Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout1999-08-03 Municipal Operations Committee Minutes Municipal Operations Committee Meeting Minutes August 3, 1999 � Councilors Attending: John Rohman, Nichi Farnham, Pat Blanchette, Gerry Palmer, Joe Baldacci Staff Attending: Edward Barrett, Mary-Anne Chalila, Bob Farrar, T.J. `� Martzial, Jeff Cammack, Norm Heitmann, Don Winslow, Sally Burgess, ]im Ring Others Attending: Representatives from Bangor Water District 1. Submission of Grant to Libra Foundation and David Family Trust (H/W) StafF is asking for permission to submit grant request to the Libra Foundation and Davis Family Trust to hire a Community Organizer Grant Writer for the Continuum of Care grant. This is a large grant that has to be submitted to HUD in order to have the ShelterPlus Care and other homeless projects funded. The whole grant is based on process and involves a series of ineetings with all segments of the community that take place over the course of the year. Staff is looking for someone to organize this as well as write the actual grant proposal. � The total first year budget is $25,000. The applications to the Libra Foundation and the Davis Family Trust are the first attempts to fund the project. Staff will request $10,000 from each. Approved. 2. Bangor Water District— Board of Trustees Ken Beland, Chair of the Board of Trustees introduced Wayne Rogalski and Stan Miller from the Water District. Drought Conditions: BWD does not anticipate any use restrictions or forced conservation. They currently pump 4.7 - 4.9 million gallons per day, on average. The safe yield at Flood's Pond is 8.2 million gallons per day, which is a conservative number because it includes a dry year. Capacity is 13 million gallons per day. Without any rain at all, Floods Pond could last between 1-2 years. Councilor Blanchette asked if drought conditions continue and other towns start running into problems, would BWD be able to help any neighboring communities. Wayne indicated they are still linked to Orono/Veazie who are linked to Old Town. Bangor Water is also linked several ways to Brewer Water District. BWD would have the capacity if needed. Y2K Readiness: A computer committee was formed in 1997 and has been � working on this issue since then. During that time, in excess of $200,000 has been spent for Y2K compliance and upgrading the existing systems. It is now 97% complete and BWD expects it to be completed by the end of the month. There is a contingency plan in place should it be needed. Councilor Blanchette asked what would be the immediate affect if the system did not operate on January 1�? Wayne answered that they are heavily computerized a in all areas of administration, billing, water treatment, system operation, etc. If the systems do not work, which include treatment, transmission, storage, and distribution, they are designed to be used manually. There is between 2-3 days of water supply in storage. Emergency diesel generators have been installed at both pumping facilities and the water treatment plant that can carry a full load. A portable generator to run booster stations in the area is on order. , Artificial Spawning Beds: Wayne indicated that this is an important success. The arctic char reside in Flood's Pond and in years past were thought to be an endangered species. As a result, at one point BWD was pumping 6 million gallons a day and they were not allowed to take another drop. One of the actions taken was to install artificial spawning beds in Flood's Pond so that should water levels drop for any reason, there would be the right type of habitat available for this fish to spawn. They have documented these beds for the last couple of years and shown that the fish are using the artificial beds and are producing. There are no current level or pumping restrictions with the water supply. BWD has full use of the 8.2 safety yield of the water supply. LD 756: This issue came up last year during the last legislative session where there was a Resolve to create a task force to study how publicly owned water utilities were regulated. Part of this was an efFort to look at the overall • regulation and part was to potentially deregulate publicly owned water utilities. Part of the problem was that municipalities were not represented. When it made it to Committee, they changed the structure of the task force by adding two legislators to it, which required money to be allocated to fund this. When it reached the appropriation stage, no further action was taken. It is now a dead issue. Thomas Hill Standpipe: Tours continue to be popular with the public. 1150 people attended the July 14�' tour. Councilor Palmer asked if an information plaque or board could be put near to the standpipe to inform visitors of the history and the times that tours are held. It was indicated that the Board at BWD is working with staff to address this and the information on the tours has now been added to the Internet. Ken informed the Committee that BWD recently bought a large piece of land from Champion Paper that will go a long way toward the goal of protecting Flood's Pond watershed and the water supply. The BWD has direct ownership control of approximately 81%. 