Bangor Livable Communities Committee hears on senior workforce program, street safety updates

[0:00] Speaker A (unidentified): Yeah, I think it's like you can't have five people around, I'll just make sure. [0:04] Speaker B (unidentified): Like in just slightly this right, okay. [0:18] Speaker A (unidentified): Yeah, that's it's on now, can you mute it? [2:24] Speaker C (unidentified): It's kind of loud enough for here and it's [3:13] Speaker A (unidentified): not okay and the camera isn't being. Yeah, I try to go to [4:41] Speaker D (unidentified): our watching on Youtube, we don't have any video, just sound, and our speaker will be starting shortly. You [4:59] Speaker A (unidentified): guys mind taking one of each three pages. [5:13] Speaker B (unidentified): Oh four, oh there's like five, all right there [5:18] Speaker A (unidentified): you go, thank you. What [5:31] Speaker C (unidentified): was your name? Oh yeah, sorry, I'm the planning officer. Yeah, and this is Matt. Awesome, okay, so hi everyone, I'm Nina and I'm just gonna take some time to present about my nonprofit today and the program we run. I actually did present about this a little while ago, and so in an effort to not be too repetitive, I kind of took a little bit of a angled approach today, and I pulled up some what I think are interesting labor statistics, and I wanted to kind of go through those just a little bit, and I think it kind of rolls right into my presentation, but just kind of mix things up, and I thought it'd be kind of interesting as well. So here is straight from the department of labor's published workforce statistics, this is a published data from three decades and then a projection to the fourth about the distribution by age of the labor force, and so we see that over time there is a shift where the bulk of the labor force is still in this central category of ages, but this top portion which is the labor force represented by folks who are 55 and older is growing and increasing in terms of relative proportion, and this is the biggest increase, but in 2017 when this was published, and I do have that as one of the yeah that right there, one of the papers, that the projected 2026 proportion of folks who are 55 and older is still increasing, it's not increasing as dramatically, but again this was a 2017 published projection. So I had kind of wanted to see just for fun what is happening, were they you know on you know on point with their projection, and yeah I think they're pretty close. So 2026 isn't done, the most i got was 2024, and then they did break it down by women and I couldn't get them to compile them, so I just did my own mean. So the black here is ages 55 to 64 as representative of the total workforce, orange is 65 plus, but we're going to lump them together, and then we're going to do an average between women and men, and we get 23.05. So if we do look like they're you know 23.05 in 2024, so we're not right at 2026. So, but the trend is still there. We're still creeping up, not as dramatically, but it's still increasing slowly. We're in 55, an older category of age category is representing more and more and more of the currently employed population. So why? Well, it's kind of a couple of different things. This is a recently published AARP article on basically what I think everyone can kind of feel, which is that basic necessities and sort of daily costs are rising. And so a fixed income is not as, it's a very, it's a challenging place to be but also what this doesn't have but that is absolutely a contributing factor is that age expectancy and maybe it does have it somewhere but not right here age expectancy has increased dramatically and so to save up for retirement is also a greater challenge and so there have been folks quite a few who actually do retire and then the math isn't mathing and they you know are like well I can't so or I don't want to even I can't or I don't want to and then they resume a job search of some capacity but with that said even still with the that age bracket representing more and more of workforce anecdotally they're still quite a report of basically not feeling always included and not maybe being felt feeling like they're they're not as maybe welcome and that's you know unfortunate and something we do want to be a part of the change but it's still kind of out there where people do subjectively heal age discrimination. And I think that kind of brings us to my program. And this came on Wabi's news late last month. And oh, OK. I can't always get it to play that way. [10:52] Speaker B (unidentified): So let's go straight to Wabi here. There we have the panel, things on memory. Just ask us. There, [11:32] Speaker C (unidentified): there,. I think you've got me on mute. [11:37] Speaker B (unidentified): Yeah, I think you've got me on mute. [11:53] Speaker E (unidentified): Okay. Hiring, hoping to rejoin the workforce. Cost of living rises. Many seniors are unretiring, hoping to rejoin. [12:04] Speaker A (unidentified): it's not broadcasting is it i think you're just sharing powerpoint screen i'm [12:19] Speaker C (unidentified): so sorry i cost [12:30] Speaker E (unidentified): of living rises many seniors are unretiring hoping to rejoin the workforce grace bradley takes us to bangor where one local program is helping them do just that all for free it's never too late to learn something new to assist low-income seniors looking to re-enter the workforce the senior community service employment program from associates for training and development is giving them the skills and connections they need to succeed identify what [12:57] Speaker F (unidentified): They would like to do when they exit the program, and