Bangor council backs accessible playground gear, signs public health letter

[0:15] Susan Hawes: We are live. All right, I will open the workshop and I think the first quarter of business should be the assignment of a temporary chair to preside over the workshop. We will do this again ahead of the regular meeting, so it does not have to be the same person. Would someone like to make a nomination? I would like to nominate Michael Beck to be chair tonight. Second. And I guess we will do a roll call vote because Councillor Mallar is online. So Councillor Deane? Yes, that's the person. Yes. Do you have a conflict of interest? No. What does someone say? What do you normally do? Yes, Counselor Fish? Yes. And Counselor Maller? Yes. All [1:11] Michael Beck: right welcome to the business so this is the city council workshop it's now 5 16 p.m so we've got a seven item on the agenda let's jump right into it after we announce everybody at the table we have councillor fish city manager earlier counselor dean counselor carson counselor leonard counselor falloon we've also got counselor maller online as well as myself michael beck and the first item is city major [1:37] Susan Hawes: updates city major lawyer i have just three items the first is the national league of Citi's Citi Summit. So the contingency of folks that went to DC this spring noted that there's another NLC event, a Citi Summit, that's this summer fall, is that right? What's that? October. October. And that event may actually be equally as valuable, if not more valuable than the DCF that folks went to in the spring. So I believe that there's interest in sending folks to that City Summit in October, which we certainly have budget money to do. I would suggest that probably what makes sense is if we're going forward, going to explore that City Summit, we sort of divide and conquer and send a couple people to the summit and a couple people to the DC event, as opposed to just saying anyone who wants to go can go to the DC event, but wanted to get everyone's thoughts on that before we made a decision. And Counselor Carson, I think because you were at the DC event and identified that the summit might be a good opportunity, feel welcome to chime in if you'd like to or not. I think you've got it. Okay, but [3:01] Joseph Leonard: that was basically the feedback that I heard over and over and over was that out of the two, it was is perhaps the more robust because of the timing of it and the different activities [3:11] Carolyn Fish: that happen at that. Any questions or comments? Do we know what the difference is? That's okay, maybe we'll see what the difference is. Yeah, thank you. I'm just [3:28] Speaker E (unidentified): gonna ask if you know the specific date yet. [3:32] Susan Hawes: Don't know the specific dates. I mean, if we agree that we're open to sort of going to both events. What I'll do is I'll send a follow up email with the details for the summit event. [3:46] Speaker E (unidentified): And just follow up, I would just like I'm in favor of it. I think the more we can learn, the better. So I have an interest in someone going and I may have an interest in going myself. I have a family wedding in October, too. So [4:02] Joseph Leonard: I'm also in favor of us considering as well. I think it's a great opportunity to network. I will be unable to attend just take that and I know [4:12] Susan Hawes: Counselor Carson is interested in going as well so at least one of us will be a bitch November 18th through 21st. Okay, you know that's right not October not okay. So I'll send out an email. [4:36] Carolyn Fish: Later, I may be interested in the [4:41] Michael Beck: discussion on the side. So [4:45] Susan Hawes: The next item on my list was this. Today, this morning, Director of Public Health Jen Gunderman was solicited for interest in signing on a letter to Senator Collins supporting the maintenance of public health funding at the federal level. There are some pockets of funding that are really at risk in the upcoming budget and so it's sort of a generic letter or not general but I love a letter that just encourages Senator Collins to continue to support funding public health and we're looking for your support in deciding on that letter On behalf questions comments absolutely no objections. I think that would be wonderful [5:39] Michael Beck: Any objections to it all? Doesn't look like it okay. All right next item and then the third number on [5:46] Carolyn Fish: my list is just to discuss what you have. I think we have to have a roll call vote because we have someone zooming do [5:55] Susan Hawes: we need a I think we've traditionally done support for letters just [6:00] Carolyn Fish: by consensus but I don't have a problem with it but I just don't want us to get into an issue over it either we [6:08] Michael Beck: can do a roll call vote just to be safe. So the question is will the city sign on to this letter. Councillor Mallar for roll call vote. Councillor Mallar I vote yes. Councillor Fish yes. Councillor Deane yes. Councillor Carson yeah. Council London [6:30] Susan Hawes: Yes, counter flu, yes as well. So the last item on my list was just to talk about the agenda for tonight because the city manager all of the resolves for the city managers proposed budget are on her first meeting tonight. As I'm sure you