Bangor council hears hours of public comment on homelessness, addiction, 103 Main Ave

[0:00] Susan Hawes: Allegiance and I would ask Chief Hathaway to come in and lead us. [0:11] Beth Haggerty: To the republic. [0:23] Susan Hawes: Okay this is the portion of the meeting set aside for general public comment directly related to city business for matters that do not appear on this evening's agenda. If you are here for a specific agenda item that is under unfinished business or new business, please wait until we reach that item. Items under first reading and referral will be discussed when they return under unfinished business, and we will hear public comment at that time. Public comment requires a person to state your name and whether you are a resident of Bangor. The City Council has adopted a public comment policy that we will adhere to. Statements during public comment should respect the dignity and seriousness of the proceeding, and individuals will be restricted to speaking once. Obscene, truly threatening, or overly repetitive comments will be deemed out of order and will be interrupted and removed. Topics that are considered out of order also include matters that are in litigation, individual employees or employee groups discussing matters for which complaint or grievance procedures are in place, personal disputes between the speaker and another resident not germane to city business, support for or opposition to any candidate for political office, and personnel complaints pertaining to individual city employees. There is a time limit of three minutes per speaker and the total time allowed for general public comment regarding city business will be limited to no more than one hour. The public comment period is for city council members to listen and not to respond or debate with persons. If you do not live in Bangor or own property in Bangor, please allow those who do to have the opportunity to speak first. If you'd like to offer comment on any item directly related to city business not appearing on the regular agenda, you may approach the podium. Individuals who have appropriately pre-registered to give public comment via remote means will be given the opportunity to participate remotely. Alternatively, counselors may be reached via email at counselors at BangorMaine.gov. A link to the adopted public comment policy can be found on the city's website. Now, if there's anyone here that was hoping to discuss 103 Main Avenue, we're going to ask that be done under public comment. Comment, so if you are here for that topic, you will be doing it under public comment. Is everybody good with that? Okay, so yeah, right there. We do have a proclamation this evening for [3:20] Carolyn Fish: National Recovery Month. Council Fish, good evening everyone. This proclamation is that September is a National Recovery Month, whereas National Recovery Month is a national observation held every September to educate Americans that behavioral health is an essential part of one's overall health and well-being. And substance use disorders are treatable health conditions for which people can and do recover. And whereas Recovery Month celebrates the gains made by those in recovery, these gains look differently for all. Recovery from completing a treatment program, returning to work, rebuilding relationships, or achieving personal goals. And whereas recovery is for everyone, every person, every family, every community, integrated care, a strong community, sense of purpose, and leadership contribute to effective treatments that sustain the recovery of individuals experiencing substance use disorders. Disorders. And whereas supportive families, peer networks, recovery community organizations, health care providers, workplaces, schools, faith communities, public agencies, and elected leaders strengthen recovery. And whereas addiction and mental health challenges are affected individuals, families, workplaces, schools, communities across every region, background and political affiliation. And whereas Penobscot County is home to thousands of people in recovery from substance use disorders who are leading healthy fulfilling lives and are considered assets to our community. And whereas the city affirms that the people affected by substance use disorders are our children, parents, family, friends, community members and deserving of dignity, opportunity and support. Now therefore, I, Carolyn Fish, on behalf of the mayor of the city of Bangor and on behalf of the city council, do hereby proclaim September as National Recovery Month in Bangor, given this 14th day of September, 2026. And I believe we have Mr. Robert Ficketh here from the, who is the executive director of the Bangor Area Recovery Network, known as BARN. Would you like to come up here? [6:01] Jackie Smallwood: Amy, sure. [6:07] Susan Hawes: Well. [6:11] Speaker E (unidentified): Thank you so much counselors for recognizing what's a very important month to me and very many other people. I just feel honored to represent the thousands of people in Bangor in the greater Bangor area who get up every day and they choose to do something different with their lives, move towards wellness, become more productive, better members of our communities and our society. And if you want to see what transformative change looks like for a person, you can come and join us September 26, the Bangor Waterfront for Recovery Palooza. We'll have live music, food, fun and games for the kids and the family. So come and see what that looks like. [7:06] Susan Hawes: Okay madam clerk no [Catherine Devine: You] Ready all right is there anyone wanting to speak public comment is open [7:27] Katie Ko: Hi my name is Katie Ko I reside in Bangor and I'm a homeowner in Bangor. I wanted to let you guys know that on Saturday I was able to ride the trolley on its route in Orono and it was absolute delight. The driver was kind, informative, enthusiastic, and I'm so happy about the new bus driver contract that gave our drivers more full-time positions and wage increases. Thank you for being part of VACS and investing in such a great service for our community. It was really fantastic. I also want to thank you for the proclamation of September as National Recovery Month. I'd like to note that folks in all stages of recovery deserve to be treated with dignity and respect every day. We're alive is a gift and for some folks staying alive another day is enough. It's a battle unto itself and someday their lives may change as they embrace recovery but no matter what they're people and please treat them as you would like to be treated. Thank you [8:23] Beth Haggerty: Thank you Mike [8:30] Speaker H (unidentified): Farrell Bangor resident long time I just wanted to discuss something that Major Deon, Portland mayor did. Now Bangor is around 30,000 people. Portland's around 60,000, twice the size of Bangor. And the mayor, this is taken out of an article, the addicts have taken us hostage. That's from the Portland city mayor. Portland has reached a point where compassion without accountability is no longer working. We need more accountability, sustainability, period. Maine's largest city is dealing primarily with an addiction crisis, not simply a housing or homeless crisis. It's drug addiction, not homelessness. It's time to say, no, they've had enough in Portland. Now, I know Bangor likes to do whatever Portland's doing, and they use that as an example. Well, the mayor's pointed out exactly what's going on in Portland, and we need to look at that seriously. Focus on public safety, substance abuse and deterioration conditions in parts of the city are unacceptable. We have to tell the addiction population we are not here to enable them anymore." That's a comment that he made. Comments mark a notable shift in tone from the city that has spent years emphasizing harm reduction, homelessness services, low barrier approaches to addiction. Policies have gone too far, particularly as residents and downtown businesses continue dealing with open drug use, issues, discarded needles, theft, property, crime, and other disorders. Mayor Dionne suggests the Portland's attempts at compassion have in some cases crossed into enabling behavior. Bangor you're on notice. Advocates for the creation of security regional treatment facilities have given judges another option when dealing with repeated offenses suffering from severe substance use disorder. Order, I would recommend we take a look at Dorothy Dix. There's plenty of room there. That would be the place that we need to really take a look at. If everybody is seriously concerned about drug addiction, Dorothy Dix is a place that people need to go. And through the legislative process, this has got to happen. Bangor citizens are running out of compassion. We need things that work. Providing homes does not work. Treatment is the real process that we need to be doing. And Dorothy Dix is the place we need to start. And he goes on and on and on. None of this is very good. So if we're going to use Portland as our model, then we should probably talk to the mayor down there and say, hey, what is or isn't working? Because there's a lot of stuff we're doing is not working. So compassion is to get the people the help, the mental health that they need, because drug addiction is the primary problem. If you look at everything else, that is it. That's the number one thing. And what does it cause? Well, it causes homelessness