we focus on placing them somewhere where they [13:02] Speaker E (unidentified): get to practice those skills. These skills range from navigating technology to achieving certifications to work in food or health care. A4TD then pairs seniors with organizations to apply what they've [13:13] Speaker F (unidentified): learned. What this program really does is it helps the non-profit because now they've got someone assisting them for 20 hours a week. It helps the participant because now they are being paid to learn on-the-job skills in that area that they wish to get employment in later. I am 68. [13:32] Speaker G (unidentified): How old are you? I'm not supposed to tell girls that. 74. I've been here about two years and maybe three or four months, and it's gradually teaching me how to run my computer a little to a time, and Nina's a big help with that as well. For one reason I needed something to do. I had been working on a physical job for so many years that my body just was very tired, and previously I was in administrative assisting, so I wanted to get back into that, and I needed the money to continue to live. This program has allowed me to keep my home, and it don't affect my benefits, it don't affect my food stamps, and it [14:20] Speaker E (unidentified): don't really, the big one is the heap. While Watson works at the Brick Church, Fowl is excited to start her new position at the Eastern Area Agency on Aging, preparing folks to get the training they [14:32] Speaker F (unidentified): need, gain the confidence they need to re-enter their workforce and be prepared. Good for older [14:36] Speaker G (unidentified): people like me that don't really want to work all the time. Well, it gives seniors a sense of responsibility, a sense of pride, they get to be with community, which a lot of people lose [14:51] Speaker E (unidentified): and it's just helpful all around. Grace Bradley, WABI News, Bangor. The program is open to low income rain Maine residents age 55 and older, and enrollment is currently open in all Maine counties. To learn more and apply, head to our website. This [15:21] Speaker C (unidentified): is a day full of tech challenges, so I'll [15:29] Speaker B (unidentified): go back to the presentation. I should have just [15:32] Speaker A (unidentified): shared my screens. Okay, [15:43] Speaker C (unidentified): so the reason I wanted to share that is because when this posted on Facebook, it did start like kind of a pretty active comment section, and the overall response was super negative. Everyone was like, this is so sad, this is so awful, and you know, it was overwhelmingly negative. And you know, last month we had a speaker, Mary Lou Cioffi, from Aging, Center of Aging for University of Indiana. I spoke to her a little bit, and we talked a little bit about the program, and that I think one of the assumptions is that like you can kind of think of it as two ways where well this is my interpretation it's not what Mary Lou said but Mary Lou was talking about how there are so many benefits from continuing to work like what Tamara said where it's a routine you know a sense of being a part of the community and that it doesn't necessarily have to be this negative thing but you know it can of course be negative if someone wishes to retire simply cannot. So I think there's two different parts to it. The folks who were leaving the negative comments, though there were very many, are probably not actually the same age group as those people in the program. And so I think it's kind of, it was two things were happening. One, people were assuming it was a Maine program, so they had all these opinions about the governor and things like that. This is not a Maine program, this is a federal program. And number two, I think it was a lot of people who were just afraid of the future because of the economic uncertainty. But we obviously, you know, the program is meant to be, you know, it's not meant to be a job streaming program, meant to help people grow their confidence. So if that's, sorry, you know, what we walk away from today is one thing [17:43] Speaker F (unidentified): and then I hope that would be it. [17:44] Speaker C (unidentified): So, quick history, the Department of Labor program, very old history for senior community services. It was a pilot program, and it's just been funded by them ever since. And our organization, A4TT, administers it in a couple of local states around here. These are the eligibility criteria. There's obviously the H requirement. It is an income-based program, although the income requirements are a little bit wonky. It's like this whole algorithm we look at the source of income and sometimes it's completely excluded or sometimes we include only portions of it so I always say people are unsure just apply because we'll take a look and it is for people who don't have employment but wants to become employed so if you even have a part-time job then program is you know not for you and it is an internship style approach where we do 20 hours a week somewhere in the community and the places that we can do the Training is going to be nonprofits and also municipalities, and that's a federal requirement when they called it the Senior Community Service Program. Where we're nonprofits, you know, they often operate on like a shoestring budget, and so the labor from those 20 hours a week, it is paid, but it's paid by the grant. So the nonprofit essentially gets that supplementation, whatever services are being offered. Same thing goes for municipalities. So it's kind of a cool program in that way. Of course we can't pay someone at you know tractor supplier mcdonald's for that reason and i think i kind of just described