saw, they are voluminous. So just sort of for the benefit of the public and everyone here, as you know, the proposed budget is really just a starting point for your discussion. It's not the final budget that you will vote on. Certainly you'll have opportunities and I expect you to make changes and those would be reflected in a amendment by substitution at second reading on June 22nd. In the meantime we have several sessions scheduled to start making decisions about the operating budget, capital, and the new programs and positions. We typically don't accept public comment at first reading and those are on for first reading tonight. Going forward the plan is that on Wednesday City Assessor Phil Drew will give an update on the ongoing reassessment and I also have prepared for you answers to some of the questions you've asked of staff that didn't have immediate answers. So for example Counselor Becky had been looking for information on the amount of interest lost as a result of checks that go unprocessed during busier seasons and we've done a calculation to try to estimate that. Those sorts of questions, it's about a four page memo that will be added to the packet shortly for Wednesday for discussion. And then lastly, I think on Wednesday, my plan is that next week we have sessions on Wednesday and Thursday that I will bring to you a starting point for discussion that will have some adjustments to the proposed budget that will impact the total budget downward slightly. And if you have any direction that you want to give me ahead of preparing that revised proposal to you, Wednesday would be a wonderful time to give me that feedback. Certainly it would need to be something that there was majority support for, but if you know today that there's something that you have consensus on that you would like to see adjusted, Certainly, Wednesday would be a great time to do that, and I could prepare it for you for the discussions next Wednesday and Thursday. On those two days next Thursday, I expect that we'll start marching through decisions. We have a number of new programs and positions that we'll need to discuss. A big one relates to new positions with the fire department. There's proposed four or eight new firefighter positions that we'll need to make a final decision on. We've had some discussions also about an emergency management position. Make some decisions on potential new downtown police officer and all the other positions that the departments have asked for. We'll sort of walk through each of those and take up or down votes on those. The capital budget is large. And so I don't know if it truly makes sense to go line by line through the capital budget, particularly because some of those items are pretty nominal in cost. So I might suggest that rather than taking a line by line approach, maybe we do a department by department approach and provide an opportunity for you to raise any concerns or questions or adjustments that you might like to see with those items. I expect that we'll be looking to you to make a final decision on the topic of the public restrooms and that memo that I give you on Wednesday will have a staff recommendation in it and then if there are any other areas that you already know you want to raise for discussion if you'd like to proactively let me know I'll be sure to agenda those so that we can have them ready to go and We did not have to notice with the agenda. Any questions about where we're going? [11:02] Speaker E (unidentified): Thank you, not a question on where we're going, but would you or somebody be able to sort of explain that budget process again during the council meeting briefly, just because not everybody attends these meetings or listens, and I don't want there to be this huge public like outcry that oh they passed that budget and didn't make any changes to it like I think yeah [11:28] Susan Hawes: it'd be great to kind of set the expectation if that's yes whomever chairs may take if you'd like to take a stab at that or if you'd like to just pass it to me at the appropriate time both of those are fine probably when we get to the voting on the first reading agenda items i'm happy to jump in but if someone else is comfortable explaining that 's fine too [11:55] Michael Beck: Councilor Mallar has it questions the only question I have is so for those who want to comment on the budget it would be the public hearing on the 22nd that's correct yeah okay any other questions comments [12:13] Speaker E (unidentified): Councilor Ford just a quick comment I would be on board with the department by department [12:17] Joseph Leonard: Okay [12:25] Michael Beck: That takes us on to the next item unless you have more updates. All right, so the, so the next item is the Greater Bangor Area Realtors Hayford Park Accessible Play Equipment Donation. And coming to the table is Parks and Rec Director Tracy Watt. Thank you, Chair. [12:42] Carollynn Lear: On your agenda tonight is an order authorizing the Parks and Recreation Department to work with the Greater Bangor Association of Realtors for the purchase and installation of what we refer to as an accessible multi-user play event at HCR. Under the phrase, a picture of a thousand words, I'll kind of share what we're talking about, a couple of examples around the table with you. They're essentially