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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2003-02-19 Finance Committee Minutes ' FINANCE COMMITTEE ' February 19, 2003 Minutes �' Councilor Attendance: Tremble, Allen, Rohman, Palmer, Nealley and Greene ' Staff Attendance: Cyr, Pellegrino, Hamer Others: Buckley, BRACC Representatives , 1. Consent Agenda A motion was made and seconded to approve the Consent Agenda. ', a. Quitclaim Deed — Lawler— Pray's Trailer Park Lot 52 b. Quitclaim Deed — Wilson — 1719 Essex Street 1 c. Quitclaim Deed — Daniels — 649 Hammond Street d. Quitclaim Deeds — Various ' 2. Bids/Purchasing � a. Uniform Rental — Airport — Unifirst Corporation - $10,982 Committee unanimously approved staff's recommendation. Palmer asked if the clean clothes questionnaire had been completed. � b. Non-Metallic Collection System Components — WWfP — Ecesis LLC & Lane Supply I -$10,002. The Committee postponed action on this item to their next meeting at � which time WWTP personnel will be in attendance to answer questions. A motion was made and seconded to table the item. ' c. Turnout Gear — Fire Department — Cove Brook Safety - $15,743 Pellegrino pointed out that Cove Brook Safety is owned by a Bangor firefighter but it is not considered a conflict of interest as he sells to the general public and , has no part in the purchase decision-making. Palmer asked if the clean clothes questionnaire had been completed. Pellegrino said these are specialized items and did not have a completed questionnaire. However, the items are 100% ' produced in the US. A motion was made and seconded to approve staff's recommendation. ' d. Contract Extension — Airport— Merrill MerchanYs Trust Agreement The Airport has a separate trust fund whereby they invest money for a longer � term. The original three-year contract had an option to renew for an additional three years. The services provided have been very satisfactory. The Finance Director and Airport stafF recommend approval. Nealley talked about the need to � not go out for bid at this time since the service provided had been satisfactory. Tremble talked about the City's new guidelines for city-invested funds and asked if similar guidelines with Merrill for both buying and investing Airport funds. At ' the City's request, Merrill has written guidelines similar to other City advisors for ' investment purposes. The guidelines will be ready in March. A motion was made , and seconded to approve the three-year extension. The item will be forwarded to the full Council at their February 24th meeting. , 3. Council Resolve 03-75, Making an Appropriation for Howes Corner, Plymouth, Maine Waste Oil Site � Assistant City Solicitor provided a brief update of the efforts undertaken by the Joint ' Defense Group formed to resolve clean-up issues surrounding the Howes Corner waste site. A motion was made and seconded to recommend approval to full Council of this Resolve which will appropriate $31,174 from Airport Reserves and , $34,180 from the General Fund's Undesignated Fund Balance toward the cost associated with the Howes Corner, Plymouth, Maine waste oil site. The City of Bangor is a potentially responsible party for a superfund site located in Plymouth � and, in the past, has made a number of payments toward the cost of cleanup of this site. This has been done through a joint defense group with other potentially responsible parties. In January, the defense group approved this assessment which ' will fund the cost of community relations and institutional control implementation. Greene asked the Ciry's total cost in the effort. Hamer said the City contributed � 2,482 of waste oil in the 70's which is approximately 1.05% of the entire volume of waste at the site. About 1/3'd of the parties that contributed are no longer in existence. Over 100 parties have banned together to form the joint defense group � and Bangor's percentage is approximately 3% of volume of that group. The total assessment is about $2.2M and the $65,000 is Bangor's portion. Rohman asked about the groups who are not part of the defense group. Hamer doesn't have a list � of those groups. 4. Request for Support— Bangor Region Arts and Culturai Council � Representative(s) of BRACC presented their request for $5,000 in support of"Arts on the Green", an outdoor family arts festival. Cyr indicated this would be a daylong ' event utilizing the two parks on either side of Central Street as well as the Norumbega Hall parking lot. The total project cost is estimated at $16,700 and BRACC is seeking grants and other corporate sponsors totaling $11,700 leaving a ' $5,000 balance. Susan Potters, Executive Director of the BRACC, Susan Jonason from the Bangor Symphony and is also chair of the BRACC, as well as several board ' members and other community interested supporters were in attendance. Potters talked about a thriving arts community to make a community attractive to business people. The City has supported many of the local art institutions including the Folk , Festival, The Discovery Museum, Penobscot Theatre, University Museum of Art. The BRACC represents many kinds of expertise and experience. Potters would like to see the City recognize and become a partner with BRACC. The event will involve local � artisans and local musicians. There will be continuous musical and art making areas, children and adult's areas, teens from the community who will be trained as jugglers, and art teachers. Potters said BRACC will help make Bangor the art's , mecca of the state. Their web site is almost up and running and wili include an art's calendar. They will be creating a "visit Bangor and explore the arts" brochure. The following spoke in support of BRACC: Tim Nightengale of United Kingfield Bank; ' , ' Robert Kennedy of the University of Maine; Ruth of the YWCA; Wally Mason of the University Museum of Art; Kathy Bernier, Hammond Street Senior Center; Barbara ? ' of River City Cinema; Andrea Stank of the Maine Discovery Museum; and a representative from a cinema in Dover-Foxcroft. ' Nealley expressed appreciation for the number of entities working together in the community. He talked about the upcoming budget process for the City in light of � the State budget shortfall especially in the area of education funding. Government cannot be everything to everybody. He expressed concern about using taxpayer dollars for this event. Nealley said he would support a level of funding but not the ' full $5,000 amount. Nealley said he is affiliated with Capital 7 who is willing to contribute $1,000 toward this project. Neailey said that $5,000 represents taxes for on two Bangor properties. Allen disagreed with Nealley. She said it is a very � positive and significant event for downtown and reinvents economic activity. Allen supported the request for funding. Greene talked about the upcoming budget year. Arts are a large part of the community and fits in with the new slogan of � surprisingly metro, refreshingly real. He referred to the criteria sited in the non- profit funding request for special projects. Greene talked about the number of ' Bangor residents that would benefit from the project and the long-term impact upon the City. Greene supported the request. Palmer supported the project. Due to a conflict of interest, Rohman cannot vote on the issue but encouraged Council � support. He talked about the struggling, but improving, downtown tax base. Art events bring people to the downtown and vitality to the retail sector. Rohman said that Council support of this event shows support for an organization that can , leverage money into the community. The Brunswick and Lewiston-Auburn arts project receive support from their city governments. Nealley said he didn't want Bangor to end up in the fiscal situation such as Lewiston and Portland. Nealley made � a motion to approve a $3,000 level to the BRACC. He also suggested BRACC contact the new owners of the Sea Dog for support. Greene seconded the motion. Palmer ofFered to amend the motion to $3,500. Greene seconded Palmer's amended � motion. Allen suggested $4,000 in light of the Capital 7's contribution. Nealley supported the $3,500 motion. Tremble doubted the motion and said he supports , the efforts of the event but will not vote favorably for the item at the Council agenda in light of the upcoming budget year and deliberations. The final vote was 4-1 to recommend to the Council for approval. � ' � , , �