that community service portion of the program and then the jobs training and this is something that's a handout it's the pathway basically we start off we take a look at the eligibility can they join the program what do they want to do next we move on and we start their training they have in the background computer training which is needed for basically all the things you would want to do. So depending on their computer skills, we start them in computer literacy, and if they don't have a computer, we give them one. They don't have internet, we provide that as well. So we're really trying to help people gain the confidence in the digital world, because sometimes that is a big missing piece. Sometimes it's not, but it can be. Next, we are actually arranging that internship. It doesn't just magically happen. You have to look at what they want to do, and you have to look at what's available. So usually we start people off with the computer stuff while we're arranging that internship, and once that internship starts, that's where they're spending their primary time. At a certain point, they're going to become confident and comfortable with their skill set that would be needed or expected for that type of job. And they're really gonna start focusing on their job search at that time. So that's number five. And hopefully number six, where the mature worker gets employed, thus ending their journey with CSAP. So once you get a job, [20:50] Speaker F (unidentified): you're not eligible for a job training program. [20:53] Speaker C (unidentified): So of course, that's kind of the summary. We're bridging the gap between unemployment and work. And we all know that it's easier to get a job when you have a job, meaning that if you have a resume gap, it's often harder. This internship kind of bridges that gap because recent references and is good for basically getting into the mindset of working, especially if there's been like some time. We can help with credentials that are relevant to what that person wants to do. I do have a handout for which of the training tracks we can help people with. We are not a community college so we can't help someone become like a doctor or lawyer but those training tracks are the areas that we are able to help with searching for employment looks like this but these aren't random these are Department of Labor expected job vacancies and so that's that's what we 'll start with the Department of Labor. All right, participants, they report improved self-confidence and report basically higher technical skills and they appreciate the fact that they often have some more attention for their particular path to employment than if they were doing it themselves. All right, I don't, yes. I thought it might work, but it doesn't work. So going back to this kind of nightmare audio game here we go no [22:35] Speaker H (unidentified): No you get a chance to improve their life for me is I feel good when someone gets a position to train when people are happy and they get a chance to improve their lives the [22:54] Speaker I (unidentified): Senior community service employment program is a program that helps seniors over the age of 55 get employment skills training. And how we do that is we partner them with a host agency that's a non-for-profit or municipality so that they can get on the job training. [23:13] Speaker H (unidentified): Before COVID, I was a mentor for the VA. And so, cause I like helping people and that all stopped. So I really had nothing to do. Right now with Amy what I do is I we find applicants they qualify then we find a training position for them now I know how to use Excel I think I'm I'm better with the computer I'm trying to spread the program through Washington and Warren counties so there's a lot of reasons that [23:46] Speaker I (unidentified): Seniors might not get the jobs that are out there today, and I would say the number one answer or is age discrimination, you know, but they, you know, they're like, we work, we're ready to work, we work, we work hard. There's a wide variety of jobs that seniors can jump into. We have nine different training tracks from customer service, office admin, food service. Not only do the businesses get support and help, you know, the seniors get support and help. When I'm out of the [24:19] Speaker H (unidentified): Program I'm probably going to hopefully I'll continue to work on part-time, but whatever I do is going to have something to do with helping people with support from WDI strengthening New [24:31] Speaker G (unidentified): York's workforce all [24:41] Speaker C (unidentified): Right, and we just have an application, and once someone submits an application it lands on my computer and I take it from there. Okay, so that's my presentation. And I actually wanted to end my presentation with some help from the audience. One of the things I've passed out today is a post agency. Why be a CESA post agency? So as we were in the committee and I was just wanting to see if anyone had brainstorms for me, because I am okay asking for help. I want to be able to spread the program and one of the things that's required is having places to have the internship. So I wanna hear everyone's thoughts on appropriate internships based on the training tracks and if anyone particularly if you have a working relationship with that either a proper municipality I'd love to hear [25:46] Speaker A (unidentified): It, I'm not shy to ask. Yeah, well here we are sitting in the municipality, I mean I 've watched [25:54] Speaker J (unidentified): A lot of the city meetings and I certainly hear that the Clark area is desperately needing help back there, so they come and they ask for funding for