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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2009-10-27 Government Operations Committee Minutes Government Operations Committee October 27, 2009 Minutes Councilor Attendance: Wheeler, Blanchette, Gratwick, Palmer, Nealley Staff Attendance: Barrett, Farrar, Arno, Hathaway, Heitmann, Wardwell, Cammack Others: Eric Russell, BDN, Mike Noyes, Dr. James Kenny, Jing Zhang Committee Chair Wheeler opened the meeting at 5:00 p.m. CONSENT AGENDA 1. Council Ordinance 09-321, Amending Schedules I, III, IV of Chapter 291, Article III, §§ 291-38 and 291-39 of the Code of the City of Bangor – Parking Prohibited at All Times and Parking Prohibited Except for Limited Times – Area Around John Bapst High School Barrett said the only change is the specific Ordinance language that would implement the proposals discussed at the last meeting. A motion was made and seconded to refer this to the Council with the Committee’s approval. REGULAR AGENDA 2. Proposed Ordinance Amendment – Handicapped Parking Time Limits Heitmann began by saying that the City allows twice the time allowed for parking spots for handicap individuals. For example, if the spot was a one-hour parking spot, handicap individuals would be allowed 2 hours. This has been a practice of the Police Department for years. Mark Hathaway, Mike Noyes, Galen Saucier and Heitmann met and talked about some issues that the City might not be aware of regarding handicap parking. The recommendation is to have the handicap and all parking spaces clearly marked and publicized so that handicap individuals know they can park not only in the designated parking spots but also in the non-handicap spots as well. Sometimes parking spots that become available are not handicap spaces and are better and more convenient. It is also recommended that during the winter weather the people responsible for shoveling or plowing the snow do so in a way that will not hinder the handicap spaces. Often times snow is piled up on the curbs making it difficult for ramps to be lowered for handicap people. Michael Noyes, a resident of Bangor and also on the Parking Committee, spoke about meetings in which there were discussions on ways to make more assessable parking because parking is limited. He said that the idea of making any space handicap assessable would be a tremendous advantage for those who have vans with side access. A motion was made and seconded to move staff’s recommendation to allow twice the posted time limits for handicapped individuals who park in non-handicap designated spaces. 3. Future Use of Former Fire Station 6 on Griffin Road Cammack said that since the move to the new fire station the old one is left empty. Staff would like to be able to use this building for storage until the City decides what to do with the space. The Police Department would like to use the building for storage to house cones and other signage and Public Works would like to store some Folk Festival staging. Currently, the Fire Department is storing a spare engine and ambulance as a result of having limited space. He also said that as recent as 12:30 p.m. today, Deputy Chief Arno and Cammack met with the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency. They are also looking for space and would like to look into using the former Station 6 building as a site to store some of their equipment. They understand that this would require financial assistance in order to keep the building running as far as heating and electricity costs. Cammack is not prepared to give any financial numbers right now but will look into it. Staff is asking that this be a place that can be used as storage until something else is decided. Responding to Gratwick, Cammack said that the building is currently being used as a cold storage and is able to be heated. The furnace had been shut off but he turned it on today and he is trying to avoid water pipes breaking. Cammack will need to look at the oil consumption last year and get back to the committee. The heat is down to 45 degrees and they have added antifreeze to the pipes. Gratwick would like to see this building being used as some type of revenue producing space or put it up for sale. Barrett stated that he feels the location is not ideal for the City to store material forever. The land use plan is for residential use or institutional use. This would push the commercial use down towards Broadway. Nealley feels that if there was some money to help cover caring costs, in that it has some current utility, he would not be in a great rush in changing its current capacity. He agrees with Gratwick in regard to the highest function and use of the facility over time. In the near term it would be smart to consider anything that MDEA might have for a need and capitalize on that if possible. Arno said that MDEA wanted to check with their state and local partners first, but they do plan to put out an RFP looking for commercial storage space for the equipment they have. He said that they just acquired a fair amount of equipment in order to help them deal with the Cleanup of Hazardous Materials and they want to store that equipment somewhere in central Maine, and ideally in Bangor. Wheeler asked what the life expectancy of the ambulance and the fire engine is. Cammack responded saying that the average is 25 years, and the current spare truck is 21 or 22 years old. Cammack pointed out that the Fire Department will always have a spare truck. Wheeler thinks that building is very ugly and asked if it was possible to have it repainted. Cammack said that it is too late this year but something that can be looked at early next year. He said that MDEA also realizes that this building has some maintenance issues and can deal with those themselves. He apologized for the short notice, but just met with them today at 12:30 p.m. Blanchette encouraged anyone that is not familiar with the old Station Six to go out and look around. She said that it is a wet land and not very pretty. She also said that this might be a project for the Penobscot Job Corps to learn how to paint metal. She encouraged the Committee, before the City goes into the budget process, visit the one mechanic that is responsible for keeping all the engines running and see how difficult it is to move all of the equipment out of the building, leave it running, and repair the equipment and then move all the equipment back in the building. She does not believe this is a cost efficient operation and she feels that the City needs cold storage. She also said that the City should work with Honeywell to see if a wood burner would work in this building. Palmer pointed out that the civic center and arena might also be a place for future storage. Barrett suggested that because more information is needed from MDEA about what they are willing to contribute, and staff needs to work out some numbers of actual costs, this can be brought up again at the next meeting. He does not think this will require full Council action because it would just be continuing to operate a building under the control of the Fire Department. To do something different such as sell the property, or look for another use for the building would require Council action. Blanchette feels that the remaining Councilors would not be comfortable with this committee deciding what to do with this building so she would like this to come back to the Committee with the MDEA information and then go to the full Council for final action. 