and other things. [11:44] Theresa Fallon: Good evening. My name is Theresa Fallon. I'm a resident of Bangor. I'm also a mother, an adult case manager, a student, and a person in recovery. Two things can be true at the same time. We can acknowledge that Bangor has a problem right now without dehumanizing the people experiencing it. I have genuine concerns right now, including public drug use, discarded needles, sanitation, and how it affects the community. Compassion doesn't mean that those things aren't happening. Accountability and dehumanization are not the same thing. Intentionally instigating people who are already experiencing a crisis, filming their reactions, and then using those reactions to reinforce negative stereotypes does absolutely nothing to solve the underlying problems. I think we need to consider what responsibility comes with having a large platform when community members speak up and they are turned into content designed to provoke outrage. That does not result in accountability. It creates more division. When your content creates an environment where public humiliation and bullying are encouraged, we need to ask ourselves, what really is the purpose of this? Are we really informing the community and working toward a solution, or are we simply giving people someone to hate? When the public labels people as junkies, unworthy, or the problem, we are talking about people as if they cannot be rehabilitated. I believe in compassionate accountability. What are we providing people with to promote rehabilitation or healing here? Is substance use treatment easily accessible? If someone has nowhere to sleep, where are they supposed to go? How long does it take to access mental health services here, such as medication management? If we want different outcomes, we need to create realistic pathways to different outcomes. We need to find the gaps in services, treatment, mental health care, recovery support, and find out ways to actually close those gaps. Bangor does deserve clean spaces just as much as the people struggling in our city deserve dignity. Those things are not mutually exclusive. Labels can follow a person through their entire life, making it near impossible to thrive in a community that wants to turn their backs on them. I want to ask you, concerned citizens of Bangor, do we really want these people to have a safe space for change, or do you simply want them to disappear? Thank you. Thank you. [14:10] Scott Pardee: Can go. I'll go. I'll just stand behind. [14:14] Suzette Furrow: My name is Suzette Furrow. I'm a resident of Bangor. My opinions are my own and not those of any committee I may be a member of. I would like to talk about the definition of a service center. Bangor is designated by the state of Maine as the primary, a primary service center. This means the city is vital to the economic and social well-being of rural and suburban areas, providing access to hospitals, schools, shopping, recreation, other amenities. It is a regional hub for essential services. Please note there's no mention of providing drugs. It also does not mention that ordinances and laws do not need to be enforced and a lawless society is allowed in a service center. When people buy a home in Bangor or purchased one years ago, they did not sign a contract to pay taxes to a city in which laws and ordinances are not enforced. Many homeowners will be paying their property taxes tomorrow. 11.38 percent of those taxes paid goes to the police. Taxes are paid with the expectation that local ordinances and state laws will be enforced by the police to maintain law and order in this city. The methodology for identifying regional service centers was adopted in 2002. The 2023 update to the list of service centers followed the method and the 2023 service center report to the legislature recommends updates to this methodology. There are secondary service centers in our area. In Penobscot County, secondary service centers include Millinocket, Orono, and Brewer. Why is Bangor expected to shoulder the burden of an increasing drug, HIV, hep C, and homeless problem and the surrounding towns, secondary service centers, not taking responsibility for their own and enforcing their ordinances and laws? If the legislature passed guidelines that the homeless have a separate set of laws, why is Bangor the only community following this? I would also like to mention that during a committee meeting regarding Yellen Pines, Counselor Dean asked Michael Myatt from Bangor Housing what they would do about Yellen Pines if Bangor did not give them the property tax deal with the TIFF and the 75 tax back plan. Mr. Myatt said they would go to another town. When Jen Gunderman at the earlier what workshop today was asked what would happen if Bangor did not accept the $300,000 for Project HOPE for Main Housing, what would Main Housing do? Jen Gunderman said main housing would go to another town. The council should let these projects go to another secondary service center. Bangor is full and can no longer handle the number of homeless and substance abuse users. We have the highest cases of HIV in the state and the most cases of Hep C north of West Virginia. We cannot handle what we already have. Obviously,, our police department and public health is spiraling out of control. Until we stop the spread and get a handle on our public health department, we need to stop all these projects and give another secondary service center this opportunity. [17:25] Scott Pardee: Good evening. My name is Scott Party and I am a man in long term recovery. I've been fortunate enough to not to have a have a drink or drug in almost 17 years. And this is I think this is an appropriate thing for tonight. And for years I have stood here at this microphone talking to this council and recently to the homeless committee about a reality that we can no longer dance around. The root of our homeless crisis is the unchecked drug epidemic period. Recently Mayor Mark Dion of Portland, Maine's largest city, said something that hit the nail on the head. Speaking about the city's crisis on the streets, he said, I maintain that many individuals who are out there on the streets now because of their addictive behavior or their illness have surrendered not intentionally their ability to make a decision in their best interest. If you're willing to sleep on a sidewalk that is not in your best interest and we need to intervene. I am relieved to hear a leader in our state finally say what I've been saying for a long time. Mayor Dion is right. When addictive addiction takes hold of a human being, it strips away the capacity to make clear, safe decisions, leaving people to deteriorate on a freezing sidewalk under the guise of choice. That isn't compassion. It's abandonment. I speak to you not from a place of theory, but from the front lines every single day. Through my work with Fresh Start and after spending 12 years, and I still go into the jail every single week doing service work, I see the human toll up close. I talk to these individuals i see what addiction does to their minds to their bodies to their souls and to their lives and more than anything i see the need for decisive structured intervention not enabling silence what baffles me what breaks my heart is how this body can look at the exact same streets the exact same tragedy unfolding right outside these drawers doors and choose to ignore nor what each and every one of you sees with your own eyes. We keep applying surface-level Band-Aids to a deep, festering wound. We cannot keep waiting for Portland or anyone else to lead while Bangor suffers. It's time for big, fundamental changes in how we handle active addiction and public shelter, which means living on the streets. In our city, we need clear boundaries, strong intervention pipelines, real pathways to recovery that get people off the streets and into accountability and care. It's time for Bangor to step up, face the truth, and definitely do this. You know I, when I'm in jail doing Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, you know I can say what I can let my own identity out here, and you know I hear, I hear people tell me that they were rescued, not arrested, and I can't get any one of you to come into the jail and sit with me and i 've asked the sheriff to let me have some of you come in so if you want to do it come into the jail with me thank you well [20:44] Philip Henry: some great ideas. My name is Phil Penry. I'm a business owner in Bangalore. Good evening. I asked this council to put operational stability, economic development, and measurable public return at the center of its decisions. I understand the city solicitor has recently put in his resignation. Finance leadership resigned in August. The assistant city manager leaves in November. These transitions require a public continuity plan and auditable controls. In March, the city said that the 25 audit was still in progress and staffing shortages and other challenges affected prior timelines. Mines fiscal year 2024 management letter identified material control issues in reconciliations and financial statement prep. This is not an accusation of theft or misconduct, but it does require an audit completion dates and public corrective action dashboard in 2027 includes 584,000 economic development fund, a 1 million development capital schedule and a $5 million downtown TIF program. Program. City materials document