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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2003-06-25 Government Operations Committee Minutes � � GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS COMMITTEE � MINUTES � 7une 25, 2003 , Councilors Present: Gerry Palmer, Anne Allen, Richard Greene � StafF Present: Bob Farrar, John Hamer, Chief Winslow, Lt. Gastia Others Present: Ken Buckley, Wayne Rogalski, Greg Reed, Mr. Hansleman, Mr. � Gleason, Mr. Morrell Mr. Willey, Ms. Nelson, Mr. McGlaughlin � The meeting convened at 5:00 p.m. 1. Update from Bangor Water District � • Introduction of Trustees and Staff(Chair Andy Sturgeon) • Status of proposed legislation to deregulate publicly owned water utilities. � Rogalski noted that this was the Water District's fifth attempt to oppose this legislation. � • Federal funding for water main breaks experienced this past winter Rogalski said that utilities across Maine have experienced numerous problems due to weather conditions. The Bangor Water District has experienced about � $120,000 in total impact and we are in the process of submitting a request for funding to FEMA, which should result in 75% reimbursement of costs. • Leak-testing sections of the distribution system � Rogalski discussed the water main break on Garland Street and that they determined that there were specific reasons why the line failed. He noted that the Water District fixed the line and made improvements. He said that � they brought in consultants to look for any other leaks of the pipe, and found that there were none. • Continuation of water main replacement in the Buck Street area � Rogalski discussed the ongoing replacement of lines in the Buck Street area. • Distribution system flushing � Rogalski said that they are flushing the entire distribution system this year. He said that they would notify each individual (resident and business) a day or two in advance, so that they have notice rather than using just the � newspaper. • Vulnerability (security) assessment � � _ _ � , Rogalski said that they have received a matching $10,000 grant to conduct this assessment by the end of the year. � • Committee questions/comments concerning Water District Palmer asked about the water level at Floods Pond. Rogalski said that the level is in great shape, and we are still overflowing the dam. � Councilors Palmer and Greene complimented the Water District on their work. � 2. Citizen request for assistance w�th Parking Issue — Highland Lane Farrar said that Mr. Peter Willey has requested an opportunity to discuss his � parking problem at 30 Highland Lane. Mr. Willey stated that he is the guardian of his sister and provided a statement from her physician that states that he � needs to provide daily care for her and park by her house. Mr. Willey said that he realizes that there is no parking available on the lane and would like to park on Highland Avenue. Farrar noted that there is no driveway (nor room for a � driveway) at 30 Highland Lane and the street is extremely narrow. Mr. Willey has requested that he be allowed to park on the side of the street, but this would hinder the passage of other vehicles, including the residence further up � the street as well as emergency vehicles and snowplows. Parking is currently prohibited on both sides of the street. � Greene asked Chief Winslow if Highland Avenue was wide enough for parking. Winslow said that in the wintertime, there is parking on one side of the street � only and not at all after midnight. Gastia spoke with the owner of the properly on Highland Lane, and the owner stated that he had allowed Mr. Willey to park in his lot in the past, however due to some issues he is not willing to do so in the � future. Gastia said that there is no viable option for parking on Highland Lane. He said � that there is no parking on Highland Avenue in the area. Greene asked about Mr. Willey parking in the lot on Highland Lane. Mr. Willey � said that he did not talk about it first, however he just parked in the lot and no � one said anything to him about it. Mr. Willey said a new owner took over the building and told him that he could not park there. � Winslow asked Mr. Willey what his specific request was. � Mr. Willey said that he is asking to park on Highland Avenue during the winter months. Palmer asked Winslow when the winter parking ordinance goes into � effect. Winslow replied from November 1�to April 1�. Palmer said that temporarily Mr. Willey can park on Highland Avenue until November, and that we � � � � need to find a solution if possible. Palmer referred this to the City staff for a � recommendation/solution and to report back to the Committee. Mr. Willey said that there is space at the end of the lane for 3 cars to park, � however the owner of the property, Mr. Morrell will not allow him to park there. � Ms. Nelson, the daughter of Stella Fields, the owner of 30 Highland Lane. Her concern was that the original request was to park at the end of the lane, however since that has been addressed. � Stephen Morrell of 30 Highland Lane said that he lives across from Mr. Willey. He said that the vacant lot area is where the city plows the snow. He said that � he agrees with Mr. Willey's situation. He said that his family has been on the street since 1820, and that it did used to be a carriage path. Mr. Morrell said that he suggests having him park on the end of the street. � Mr. Willey wanted to know if he could park on his sister's lawn. Palmer said that City stafF would need to evaluate the request and it could be part of the report � back to the Committee. 