HomeMy WebLinkAbout1994-01-19 Community and Economic Development Committee Minutes • COMMUNITY & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE
Wednesday, January 19, 1994 @5:00 PM
MINUTES
MEMBERS
PRESENT: Councilor Gerard Baldacci, Chair
Councilor Chris Popper
OTHERS
PRESENT: Councilor Pat Blanchette
Renneth R. Gibb, Director of Community & Economic Dev.
Rodney G. McKay, Community Development Director
T.J. Martzial, C.D. Housing Resources Coordinator
Erik Stumpfel, City Solicitor
Bruce Shibles, Asst. City Solicitor
Gary Jewell, Parking Supervisor
Don Winslow, Bangor Police Dept.
The meeting was called to order by Councilor Gerard Baldacci
at approximately 5:03 PM.
AGENDA ITEM #1 - Community Development Residential Rehabilitation
Loan - 29 Fruit Street, Single Family
• T.J. Martzial, C.D. Housing Resources Coordinator, presented
this loan request for $15,858 @3� for 20 years. The general
repairs include siding, windows and bathroom remodeling. Owners
have plenty of equity in the property and an excellent credit
rating. �
It was motioned and seconded to approve this loan request as
presented. So voted.
AGENDA ITEM #2 - Executive Session - Land Negotiations
Postponed u3�ti1 further notice due to insufficient preparation
time.
AGENDA ITEM #3 - .Privatization Committee Report
This item pertains to the issue of current and possible future
privatizing of City functions.
Ken Gibb reviewed this report for the Committee. He stated
that the major areas that are being considered for privatization
are legal services for loan and lease closings associated with the
City's Community Development Block Grant Program and the City's
� leasing activities for BanAir Corporation.
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Erik Stumpfel, City Solicitor, spoke to the Committee regarding.
Originally, when the Asst. City Solicitor's position was created it
was done so with funds from the Community Development Dept. in
order to handle their title work load. About 10 years ago, the
Asst. City Solicitor pasition was changed over to the City side of
the budget and became a more general position in order to address
problems in other City Depts. rather then being exclusive to
Community Development (C.D. ) . Due to this change, the title work
for C.D. loans has become less o� a priority for the Legal Dept.
It will cost more to privatize C:D,. 's title work but it would be
accomplished in less time. This cost would be an eligible expense
under the Co�arnunity De�elopment Program.
It was asked by a Committee member if it would be possible to
hire another Legal staff person (instead of privatizing) . Erik
replied that he will be requesting (in his FY 94-95 budget)
permission to hire a paralegal to help with his current load of
work for the City other then C.D. 's items. A paralegal would be
able to handle some of the title work but it would still require a
lawyer to look them over- (if there is outside lendinq involved;
C.D. 's is inside) . Having a lawyer making sure the loan is secure
provides an additional level of assurance to HUD.
After some discussian as to the urgency of bringing the �
current level of outstanding titles brought up-to-date, it was
suggested by Ren Gibb to pursue the current process of having the
City's Legal Dept. paralegal do the work. If, however, there is a
pressing need to consult for Leqal assistance from an outside
lawyer, Staff can pursue this option.
Councilor Baldacci requested that City. Staff come back at the
next meeting with a brief update as to the status of their efforts
on this matter. Ren Gibb suggested that .their findings would be
more enlightening after Erik has his quarterly review with the
Council. However, if grior to that ti.me if there is an emergency
need to consult with an outside lawyer for title work Staff will
inform the Commi'ttee.
Erik mentioned that the other aspect to the privatization
issue is whether or not to have BanAir . Corporation's lease
documents handled by outside lawyers. He stated that he would not
recommend that this be done as the leases are tied in with the
City's overall airport operations. Ken Gibb agreed with Erik's
opinion as stated.
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Ken Gibb stated that another area to the privatization issue
. is real estate broker services. Discussions have been held with
the Council before on this issue. BanAir Corporation has also
discussed this matter in terms of marketing City-owned land at the
airport. The BanAir Finance Committee recommended that the City
should have the Economic Development Officer (Steve Bolduc) go out
and discuss the potential of a sma�ler fee instead of a full
commission fee with the local real estate community and then come
back to the City Council and BanAir Finance Committee with his
findings. This will be done within the next month or so.