more positions which is great, they deserve [26:07] Speaker A (unidentified): But wouldn't that be a great thing, who should I speak to about that, Melissa Goodwin runs [26:14] Speaker D (unidentified): The treasury and she could talk specifically about that, HR though as would have a better view [26:20] Speaker C (unidentified): Of the whole city as far as the needs go, would you be able to do like a digital introduction with me in HR possibly to talk about a potential C-sub training placement in some area with the city of Bangor and I can see, okay I'll give you my email, okay actually give me a business card [26:38] Speaker J (unidentified): And of course the brewery, but I don't have any connections, but I mean just check out all the [26:43] Speaker B (unidentified): Local municipalities, the eastern area is small. Agent doesn't have connections, the eastern area agency and agent to have a case of the executive director. Yeah, they, Tabitha used to be part of this agency and Aging, their previous executive director started the Angra Liberal Community, Diane Walsh, and then Tabitha took on Mayor. So I know they have some really nice connections, you know, with the municipality of Brewer. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, and if not, if not Tabitha, she'd at least be able to tell you like someone on her staff. [27:29] Speaker C (unidentified): So that's great. I don't have any connections with her yet, so that'd be great to grow that. Awesome. I had no idea of the little history of yeah, and then I always add more a. [27:41] Speaker J (unidentified): Well, that was a part of yes, a group, big group of people that were sitting at tables like this because they wanted it back, and once they got that, it wasn't there because they no longer show up here. [27:55] Speaker B (unidentified): So right, huh, yeah, but it was a very active, I mean, it's a, they were really instrumental. [28:02] Speaker J (unidentified): In getting this whole group started, so I think yes. Yeah, and I do want to just briefly go back to this municipality where when you hear about they don't have time to open up mail, that may, they have payments, real estate payments, that money is just sitting, and this is what they're saying, money is sitting on the side. They don't have the staff to put it into the bank or simplify it into the bank to earn interest and to make payments. So they just need people, and I can't imagine why they would turn down not maybe doing specific things like that, but something that might alleviate that person. [28:43] Speaker A (unidentified): Exactly. Exactly. But it's a money thing, too. [28:46] Speaker J (unidentified): We can't put the money into our bank accounts and earn that by losing out on interest and that money off for days or a week or so. Exactly. [28:54] Speaker C (unidentified): So it'd be interesting to capture that financial loss because we often represent like someone's time as, you know, if you employ someone, by the way, the training wages are minimum wage. So if you avoid some of that 20 hours a week at minimum wage, it would be technically saving the city that times 20, 15, 10 times 20 a week. But it would be saving them more if they could also do stuff like that. [29:24] Speaker B (unidentified): I have a question. Do you have enough people who are qualified for the program to place? [29:32] Speaker C (unidentified): Well, it's a great question. [29:34] Speaker A (unidentified): Like it's a chicken and an egg thing. [29:36] Speaker C (unidentified): Yeah. So, you know, I'm growing my applicant list by letting people know the program is up and running and that we are currently enrolling. And part of the conversation when I make that initial phone call is talking about the opportunities that exist. So even if I am having a discussion with a municipality or a nonprofit about someone who does not yet exist, it could be a matter of time before that person does. [Speaker B (unidentified): Someone may exist.] Well, sorry, I meant it that way. I meant that they're not in my computer yet. So, it's of course harder for a potential host agency to have a hypothetical conversation with me, but I really encourage those hypothetical conversations because that hypothetical conversation really helps me understand what they need, too. Because if they need someone with X level of proficiency in Y category, then I won't even refer them to people who don't match that. So it's great to have initial conversations, even if they are hypothetical. [30:45] Speaker B (unidentified): The YMCA is a nonprofit, isn't it? [30:48] Speaker D (unidentified): Yes. Do you have any connection with them? [30:51] Speaker C (unidentified): I haven't been to that. I have a four-year-old for a case who's in daycare there. [30:59] Speaker B (unidentified): And they've had quite a lot of turnover in their staff with the young children who were there for daycare. And I wonder if that would fit into your childcare track. [31:13] Speaker C (unidentified): Yeah, absolutely. I should not wait to contact that. With the tracks, you know, you'll take a look at the tracks. You'll see some of them are physically demanding. And I will say that the trend is towards the two that aren't, which is general office clerk and customer service. So essentially, it's people like Tamara, who maybe have done, I mean, she did cleaning for years and years and years and years. And so now she wants to do something clerical. And that does happen a lot. So we still have these tracks because, again, the Department of Labor is the one that is determining opportunities in those areas. But the sort of the trend can be towards the kind of administrative I'm thinking [32:01] Speaker B (unidentified): about the people I know who work as childcare workers in Dubai in daycare and there are a few middle-aged women who are in those jobs but most of them are you know practically hardly out of their teens you know they're really young and a mature you know healthy 59 year old or 63 year old would be a [32:32] Speaker C (unidentified): Wonderful addition to that. With their life experiences, especially with children, especially if they know how to calm children, how to motivate children, how to, yeah I clearly agree with you, totally agree with you. I don't know, I mean I know my great nieces [32:50] Speaker B (unidentified): is child care workers in her daycare room. I don't personally know any of the administrative staff or people that you would want to maybe talk to about this program. Yeah, that's okay, but that's a great [33:08] Speaker D (unidentified): idea. Yeah, not host agency related but applicant related, and speaking of eastern your area agency, not Eugene, they're having a fair. Oh right, people, I will be there this week. Okay, just to make sure. Oh yeah, this is, yeah right, yeah, I'm going to be with my daughter [33:27] Speaker C (unidentified): as well. It's generally very well attended. Yes, I will be there, it will be great [33:33] Speaker B (unidentified): and the other thing I thought about is I'm a retired family doctor and you know, home health aides, personal care aides, home [Speaker A (unidentified): health agencies.] Are you in touch with any home health agencies? [34:02] Speaker C (unidentified): No, I need to be connected. I don't have anyone seeking that track right now, which is why it's not on my to-do list, but I know a couple of them that are non-profits, which is why we could place. Some of them are for profit, but some of them, like Visiting Angels, is a non-profit. [34:17] Speaker B (unidentified): Yeah, I'm trying to think. My late husband had heart surgery last year, and they gave me a list of home health agencies that after he was discharged, he might get help from during his rehab. Have at least one of them was a non-profit. Yeah, the one, yeah, it's on my to-do list to start [34:45] Speaker C (unidentified): exploring that. I just don't have anyone wanting that right now, so it was like kind of put on a little bit of background, but I think you're right, I think at least one is a non-profit, and I think maybe even more than one, maybe like two. There's a several, but a lot of them are for profit, but [35:05] Speaker B (unidentified): somewhere non-profit, and obviously the schools, the famous schools, you know, like I know their new superintendent, I'm not even sure you want to go to superintendent, but in the past, so like obviously it's been a long time since I've met kids in school, but generally principals, right, at each of the individual schools, are the ones that are the best contact. Okay, because they will say well maybe in the library or you know, like maybe in the, all of them run before school programs, you know, we're just Giving breakfast to kids and things like that, and those are great for what Mary Lou was talking about, or even food interaction or food service, so the interaction with the kids and things like that. 'S true, you know, it's a good, it typically isn't necessarily a big lift, but maybe it's not enough hours either, you know. This is like a, this of course will pay under that year, and then there's lunch. Well, [36:17] Speaker J (unidentified): I'm just thinking, just in general, there are so many non-profits in Bangor and Bangor area that are smallish that, which you would think they would welcome having someone helping them out, clerical help or, yeah. [36:35] Speaker A (unidentified): Yes, it takes so many. I mean, you could think of like Pingas. We had it, didn't we have a case? [36:43] Speaker C (unidentified): I mean, do you know her? Can you connect with her? So my husband knows because he was the [36:51] Speaker B (unidentified): the Chief Medical Officer at Acadia. She was on the board. But she is wonderful. Okay. What are you talking about, Penquist? What was your name? Karen. K-A-R-A-K. [37:06] Speaker C (unidentified): Okay. What was your name? Is it okay if I say such and such person mentioned here? [37:10] Speaker B (unidentified): Yeah, so just say that Karen and John Campbell. [Speaker C (unidentified): Sometimes, yeah.] They run similar kind of programs though. I think they do foster grandparents? [37:26] Speaker A (unidentified): Yeah, they do run foster grandparents. [37:28] Speaker B (unidentified): Okay, but then they also just opened a new child development center. [37:32] Speaker C (unidentified): They're opening it, yeah, and I heard foster grandparents' funding is very precarious if not already elicited. [37:41] Speaker B (unidentified): Yeah, so that's why I was saying you could say that we were chatting. [37:49] Speaker J (unidentified): Thank you. Yeah, I'm just thinking right now it wouldn't hurt. They're very busy right now, but even to reach out to some of the council members. There are members there that probably know so many different nonprofits in the area. I mean, I know for certain that we give you. [38:07] Speaker A (unidentified): Some idea to do a presentation. Yeah, well, that's what I was thinking, right? I should do that. Yes, that would be cool. Right now they're discussing, I mean, you could at least try to buy them, but [38:22] Speaker J (unidentified): they're doing the budget now and that's not going to until June, the end of June or something like [38:27] Speaker A (unidentified): that, so they're very busy. Yeah, I'll let them focus, but maybe once they're done with their