gliders, they're multi-user accessible events. Before I go any further, Beth Hoyle from the Greater Bangor, which is here as well, and certainly, like or she'd like to have her feet as well, so our intent is to work with the association. They've already received a grant from their national organization to go towards this project. They have done a variety of these community projects before and are involved in their community in the community with something that was in this scenario. The order would authorize us again to continue to work with them. Ideally what we'd like to be able to do is include this at least in the shipping and installation portion of a project we have received proposals for at Williams Park. We're trying to save some costs that way, included on the same truck for example, do the installation same time, hence the timing of why we're here at your workshop this evening and have the order on your agenda for tonight for consideration. We're looking forward, we've already had a good first few meetings with Beth and we're excited to be able to offer this opportunity to Hayford is, as you all know, is one of our busier parks. A lot of goes on Hayford's. This effort aligns with some recommendations out of our master plan from 2021. It aligns with what we tried to do with the newest structure at Hayford to try and include more ramps and accessible opportunities, and an event like this will be able to be incorporated into the hopefully the existing structure at Hayford Park. There's already parking there for this type of thing, and again the activity that happens at Hayford and the destination at Hayford Park is the city seemed appropriate to locate such a play event there. I will stop. I don't know if Beth would like to have the chairs keep the table, I [15:16] Speaker E (unidentified): think you spoke at bangor association of realtors once in the past at jeff's catering at one of our events telling us about the city of bangor and budgets So thank you for having me dressed like this. I'm actually coming from the hospital. My husband is there, but this was important enough to me. My sister is there with him now, and it's important to me to be here with you to just have my two cents a little bit. Tracy really hit all of the great. I'm Beth Roybal. I work with Realty of Maine. I am on the Board of Directors for the Greater Bangor Association of Realtors. I'm also on some of the committees for the Maine Association of Realtors and the National Association of Realtors. The National Association of Realtors has grants that are available to other boards, local boards like ours. And those grants are, our, you know, it's first come first serve, and you've got to get your request in and all the paperwork and all the I's dotted and T's crossed, we were able to secure the largest grant that they have, they have to the largest one is $7,500. And it has to obviously fall in line with something that is compatible with what real tours stands for, which is part of this community service and bettering our communities. Like Tracy said, we've had some impact here. In the past, there's been, we set up the chess tables and the Brewer Riverwalk with a grant. And I think we've also done something with the Bangor City Forest and some others. This would be the largest endeavor we've taken over the grit, the largest amount of money that we can get from NAR, National Association Realtors is $7,500. We did get that secured. And so we have that grant from them. We have to get this installed in order to receive those funds so the Greater Bangor Association of Realtors actually puts the money up front for that 7,500. Once the project is completed and the National Association of Realtors would reimburse us for those funds. This is a very close to home project for me because my niece is 100 disabled and cannot get out of a wheelchair to get on some of the playground equipment that already exists and I've searched high and far in state of Maine to find city Parks that have ADA wheelchair accessible playground equipment, and I'd hear from one and another and another, "We don't have it, but somebody does," and they would tell me who, and I'd reach out to them, and I've spoken to many parks and recs throughout the state of Maine, and Dexter is the closest one that I can find that actually has a swing similar to what we're looking at doing. My dream is, well, my dream would be an amazing, huge, beautiful facility. But my request is two pieces of playground equipment. One is the swing that it's a glider swing that you have in front of you, a wheelchair, it just has a little ramp go up to a wheelchair can actually go on it. So abled and less than able bodied people can play on it at the same time. Hayford Park is absolutely the best park we looked at with you. And because of all the things that Faith already said, already got the parking, the off street parking that is wheelchair accessible, handicap parking. It's already got the paths and it's already got some ramps. And the beauty of Hayford Park and some of the other parks in Maine is that they do have what they consider accessible equipment for kids, but it's not accessible for kids who are in wheelchairs that can't get out of wheelchairs. Some of the playgrounds have a swing, but you have to get the person out of the wheelchair to put