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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1997-10-07 Municipal Operations Committee Minutes • Municipal Operations Committee Meeting Minutes October 7, 1997 Councilors Attending: Pat Blanchette, Nichi Farnham Staff Attending: Edward Barrett, Bob Farrar, Erik Stumpfel, Joe McNeil Others Attending: Roxanne Saucier, BDN Meeting convened at 5:01 pm 1. Nomination to Board of Directors - Municipal Review Committee There are three positions on the board of directors of the Municipal Review Committee expiring in December. The M.R.C. is soliciting nominations for membership to the board. Bob Farrar indicated to the City Manager that, should the Council wish to nominate him, he would be willing to serve for another 3-year • term. Bob explained that Bangor is the largest contributor in terms of tonnage to the MRC and it is important to have someone from Bangor serve on this Committee. The Committee nominates Bob Farrar to the Board of Directors of the Municipal Review Committee. 2. Update - Bus Operations Last year it was suggested that on a quarterly basis the Committee be briefed on the Bus operations. Joe McNeil prepared a summary, detailing some of the major areas that have been worked on recently. Many of these are the recommendations from the Crikeliar Report that was done recently on the entire Bus system. Bus Purchases: Joe McNeil explained that the two replacement busses for Hampden and Brewer should be here in late October. Bangor has purchased three busses. The bids have been put together and are at the Bureau of Purchases in Augusta. Joe recently found out that they will be bidding out one bus and asking for two additional busses. This is because they can only ask for so much capital. The FDA has a cap on their purchases, but it doesn't stop the City of Bangor in going ahead and getting two more busses. The purchase order will be issued through the City. S • Monthly Bus Pass: The monthly bus pass has been a successful program. In the first two months, there were approximately 4,200 extra rides provided compared to the two months in the previous year and revenue is up 4.6%. The pass are priced at $30 per month, unlimited rides. Bus Schedule: The current bus schedule is being replaced by a new easy to read schedule. The schedule will include a fold-out bus map. There will also be new maps for both of the key locations at the University of Maine and the shelter downtown. Route Expansion: Holiday service was added. Columbus Day will be the first holiday. Orono, Bangor, and Brewer offer the holiday service. Hampden has decided to try it on a trial basis. Staff is recommending that no change to the current Mt. Hope Route be made, but service be extended from Pickering Square to Shaw's on Main Street. This would enhance service without disrupting current ridership within the current budget. Councilor Blanchette asked that staff make sure that the Bangor House residents and the new residents of the Freese building receive the new schedules as they could potentially be the biggest ridership. Bob Farrar explained that staff intends to continue studying the Mt. Hope run. Because there is no money for this current year, staff will look at these options over the • next several months and will come back with a recommendation and include any monies that may be needed. Councilor Blanchette asked if staff had spoken to Roy Daigle and the owners of the Bangor Mall to see if they are interested in helping to fund this study because it is an asset to them. Bob Farrar stated that as staff gets into exploring options, they will follow up on this idea. Route Identification - Marking: Telephone poles are painted with a bright ring so that people know where the bus will stop. There is a lot involved in this and staff didn't get to this year. Councilor Blanchette recommended that Joe coordinate with Cpt. Gallant and the Penobscot County Jail and see if inmates can be used to do this painting. Committee recommends that the Mt. Hope run remain the same and that the Shaw's run be added to the schedule. 3. Sale of Cemetery Lots in Pine Grove Expansion Tabled. • • 4. Request to Modify License - Use of 335 Broadway This is a request to modify an agreement that the City currently has in place. A year ago, the City entered into an agreement with Patrick Audet, Jr. and Patrick Audet Ill to use a City owned lot on 335 Broadway as an additional to their parcel. They paid the cost to have a fence put up and cleared it out. The Audet property has since been sold to Mr. Reno Pelletier and he would like to take assignment of that agreement but is concerned about the amount of the license fee that is charged (approx. $600/year). Ben Birch, City Assessor worked up the valuation of the lot, either as a stand alone or as an addition lot, which turned out to be $6,100 and 10% was asked for. Mr. Pelletier would like to modify the agreement and is offering $150 per year for the use of the property. This would cover the taxes for the assessed land value. Mr. Pelletier explained that he is not using the land for business purposes, but the use would be for his tenants as part of the driveway that would allow them access to Broadway without having to back up into the street. Councilor Blanchette asked if there was a reason why the City was keeping this lot. Ed Barrett explained that the lot is adjacent to the park and at some time that whole section of Broadway will have to be re-thought. Councilor Blanchette stated that she felt it would be in the City's best interest to accept the $150 per year fee and that the City can terminate within 30 days if the land is needed for something. Mr. Pelletier is agreeing to keep the property • maintained and kept up. The Committee approved the modification to the agreement. 5. Codification of City Ordinances - Overview of Initial Draft Code Erik gave the Committee a first look at the first draft of the Codification from General Code Publishers. Erik explained that there are a few titles that he would like to change and a few chapters that he would like to rearrange. The way this is worked out, there are four chapters that consolidate the more archaic ordinances. These include Chapter 101, Animals; Chapter 161, Health st Sanitation and Chapter 220, Peace 8.1 Good Order. One of the recommendations, which Erik agrees with, is to break the Juvenile Curfew Ordinance out into a separate chapter. Erik asked department heads to review the ordinances relating to their departments and send him any proposed changes that they may have. This gives the City an opportunity to do a full review of all the ordinances and make comprehensive changes to them. Councilor Blanchette feels that this is something that the whole Council should have a chance to express their opinion on. Erik suggests meeting with the publishers and working through their book of recommendations. One organizational change that Erik would make is to just have a single chapter on the City Council so the rules, meeting ordinance, and ordinance on ordinances would • all be in that same chapter. The recommendation is to bring this up after the new Council is seated. • 6. Executive Session: Legal Issue Erik Stumpfel updated the Committee on the Cable Agreement with Frontier Vision. Frontier Vision requested some changes to the most recent draft agreement. Erik incorporated these changes and was informed that this agreement is acceptable to Frontier Vision. The agreement is for Bangor but has been done in a way that it will work for each of the 14 towns in the area consortium. The consortium wants an area wide network which would link all of the towns into one municipal network. One of the trade-offs proposed was a 15 year franchise because it would require a lot of capital expenditure and to amortize it over a longer period might make it more attractive. There is also a provision on future upgrades which requires the grantee to incorporate new technologies as they become available, if economically feasible. It also allows the City to conduct a review anytime between year 7 and year 10 to make sure that this has been done. Frontier Vision will also be required to maintain the public access channel and when the upgrade is complete, they need to provide three channels which allows the subscriber to segregate one each for governmental, educational and general public access. The agreement also allows that if those channels are being utilized often, Frontier Vision is required to allow up to two additional channels, one of which can be designated for municipal use by the City. Erik reviewed other • aspects to the Cable Agreement with the Committee. •