November 6, 2006 City Council Meeting

The Old Town City Council voted Monday night to approve funds for a new thermal imaging camera for the Fire Department, to increase parking ticket fees from $10 to $20, and to enter into an agreement to provide ambulance service coverage for a section of Hancock County.

All seven council members were in attendance at the election-eve meeting. The fire department’s request for approval of funds for a new thermal imaging camera came after the department applied to the Galen Cole Foundation for a full grant for the camera, but received only partial funding. The additional funds approved by the Council will cover the balance due to come from the Matching Grant Account 7200-0350.

“The camera we have now was the first (thermal imaging camera) to come out several years ago,” Jimmy Lavoie, Old Town fire chief, said. “That specific brand is being weeded out now, and we’re trying to make sure that we aren’t one down if the camera breaks.”

The Council also approved the police department’s request to raise parking ticket fees from $10 to $20. In making the request, police department chief Don O’Halloran pointed out that parking ticket fees in Bangor and Orono are both higher than Old Town’s, and that Old Town has not raised its parking ticket fees in over ten years.

The Council’s approval of a new agreement for the city to provide ambulance service to a portion of Hancock County will extend coverage into T-32 MD, which encompasses approximately eight miles of the Stud Mill Road from the intersection of the County Road.

“(The agreement means that) we won’t be the first called, but that we will provide extra help,” Lavoie said.

Lavoie told the Council that as part of the agreement, the department would receive a yearly stipend of $1500 and would also bill the parties picked up by the ambulance.

Monday night’s meeting also served as a forum for two Old Town residents who voices their continuing concerns over the recent sale of the former G-P mill to Red Shield Environmental, LLC. In addressing the Council, Old Town resident Charles Leithiser said that “the public had been completely shut out” of recent interactions between the city and Red Shield. Leithiser referenced a recent meeting held by local activist group We The People, saying that he had not seen any council members there, and making an unfavorable comparison between the Old Town city council and the Orono town council.

“When the people in Orono went to the council with their concerns, Orono responded with a public meeting,” he said. “You went into executive session behind closed doors.”

Leithiser also voiced questions regarding the city’s decision to lend $230,000 to Red Shield in order to expediate the company’s purchase of the mill property, and to initiate a pilot program that will allow the company to treat its leachate in the city’s water treatment facility.

“I wonder what my sewer bill will be after the treatment of the leachate here in Old Town,” he said. “Residents of this city have many questions, but the denial of public comments is shameful.”

            Fellow Old Town resident Ed Spencer spoke out with similar concerns, saying that he was “putting in a word for democracy” and characterizing Casella as “masters of public manipulation and doublespeak.”

            “Now they’re jamming through an expansion in the near future,” he said. “I can almost guarantee you that will happen just before Christmas, when the twenty day period for public notification will be more like ten days because of it being a busy time of year.”

            Responding to both men, Council Chair Gary Sirois said that the executive session held by the Council had been at the urging of city attorney ---, but that the meeting had still been in keeping with standard procedure.

            “Every one of us on this council has been elected by the people of this city, not just We The People,” he said. “I went to the Orono meeting last week, and I found myself dismayed as to why we were in that forum.”

            Sirios went on to say that he had once lived “right in front of that mill” and was looking forward to a new, cleaner life for the facility.

            “There’s pollution in everything we do,” he said. “David Littell (DEP Commissioner) did a fabulous job explaining things at the Orono meeting. The (biomass) boiler has never run long enough for the effects to be determined. I’m putting my faith in people with knowledge of the situation.”

            Sirois added that he was tired of “daggers being thrown at us that we are not doing everything properly.”

            “I will not take those comments,” he said. “You are not doing anything in vain (by speaking out), but I resent the arrogant way that you present your comments to us, that we are just doing what we please.”

            Old Town city manager Peggy Daigle addressed the subject as well, pointing out that the closing of the deal with Red Shield last week has necessitated some quick action on the part of the city.

            “We were notified on Monday (Oct.30) that there was trouble, so the city stepped in,” she said. “On Friday, we put out our notices that there would be an executive session (on the following Monday). The deal was supposed to close Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, but it closed on Friday. There was very little time to get the public involved. It was not beneficial to the deal to not hurry.”

            Daigle said that the city has stood its ground in regard to the leachate deal, agreeing to the pilot program as opposed to a 30-year deal wanted by the company.

            “We made sure that there was general public good to Old Town, that it was worth taking the risk,” she said. “It would have been a sad day if the city hadn’t stepped up to the plate.”

            Spencer ended his side of the dialogue by telling Daigle that she was in fact doing “a good job” and asking her to “please hang with us.”

            Other items also approved by the Council at Monday night’s meeting:

• An application from Bangor Hydro-Electric Company for a pole location permit for 26 existing poles located on Kirkland Road, beginning approximately 7,218 feet northwesterly from the junction of Poplar Street, over a total distance of 6,017 feet.

• A request from residents for installation of a streetlight on Littlefield Lane as recommended by the Public Affairs Committee.