them in the swing, and that's really not something that you can do with just a caregiver, whether it's a parent or whomever else. It takes more than one person to do that. A wheelchair, you can literally push it right onto the glider. They're not inexpensive and we're very well aware of that, and installation is not going to be inexpensive either. The other piece of equipment that I have a picture of with me too is a merry-go-round. And this one is, can you remember when you were a kid and you had the merry-go-round and somebody's running around and around and around and everybody else is on it and centrifugal force is pulling you and your legs hang off eventually. And it's a beautiful experience when nobody gets injured. It's a beautiful experience for a kid. It's always fun to get a little dirty and muddy [19:51] Susan Hawes: when you get knocked off that thing, [19:52] Speaker E (unidentified): But they actually make a merry-go-round for wheelchairs, so able-bodied and less than able-bodied people can play on the merry-go-round at the same time. You want to pass that around a little more too. This is a little more difficult to install because it does have to get set into the ground, so it has to have concrete, and of course, main winters are not friendly. But what we'd like to do is be able to give our $7,500 to this project, and just shake loose any quarters, nickels, dimes. Pennies are almost non-existent now, but anything that you have to be able to make this happen. I would love my niece to get on a merry-go-round, and for us to be able to spin her around. And she's in her 20s, but she's never going to have this experience if we don't do something here, and Bangor is a city that I've heard, I've listened to so many of these people want to be proud of Bangor, and this is one way to address a need that isn't being met really throughout the entire state of Maine. So whatever we have to do here, I know budget is a big thing, and I know you're going to be looking at budget, and I'm sure you're going to want to whittle down places where you can whittle down. But we have an overlooked population here, and this is a big metropolis for Maine, Bangor, and I'd like to see these people who don't have abilities outside of somebody caring for them in a wheelchair to be able to experience what swinging or a merry-go-round that we all got to experience as kids and adults can do this too. There's some lovely videos online you can look at. So whatever it takes, and along with that, if there isn't enough money to shake loose and make this happen for these really, I want two pieces of equipment, I want the merry-go-round. I want the merry-go-round, I want some kind of swing for the wheelchairs. I'm gonna leave this with you all. It helps to look at it again. I want both of the pieces of equipment, and I know it's like trying to shovel ice in the tundra to get things moving, but I have all kinds of faith that Bangor City can make this happen, and I'm, I'm a one-man wrecking crew, probably. I'm willing to do whatever it takes to make this happen. If we have to fundraise to make it happen, I'd say I can do it on my own. The beauty of Bangor Association of Realtors, I don't have to do it on my own, we have a huge population, Caroline Fish can attest to that. We have a huge population of other agents who are willing to do what we have to do to help raise money as needed to make this happen. We'd love to see this installed before the end of the summer, and I'd love to have a day out there where we can all go and push kids on the merry-go-round, but just remember you might have to clean up after that. [22:58] Michael Beck: Question. On Comfort Eat. [22:59] Carolyn Fish: Do we have a price on the equipment? [23:02] Carollynn Lear: So we're still working on what we're trying to do is get an estimate to include part of our Williams Park renovation. So that's the next step. The first step or that most immediate step was tonight's discussion to allow us to do that. The language in the order allows staff to be able to work with the associate Bethany Association as she alluded to. If indeed there's any fundraising, allow staff to work with them on that. So as we go along, we'll get some estimates when it comes to installation. Shipping, if there's enough funding to purchase both and install them at the same time as going to the park, that's our goal to be able to do that. So we're working through that process right now. Before we went much further in the path, this was the next step to that. [23:46] Carolyn Fish: that's a fish are we aware of any other potential grants funds counselor carson didn't you didn't happen to run across any when you were at the DC cities up because I know I went to a Children's a couple of children's ones last year, and they had a lot of grants. One was for playground and daycares. So I'm just kind of throwing that out there for aware of any other resources to have fund assistance. [24:18] Carollynn Lear: Instance to answer your question, counselor. Some of our manufacturers, i.e. Moderato Recreation, who we purchased the equipment at Hayford, does community grant up grant opportunities or the timing of application to award. I'm not sure of other manufacturers do the same. So there may be an opportunity to pursue those in a quick timeline to match up with the