business outreach, innovation centre occupancy, property work, housing development activity, but there is absolutely no public scorecard that shows any verified results. Business is retained or attracted, jobs, private capital, new taxable value, incremental taxes, TIF agreement results. Activities and forecasts are not outcomes. Tonight's project hope memo offers a hundred twenty six thousand dollars for one year sixty three thousand annually for two with an equal match before allocating these limited funds we are just asking for a baseline a report full cost per client quarterly results similar to what a private company would have to do before getting funds allocated obtain independent review set a continuation decision provider collection tallies are not an independent citywide study in terms of needle pickups. Residents report discarded needles in shared spaces the city should publish independently reconciled location-based data on reports response times repeat locations cleanup costs annual trends council must account for the full public costs including burdens on residents businesses public crews the state reported 24 for confirmed fatal overdoses while we're handing hundreds of thousands of needles occurring in Bangor through July that requires urgency and evidence about what works at public. Meetings and messages Bangor residents have said to me that they walk in Brewer because they don't feel safe here others say they are considering selling all their properties or moving to raise their families and start elsewhere because they feel unsafe and they don't feel that change is occurring and they don't feel the council is listening to their please these are individual accounts not a survey but they warn of declining confidence safety resident retention this is not an argument to. Abandon people in crisis we've had great ideas that have come to the podium it's an argument to help them but thank you thank you good. [23:57] James Gallagher: Evening, my name is James Gallagher, a Bangor resident and downtown business owner. Saturday was a great day for downtown. Main Street was packed, businesses were busy, and it was nice to feel that energy again. To the counselors who came down, it was really nice seeing your faces. Seriously, we need more of that. Even if you're only downtown for a few minutes, it matters to every business that is there every day. Come in, say hi, see what's going on. Sometimes showing up makes the difference. I know you can't be everywhere, but grand openings, charity, and community events, those are the opportunities for you to show up and be a part of our community, the community you represent. Saturday gave us a spark and we need to make sure that flame stays lit. Let's build on it because Saturday showed us we can. Thank you, thank you. [24:52] Jackie Smallwood: Jackie Smallwood, I'm a resident. I'd like my comments tonight about Banner to be part of tonight's record. Banner, the Bangor Airport Civic Development Corporation, is a nonprofit that this council itself created back in 1979 to develop land around Bangor International Airport for industrial, manufacturing, and business uses. Under its own bylaws, it has broad power to buy, lease, manage, develop, sell, and mortgage real property. Today, it manages the Bangor Innovation Center at 40 Johnson Street, a business incubator that has operated since 1979. Its day-to-day operations are run by Begida Hernandez-Smith, the City's Economic Development Officer. Under its bylaws, Banner's Board of Directors has up to 11 voting seats, needing eight votes for a quorum. Banner's Board is filled automatically by whoever holds specific City titles and is then joined by a broader membership from the private public sector, not to exceed 25. The most recent available IRS filings show just under $1 million in total assets. The last time a full 12-person board was reported was fiscal year 2023, but the 2022 and 2023 filings were identical, rosters unchanged, suggesting that it may not have been functioning even then. A 2024 filing exists, but the board roster has never been made public. public. This summer the city moved to reactivate Ban Air. Select city officials met on July 1st and August 5th at Johnson Street. Councilors Beck, Leonard, Dean, Haas, Director Anne Craig and Airport Director Jose Saavedra participated. I cannot confirm who attended the August meeting because minutes have not been posted and there is no video coverage archived in the city's typical locations. A meeting scheduled for September 2nd was set to finalize proposed bylaw amendments which once nobody knows. They were set to vote to change the board membership from 11 down to eight and change the quorum from eight down to five. They were to grant Bannier's executive manager independent spending authority of $25,000. Five people all tied to city titles with no independent voice from the public sector were set to finalize these changes after only two meetings. I thank the city manager for canceling that meeting. Bannier may be its own nonprofit on paper but it was created by this council and federal law requires non-profits like it to operate for the public's benefit not its own convenience. The separate corporate structure doesn't erase its obligation to the citizens it was built to serve. I'm asking the city to make Bannier's old bylaws old and newly proposed public before any meeting is rescheduled and to commit to recruiting the independent members those bylaws already call for before this board proceeds further. [28:02] Catherine Devine: Good evening, my name is Catherine Devine. I live in, I'm resident of the city of Bangor and I have two points to make tonight. One, accountability does not exclude compassion. And two, if you continue in the direction that you're going you're not listening to the people of Bangor. I myself went, lived in a residential discipleship program for addicts for a year and a half. They did not allow us to have any substances on campus. There was accountability. We were expected to get jobs. I would not be standing here today if it were not for that program. We also have many people who have been through that program that would attest that going to jail saved their lives. It may not seem compassionate to put people in jail when they are struggling with addiction in public spaces, but it is one of the more compassionate things you can do is to get them off the streets and away from those drugs for a certain period of time. Travis Carey from Portland was a heroin addict for 15 years until he spent a significant amount of time in jail, and now he is sober and leading his own flock and in a good place in life. Giving these people a handout, as I've said before, is not compassion. It only allows them to continue what they're doing under the safety of town resources and taxes. My second point being that it's not, you're not listening to us if you continue down this path. Several people have stood in front of you and given you their concerns and given you the facts, statistics, personal experiences, and yet for how many years now have we been, has the council been displaying this behavior? In 2023 a similar thing happened in Augusta where 600 people came and testified against specific bill, and yet the city passed the, town, goodness gracious, the state passed it. We can't continue with this. You guys are not here to represent your own personal opinions. You are here to represent this city of Bangor, and we are here and we are saying we do not want our taxpayer dollars going to these projects anymore. I would go for something suggested here tonight, funding Dorothy Dix, providing more beds, putting people in there. If you don't like the idea of people going to jail, then maybe continuing to fund things like Dorothy Dix or other hospital settings rather than just another addiction home. Thank you. Thank you. [30:58] Melissa Pelzowitz: Good evening. My name is Melissa Pelzowitz. I live in Bangor. Before, I didn't prepare my remarks, I just came and I feel compelled to speak. Before I speak what I want to speak, I have lived in Bangor since 2024 and I have never once felt unsafe in this community. I have never once seen needles lying around, so I understand there are people saying that's, that's, that is their experience, but it's not something that I've experienced in the two years I've lived here. I am an attorney. If you look me up, you will see that I received the Kenneth R. Clay award for the highest bar score in the state of Maine. We've heard people tonight talk about forced, enforced, sorry, forced, being forced into Dorothea Dix or forced into recovery. And we've tried that as a country. We've done that to intellectually disabled. We've done that to gay. We've done that to a lot of different people, and it's not constitutional. You cannot force somebody for a illness, force somebody into a recovery facility. So to even suggest that, we've heard suggestions tonight, it's just not legal. It's also not appropriate. It's also doesn't make sense to jail these people. Again, this is an illness, you don't put people who have diabetes in jail so that they don't eat donuts. So that was I'm sorry, I didn't prepare remarks. So they're probably not very good. But hearing all of this comment, I thought it was important that we remember that people have rights and there are laws and individual freedoms guaranteed in the Constitution. Hi, [33:05] Beth