3. Citizen inquiry/complaint regarding Ice Cream Truck music levels. � Farrar said that Mr. Michael Gleason had com lained about the loudness of the P � music played by the Good Humor Ice Cream Truck, and the repetition of the music. Bill McGlauflin, the local manager of the Good Humor Truck, said that the reason � there is a limited repertoire of songs, is that those are the only three songs that are approved for the Good Humor Company by International Mobile Vendors. � The music is a children's song "Do Your Ears Hang Low" not"Turkey in the Straw." He said that the song he plays the least is"Pop Goes the Weasel." , He said that Good Humor has been in Maine since 1976, and when he goes into neighborhoods, he notices that adults enjoy the songs from their childhood. He said that children look forward to the ice cream truck and dance around waiting � for it to arrive. McGlauflin said that he drives the only truck in Bangor. He explained that he travels slowly down Bangor streets and tries not to spend any � length of time in one area. He noted that he had four competitors from out of town that circulate throughout the city. � Councilor Greene asked to hear what Mr. Gleason's original complaint was. Mr. Gleason said that his complaint is the repetitive electronic tune. He said that his home should be free from commercial solicitation. He said that he bears no � � � � malice to Mr. McGlauflin as a person and he objects to the playing of the tune "The Entertainer" over and over. He said that the music should stop when the � truck stops; however the music continues. Palmer asked if his competitors use the same music. He said that these three songs are part of the original Good Humor Ice Cream Program, and that all trucks use them. Mr. McGlauflin said r that he spends no more than 5-7 minutes on Walter Street, and that he does sell ice cream during that time. � Palmer asked McGlauflin if he was aware of the decibel level of the music. Mr. McGlauflin said that when he is on Walter Street, he plays his music at half � volume out of respect to Mr. Gleason. He said that he welcomes a decibel check by the police department. Mr. Gleason said that the area of Walter Street is like an amphitheater, with � sound bouncing back from 3rd Street. He said that one issue is that Mr. McGlauflin is coming into Bangor and selling and taking his profits elsewhere to � spend them. He said that other businesses in the area should object to the fact that Mr. McGlauflin is cutting in on someone else's tax licensed turf. He said that another issue should be that Bangor should be licensing street vendors. He said ' that control is an issue, and the music stopping when the truck stops is another issue. Palmer asked to hear from Assistant City Solicitor John Hamer regarding the � licensing and statutes as it relates to these businesses and noise in the � neighborhood. John Hamer said that Bangor does not currently have licensing requirements for ice cream truck operators. Hamer said that we do have a sound ordinance, however it is not very extensive and not useful in a situation � like this. Hamer said that he would be very surprised if the volume of the ice cream truck music violated the sound ordinance. He suggested taking Mr. McGlauflin up on his offer to have the decibel level of his music checked. He � noted that it is often not the volume, but the frequency of noise that tends to get on some people's nerves. Hamer said that in terms of the repetition of the music, however this is considered commercial speech, which is given protection , and is not regulated. Palmer asked about regulating traffic routes. Hamer said that the only way we could restrict routes is if it would create a traffic hazard. � Mr. Gleason said that he is not objecting to Mr. McGlauflin being on his street, he is objecting to the music that he plays when on.the street. Gleason said that � McGlauflin is on his street once a day in the afternoon. Gleason said his issue is hearing "The Entertainer" over and over and over. Mr. McGlauflin noted that he operates his trucks Monday through Saturday � starting at 11/11:30 a.m. and they come off the road at 30 minutes prior to dusk _ ' � 1 � for safety reasons. On Sunday, the trucks go out after church is out at 12:30 � p.m. During the school year, the trucks start at 3 p.m. after school is out and stop at 7 p.m. � Greene wanted to know how the music is programmed on the truck. McGlauflin said it is on a recorded chip with an on/off switch, volume control and selector. � Greene wanted to know if Mr. McGlauflin had to physically switch the three songs. Mr. McGlauflin said that he has to manually change the songs. He said that he usually changes a song twice on a street, and does not play"Pop Goes the Weasel"very often due to,the irritating nature of the tune. Greene asked if � McGlauflin could stop the music when the truck stops. McGlauflin said that if the music stops, the children go back in the house, or go wandering to look for him. � Palmer said that this issue must have come up in other communities. McGlauflin said that he has never been ��called to the carpet"for his music. � Hamer