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Home My WebLink About2005-10-17 Finance Committee Minutes i Finance Committee � October 17, 2005 Minutes � Councilor Attendance: Tremble, Cashwell, Stone, Greene, Gratwick, Hawes, , D'Errico, Farrington Staff Attendance: Cyr, Barrett, Little, Pellegrino, Caruso, Farrington Others: Mr. Rodick � 1. ConsentAgenda , A motion was made and seconded to approve the Consent Agenda. a. Council Resolve 05-330, Accepting and Appropriating Grant Funds for TerminalArea Study , 2. Bids/Purchasing a. Fuel Service Truck—Airport— Bosserman Aviation - $86,000 � This is a ground service vehicle. A motion was made and seconded to approve staff recommendation. Stone asked for a payback schedule. Caruso said he would provide the information at the next Finance , Committee meeting. Gratwick asked for information on what other municipalities have for surcharges. Barrett said in most instances the , service is not provided by the airport or the municipalities but rather by a fixed base operator. Caruso said he would do a random survey. Stone asked how insurance is factored in. � b. Pickup Truck — Fire Department— Quirk Chevrolet - $25,927 A motion was made and seconded to approve staff recommendation. The � current vehicle needs to be replaced due to the County haz-mat and an educational trailer that needs to be taken to various schools. The current 3/a ton did not adequately meet this need. The current truck will be � assigned to another City department. Gratwick asked if all of the City's one-ton pick up trucks were being fully utilized. Pellegrino said there is � one, which is an emergency truck that is for weekend and night coverage at Public Works. Most are three-quarter tons. Stone asked if the City is reimbursed by the counry for the truck's use. Barrett said there is a � countywide haz-team. Bangor is part of that team and stores the trailer. The benefit is that Bangor does not need to maintain a fully staffed haz- mat team. The truck's primary purpose is not haz-mat related, Cyr said. ' It also is used to plow all of the fire stations. 3. Request to Write-off Real Estate Taxes � Little said the request is to write off $571.20 of real estates for the Rodick's. In April of 2005, their mobile home burned beyond repair, taken � , , ' by the insurance company and moved off the lot. Because it was on the lot on April 1�, legally it was assessable and taxes were due. Mr. Rodick � came to the Treasury Office in April to pay any due taxes. The clerk did not tell him at that time that he needed to pay the 2006 at that time. The Rodicks purchased another mobile home and have paid the first � installment of the 2006 taxes on that trailer. Staff requested that the 2006 taxes be written off on the burned trailer that no longer exists. A motion was made and seconded to recommend staff approval. � 4. Discussion of State Bond Issues Barrett reviewed the bond issues appearing on the November election , ballot which will affect the Ciry of Bangor. Question 2 is the transportation bond. It provides the State's local share � for federal money, some of which comes to the Ciry by way of state projects done in Bangor. It would normally include the State's share of Airport Improvement Projects. Staff would recommend support of this ' bond issue. Question 3 is the annual environmental bond issue. A portion of this bond issue that the City has used fairly consistently is the State Revolving Loan � fund for wastewater issue. It is a low interest loan from the State for sewer projects. Question 4 is the economic development bond. It is the research and ' development portion of the state's bond issue. A lot of these funds go to the University of Maine System and also has $1M for renovation of Camden Hall at UCB as a step toward establishing a graduate school for � biomedical sciences here in Bangor. Question 5 is the Land for Maine's Future bond issue. It is $12M. � Originally it started at $150M. Bangor has not directly taken advantage of this but the Bangor Land Trust does have a grant under that program for potential acquisition of property in the Penjajawoc Marsh water shed ' going toward Pushaw Lake. Question 6 would benefit the University of Maine System and Maine Community College Systems primarily in terms of making capital ' improvements to their facilities. Barrett said he would like to put a Resolve on the upcoming Council agenda for the Council to take a position in support of whichever bond , issues they would like to see passed or a position against a particular issue. The total bond package is $80M. Tremble agreed with Barrett but wasn't certain the City's support of , Question 5. Gratwick asked the logistics of the state revolving loan fund. Gratwick agreed with Barrett's recommendations. He strongly recommended support of question 5. Cashwell asked the history of the � city taking positions on bond issues as well as the net effect. Barrett said the City has taken positions in the past and he is of the opinion that the � - � ' City has an interest in taking a position on actions at the state level that ' have a direct bearing on the City and a positive impact on the community. The City has taken positions off and on, not on a consistent basis. Stone � asked if the City has benefited in the past from the environmental monies and asked for the information to be available prior to this item appearing at the full Council meeting for discussion and action. Cashwell asked if in � the context of what effect could the state continue to afford to bond for these items. Barrett said he understands the state is paying off in the � ne� year $150M in existing debt. The state's general policy has been to limit its borrowing to no more than the amount thaYs being paid off in any given year. The state issues bond for ten years, a relatively short period ' of time. Compared to most other states, Maine is relatively low on per capita debt. In the overall context of the state budget, he said it could be a problem because of issues the state is dealing with. Farrington felt that , bond issues that affect the city are issues on which the City should take a position. He also spoke about the Patriot Act. Gratwick spoke about Question 1 and felt the Council should consider a position on it. Barrett � said there are two issues which affect the University—question 4 and question 6. He suggested a Resolve dealing with these two issues. The transportation and the environmental bond both have an effect on the � City and recommended a separate Resolve on these two issues. He left the remaining issues up to the Committee. Stone suggested a show of , hands among the committee members to see if it is recommended for the City to take a position on any bond issue. Farrington spoke about Question 1 as it mimics current City ordinances. The thumbs up vote was , 5-3. Tremble made a motion to endorse Questions 4 and 6. The motion was seconded. Farrington spoke — mic was not on. Stone spoke re: question 1 and felt it was a moot point for the Council to consider since � the City has a policy in place. Stone suggested a letter from the City Manager explaining the benefits of each bond issue. Gratwick said he would like to make a motion in support of 2, 3 and 5. Before doing so, he � asked for a rough poll for a general consensus. The thumbs up vote was 1 out of 5???? Gratwick then made a motion to include 2 and 3 in the Council's support. Motion was seconded. The thumbs up vote was 4 to 1. , Responding to Greene, Barrett said it would come forward as separate resolves: one for 4 and 6 and one for 2 and 3. Tremble made a motion , that the Council take a position opposed to question 1. The motion was seconded. Farrington said he preferred a statement that the Ciry's policy is in opposition to question 1. Recommended to full Council at its � upcoming meeting. 5. Executive Session — Hardship Abatement— 36 M.R.S.A. Section � 841 (2) � 1 ! , A motion was made and seconded to go into executive session. � 6. Open Session — Hardship Abatement Decision A motion was made and seconded to approve the request. , 7. Executive Session — Hardship Abatement— 36 M.R.S.A. Section 841 (2) (Tentative) � This item was tabled. � 8. Open Session — Hardship Abatement Decision (Tentative) � , , ' � � , ' , ' � , �