Haggerty: everybody. My name is Beth Haggerty, and I'm a longtime resident of Bangor. And just a point of clarification. It is true that we can't force somebody to go and get treatment. I believe that Mayor Dion had recommended that as an alternative to jail. So it would give judges the opportunity to send somebody to treatment versus jail time or as treatment in lieu of bail. So I think that's what people are advocating for. We're certainly not saying that we should go out and just pick people up off the street and force them against their will to do something they're not comfortable with, but that's one point of clarification. I also think it's important that I've lived here for, I hate to know how long, 20 more than 25 years, and I really love this city. And I think we can go back and forth. Some people see needles, some people do not. Some people feel safe, some people do not. That is all a matter of personal experience, but we have problems. At least we can agree that we have problems that need to be addressed. The finger pointing that I experienced this, I did not experience this, I think we need to put that aside. We're all in this together. We all love this city. How could we fix the problems that face us? Thank you so much. Thank you. Good [34:34] Brian Kaufman: evening council members. My name is Brian Kaufman. I'm a physician in this town. I have been practicing in Maine for about 20 years. I've been in Bangor for about three years. I've been on the faculty of the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine for about 20 years. I have been past president of the Maine Osteopathic Association and on the board of directors for them for over 12 years. More importantly than any of that, I presently have been doing pain management treatment and addiction medicine treatment for about the last 20 years. In that time, I've seen a lot of patients struggle with both of these problems. Both are chronic problems. We have a crisis of both chronic pain and substance use disorder. There was an interesting study done a long time ago. They took rats, and of course it's rats, and they gave these rats choices of getting different drugs or getting food. If the rats were living alone, they chose the drugs. If the rats were with other rats, they chose the food. What does this tell us? It tells us that an important part of substance use disorder treatment and really even mental health, whatever, is community. So yeah, we have a problem. We need to treat it like a community. These are parts of our community that we need to help. There's lots of ways to do it, but making folks with these issues feel included is one of them. Making them part of the community, not putting them outside the community. And number two, another risk factor for substance use disorder is not having adequate access to pain management. We at Northeast Pain Management have been taking care of hundreds and thousands of patients for many years now in the Bangor and beyond area. We are trying to expand because there's such a need. My wait time is about six months to see me. If you tomorrow have a really bad pain issue, you can't see me until 2027. I'd like to see you next week or tomorrow. So I would like the council to consider their stance on the sale of the building at the address on Main Street to Northeast East Pain Management, both for PCHC in terms of providing access to primary care and making sure they survive as an entity, but also that we can take care of all the people that want to see us. Thank you. Thank you. [37:42] Eric Wise: Hello, good afternoon. My name is Eric Wise. I'm president, part owner of Northeast Pain Management in Bangor, Maine. I know everyone's well aware of some of the serious implications that jeopardizing the deal at 103 Main Ave would have, and I don't want to take this time to rehash that. I want to use this to ensure that the council and the public at large are aware of where certain entities stand on this issue. The major medical associations of Maine, the Maine Medical Association, and the Maine Osteopathic Association have sent a formal letter to the council urging them to reconsider their decision. So have many local business leaders and businesses, so have state representatives and lawmakers, and most importantly many of the citizens of Bangor have. At this point it appears that only a handful of council members appear to be in favor of the council's decision and that's not how a city council is meant to operate. There are also unanswered questions such as why they wouldn't be able to utilize properties they already own at 50 Cleveland Street and 120 Venture Way to achieve the same goals at a fraction of the cost the city also doesn't appear to have given any written notice within 30 days that it says is required on the deed I hope we will receive real answers and explanations to this matter thank you thank you [39:02] Carolyn Fish: can [39:10] Susan Hawes: we go to the remote hold [39:15] Lisa Goodwin: on one more [39:19] Jeff Forney: Jeff Forney, I'm a resident of Bangor. This concerns proposed order number 26-274 about the potential purchase of the property at 103 Main Avenue. I just found out about this and just for purposes of ventilating this issue in a proper public forum and making sure that the public has all the information it needs, I think the public record is rather slim, and that's putting it charitably. So I have three questions that I hope would be part of the deliberations and also would be put into the public record so the public can be more informed on this issue and make appropriate comment. First, I'm going off the 2024 financial statement of the city of Bangor, which is the most recent financial statement. The largest portion of the city's net position is investment in capital assets,. And the financial statement lists in note C 89 million in buildings and improvements. And these assets, of course, are not available to service the city's debt. The public record doesn't really disclose why the city is interested in the purchase of this property. And it seems rather odd, given that this purchase would add to the carrying costs of the city and add to this net capital position, which doesn't, at least on the public record as it stands, doesn't seem appropriate. Also this purchase is proposed through a bond issuance and it's unclear there's a wholesale delegation to the financial director to issue a bond determine the interest rates and so forth, but none of that's been disclosed. This is of course significant because the city's rating with standards and poor is only a double A so depending on the time frame of the debt and the interest this could be potential burden on of course the taxpayers. The proposed order actually even states that there's a good likelihood on page two that the city shall levy a tax in the amount sufficient to pay annual principal and interest on such bonds and given of course the escalating tax rates in the city which I'm sure every resident knows about this of course is a as a concern for the public taxpayer and that their tax bill may be going up because of this and on what basis we're unsure why it is that it's such an urgent need to purchase this property and then lastly the public the public record that we have is there's a quick claim deed from 2009 it looks like the city's intending to exercise its right of first refusal but nothing in the public record assuming that is true discloses whether there was any cost benefit analysis done by the finance department or any part of the city just to determine whether that benefit from the city purchasing that property would outweigh the benefit of having another property owner there and we're hearing about of course medical services that would likely be in there and be a great benefit to the city so I'm asking for more information on this and to delay your decision until we have it thank [42:28] Susan Hawes: you okay [42:42] Richard Ward: hello can you hear me you can all right great thank you for giving the opportunity to speak tonight it's Richard Ward Bangor city resident I'm here tonight to address a matter of critical transparency regarding public trust municipal funding and the integrity of our local elections. According to official city records the Bangor city council previously authorized substantial taxpayer-backed American Rescue Plan Act funding to the brewer-based nonprofit organization Food Medicine. This included a $75,000 investment approved in August of 2023 for community gardens, followed by an additional $261,000 awarded in September of 2023 to fund a workforce navigator position. While these programs are framed as public services, the reality is that the municipal funds are going to an organization actively engaging in aggressive local political operations. Just last year, in November of 2025, Food Medicine ran a highly coordinated campaign operation that successfully swept three progressive candidates into office on this very council. Among the specific candidates they endorsed, funded in campaign form was Angela Walker. Let us be entirely clear about who this organization pushed into local government. In 2002, Walker and her brother brutally assaulted and murdered a tourist named Derek Rogers, leaving him severely beaten and suffocated to death in sand down his throat. out Walker ultimate are you gonna let me finish her oh [44:30] George Lance: yes can you hear me yes okay great I'm not sure