3. Utility Ag,aregation Update • Bob Farrar explained that the next phase of this project is the actual preparation of the Request for Proposals. The preparation of this document is both complex and very time consuming. The Coalition has retained Dr. Richard Silkman to 2 assist with the preparation, distribution and eventual evaluation of proposals. In order to continue its work, the Coalition has asked participating entities for a nominal membership fee (in Bangor's case $200) and an expression that they � remain interested and committed to participating in this joint effort. Staff recommends that Bangor continue to be included in this effort and that they be authorized to complete the attached membership form. There will be one more opportunity to decide whether or not to continue with the CYAC just prior to the distribution of the RFP's and that option will be discussed with the Committee and/or City Council in the fall. Approved 4. Regional Dispatch Update (Police Department) Chief Cammack explained that the box alarm system and the Cal Tron systems are installed at all the stations. The computers have been received to network the stations with central and with the Police Department. The garage door openers have been ordered and are expected in a couple of weeks. The Chief will come before this Committee to discuss radios and sof�ware, which are the last two components to make the transitions. Chief Winslow indicated that the Police Department is ready to accept the Fire Department dispatchers. He recently met with Cliff Wells, Director of the Penobscot Regional Communications Center, who provided a quote for what the cost would be for them to take over the emergency dispatching services for the City. Cliff Wells indicated that the current contract rate is $5.15 per capita. PRCC � indicates that based on the population figure from 1998-1999 Maine Municipal Directory, the fee for services would be $167,360 annually. The biggest impact on the Police Department is that they would need to hire people to staff the telephones at the PD. The PRCC provides emergency police and fire dispatch. They don't handle informational type calls. Two to three telephone operators would be needed. Some areas of concern include monitoring the intoxilizer room where they process drunk drivers and juvenile prisoners. Another issue is that at times they would have to physically lock the door on the Police Department. A hot line phone is one way of overcoming the department's closing which would ring immediately to dispatch so that if someone came in they would have access to a phone that would ring down, but they could no longer assume that there would be somebody there. On a nightly basis, people are coming into the station and need immediate assistance. The overall quality of service is another issue that would be in question. Staff will continue to update the Committee on this issue. 5. Discussion of Cruisin4 Ordinance Complaints have been received from downtown residents about cars cruising in that area. At the request of the City Manager, City Solicitor Norm Heitmann has drafted a cruising ordinance. The ordinance has been modeled after ordinances in Old Orchard and Portland. Sally Burgess explained that during the month of � June, the Bangor Center Corporation conducted focus groups with an independent facilitator with people who work downtown to find out what their 3 concerns may be. The level of fear is very high among those working in the downtown area. Because of this, Sally encourages the Committee to look at this issue. Chief Winslow explained that because of the stores being open late on � Thursday, the Department has detailed an additional officer in the downtown area on foot between 4 and 8 p.m. High visibility works for the Police Department. Chief Winslow explained that they could use a "Failure to Disburse" state statute if there are six or more in a group and they are being disruptive and are ordered to leave. The Committee recommends meeting with the security committee of the Bangor Center Corporation to discuss this issue further. 6. Ordinance 99-231 —Amendment to Clarify Authority of Fire Department to do Inter-Facility Transfers The Fire Department current does inter-facility transfers inside and outside the City limits; however, the current ordinance does not clearly state that inter- facility transfers are included in the powers and duties of the Fire Department. The amendment would add to Section 28-32 - Powers and Duties: G. Ambulance Services. To provide, in addition to emergency medical services, described in section 2832 F above, ambulance services for inter-facility transfers. Said inter- facility transfers may be within or without the City limits of the City of Bangor. And further, by adding the following to Section 28-32F: "Said emergency medical service includes providing ambulance services to municipalities that have mutual aid agreements with the City of Bangor, when requested by said : municipality." The Committee is asking if there is a reason to change the ordinance. Norm explained that his recommendation is to change it. The ordinance needs to specifically state what the powers and duties are of the Fire Department with regard to inter-facility transfers. Councilor Palmer commented that he doesn't think this should be dropped. Questions were raised by Capital Ambulance pertaining to this ordinance and by amending this, it will cover any questions that may arise in the future. Staff will make changes to the ordinance and bring it back to Committee for recommendation. With no further business to discuss, the meeting adjourned. � 4