Collection of parking tickets is another privatization issue.
The Bangor Police Dept. is currently collecting 80� of the unpaid
parking tickets; this falls right in line with what any private
agency could accomplish according to Staff's research. The
installation of computers can be attributed to playing a positive
role in the collection process over the past couple of years also.
The police dept. does not, however, have the ti.me and manpower to
devote to the additional 20$ collection process. Privatizing for
the remainder of uncollected tickets is thought to be well worth
the course of action as the cost would come out of the ticket
reimbursement to the City as it is paid (the percentage that an
agency would take out is 60-40; the 40 going to the agency) .
. AGENDA ITEM #4 - New Councilor Orientation
Ren Gibb presented this item to the Committee for
informational purposes only. The first aspect of this item was to
give new C&ED Committee Councilors an overview of the City's
Parking Policy. Ken briefly explained the involvement of his dept.
(aside from the police dept.. ) over the past 3-4 years with respect
to how the overall parking policy works (primarily downtown) . The
current budget is $1.1 million; of this total $693,000 is debt
service for primarily the Pickering Square Parking Garage and
another smaller parking lot. Another $486,000 is a subsidy from
the general fund to the parking fund -- this is a deficit between
revenues and expenditures including debt service. The projection
is that this debt service will decline over the years but it is
projected to be some time before there is a breakeven proposition.
There is less demand for parking then there are spaces; the price
that is charged would have to be tripled before there would be a
breakeven. There are 7 parking control aides (3 full-time; 4 part-
time and all civilians) working 30 hours a week primarily downtown.
They also do patrolling, maintain street signs, paint the
crosswalks in the downtown dis.trict and help with barricades for
parades. For 1993, 19,400 tickets were written with $206,000 in
revenue collected. (There are ti.mes when police officers write
parking tickets also. )
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The 2nd part of Item #4 dealt with the overview of Economic
Development Goals/Policies. Ken referred to 1993's Annual Report
and the reference to Bangor's Comprehensive Plan with its 9 major
Economic Development goals and objectives/policies within each of
those goals showing what has been done in each. The Economic
Development Advisory Commission has a separate committee going
through and updating this plan.
AGENDA ITEM #5 - Ruth Epstein
Ren stated that he had received a telephone call from Mrs.
Ruth Epstein who resides at 31 Parkview Ave. She recently had
requested that a handicapped sign be placed in front of her
residence. This item was brought up before the C&ED Committee on
January 5, 1994 for their decision. The motion to approve was
denied by a vote of 3-4. She expressed that she's very
disappointed with that decision; she felt that she should have been
able to have someone represent her at the C&ED Committee and the
Council meetings. Ken indicated to her that he would discuss her
latest request with the C&ED Committee and then he would telephone
her back on January 20, 1994 with the results. Her original
contention was that, even though she has a driveway, the extra
distance made it difficult for her to walk to a vehicle. Gary �
Jewell, Parking Supervisor, personally went out and measured the
area in question. His findings were that from the walkway to a
vehicle it was 11 feet; to go to the driveway from the walkway to
enter a vehicle was about 44 feet. Ren asked for direction from
the Committee -- would they be willing. to discuss this further with
her representative in order to explain the decision on the part of
the Council? � Asst. City Solicitor Bruce Shibles stated that from
a Legal standpoint nothing can be done to change the vote.
Basically, the process would have to start all over again with a
proposed Ordinance.
Councilor Baldacci suggested that perhaps the best solution to
go with would b� to allow a handicapped parking zone only for the
duration while she continues to live at the residence at 31
Parkview Ave. Bruce Shibles responded that this would be difficult
to oversee and regulate. Councilor Popper stated that he has no
problem with Mrs. Epstein coming before the Council, but that based
on all the information and facts that he has heard, he would still
vote against it. Ken Gibb asked again if Committee was willing to
give her a time when she (or her representative) could meet with
the Council. The consensus was among . Councilor Baldacci and
Councilor Popper (those present today) that they would have no
objection to Mrs. Epstein bringing her case before the Council
during the public comment period.
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