if am I cutting over that last speaker's time it seemed like he was cut off am [44:42] Susan Hawes: I free to speak you have your time yes three [44:45] George Lance: minutes okay well I would like to appeal to the City Council this person is George Lance from Bangor I'd like to appeal to this own city to please stop violating people's free speech and let us have our time some of us you know work all week to pay our taxes and we do have our freedom of speech here and if you don't like what someone says if they're criticizing one of your council members that's allowed that's free speech that's what it's here for what i'm calling to talk about today unfortunately had to get sidetracked with the defense of you know free speech but i'm calling about i'm asking your city council to put together a declaration that i think a lot of people and we're putting together a poll right now we have thousands of signatures of people who want the city to put a declaration out against the jews for genocide and for other crimes and i want to remind people that we are allowed to speak about criticizing groups and you know israel has only been a country for less than 100 years the jews have been around a lot longer martin luther was speaking about them in a book called [45:49] Speaker E (unidentified): the jews and their lies the point of order i don't believe this has anything to do with city business [46:14] Jamondre Black: Yes, hello, my name Jamondre Black. I've been a resident of Bangor for four years now. As you may know, we just had the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks in New York City on the World Trade Center, and I would like to ask our council to have a week of remembrance and have some facts come to light now. Some things that most people don't know is that the police officers in New York City were alerted to a threat, and they arrested people in a van that had bombs and were trying to blow up the George Washington Bridge. Now they also arrested 60 Israelis and five of them were reported as filming the Twin Towers. [47:19] Speaker E (unidentified): This has nothing to do with city business. No, it's [47:26] Susan Hawes: all about New York. Bye-bye. Okay. Okay. Seeing nobody else approached, that is the end of the public comment. Madam Clerk? [47:49] Lisa Goodwin: Minister Bangor City Council regular meeting of August 24th, 2026, and Business and Economic Development Committee meeting of July 20, 2026. 26-263 order authorizing the execution of a municipal quitclaim deed for real estate located at 28 Williams Street. 26-264 order authorizing the execution of a municipal quitclaim deed for real estate located at 70 Thatcher Street. 26-265 order authorizing the execution of a municipal quick claim deed for real estate located at 1579 Union Street. 26-266 order authorizing the execution of a municipal bill of sale for real estate located at 159 Holiday Park. 26-267 order authorizing revisions to ambulance service policy, here and after referred to as the emergency medical services transport plan. 26-268 order authorizing the city manager to execute a temporary land lease for two lot locations as described below to General Electric Company. 26-269 order authorizing the city manager to execute an agreement with Athena Health for electronic health record and medical billing services for Bangor Public Health and Community Services. Madam [49:10] Susan Hawes: Chair, I move passage of our consent agenda. Second. It's been moved and seconded to pass the consent agenda. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, the consent agenda has passage. Madam Chair, I have a conflict on [49:29] Speaker E (unidentified): the first reading of 26272 resolved regarding the Together Place, so I don't know if we can pull out separate or if I need to leave for the whole first reading section. No, you can [49:43] Susan Hawes: can we bypass that one and then you can leave when we get there rather than miss the whole section [49:55] Speaker E (unidentified): I don't mind leaving for the whole section and I don't mind. Are you looking for a way out? [50:03] Philip Henry: It might be easier if you just left for the whole section [50:06] Susan Hawes: Well, Solicis has said bye-bye. I know. [50:22] Lisa Goodwin: Apparently not. Okay. 26-270 Ordinance, Moratorium Extension Ordinance on Data Centers in the City of Bangor, Maine. First reading, 26-271 Resolve, accepting and appropriating an airport improvement grant under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Program in the amount of $5,534,795 from the FAA, $145,652.50 from MDOT, and $575,578.50 local match for the rehabilitation of Taxiway A and Taxiway M at Bangor International Airport, first reading. 26-272, resolve appropriating $7,000 from Bangor Opioid Settlement unspent funds to the Together other place first reading 26-273 resolve amending council resolve 26-195 making an appropriation for the total school budget for the Bangor School Department as required by 20A MRSA section 156904A first reading 26-274 order authorizing issuance of up to 1 million 400 thousand dollars of the city's bonds to purchase land and improvements located at 103 Main Avenue new and a tax levy therefore first reading and referral to Finance Committee on September 21st [51:48] Carolyn Fish: 2026 Madam Chair I move for referrals to committee and first reading second okay so I moved and [51:57] Susan Hawes: seconded for referrals to committee and first reading is there any further discussion seeing none they will be referred we will need counselor back in here 26 [52:21] Lisa Goodwin: -253 resolve accepting and appropriating up to $300,000 from Maine Housing with a $126,000 match from Bangor Opioid Settlement unspent funds to support Project HOPE. Councilor Beck. Thank you, Madam Clerk. This order would [52:37] Speaker E (unidentified): accept and appropriate up to $300,000 from Maine Housing and authorize a $126,000 match from Bangor Opioid Settlement unspent funds to support Project HOPE. Project HOPE is a collaborative initiative between Maine Housing and the City of Bangor designed to assist individuals living in places not meant for human habitation in obtaining and maintaining stable housing. The program provides comprehensive housing navigation services including locating housing, completing the rental process, and supporting participants for a minimum of six months after they move into housing. Participants will also be referred and connected to additional supportive of services based on their individual needs. Funding will support up to three housing navigators employed by the city of Bangor and the Bangor Area Emergency Shelter and Housing Assistance Program, as well as a program coordinator, operational expenses, and flexible housing assistance. Eligible housing assistance includes but is not limited to security deposits, landlord initiatives, move-in expenses, transportation, and other client related costs necessary to secure and maintain housing. During the pilot year, Project HOPE aims to serve 90 individuals and households in the Bangor area and successfully place at least 45 into stable housing. The program builds on a proven model that has demonstrated success in Portland and now it is now entering its third year. Maine Housing will provide 70% of the project's funding, with the City of Bangor contributing the required 30% local match. The City's $126,000 match will be provided through unspent Bangor Opioid Settlement funds previously allocated to the Intensive Case Management Program. Homelessness is both a contributing factor to and a consequence of opioid use disorder, other substance use disorders, and mental health conditions. Project HOPE's activities are consistent with Maine's Memorandum of Agreement governing the use of opioid settlement funds by providing comprehensive wraparound services and include housing stabilization. The program advances one of the approved core strategies for addressing the impacts of the opioid epidemic and supporting long-term recovery. This item was reviewed at the August 17th Special Government Operations Committee meeting. Four of five committee members supported the project. However, four committee members disagreed on the appropriate source of funding, with two members supporting use of unassigned fund balance and two supporting the use of unspent opioid settlement funds. As a result, a vote to recommend passage with funding from assigned fund balance failed two to three, and a vote to recommend passage with funding from opioid settlement funds failed two to three. Therefore, this item is coming back to full council without a committee recommendation. Madam Chair, I move passage [55:33] Joseph Leonard: of resolve 26253. Madam Chair, I would move to postpone resolve 26253 to the next regularly scheduled council meeting on September 28th, 2026. Second. Okay. [55:52] Susan Hawes: It's been moved and seconded to postpone resolve 26-253 to the September 28th council meeting. Or any discussion? Any doubts? Typically on a postponement we don't do public comment. You can not do public comment. [56:30] Speaker H (unidentified): Not it's up to you chair. Okay mono. [56:37] Susan Hawes: Oh. [56:41] Hillary Simmons: My what the hell is this. Hillary Simmons resident Bangor. Thank you for the opportunity to speak regarding resolve 26 253 which would ex accept up to 300 000 from the main housing and commit 126 000 in Bangor unspent