said that there is very little case law in Maine on this issue. He said that you could regulate ice cream trucks, however you can't regulate the aspects of � the ice cream truck that are bothersome to Mr. Gleason. You can't restrict the path the person takes, however you can require certain hours of operation. --,- �------- ------Mr��Pa�on said that there is legislation growing against telemarketers, pop up ads on the internet and spam. He said that he considers this music every bit as � intrusive and bothersome as each of these. The fact that there is no precedent does not mean that a precedent could not be established. Palmer added that Mr. Gleason is not alone in his opinions, that the Council has received a number � of citizen responses both pro and con. He asked Mr. Gleason what solution he would ofFer so that both parties would be satisfied. Mr. Gleason repeated his previous statements of the music being repetitive. � Palmer said that Good Humor is a big company and perhaps they could look into alternatives for attracting children. Mr. McGlauflin said that they are successful � because they get involved in the community and follow rules and regulations. He said that he has lowered his volume out of respect to Mr. Gleason and feels that he has gone out of his way to be a good businessman. � Allen questioned at what point do we have the right to interfere in someone's � business. She said that we should recognize the audience: Palmer said that he hopes to find a common ground and directed staff to offer � some solutions. � � . � � Mr. Gleason said that one potential solution is to have an am frequency for radio notification. Mr. McGlauflin said that most people do not have an a.m. radio. � Mr. McGlauflin asked what happens when the planes take off, the plow truck goes by, the sanitation trucks are dumping dumpsters at 4 a.m., ambulances, fire trucks, these sounds are probably higher decibels than his truck music...they � are sounds of the city. Palmer said that staff has some work to do and asked that they report back at an � upcoming meeting. He thanked the Mr. Gleason and Mr. McGlauflin for their cooperation in trying to work out a solution. � 4. Graffiti on private buildings and structures. Hamer said that this was a follow-up to a prior meeting. He said that the City of � Bangor code does state that a private property owner could be required to remove graffiti from a private building. Palmer said that the reason that this is ' on the agenda is because he noticed some vulgar grafFti on a privately owned building on the waterfront. He said that this did not promote the'�down home friendly" atmosphere that the City is trying to portray. He wanted to know if we � could outlaw spray paint cans in our community, and what are other communities doing to curb this problem. _�---- -- — - -� . Hamer said that most people-are�very coop�i a�ive in removing the graffiti once they discover it. He said if people are unwilling to cooperate it takes time to � enforce the civil ordinance. He said if Code Enforcement had anti-graffiti cleaning package to help eliminate the problem, then that would probably help those in violation of the code. � Farrar said that in respect to public property, the City immediately cleans up graffiti when discovered, and hopes that this sets an example for private � properry owners. Greene said that as a business owner, that he would feel like a victim if his business was spray painted, rather than the violator. He said that he would be interested in the graffiti cleanup kit, and that banning cans of spray � paint would not be the solution. He wanted to know what the penalty was if someone was caught placing graffiti on something. Winslow replied that the � charge would be criminal mischief a class E crime punishable by up to a $500 and six months in �ail. Winslow said that the most effective deterrent is quickly cleaning up the graffiti. � 5. Creat�on of Selectroe Enforcement Team - Bangor Police Department Chief Winslow presented a pilot program intended to help the Police Department � deal with issues that require a significant amount of police resources. Winslow � � I 1 stated that for the first time in a number of years, the Police Department is at a � good staffing level. He said that the program's intention is to take a sergeant and one officer off each crew for a total of four people and let them address issues that have been difficult to address in traditional fashion. There will be � minimal impact to the crews and overtime. The Selective Enforcement Team will have duties that include but are not limited to trafFc enforcement, warrant sweeps, liquor enforcement and maintaining a high visibility in problem areas. � Winslow said that the ro ram would allow consisten of officers in an area. P 9 �Y � He would like to try the program for three months. If the program were , successful, Winslow would like to implement a new team every month. � Hamer suggested modifying the name from selective to special team, because selective has a negative connotation in the community. Winslow said that there are a couple of other communities that use this same program, however we ■ could look into changing the name of the program to something unique for i Bangor. � The Committee endorsed the Chief's plan to create this special team. The meeting adjourned at 6:50 p.m. ' � � � � � ' � � i