budget, like, yeah, on the agenda, that'd be awesome, and I would almost say maybe why not come [38:41] Speaker J (unidentified): back here like in September or October and talk about it, and also please disregard Facebook comments. Yeah, I mean, these days don't even, I hate to say it, don't even look at them, but I know you have to certainly set up when you're posting something, but you know most times we always get [38:59] Speaker C (unidentified): Narrative, it was, it was, and I was like, it took me a second, I was like, well, you know what? [39:05] Speaker A (unidentified): Engagement is engagement, but what does it mean? Yeah, just the fact that negativity, yeah. [39:10] Speaker B (unidentified): this may be a really stupid question but the a4 td That's who you are for. That's the nonprofit. Yep. Right. Are paying these people's salaries that you place with these agencies. Where is your money coming from? The Department of Labor grant. [39:39] Speaker C (unidentified): So A4TD is the nonprofit that employs me, and our one goal is to run the CSEP program. A4TD has the grant to run the program in the entire state of Maine, we also run it in multiple other states. CSEP actually exists in every single state in the United States, but sometimes the people who run the grant are sometimes like states, so for example, like in New Hampshire it used to be like a county level, but the county got the grant, the county ran the CSEP program, in other states other nonprofits, so but we run it here, and so the training wages are the Department of Labor big grant for the Department of Labor that comes in annually for a certain amount of people, so we can only have a certain amount of people, but we're not a capacity, so yeah, it's, it's, it's, it is federal, it's a federal [40:40] Speaker B (unidentified): program. Where do most of your applicants come from? We have a thing on application [40:46] Speaker C (unidentified): says where do you hear about us, and it varies, the Department of Labor, the Career Center, so the state DOL people like at the Career Center on Oak Street, they will refer, so that was kind of a thing that we see. There have been people who have said that they have found out about it from just online advertisement, which I don't know if that's Facebook or just they Googled. [41:11] Speaker B (unidentified): So if we happen to know someone personally that we think might be an applicant, give them a flyer. [41:20] Speaker C (unidentified): And so, I mean, they can call me. [41:25] Speaker B (unidentified): I'm 80 years old. I have a lot of old friends. [41:30] Speaker C (unidentified): Yeah. Yeah, if you're interested, a person can call me, because... [41:35] Speaker B (unidentified): Great, so they could just get in touch with you. [41:38] Speaker C (unidentified): Because it's an online application, but if they don't want to, or can't do it online, I can sit there and ask the questions and be typing and will only answer it, and that will complete the application, and that's the starting point for me. Once they complete an application, I can start evaluating their eligibility, and we can start conversing about what they want. So, thank you. [42:00] Speaker J (unidentified): Yeah, right here in downtown. Yeah. So it's not far from. Yeah. So that's it for that person that wants to move your office. [42:06] Speaker C (unidentified): It's attached to Franklin Street. It's attached to the post office. It's like that. It's like I never knew what was it, that building, and it was apparently an old workhouse. Okay. But yeah, that's where I'm at. [42:25] Speaker J (unidentified): That's where it's been for a while, at least in that space down there. Yeah. And for the record, I just want to state my opinions are my opinions and not any group or organization or committee that I am on for the city or... Yeah. Same. But I just wanted to... For the video. I'm just wanting to put it out there so people know. Yeah. And I do want to say I did go through this program and it's a wonderful program. Around, so cool. Yeah, that's great. Came around and, you know, they were doing and they did that best to keep people at the authority and to be honest, for my sake, I felt that I learned enough and I didn't want to take any more funds from and put it, yeah, make sure it goes towards people that. So I dropped, I went through. [43:14] Speaker C (unidentified): But yeah, I mean, COVID obviously like, there was a huge transition because CSEP was happening. COVID, they like bought, you know, they did all the things that everyone else did, which was try to mask people and keep them. [43:29] Speaker B (unidentified): Before this meeting ends, I just want to, I've already shown this to Karen and Dominic, but there was an article on the op-ed page in I guess well I think that's somewhere in that section in the first weekend of May's issue if I were Daily News by a woman named Caitlyn Cunningham Morse who is the founder of Maine Aging Partners, a Maine-based consulting firm that helps families navigate aging and long-term care decisions. The title of the article is What Means Candidates Are Missing About Aging. And if you didn't get a chance to see it, you might want to just take a look at it before we leave here today. [44:16] Speaker C (unidentified): Oh interesting. Yeah, I didn't see it. Well, thank you all for your ideas and your attention and sorry about the tech. I, hey, you're a lot better at it than I am, but thank you for. [44:34] Speaker D (unidentified): Speaking, I think it was a good meeting. Thank you. Does anybody have any announcements? I have a few. [44:42] Speaker J (unidentified): Well, the third week is that the third week of the