opioid settlement funds as a city match for project hope. I want to start by saying that I support helping people experience link homelessness find stable housing. Stability is important and I recognize that homelessness and substance use can be closely connected. However I do not believe that using 126,000 in the opioid settlement funds for this program is the best decision for Bangor. The city has limited opioid settlement funds and I believe we need to be very careful about using that money for programs that are primarily addressing broader issues such as homelessness and housing navigation. The proposal would fund housing navigators, a program coordinator, operational expenses, security deposits, landlord incentives, transportation, other housing related costs. Those are important services but they are not necessarily specific to treating or preventing opioid use disorder. We are told that Project HOPE intends to serve the 90 individuals or households in successful placement of at least 45 in stable housing. That sounds positive but I think we need to ask whether using 126,000 of opioid settlement money is the most effective way to achieve those results. This is also an important financial question here. The city is committing 126 for a pilot program and we need to consider what happens after the first year. If this program is successful, will the city be expected to continue funding it? If the opioid settlement funds are no longer available, where will the money come from? I think it is significant that government operations could not reach a recommendation. Members disagreed over whether this should be funded from opioid settlement funds or from the city's unsigned fund balance. That disagreement deserves consideration if that's if the city believes project hope is a worthwhile housing initiative I believe which should look at the funding it through appropriate housing or general municipal resources rather than taking a significant amount of money from a limited Fund specifically intended to address the opioid crisis. We have many needs in Bangor related directly to addiction recovery, treatment, prevention, overdose responses. Those needs aren't going away. I respectfully ask the council not to support the resolve as currently written. Instead, consider whether there is a more appropriate funding source for Project Hope. We can support people experiencing homelessness while also being responsible stewards for the opioid settlement funds entrusted to our community. Thank you. Thank you. [59:30] Speaker H (unidentified): Mike for a long time resident of Bangor I have nothing to gain financially I don't work for any non-profits first off I would check with Portland and ask the mayor hey is this a great idea I think we're embellishing the fact that these things have been successful I think you're going to find it's not so I got some questions what is the goal of return of participants to their communities of origin i like that put in writing and let me restate one thing council individuals i please vote against this. We don't need it. Let it go to another community. Whether the 126,000 from unassigned or whatever funds it's going to be taken from is taxpayer supported money, no matter how you slice it, comes from the taxpayers. I think we could better use this money for the elderly in some of their concerns. I don't know if people have seen the price of diesel. I know it's like $7 a gallon. Heating oil is probably going to hit six, may top seven, may top 10. Who knows? It's going up and seniors are going to be in trouble. Pilot program. What is the duration, performance measures, reporting schedules, renewed process, and exit strategy? I believe Bangor will get stuck with this program. You know, I'm a pilot. It's like flying an aircraft and your wings fall off, it's going to crash. Bottom line, what is the city's potential financial cost after the pilot period ends? Are we going to continue it for one, two, three, four years? Please vote against it. Don't even start it. Let another community pick it up. Project Hope staff hours and departmental resources, do we, do not need any more Bangor city staff. Listen, everybody's in a financial crisis. Things are costing more money, where there's food, fuel, everything's costing more. Everybody needs to be more conservative and tighten the belts. That's the bottom line. How will the city ensure other residents relying on public health and community service will not be interrupted? Do we have a strategic plan for that? Project HOPE seems like another nonprofit. How will it blend with other nonprofits? Or is this another separate and distinct nonprofit? We have so many nonprofits operating in Bangor. They seem to be overlapping, intertwined, who's doing what, nobody really knows. And these, there's a lot of money, there's a lot of money involved. So please take a look at that. Which communities and landlords and stakeholders have agreed to participate? That'd be nice to see in writing so we know who's going to participate. What safeguards will ensure that placements are voluntary, appropriate, sustainable, and support by receiving communities? How many other communities are contributing to Project Hope? My guesses are done. Please, everybody on the council, vote that this not pass and let other communities pick it up. Thank you very much. Thank you. [1:02:26] James Gallagher: James Gallagher, Bangor resident and downtown business owner. I'm again asking this council to declare a state of emergency surrounding homelessness in Bangor. Tonight you decided $126,000 for Project Hope came from opioid settlement money versus the Unassigned Fund. For me, that's not the issue. I don't support either unless Project Hope becomes part of a bigger plan. It intends to serve 90 people in House 45, but what about everybody else? To the people in the woods, in tents, on private property, people that you guys barely know exist. People are dying and I'm tired of watching money pour into this crisis while people continue to suffer. At some point, we must stop allowing greed to be packaged as compassion. Declare the emergency and bring everybody to the table. Create one centralized intake location. Talk to the mall. They have plenty of vacant space and owe the city a lot of money. Maybe there's a deal to be made. Bring Project Hope there. Bring the non-profits, health care, mental health, and recovery services. Use the buses to get people there. Let's put the money we already have on the table too. We have opioid settlement money specifically meant to address the damage this epidemic has caused. We also have millions still tied up in ARPA funded projects. They're two very different pots of money with different rules, but let's figure out how we can legally use both, sorry, both at the same time to get more done. Give organizations with outstanding ARPA funds 30 days to show these projects are moving forward and the money will be spent. If not, determine what we can legally be reallocated before we lose it. And if city infrastructure is holding up more than 300 housing units on Stillwater, let's fix that too. Project HOPE can be a piece of the puzzle, but it can't be another band-aid. Declare the emergency, put all the pieces on the table, use what we already have, and let's actually get something done. People have suffered long enough. Thank you. Thank you. [1:04:27] Jackie Smallwood: Jackie Smallwood, Bangor resident. Project HOPE is asking Bangor for $126,000 dollars in opioid settlement funds matched by $300,000 for Main Housing grant to hire coordinated coordinator, three housing navigators, and to pay for security deposits to cover move in expenses, landlord incentives and transportation to serve 90 people and households and successfully placed at least 45 into stable housing. Before that money moves, we should know where are these apartments? Where are they located? Which landlords have agreed to participate and exactly who is being selected from this program? Will it be Bangor's homeless? Regarding general assistance, Bangor is responsible for paying six months of GA. If we send a person to a surrounding town after six months, that town must pay 30 percent GA from that point. Which surrounding towns have agreed to this agreement and is there a legal binding contract? What happens if the receiving towns answer a town's failed to pay their share? Will Bangor be forced to bridge that gap. In your own legislative committee meeting on September 9th you discussed inconsistencies with general assistance systems from town to town. Apparently a person can apply for GA in Brewer and not qualify, cross the bridge into Bangor, apply for the same GA benefit within the same system and be approved. How will these disparities affect the program and how is this even possible? What happens next year funding changes at the state level or if Bangor We need more money for more service providers like Portland. Who will these tenants who have been placed then be removed from their apartments or will you come back to the taxpayers looking for the difference to make ends meet yet again? It appears the precedent has already been set. At last week's government operations meeting alone, the Together Place asked for $7,000. Manna asked for $5,000. The Well Warming Center asked for $15,000. Teresa's Place asked for $40,000 for the next three years. The city of Bangor is not the bank. Taxpayers should not