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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016-11-21 Government Operations Committee Minutes Government Operations Committee Monday, November 21, 2016 Immediately Following Finance City Council Chambers Present: Nichols, Chair; Sprague, Weston, Tremble, Faircloth, Nealley, Baldacci, Graham Staff: Catherine Conlow, Jamie Comstock, Tracy Willette, Laurie Linscott, Mark Hathaway 1. Resolve, Authorizing the City Manager to Accept and Appropriate a two year Grant in the amount of $60,000 from the Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Centers for Disease Control, Lead Poisoning Prevention Fund - Jamie Comstock from Community Health gave an update on this grant renewal for lead poisoning prevention. Moved by Councilor Sprague and seconded by Faircloth, the item was referred to the November 28, 2016 Council Meeting. 2. Resolve, Authorizing the City Manager to Accept and Appropriate funds for a Maine Health Access Foundation Healthy Communities Phase III Implementation Grant. - Jamie Comstock gave an overview of this grant which is a proposal to work with the BARN on a Peer Recovery Program. Moved by Councilor Sprague and seconded by Faircloth, the item was referred unanimously to the November 28, 2016 Council Meeting. 3. Resolve, Accepting and Appropriating a $100,000 Grant from the University of New England to conduct an assessment of and work on youth substance abuse prevention initiatives in the Penquis Public Health District. - Jamie Comstock gave a brief update on this grant. Moved by Councilor Sprague and seconded by Weston, the item was referred unanimously to the November 28, 2016 Council Meeting. 4. Resolve, Accepting and Appropriating an $85,000 grant from Let’s Go! Maine to increase healthy eating and active living in key settings for children and families in the Penquis Public Health District. - Jamie Comstock gave a brief update on this grant. Moved by Councilor Sprague and seconded by Faircloth, the item was referred unanimously to the November 28, 2016 Council Meeting. 5. Resolve, Accepting and Appropriating a $104,128 Grant from MaineHealth, Center for Tobacco Independence to reduce tobacco-use in the Penquis Public Health District. - Jamie Comstock gave a brief update on this grant. Moved by Councilor Sprague and seconded by Faircloth, the item was referred unanimously to the November 28, 2016 Council Meeting. 6. Order, Authorizing the City Manager to Sign College Pass Agreements for Community Connector Services. - The City has annual college pass agreements whereby the colleges pay a flat fee and the students can ride the bus for free with their student id. These agreements with University of Maine, University of Maine Augusta, and Eastern Maine Community College come up for annual renewal and do not change dramatically over time. The request is that barring unusual changes, that the manager be permitted to sign off on those agreements. Councilor Graham asked if Beal College was included. Laurie Linscott indicated that they were not. There have been discussions in the past but they have not signed on. Councilor Graham asked if Laurie would follow up with them and she indicated that she would. Moved by Sprague and seconded by Tremble, the item was referred unanimously to the November 28, 2016 Council Meeting. 7. Memorandum of Understanding with BACTS. - Paul indicated that this was a routine agreement with BACTS. Following the first Triennial review of the Community Connector it was recommended that changes be made to the agreement with BACTS to ensure compliance with the Federal Transit Authority. Moved by Sprague and seconded by Faircloth, the item was referred unanimously to the November 28, 2016 Council Meeting. 8. Authorization to work with local chapter of the New England Mountain Biking Association for the purpose of reclaiming various trails. - Tracy Willette indicated that the New England Mountain Biking Association was making trail improvements and would like to raise funds to make additional repairs to City owned trails. Councilor Sprague indicated that he was pleased with the article in the newspaper and supported efforts to improve the trail system. Councilor Weston asked what the relationship means and Tracy indicated that it allows them to raise funds for the purpose of making improvements to city owned property. Moved by Sprague and seconded by Faircloth, the item was referred unanimously to the November 28, 2016 Council Meeting. th 9. Authorization to allow the use of Council Chambers on Sunday, December 4 for a memorial service in honor of Patricia Blanchette. th - Gerry Palmer had asked if the Council Chambers could be used on December 4 for a memorial service for former councilor Pat Blanchette. Staff provided a brief overview of the use of City Hall policy and the fee for use which would be $25 for use of the room and $35 per hour for staff time to open, heat, and close the facility. Councilors Faircloth and Sprague felt that section 2.5 indicated that the policy appears to support such a request in that it is reasonable and there is a public interest. Councilors Baldacci, Nichols and Nealley agreed that it fit. Councilor Tremble indicated that he was not sure Pat Blanchette would approve of the precedence. Moved by Sprague and seconded by Faircloth, the item was referred unanimously to the November 28, 2016 Council Meeting. 10. Winter Parking Rules - This request came from a number of councilors. The proposed ordinance amendment would suspend winter parking rules for a period of one year. Odd/Even would remain in effect, however PW would post when no overnight parking rules would be in effect based on the weather. Chief Hathaway indicated that this one year period would give the PW Director the opportunity to see how well it worked. Councilor Weston was concerned about how we would measure whether this system would be more successful. Councilor Sprague indicated that his preference would be to enforce winter parking rules as soon as the first snow fell and they would remain in effect until April. Councilor Sprague indicated that since November was over, we could stay with the status quo and review in the spring for the next year. Chief Hathaway indicated that they are only issuing warnings and have not ticketed or towed. Councilor Baldacci asked if the Chief could continue that practice until it snows. Chief Hathaway agreed that would work. Staff will bring this back to the committee in late spring for potential changes. Item was not moved or seconded.