timeline of this project. So again, the order allows us to do that both with the association and with us. So. [24:54] Speaker E (unidentified): Any other. [24:58] Michael Beck: Questions, comments. So this will be on new business tonight. [25:03] Carollynn Lear: Request from you all tonight is a thumbs up to keep it on the agenda for you to vote on tonight. [25:08] Speaker E (unidentified): And with your proposal, is there also a, if we have to fundraise, we can get that to be tax deductible? [25:15] Joseph Leonard: Yeah, that's included in the line, if you want. [25:18] Michael Beck: I was just going to comment that I really appreciate the fact that this equipment thinks about differently abled children, and I'm excited about it. So let's take a roll call vote, and let's have more discussion about whether or not we're going to leave this on the agenda for new business tonight. Tonight we'll start with Counselor Maller. Yes. Counterfish. Yes. Counter Dean. Yes. Counter Carson. Yes. Council Winner. Yes. Counter Flu. Yes. And I'll be a yes. We'll keep that on for tonight. Thank you all very much. Thank you very much. Okay, now that brings us to the next item, the ACRE update with the council liaison, which happens to be me. So we're just going to go over with you what they talked about the last meeting, but most importantly, a proposal that came out of a discussion with Chair Hawes, myself, and Chair Brian from the committee, and that was starting to do quarterly updates from the committee themselves to come to the Gov Ops committee to talk about what they're up to, what they're doing, make sure council's apprised, and also receive feedback from council about things that you wanted them to focus on. So the next, or the first time because they're coming to do that, will be at the next Gov Ops in July. So the first Gov Ops will have a chance to hear from ACRE directly on that. The other items that they talked about at that meeting, they reviewed the sidewalk ordinance that we put through, and then of course with the minor changes that we made to it to remove some of the redundancy, but also they're working on their language access plan, which actually they reported some solid progress. The police department is launching a pilot of the language line for real-time translation. So they also connected with an individual that can provide ASL training for officers. It basically covers basic phrases to reduce anxiety interactions with deaf or hard-of-hearing residents, and a more formal updated plan directly expected at the June 23rd meeting. They're also looking forward to hearing more about the new legislative committee. I believe committee chair Carson will be attending the June 23rd meeting to present more about the legislative committee. They're also updating their portion of the website for their planning improvements to their public facing website, which includes a public feedback submission form, a heritage month calendar, and meeting summaries to raise awareness of their work. So members of that committee are supposed to bring ideas to their June 23rd meeting. And then last but not least, Pride participation. The committee is on the wait list for a table at Bangor Pride. They did it last year. They're enthusiastic about participating, potentially possibly having a acre also be in the parade. they plan to rerun last year's community survey on inclusivity and belonging in Bangor so we can get a year-over-year comparison and I would imagine they would bring that data to us to look at any questions okay that covers that brings us to our executive sessions I'd [28:41] Joseph Leonard: entertained booking we can do all three at once. Yeah, okay. Mr. Chair, pursuant to one MRSA section 4056a, personnel matter, and pursuant to one MRSA section 4056e, consultation with city solicitor concerning the rights and duties of the council, and pursuant to one MRSA section 4056e, consultation with city solicitor concerning the rights and duties of the council, I move to be on your executive session. We have a motion and a second. [29:17] Michael Beck: That's going to be a roll call vote. Councillor Mallory? Oh, let me, as soon as I find the button, I'll, we hear you. Can you hear me? Yeah, we hear you. Oh, good. I vote yes. Councillor Fish? Yes. Councillor Deane? Yes. Councillor Carson? Yes. Councillor Leonard? Yes. Counter flu? Yes. And I'll be a yes. We are in executive session. Back from executive session, I [1:12:49] Joseph Leonard: will entertain a motion. Chair, I would move that we postpone the ethics board decision, council order 25-282, city councilor Wayne Mallar's actions during August 14, 2025, the historic preservation commission meeting, to the next council. Second. Okay, we have a motion with a second. [1:13:09] Michael Beck: We're gonna do a roll call vote. Councillor Meller will not be voting as it's regarding him. Councillor Fish? Yes. Councillor Deane? Yes. Councillor Carson? Yes. Councillor Leonard? Yes. Councillor Faloon? Yes. And I will be yes as well. So that will be delayed to the next workshop. I [1:13:25] Joseph Leonard: believe, I think it's a city council meeting. Do you want me to amend it? No, I think that'll be [1:13:31] Michael Beck: fine. Okay, I think we'll be fine, and I think that brings us to the end of the workshop meeting. So stay tuned.