be expected to continue funding these nonprofits shortfalls. Not one project hope should be presented to or approved by this council until a long-term strategic plan has been developed and been adopted. I don't look to Portland and say I want to be like them. Bangor is being asked to adopt an unproven model from a city whose own sitting mayor just said days ago that compassion without accountability isn't working here and he challenged the housing first framework that has driven the city's approach calling for more accountability that should tell us everything that we need to know thank you thank you my [1:07:15] Scott Pardee: name is Scott Pardee and I am a citizen of Bangor and I'm here to talk about the funding proposal for project hope and i want to begin by being completely candid i've changed my mind regarding this project i said earlier the root of our homeless crisis is the unchecked drug epidemic and i believe that to be true but if you don't like that statement let's look at it a different way my shift isn't about isn't it comes down to one fundamental principle sustainability we have seen this pattern unfold time and time again in this chamber a program is brought forward wrapped in the promise of one-time funding it sounds manageable temporary and low risk but almost every single time this council approves one time one-time dollars for operational programs that temporary initiative turns into an ongoing municipal commitment when the initial pool of money dries up the program doesn't end it simply gets quietly absorbed into municipal budget leaving local property taxes to foot the bill year After year we saw it happen with temporary ARPA funds, and we are walking down the exact same path tonight. That brings me to how we are paying for it. We need to stop relying on opioid settlement funds as a recurring source of municipal funding, and more importantly, we must stop allowing these funds to be commandeered by the city. Over 500,000 in settlement money has already been absorbed into this, into the city administration, public health, and municipal departments. These settlement dollars were hard-fought, finite resources intended directly to support community partners, grassroot or recovery organizations, and boots on the ground providers. Using them to fund internal public health programs isn't a long-term strategy. It is a short-term workaround that starves our community partners while setting up another budget cliff for our taxpayers down the road. If a project cannot demonstrate clear independent self-sustaining funding model outside of finite settlement dollars and future taxpayer subsidies, we should not be green lighting it. I urge this council to step back, protect our local taxpayers from predictable future tax hikes, stop siphoning off opioid settlement funds, and demand true financial sustainability before moving forward. Thank you. Good [1:09:42] Philip Henry: evening, Philip Henry, resident of Bangor, and I just want to give a perspective as a landlord that I've been a landlord for probably 15-20 years, previously an engineer, but the model really doesn't indicate who's going to be housed and what partnerships have existed with landlords. And so based on my experience, the least likely to succeed in housing in an apartment would be mentally ill and those who have not yet handled their addiction problems. Right. So I've spent tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars initially as a landlord being compassionate because wanting to give people a second chance and allowing them into these places. But in the end, all I was left with was a bill, a large bill, typically tens of thousands of dollars to clean up, completely got an apartment. And on the flip side, the sad part about it is that a lot of people now are falling through the cracks. You have 3,000 people in line to get GA. A lot of these are single mothers, vets, elderly that are on fixed incomes, which, in fact, I've had good luck with those folks. But unfortunately, I've been hardened by the fact that I have no way of determining if someone calls me and says, hey, would you accept the Section 8 voucher, I don't know if I'm going to be accepting a mentally ill, drug-addicted individual who cannot and does not have the skills to live on his own or her own, and versus someone that's on a fixed income, that's an elderly person, that would actually be very, a very great tenant. And so I think that based on the fact that there's no answers, and I think that's the due diligence that the citizens are asking, instead of just voting yes for this stuff, we have no understanding of the ongoing costs. We have no partnerships with landlords. We don't know the success rate of those that are experiencing this mental illness and drug addiction. And yet we continue to just vote this stuff through, and we're asking for just cross your T's, dot your I's, don't take anything under assumption, assume it's your money that you're spending. And if it were your money that you were spending, you would, you would, you would want to check all of these boxes to reduce the risk profile. That's all the citizens are asking on all of these projects, and yet we still get, we continue to get the same result, we'll answer the questions later, and we're just asking you to just, you know, think about those things as you're going into these decision making process. Thank you. Thank you. [1:12:06] Tyler: Good evening, my name is Tyler and I'm a resident of Bangor. I'm not here to kill the housing navigation. People living outside need a path indoors. If the council wants this program, fund the match from this unassigned, from the unassigned funds balance or another pocket of funds. Do not take it from the opioid settlement. Those dollars are not a spare housing pot. Project Hope is a housing first, low barrier program. Eligibility is unsheltered status in Bangor, not a diagnosis, not engagement in treatment, not abstinence. Individuals are placed in ordinary apartments and work with them for, excuse me, at least six months. That may be a reasonable homeless services model. Under this design, someone can keep using in a private unit. It the program does not require treatment. That is the point of housing first. If that is the model you want, pay for it with housing money. Opioid settlement funds should not underwrite a project whose structure allows people with active addiction to get high in an apartment at public expense and call it abatement. That is not what those funds were for. This is also the wrong population match. HOPE is Project HOPE is for unhoused people generally. A disproportionate number of people outside have substance use disorder. Not all of them do. Using settlement money for a program open to everyone who is unsheltered stretches opioid abatement until it means any social service that touches someone who uses drugs. That standard would justify almost anything. There are recovery uses sitting in front of you. Peer recovery treatment access, recovery housing that actually requires sobriety, and programs run by people with lived experience of opioid use disorder and substance use disorder. Those uses match the settlement. You have already been asked to split a small leftover settlement balance between this program and other recovery requests. Once that 126,000 is gone into Project HOPE, it is gone. You cannot later say that the settlement was reserved for people with substance use disorder. If Project HOPE is worth doing, fund the match like a housing program, excuse me. Leave the settlement for recovery from opioid use and substance use disorder, treatment, peer support and housing that is built around getting well, not around getting high. Vote no on using opioid settlement funds for this match. Thank you. Thank you. [1:15:07] Katie Ko: Hi, I'm Katie Ko. I'm a resident of Bangor. I am a homeowner in Bangor, and I'm also a landlord in Bangor. I think postponement to address your funding concerns makes a lot of sense, though I loathe the delay in help that this is causing. Winter is coming, and I prefer this to happen as quickly as possible so that we can get people housed before it gets too cold. A complicated problem needs many solutions and I hope that the city passes this one. Thank you [1:15:36] Susan Hawes: thank you okay so we do have this resolve was moved and seconded to postpone to september 28th [1:15:48] Speaker E (unidentified): Meeting. Yes, are we gonna have any discussion about whether or not we want to postpone? I had, can I make comments on? Sure. I'm not in favor of postponing this. I was one of the people who voted in favor of opioid settlement funds of the government operations committee meeting. Based on the feedback both I've heard since then and heard tonight, I'm not in favor of using opioid settlement funds for this. One of the other ideas put out as well in the memo we talked about in the workshop today was to use CDBG funds. That was also set up through our annual action plan, which, you know, Community input was involved. It was a long and lengthy process. Council approved that action plan. I'm not in favor of opening that up and doing that again. One thing that I heard tonight that rings true to me is that this is something that does need to be part of a larger strategy. I agree with that a hundred percent. One of the things I mentioned in a meeting with maine housing recently was that I ideally to me this is a