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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-10-02 Government Operations Committee Minutes GovernmentOperations Committee nd MONDAY, October 2, 2017 MINUTES Councilors Present; Nichols, Faircloth, Graham, Nealley, Perry, Tremble, and Weston. Staff Present; Assistant City Manager Michael Crooker, City Manager Cathy Conlow, Jamie Comstock and Patty Hamilton of Health and Community Services, City Solicitor, Norm Heitmann, Parks and Recreation Director, Tracy Willette and Chief of Police, Mark Hathaway. Chairperson Nichols opened the meeting at 5:15 PM. Regular Agenda 1.Resolve, Supporting Question 2 on the November 7, 2017 Ballot -An Act To Enhance Access to Affordable Health Care. Assistant City Manager, Michael Crooker noted that a member of the Council had asked that this resolve be prepared. Mr. Crooker noted that the resolve has already been before the council at the last meeting and was referred to the Government Operations Committee. Councilor Sprague indicated thatheusuallyis not supportive of taking a position on these type of larger scale state and federal issues but in this case,it obviously has an impact on Bangor residents, hospitals, jobs etc. Therefore,he moved approval of the resolve. Councilor Tremble seconded the motion. Motion was not doubted. 2.Resolve, Accepting and Appropriating a Grant inthe amount of $125,000 from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to Implement Drug Free Communities Program. Jamie Comstock of Bangor Health and Community Services indicated that this grant was for year six of ten involving the Municipalitiesof Bangor, Brewer, Hampden, and Hermon. Ms. Comstock noted that John Bapst is eligible to participate this year as well. Councilor Sprague motioned to approve staff recommendation. Councilor Tremble seconded the motion. Councilor Nealley asked Ms.Comstock if this included efforts involving the drug marijuana. Ms. Comstock indicated yes. Motion was not doubted. 3.Discussion of Temporary StreetClosures and Parades. Tracy Willette, Director, Parks and Recreation and Mark Hathaway, Chief of Police addressed the Council. Mr. Willette indicated that they regularly receive requests to use City Parks for events and that they wanted to develop a more formal process for reviewing and approving such requests. He indicated that the City Engineer helped establish a capacity for each area such as West Market Square. The estimate is that 350 people could fit into West Market Square without closing Broad Street. An event that is expected to have more than 350 attendees would then be sent to Pickering Square or one of the other parks that could accommodate larger crowds. City Manager Conlownoted that the intent would be to have objective criteriato use to determine the best spot for an event. The intent would be to limit the times when streets such as Broad Street would be closed to travel. Ideally,street closures would be limited to City sponsored events although the same criteria could be used to determine if other areas might be suitable. Parade routes were also discussed. Two preferred parade routes were shared with theCouncil. Councilor Nichols indicated that she thought the Pride Parade had a different route. Chief Hathaway indicatedthat the Pride Parade did use a different route in the past but that specific route closedtraffic all throughout the downtown area. Chief Hathaway noted that they would discuss the routes with the organizers of the Pride parade but that the expectation would be that they would have to use oneof the two proposed routes that would still allow traffic coming from Hampden to bypass the area without blocking traffic. Councilor Sprague noted that they should also look into routes for road races/marathons. Lisa Leonard of 25 Broad Street thanked everyone for his or herconsideration of this issue. She noted that the closure of Broad Street affectsthe handicap accessible entrance to her business. She also noted that on several occasions when Broad Street has been closed she has witnessed the elderly or the affirmed having to walk with canes or other aides from beyond the Bangor Daily News Building. It was emphasized that the intent of the policy is to treat everyone the same and understand that events also affectother businesses and individuals in the area therefore there is a need to be cognizant of their concerns and to try to balance the interests of all involved. 4.Discussion of the Board of Ethics’Recommendations of Changes to Chapter 33 Code of Ethics of the Code of the City of Bangor. Members of the Board of Ethicswere present to discuss their findings with the Council in greater detail. A great deal of time was spent discussing the recommendations related to social media. There was concerned expressed over disclaimers over whether Councilor’s conversations on social media are as an individual or whether they reflect the position of the City Council. The Ethics Board suggested that greater clarity is needed. Councilors were advised that they should specify when their opinion is their own versus a position of the Council. Additional discussion ensued regarding stifling freedom of speech and what would be considered an ethics violation involving this issue. There are a number of grey areas and it would not always be easy to determine. Councilor Graham suggested that the Board of Ethics should review actual past social media use by Councilors to determine what actually exists and if there is a problem that needs to be addressed. Additional discussion ensued. Councilor Sprague motioned to send the Board’s recommendations to the full Council. Councilor Tremble seconded. Motion was not doubted. 5.Order, Amending Submerged Land Lease No 10-19BL Councilor Sprague motioned to accept the staff’srecommendation in accordance with thememo from Tracy Willette, Director, Parks and Recreation.Councilor Tremble seconded the motion. All in favor. Meeting adjourned 6:08 PM.