we're voting on this [38:52] City Attorney: tonight. So for all of these boards, commissions, and committees, they all received, members, current members received notification of this proposed review process, and for the boards that had minor edits or non-major edits that were proposed for review, we provided notice for them of the committee of the whole meeting dates that we have those discussions at. For some of them we receive feedback, for some of them we didn't. We didn't notify them specifically of this vote this evening, but where there were requests for additional comment or dialogue, we have tabled those items to handle those separately, so recreational conservation commission is being handled separately and the public safety commission is being handled separately, and we'll do those at a later date. Thank you. [39:47] Mayor David Morse: Thank you. Any other questions or comments from the council? Any questions from the public? Is there anyone online? Okay. Roll call, please. [40:02] City Clerk: Councilor McCambridge? Yes. Vice President Saunasy? Yes. Councilor Faulkner? Yes. Councilor Rierden? Yes. And President Monroe? Yes. [40:10] Mayor David Morse: Six in favor, none opposed. On to order 2026-105. [40:15] City Clerk: THIS IS ORDER 2026-105 FOUND ON PAGE 255 OF YOUR PACKET. AMENDING THE CITY COUNCIL RULES OF ORDER RELATING TO DISCLOSURE OF ADDRESS DURING PUBLIC COMMENT. [40:26] Mayor David Morse: WHAT ARE THE WISHES OF THE COUNCIL? [40:32] Councilor McCambridge: I move for the first and final reading of order 2026105 amending the city council rules of order relation to the disclosure of address during public comment that the Westbrook City Council hereby amend section 4G of the city council rules of order relation to the disclosure of address during public comment as stated. Is there a second? [40:58] Mayor David Morse: Councillor Reardon? ANY DISCUSSION? [41:03] City Attorney: THIS ITEM IS AN AMENDMENT TO THE CITY COUNCIL RULES OF ORDER THAT WAS DISCUSSED AT OUR LAST COUNCIL MEETING ON SEPTEMBER 14TH. WE RECEIVED SOME ADVICE FROM OUR LEGAL COUNCIL THAT REQUIRING THE DISCLOSURE OF AN ADDRESS FROM ANY MEMBER OF THE PUBLIC WHO WISHES TO ADDRESS THE COUNCIL MAY CREATE A SAFETY CONCERN FOR THAT INDIVIDUAL AND MAY BE PERCEIVED AS A BARRIER TO PARTICIPATION. SO WE WERE ADVISED TO ADDRESS to eliminate that requirement to state their address publicly disclose their address but instead to state whether or not they are a resident of the city or a business owner or a representative of a business of the city so that practice that change in practice has taken place and this is the amendment to the rules of order to put that into effect thank you any discussion [41:52] Councilor Chow: from the council chow yes thank you so of all i understand the purpose of this for safety and but it's nice to know where people are from so basically the city council is built up of five ward members so five of us the majority of us have some specific ward we represent and there's two at-larges and the at-larges should represent everybody I was told when I started council a long time ago that as a counselor we represent the citizens of Westbrook but we have a special interest in our wards. That's why we're ward representatives. You'll see me fight for Ward 2 vehemently. It's insane how much I fight for my residence. But if it wasn't my ward, I'd be like, yeah, we'll pass it. And I think that's my job. So when people come up and they say where they're from, I can easily look up if they're in my ward or not, and you know, and whether I should pay more special attention because I'm their ward representative. Not requiring just saying I'm from Westbrook is a little tough for me. Counselor Susan Joyce a long time ago told me a trick she did, and if you're from her ward and you come speak, she will reach out to you after the meeting and talk to you and make sure you're okay. I try to do that when my ward people come, I go seek them out and I try to make sure that them whatever they spoke about it, they're okay with the meeting when they come up. Now I have no idea where they're from, I don't know what ward they are, and it's going to be a little hard to represent, be representative of the ward, and that's the issue I have is it's not, you know, whatever, you can just come and tell me your ward then, and a lot of people don't know what word they're in now, which is tough, but that's the only thing I don't like is about this address thing. I don't really care where you live, I just care which award you're in, quite frankly, I'm, so that's, so that's my beef with this ordinance. It's not, it's not the address thing, it's not, I don't want you to take it out, I just want to know am I supposed to represent you or not, just specifically represent you. We're supposed to represent everybody, but we have special interests in our awards, and that's the way the this charter set up, so I'm gonna say no on this, and I imagine I'm gonna lose, but I still need to know [44:35] Councilor: where what award you're in. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor Shaughnessy. Oh, my understanding is they have the option? [44:45] City Attorney: Yes. So this doesn't answer the ward question specifically, but this would not preclude a member of the public from disclosing more information such as their ward or their address if they chose to do so, or other identifying factor that would help you understand whether or not they live within your ward. And again, this is only for public comment during the council meeting to be entered into the record. If they wish to speak with a councillor individually or send an email, they certainly could do that as well. This is just what are we asking of a member of the public who wishes to address the full council during a public meeting. [45:26] Councilor McCambridge: Thank you. Anyone else? Councillor McCambridge. I would basically echo what Councillor Chow said. I mean, I'm wondering just from a legal perspective, is having a ward disclosure the happy medium. I can understand in this day and age, you know, not compelling people to reveal their home address, but to Councillor Chow's point, I think it is, I know I find it helpful as well to know if somebody is one of my particular constituents. [45:56] Speaker A (unidentified): Councillor Reardon? Quite frankly, I think all seven of us represent the entire city of Westbrook. and when victor says a council child says he pays more attention to ward two than someone in ward four i think that's you know great for people in ward two but this day and age when you have your address out there or you put your phone number or things like that the police chief's here i mean it 's crazy and for someone to come into this chambers and voice their concern you can nod to them and say i'll check out with you or you can find out but to tell them they have to i just think that was in The past where we're switching and we are changing our gears, and I would hope that every one of us up here are for every single ward. [47:08] Mayor David Morse: Going forward in a public comment, would I be able to say please state your name and if you would like to share what ward you are in? [47:16] City Attorney: I THINK THAT WOULD BE PERFECTLY ACCEPTABLE. THE GOAL OF THIS IS TO LIMIT ANYTHING THAT IS A REQUIRED BARRIER TO PUBLIC PARTICIPATION, BUT CERTAINLY ASKING OR IDENTIFYING, IT WOULD BE HELPFUL FOR US TO FOLLOW UP WITH YOU IF WE KNEW WHAT WORD YOU WERE IN. THAT'S OPTIONAL. I THINK THAT STILL FOLLOWS THE SPIRIT OF WHAT WE'RE TRYING TO ACCOMPLISH THROUGH THIS PROCESS. OKAY. THANK YOU. [47:39] Mayor David Morse: Any other comments from the council? Questions from the council? Any public comment? Anyone online? [47:48] City Clerk: Okay. Roll call, please. Councilor McCambridge? No. Counselor Fulcium? Yes. Counselor Reardon? Absolutely. [48:00] Mayor David Morse: And President Monroe? Yes. Four in favor, two opposed. On to orders of the day, two readings required. Order 2026-106. [48:09] City Clerk: This is order 2026-106 found on page 257 of your packet, authorizing purchase of portable traffic digitals for [48:18] Mayor David Morse: Public services. What are the wishes of the council? [48:24] Councilor: I will move order 2026-106. That the West Brook City Council hereby authorizes the purchase of one set of portable traffic signals from Federal Contracts Company of Tampa, Florida, and the amount of $64,891.31 as outlined in the Attached exhibit. Is there a second? [48:52] Mayor David Morse: Any discussion? [48:56] City Attorney: This authorizes the purchase of one set of Vermac portable traffic signals. This is an item that was included in the fiscal 26 Capital Improvement Program. This is an item that was sought through a cooperative purchasing pricing which is authorized through our code of ordinances to find a lowest cost bidder and through that process and our participation in the U.S. General Services Administration Cooperative Purchasing Program, we were able to secure at the lowest cost bidder, which was Federal Contracts Company. That's how we secured them through Tampa, Florida at the total cost of $64,891.31. This is an item, as I noted, that was put into the fiscal year 26 Capital Improvement Program because it replaces the need for physical flaggers on the street. This is historically a position that has been difficult or proven difficult for us to find and thus requires us to reallocate our staff to provide that service. Director of Operations for Public Services Doug Eaton is here to provide any additional information on this evening but I know that our public services crew is really looking forward to utilizing this equipment in the street thank you any discussion from the [50:21] Councilor McCambridge: council Councillor McCambridge I would just like do we have any data on the expected lifespan of these units and also is there an arrangement around warranty and servicing [50:40] Doug Eaton, Public Services Operations Manager: Good evening Doug Eaton with the Westbrook Public Services Department operations manager the warranty is such I would have to review that but it's probably a standard warranty anywhere between two and five years as far as replacements we currently have some Vermac message board signs in our fleet right now the life range of those extends up to 20 years it all depends on the usage condition of them where they're housed how much they're used things like that thank you answer your question partially I guess okay what was the piece that I was missing and I guess [51:21] Councilor McCambridge: Yes, just given the amount involved, just that we would have some idea of the lifespan. I mean, obviously, I know it's contingent on when they're used and how often they're used. But do we have any parameters? You mentioned we have some of the existing equipment, but that sounds like kind of the next level down in terms of complexity. [51:42] Doug Eaton, Public Services Operations Manager: Yeah, these are different. We don't have any of these portable traffic signals in our fleet yet. We have message board signs. But if the if the technology is there I would assume that it'd be a 15 year at least 15 year life expectancy but I don't have that information because it all depends on the usage. [52:03] Mayor David Morse: Also some information just that I've gathered from asking my own questions about this morning. One thing that I heard