month on Saturdays is the folks group that clean up trash along the stream. They have a Facebook page called Friends of Lowell Investigate Stream, if anyone's listening or interested. From 8 to 9.30, meeting behind the bank, which is by the stream, by the West Green Bridge. So it is that. And what day is that? It's the third Saturday, so gosh. The next Saturday, the 15th? Yeah. [45:17] Speaker B (unidentified): Yeah. Yeah, next Saturday. Oh, right,, right. [45:21] Speaker J (unidentified): That's another time. We do it monthly, at least till November. [45:27] Speaker B (unidentified): If I just put Ndusk Extreme into the search. [45:32] Speaker J (unidentified): Oh, great. It threads up Ndusk Extreme. Well, that's cool. And secondly, it's just not a meeting or anything, but I was just wondering for a future meeting or just a discussion of some, just a small discussion, the city has been dealing with the sidewalk ordinance and I know that they have passed it, the committee council has passed it to the advisory committee on racial equity inclusion and human rights and they just had a meeting, they had one meeting last week but they couldn't come to a decision because they felt they needed more time, there was a meeting on Wednesday which I haven't looked at so I don't know what the outcome was but I know this group was mentioned by one of their members of that committee at the first meeting about the walkability studies that we've done right and I just think that whether if we want to be part of this conversation or not I leave it up to and I know Anne's not here so but it certainly is something that this group impacts everybody that we vote and I and I understand the whole front you know everything involved with it but we're talking about walkability in our city on sidewalks [46:52] Speaker D (unidentified): Yeah anyway I just wanted to put it out there okay I'll ask you about that also happening on the 16th is the big dig day which you have to adopt a garden downtown if you want to participate in that but there seems like if you go on downtown Bangor beautiful yes they have a bunch of garden plots that have not been adopted yet but big dig day on the 16th is where everybody gets out and weed and the plant and their adopted gardens and so yes you can go on the downtown partnerships page to fill out the form for that and that's from 9 to 11 on the 16th to do all the weeding and planting if you haven't already I don't know if Ann mentioned this at a previous meeting but the city is working on urban forest management plan so there is a survey I think it's still available online if you go to the city's main page and you just search forest management plan you should be able to get to the survey from there urban forests are key to livability so and also related to that I don't know if you saw An article recently, but the Emerald ash borer is pretty much all of our ash trees. The city does have a plan to deal with the public ash trees, but private property owners have to deal with their own. And if these trees are untreated and attacked, it will pose a danger to people and their property. So if you do have ash tree on your property, the city does have information on its page about what you can do. There's a list of its forestry companies that do tree injections. I got my own tree injected and it was a few hundred dollars, but given the removal cost if it dies, that would be a lot more. So I think it's a good investment. So I just want to mention that. And then one other thing, part of the grant I'm working on involves installing bike racks in all around downtown, and then at our parks and schools, and public works is supposed to be working on the ones downtown any minutes any day. So I just I'll let people know that's happening, so you'll be seeing that soon. And there are also some more sidewalk projects happening this year that engineering is doing, having more sidewalks to Maynab. I think Mount Hope Avenue is being worked on now, [49:27] Speaker J (unidentified): Odlin Road. So just keep an eye out for those things. I know engineering that they're the budget meeting that they hope to maybe get funding for sidewalks on Konduska again. Yeah, [49:42] Speaker D (unidentified): that would be great because anyway, oh yeah, I should mention a few other things too actually. Backs the Banger area accomplished transportation systems working through a safe streets for all grant, they're implementing that in multiple towns. Our implementation project is going to be at the Hammond industry intersection, narrowing some of those curb cuts to make it safer for pedestrians. And I can't remember if they're closing the entrance to Fourth Street. And I think they were working on a few other things there, but just overall, it's a pilot project to kind of manage the traffic and the layout and make it safer for all the users at the intersection. And I believe, so the DOT has made these, I don't know if you know what ballers are, these temporary ballers that stick on the roads. They made them available to towns for pilot bike ped projects. And I believe Jefferson is working on getting some of those from the DOT and placing them in places like the Kanduska have Harlow intersection. You know how you're going on Harlow and everything that crazy, right? I believe we were supposed to put some bollards there to sharpen that so people won't speed up the road and [51:01] Speaker J (unidentified): There might be a few other places we're looking at putting this, but that needs a rotor, a small rotary there, that is, that to me, that's a dangerous intersection coming down from that, yeah, to make [51:10] Speaker B (unidentified): the left, yes, the corner of