HomeMy WebLinkAbout1999-08-03 Municipal Operations Committee Minutes Municipal Operations Committee
Meeting Minutes
August 3, 1999
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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
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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
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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.
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