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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010-01-14 Harbor Committee Minutes City of Bangor Harbor Committee Minutes Meeting: Thursday, January 14, 2010 City Council Chambers Committee Members in Attendance: Jim Ring, City Engineer; Daniel Cassidy; Richard Reinhard; Daniel Field; Harbormaster, Jerry Ledwith; I November 2009 minutes: Accepted as distributed II Docks/Budget Crisis The State Budget Crisis is forcing all City to cut its spending dramatically. Jim Ring indicated that municipal services must deal with a new $1.3 million reduction. In addition, the waterfront revenue for the heavy vessel dock usage (Dock #5) is expected to be down due to a reduced schedule for the American Cruise Line. Committee representatives had brought the motion passed at the last meeting to the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee meeting in December. Jim Ring indicated that the City is pursuing the possibility of a commercial partner for dock operations. This process is in its preliminary stage. Consideration of any dock fee structure by this committee will be deferred until the March meeting at which time the status of any private partner would be better defined. III The Waterfront Usage Forum The forum was held on Thursday, November 19, 2009 and attracted 24 citizens, many representative of significant commercial, boating and river activity groups. See the attached summary. The final form which the small vessel access will take is still being considered by City Engineering. Some issues will be dependent on the resolution of the coal tar remediation project. The intent is to meet many of the goals outlined at the forum (see attached). It is hoped that a near final site plan would be available and could be made public by April. This is at the start of the boating season and would be an ideal time to get the word out and follow up on some of the enthusiasm shown by participants at the forum. IV Update on Tar Remediation Jim Ring, reported progress was slowed by early icing of the river. It is hoped that the in-water portion of the project (i.e. up to the shoreline) would be completed shortly. V Joint meeting with Brewer As in past years we will invite Linda Johns and their engineering department to participate in a meeting so we can mutually update on waterfront plans. Given that the two cities share the harbor, share the same harbor master, and that the harbor activities are a common interest, the Committee felt that an active Brewer presence would be desirable. Given the definition of this committee by the City Charter, such a representative would not be able to vote, but yet could serve as a valuable liaison. To this end, the following motion was made, seconded and passed unanimously. MOTION: That the City of Brewer be invited to have a regular, non-voting member to this committee.