was that we kind of purposefully didn't order the ones with certain bells and whistles because those tend to break more easily. There's computerized ones that while doing interesting things are more complicated and would you know probably come with more problems so this is more basic for that purpose and also in case anyone's wondering you know you know if this is like using cameras and tied in with the internet that is not the case. That was something that came up in the discussion as well. Thank you Kelter Raiden. These would be able to be [52:54] Speaker A (unidentified): hauled behind a pickup truck in order to or do they have to be I know they're being lifted on a flatbed to bring here but they 're mobile right. That's correct. Yeah they're very similar to [53:06] Doug Eaton, Public Services Operations Manager: our message board signs so you can piggyback them to a job site. You set them up and essentially potentially run them in place of flaggers. They also can be used in situations in emergency events where you have an outage or you have a row that may have sustained some type of washout. You could set these up and run them, you know, 24-7. [53:31] Speaker A (unidentified): I think it's a great investment. You know, it's not something that we use all the time, but we have it to control traffic and other communities to have those so thank [53:46] Mayor David Morse: you thank you. Any other questions from the council? Councilor Cambridge sorry [53:50] Councilor McCambridge: one more and is it possible to quantify like it's gonna replace a human flag or do we have a is it possible to put a number on what it costs to have a human flagger out there for, you know, an eight-hour workday? [54:05] Doug Eaton, Public Services Operations Manager: Yeah, so, you know, right now we do use our in-house employees. It's been very difficult to hire outside contractors for this flagging operation, so we've had to use individuals in-house. You know, I guess I would have to run some numbers and let you know exactly how much that would save. The long or the short answer, I guess, would be that we could free up some personnel by using these signals to help get some other work done around the city. So instead of using two people in the roadway, I could essentially have a supervisor go out, set these up, and let them run until the job site was complete. [54:48] Councilor McCambridge: Yeah, I mean, that's all I have to say. I mean, I would, if we could get some sort of an idea before the second reading of what the lifespan would be, that would be appreciated. Sure, I would have to [55:00] Doug Eaton, Public Services Operations Manager: to reach out to the company to find that answer. Sure. [55:04] Mayor David Morse: One question I have is, are they lights that run all day even when work's not being done, or is there an ability to only time it when you have [55:13] Doug Eaton, Public Services Operations Manager: workers there? You can do it either or. Let's just say we were going to do an excavation in the road that requires us to close down one lane, but we couldn't finish it. We could essentially leave THESE RUNNING ALL NIGHT LONG AND WITHOUT HAVING ANY FLAGGERS THERE. [55:32] Mayor David Morse: AWESOME. ANY OTHER QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS? [55:36] City Attorney: JUST ONE THAT WE'LL MAKE SURE, AS DOUG JUST SAID, TO FOLLOW UP ON THE LIFE EXPECTANCY OF THIS, AND WE CAN ALSO RUN SOME FIGURES. I KNOW THAT OUR DIRECTOR, ERIC DUDLEY, HAD MENTIONED TWO TO FOUR PERSONNEL DEPENDING ON HOW MANY SHIFTS. SO WE CAN LOOK AT THOSE COST ESTIMATES AND HAVE THOSE READY FOR SECOND READING AS WELL. GREAT. [55:57] Speaker A (unidentified): Councilor Reardon? I'm just throwing some quick numbers around. For 20 years, it's going to cost $32,000 a year. And if we had 10 events, it's $320. And to get a flagger by, you spend $20 to $22 an hour, that's going to eat up that $320. I mean, I think it's a great investment, and it's a safety concern. You don't have flaggers out there. It's mobile. You can have it and use it in multiple jobs per day. If you have in the morning, you have one, you have to move it or sometime during the week. Yeah. [56:45] Mayor David Morse: Mayor Morse, I said like when it comes to like when we talk about our budgets every year, like one of the things we could always use more of is public services stuff, right, because they do so much and Just think about, you know, for every hour we don't have one of these, one of our guys being a flagger, they could do so many other things that are of use to the city. That's why Eric put this in the budget. Anyone else okay being the first reading? A show of hands, all those in favor, all in favor, none opposed. On to our final public comment of the night. If anyone would like to come up, please state your name and whether you're a resident of Westbrook and if you'd like to give us your word. No one in person. Is there anyone online? There's no one online. Okay, we have no referrals, no committee meetings, but we do have an executive session. Brief executive session request to enter into executive session. pursuant to one ms mrsa 405-6a for discussion regarding an appointment of a body or agency and 4056e regarding consultations between a body or agency and its attorney concerning the legal rights and duties of the body or agency inviting the following to attend mayor city administrator assistant city administrator city clerk legal counsel director of planning code enforcement and project manager yep the motion of the executive second all those in favor all right we're gonna stay here for Executive session, we are going to stay here, okay, and we will adjourn after the meeting, so thank you.