where Franklin Street comes into Hammond Street, that has the paintings on the pavement, yeah, that used to have bollards, yeah, before the winter, but the plows couldn't get rid of the snow, so I guess that's the reason why they were taken, that's the setup that was [51:32] Speaker J (unidentified): the setup for them to take them down for the week, but putting them back up would be a good idea. [51:37] Speaker B (unidentified): People still do weird things coming up to that corner, even though there's clearly marked on the road as well as the sign over there that there's no left turn. I still see people making a left turn there, it's ridiculous. But even the people making the right turn drive right over the painting instead of going out and turning up. [52:00] Speaker D (unidentified): I'm pretty sure there'll be pieces in this, and I know the mural's being repeated too. You also, if you're interested, since climate action is also a little communities related, if you're interested in being on with my climate action committee, that's opens members of the public join, we have subcommittees and they're related to public education, creating resilience hubs and communities, and so if you're interested in joining that, you can reach out to me and I'll [52:30] Speaker J (unidentified): nothing to touch with on that, and in regard to the emerald ash floor, if you happen to see trees with little circles on them, yeah, like if you see like the purplish one which is on our street, that means they will be injected, and you probably looked it up and the city did post about it, and some have already been trying to think of the two other colors, so there may be a green which will be next year to be infected, so they've divided at least some of the public trees and they as I said injected some others going to be injected this season, and then maybe some, but they're going to be on a three-year, that's great, oh you know you have to do it every twice a week every two or [53:12] Speaker A (unidentified): three years, yeah exactly, so anyway if you just happen to see that, do they have an eradication [53:17] Speaker C (unidentified): plan for them, and we'll allow forest prevention, can't really eradicate it [53:24] Speaker B (unidentified): because I require everybody doing their actually on private property, not everybody will, yeah and [53:31] Speaker D (unidentified): then you have a private forest with an area cash, so yeah, identifying high value trees and those [53:39] Speaker A (unidentified): that pose high risk to surrounding property, you know those on those, well you're right about the [53:44] Speaker J (unidentified): Expense, I know even a few hundreds who injected this a lot, but it probably is going to cost of thousands of us to take the tree down, because we had two trees that were unhealthy and I think [53:54] Speaker B (unidentified): that's what it cost us, yeah, and then the benefits for this reason, or no, we had a cedar that just like that old trees in Bangor, yeah, no way, a lot of new, and then the benefits that it provides [54:11] Speaker D (unidentified): you know, if you look at the financial value of those, then it's really high, you know, cooling [54:17] Speaker J (unidentified): and stormwater management, things like that, and on a positive note, Bengal Beautiful will be planting a bunch of trees on Main Street where the murals on the fence are painted, the oh yeah, that's right, so they're going to be trees along that side, how many, maybe 16-ish trees, and that's going to be happening later on this month, like May, it's a Friday, and they tend to do, so we'll be getting some new trees, at least there will be some shade to walk on that [54:50] Speaker B (unidentified): sidewalk, right, eventually, yes, so on the bike lanes being repainted too, if we're putting in bike racks, I will never know [55:07] Speaker D (unidentified): there, no, there's not one currently on Harlow, however, I'm kind of waiting on Jeff to update council and stuff, but we have talked internally with Public Works about implementing part of the village partnership initiative, just with striking changes that we can do this year, it so kind of piecemeal, just because implementing it as a whole would have relied on federal funding that no longer exists, so we're trying to figure out what we can do with simple measures, so we are looking at adding a bike lane on a portion of Harlow Street, and then also going up Union, and I don't know where else we talked about, but also looking at changing the strike, oh yeah, part of Hamlet Street, I believe, right where it comes off of Central Remain, and then we were going to make a few other striking changes to narrow some intersections, but you should hopefully see more about that in the next month or so. We're hoping to do that this summer. [56:05] Speaker J (unidentified): Yeah, and someone like me would probably use a bike lane. I like the thought and I have a bike, but I'm driving downtown. It's a little sketchy, so if we have a [56:17] Speaker B (unidentified): little likely, I mean, you're going to be confident, just put yourself in the room, right, yeah, right [56:22] Speaker D (unidentified): It's still going to be stretchy, but it's going to be a little better. And I did ask Public Works and Engineering about changing the layout of the State Street bike lanes where it can be interior next to the sidewalk and then have the parking outside of this, but Engineering has accomplish a plan for exactly how that's going to work, but I think it can help you actually. Oh. [56:41] Speaker C (unidentified): That's awesome, thank you very much. Thank you everyone, thank you so much, you know, Will Harbour.