tool you hand the hubs rather than dangling it in front of a community who just happens to have enough money in its budget to match it. This is something that affects all communities, not just bangor, and I think that this is something that would be better managed at the hub level with coordination with other hubs. So I'm personally not in favor of postponing this. If anything, I would like to see it referred to our advisory community on homelessness to get their input on this and see if this fits into what they're eventually gonna hand us as a strategy. But I just feel that, you know, that's time lost postponement internally when I'd rather, if we're gonna seek further information, I'd rather see us refer it to them and get their input. That's where I'm at on this. [1:17:47] Angela Walker: Other comments. Oh, thank you. I do hate to put it off because winter is coming, but I do think that we need to talk more about where the funds are going to come from, but I do think it's an important program, and I just wanted to address some of the things that were said, like I don't, we're not looking at portland as a model for everything that we do. We look to them, we look to individual programs that portland does that have been successful, and project hope in portland has housed 100 people and has Gotten additional 50 into shelters. Did it solve their whole problem? Nope, it did not. Did it make a dent? Absolutely. Getting 150 people off the streets is a big dent. You know, if we got 45 people off the streets in Bangor, that's going to make a big dent. We need a combination of solutions. Is anyone going to be perfect? If we wait until we have one perfect solution, it's never going to happen. And we can't keep demanding solutions and then saying no to everyone that comes along. Any other comments? [1:19:07] Lisa Goodwin: Council of Beck? No. Council of Carson? Yes. Council of Dean? Yes. Council of Falloon? Yes. Council of Fish? Yes. Council of Leonard? Yes. Council of Malheur? Yes. Council of Walker? Yes. Council of Haas? Yes. Eight yes, one no. [1:19:28] Susan Hawes: Okay, the resolve has been postponed. Postponed eight yes for no to September 28 26. [1:19:40] Lisa Goodwin: New business. Public hearing application for special amusement permit of 81 Park Street LLC doing business as the Tarantino 81 Park Street Council. [1:19:50] Speaker E (unidentified): Back. Thank you madam clerk. Madam chair, I move that we open the public hearing for the application for special amusement permit of 81 Park Street LLC doing business as the Tarantino 81 Park Street. [1:20:00] Susan Hawes: Second. The public hearing is open. Seeing [1:20:12] Speaker E (unidentified): no one approach. I move we close the public hearing. Public hearing is closed. Ma'am chair, I move we approve the application for special amusement license. I'm sorry, permit of 81 Park Street LLC doing business as the Tarantine 81 Park Street. [1:20:31] Susan Hawes: Hey, the application special amusement permit for the Tarantine 81 Park Street does have passage. [1:20:38] Lisa Goodwin: Next item. Public hearing application for special amusement permit of Jerry Bangor Holiday Inc doing business as Holiday in 404 Odlin Road. Council of Back. Thank you madam clerk. [1:20:49] Speaker E (unidentified): Madam chair, I move we open the public hearing for the application for a special amusement permit of Jerry Bangor Holiday Incorporated doing business as Holiday in 404 Odlin Road. Second. [1:21:00] Susan Hawes: Second. The public hearing is open for the Holiday Inn 404, Odlin Road. [1:21:10] Speaker E (unidentified): Seeing no one approach, I move we close the public hearing. Second. [1:21:14] Susan Hawes: The public hearing is closed. [1:21:17] Speaker E (unidentified): Madam Chair, I move approval of the application for a special amusement permit for Jerry Bangor Holiday Inn Incorporated, doing business as Holiday Inn 404, Odlin Road. [1:21:27] Susan Hawes: Second. Special amusement permit of Jerry Bengal Holiday Inn doing business as Holiday Inn Ausland Road [1:21:35] Lisa Goodwin: has passage. Next item. Public hearing application for special amusement permit of Las Palapas Mexican Restaurant LLC doing business as Las Palapas Mexican Restaurant 8 Bangor Mall. [1:21:47] Speaker E (unidentified): Boulevard Council of Beck. Thank you, ma'am. Clerk, Madam Chair, I move we open the public hearing for application for a special amusement permit of Las Palapas Mexican Restaurant LLC doing business as Las Palapas Mexican Restaurant, 8 Bangor Mall Boulevard. Second. [1:22:04] Susan Hawes: The public hearing is open for Las Palasas Mexican Restaurant, 8 Bangor Mall Boulevard. [1:22:13] Speaker E (unidentified): Seeing no one approach, I move we close the public hearing. [1:22:18] Susan Hawes: Okay, the public hearing is closed for Las Palasas. [1:22:24] Speaker E (unidentified): Madam Chair, I move we approve the application for a special amusement permit of Las Palapas Mexican Restaurant, LLC, doing business as Las Palapas Mexican Restaurant, [1:22:33] Susan Hawes: 8 Bangor Mall Boulevard. Second. The special amusement permit for Las Palacios Mexican Restaurant, 8 Bangor Mall Boulevard, has passage. That brings us to the end of our agenda. Any further business from the back row of this? Any comments and staff? Any staff left? They're all out there going now. Okay, Council Carson, good [1:23:12] Scott Pardee: night Bangor. Love it, I'm [1:23:17] Speaker E (unidentified): so back. Good night Bangor. [1:23:18] Joseph Leonard: oh good night bangor counselor leonard i'm gonna ruin the tempo i apologize i do want to acknowledge you know we just had a celebration i'm sorry remembrance of the attacks that happened on september 11th and what really doesn't get mentioned as much about that is the cost and the toll of what happened to the emergency service members that responded and went into those buildings and people have died from the toxins and the poisons that they put into their bodies some have are just on a road of trying to stave off the worst until they unfortunately will succumb to their medical issues, and the reason why I bring this up is I know I bring up our firefighters a lot, but I want to give a lot of praise to Chief Pelletier, for making sure that we need to prioritize our firefighters' health going forward. And I think recognizing that a lot of the medical health issues that came from those attacks were kept secret from the very people that stormed in there to save people's lives. And I think we need to do our best as a city to always be transparent and have an open communication with our emergency responders, and I just want to give my thanks to those that answer to the call of service in general, but particularly in the city of Bangor, and I look forward to growing that relationship with our firefighters, our police officers, those that respond to any 911 calls. Just know that we as a city are going to have your back. Thank you. [1:25:34] Carolyn Fish: Castlefish, I'd like to just say good night Bangor, but I couldn't do that without congratulation, congratulating our city clerk Lisa Goodwin for getting a prestigious lighthouse award, which exemplifies how she has, this award goes to those individuals who exemplify by exceptional professional capabilities, integrity, and command of a municipal operation. And I think specifically they were properly talking about our transition from downtown and to downtown, to come back to the renovations that were done on this historic building. And we have had a number of department heads in the past get prestigious awards as well. We've got a great dedicated group of people behind us that work hard. And I just want to say congratulations to her tonight and all, and I know our police and public works, we had quite the crowd downtown for Cooper Flag opening up the flag company new card shop, and that was fun to see that, and I agree with Mr. Gallagher that Bangor is a great place, and we need to, you guys should come in here and keep us in check, we need to hear that, but it's also still a great place, and that was a great investment in downtown, it was a great day, so with that, good night Bangor, that's an owl, good night Bangor [1:27:04] Angela Walker: Council Walker, good night Bangor. Council Flume, thank you. On Friday there were several really nice memorials for the 9-11 victims, and I don't think it's well known that one of them actually lived and worked in Bangor, and I had the privilege of knowing her, and her name was Marianne McFarlane, and she was a station manager at US Air at the airport where my sister worked at the time, and we used to all go out and do a lot together, and she was a lovely person, and as airline workers would sometimes do they would hop on a plane at the last minute and go take a quick trip, and my sister did it all the time, and it could have easily been my sister on one of those planes. Mary Ann happened to decide to take a quick trip to Las Vegas, and she never made it to Las Vegas, and she was 34 years old, and it was just incredibly sad to find out that someone that I knew personally died due to those attacks, and so you know it's been 25 years and it still hits hard every time, and so I'm glad that the Bangor Airport took a few minutes to remember Mary Ann because she was a part of our community, and good night Bangor, okay [1:28:32] Susan Hawes: I think that's everyone, thank you for attending