4. Update – Information Regarding Chinese Sister City Relationship Palmer began by stating that the City has recognized the Bangor Chinese School for the wonderful work and how Jing Zhang and Dr. James Kenny have helped bring a lot of cultural diversity and education to our community. He pointed out that our community is growing and as the City looks forward and as the vision is refocused, the City needs to reach out. Palmer reminded the Committee that he wrote a letter some time ago to get the ball rolling and Ms. Zhang from the Bangor Chinese School hand carried that letter to the leaders in China. The community that was targeted to form a sister city was not prepared to move forward and another community has been chosen in their place. Dr. Kenny spoke about the pleasure he has experienced working with Zhang and is a member on her board. He is not a paid employee but a volunteer and has a great deal of enthusiasm for this project. He thinks that developing a sister city relationship with a Chinese municipality would benefit the City of Bangor. He spoke about the fact that Maine’s trade with China has had a 200% increase since 2002. Maine has been noted as one of the chief sponsors in support of expanded world trade. The Maine Trade Policy Commission reported $152 million dollars in trade that Maine has seen with China. He thinks that what Bangor can do to get ready for tomorrow is to provide education in language culture and can accomplish that by providing Chinese in the High School level. This is a long range view of how to get young people who may want to go into business someday interested in a Chinese connection and more importantly have the confidence to work with a Chinese connection. Almost everything that has been done, has been done without taking money from the City of Bangor, nor do they intend to. They have their own source of funding and their school project tends to be tuition driven and when they need money they go to federal sources. The National Security Agency in its promotion of critical language instruction in the states has been quite generous in supporting projects around the country geared towards the teaching of Chinese. This area has not caught up with Maine’s trade relationship with China and does not have many people that speak Chinese. That is what Zhang is working towards and what this organization is about. Dr. Kenny does not see this partnership being an expense to the City. What he would like to see is the exchange of students. He feels that he and Zhang could get money for that. Zhang spoke about having the exchange of students be the first part of the project and then later on involving the teachers. She is confident that they can obtain the support from both China and U.S.A. Dr. Kenny said this would help students to have somewhere to go that has readymade connections at institutions of known repute. The community that is being recommended is called Harbin and bordered by what is sometimes referred to as the Black River. It is much like Maine and is located in the northeast corner of the country. It has a brisk winter climate much like Maine’s weather and is oil rich. One of the industries that it supports is petroleum and fuel research, precision tool making, aeronautics, and is a major grain growing region as well. The City boarders Outer Mongolia on the west and Gellian Province in the south. The City is known for its textiles, medicine, electronics, auto production, and hydro-thermal power equipment. Hydro-thermal power equipment interested Dr. Kenny a great deal for a variety of reasons including Maine’s commitment to go green. Wheeler asked what China would get from a relationship with Bangor and why would this not be encouraged in the State level. Responding to Wheeler, Dr. Kenny said that some of what China is taking from Maine includes forest and forestry goods/products, food products, and electronics. This has all been reported by the State of Maine Economic and Community Development Department. Wheeler asked what economic benefit would there be to either Bangor or the State of Maine given the imbalance of trade right now. Responding to Wheeler, Dr. Kenny said there is probably not any immediate tangible benefits, but long term, there would be a developing relationship that would enable people in Maine who are expanding their own businesses to look for potential trade partners in China. It would enable students from the Bangor area the opportunity to visit China, spend some time and make some professional connections, develop a little self confidence and move out beyond Penobscot County and into the bigger world. It also would give a better view of Maine to China. Zhang spoke about her hopes of starting with the education and students and seeing where it goes from there. Nealley spoke about the difference between whether Lee Academy and Lee, Maine can move forward and have financial success and enhance their offerings to all students by bringing in students that pay and, in many cases, a full year in advance or more. Husson University is another example right here in Bangor. There is tremendous economic benefit by their willingness and their advances to ensure that Husson would be a University that had great diversity, not just to the University but to the entire region. He feels that there is an immediate economic benefit even under the cultural and educational exchange premise that has been set forth. He said that the number one purchaser of consumer products out of China is Wal-Mart. Many fortune five hundred companies actually have contractual relationships with China and/or own manufacturing facilities over there and are part of their employment base. The Committee watched the PowerPoint presentation. Gratwick commented that the disparities in sizes are in Bangor’s favor and if China takes it seriously, he thinks it would be very interesting to have it go forward. After the presentation, Dr. Kenny discussed the relationships China has with surrounding nations and their current government power. Palmer thanked Dr. Kenny and Zhang for the presentation and said that this could not have come at a better time. He pointed out that later this week the Council and Staff will be hosting a visit from its sister city with Saint John New Brunswick, Saint John also has a sister city with China and this visit would be a great opportunity to talk to them about that relationship. Palmer also responded to Wheeler saying that Bangor should develop this relationship as opposed to the State because Bangor does many things better than the State. Dr. Kenny invited all of the committee members to visit their school and find out more about what they do. He pointed out that this summer they are providing a program down in Portland. In conclusion, Palmer asked for the Committee to give further thought to where they would like to go from here. Meeting adjourned at 6:25 p.m.