City Council - Regular Meeting

Hello. Welcome to our Tuesday evening workshop. If we can have it quiet in the chambers, that would be great. If you need to talk, you can have it out to the hall. Uh we're joined here by Superintendent Langless and uh you brought a buddy, Mr. Grant. Uh please kick it off. And if I can have counselors hold their questions until the end of the presentation, that would be great. So, we shared this uh slideshow with you last week. Um, but I I did make a note on here that information is subject to change. We are still very much at work and we still have uh new details coming to us as time elapses. Um, so we after this got sent to you, we did have a meeting last Wednesday night where more work was done and we have more meetings coming up. Just want to share a little bit about the budget process. Uh the budget starts quite early and then we get working through it and what I bring to the school committee early March is what we call the superintendent's edition or version of the budget and then it goes through the work of the school committee which is actively happening and then um we're here tonight to get input from from the council and it will come back to you May 5th uh hopefully for your support and then go to referendum May 12th. Um we are very mindful of the reevaluation. Uh we've been watching the city meetings as well um and the impacts of the reval and how people are feeling that. So we're we're trying to be very conscious of it. We just a reminder we have uh about 5,400 students. We have 12 facilities and over a million square feet of uh building that we maintain. Uh we have over a thousand full-time staff. Um, more for those watching at home, I guess, but the we have the highest economically disadvantaged rate in the state of Maine. We have the highest amount of students that qualify for special education in the state of Maine. And our programs, they range from multiple staff that will work with just one student all the way up to kids

leaving our high school programs with an associates degree, uh, who are very independent and well in the way. U, but we we do believe that all of our students, no matter what that range is, they are all our students. In our fiscal year proposed budget, which I know you're aware of, um we did introduce 30 positions uh for reduction. Of those at the time, 23 of them were active employees. Um this is a a live conversation because we have people who retire or transfer to other roles. Um so that that number of 23 fluctuates. Um the budget as proposed is up 11% at 130,580,720 and we are not Portland. I don't claim to be um and don't want to be but their school budget was 179 million and they do have about a thousand more kids than us just as a as a thought. The potential request um as of last week when I submitted this um locally is $35 million. Um this is an increase to all of us as taxpayers. I live here as well of $3.9 million. So I think the big question is well why the increase? What are the cost drivers? So we put together this chart to share some of that. um special education the increases uh $5 million plus. Um that's been a growth effort. I'll talk more about that, but I've been sharing with you for multiple years about how we're trying to bring more students back into our schools and provide the services they need in-house. Uh that is not inexpensive. It does save us money, but it's hard to realize those costs uh when that all that all of that happens. We are building capacity and returning kids to us u as as we said we were going to and we have more work to do. Um, transportationwise, we've had some cost overruns in the current year that

are now actuals for us. So, we've rolled that in, but we also have a new multi-year contract um with our transportation provider. Um, that went out to RFP, but there was cost increases with this new contract. We are hoping the service is better and we don't have to cancel rides. Uh, but there is an increased cost there of 2 and a.5 million. Uh, utility wise, our power bill is up. We have a multi-year contract for that. that also went out to RFP. It changed end of December and that's a $742,500 increase in something that didn't increase what our abilities are, but it does increase the cost. Uh workers compensation um that that is up significantly. You can see that it's 112% increase um at uh 1.693 uh,000, but excuse me, $1.693 million. We're working on that really diligently. Um we've been working closely with city staff and trying to figure out what other options we might have. I would like to see that number come down, but but we don't know that that's possible just yet. Uh health insurance, um it's it was up 14%, we actually budgeted 15%. We did find out uh late Friday what our rate is. There'll be some savings there that we'll be able to share. Um it's it's substantial, but not in the millions. Um but there is a savings there. uh salaries um all combined is a 6 and a half% increase. Those are contractual obligations, collective bargaining agreements, um things of that nature. Those are not the only things that are up, but those are our big ones. And then I I get asked, well, why the reductions? And so, um, when we worked with our controller, Adam Hansen, who's behind me, uh, he's very detail- oriented and doing projections of the budget and rolling things over and going from every single position that we have in a listing, do we need it, do we not,

um, with our management team. Um, it was a $6.5 million increase locally, and that wasn't something I even wanted to bring to the committee. So, we had to look at some some difficult things. Uh we looked at unfilled positions. We looked at maintaining classroom and student support roles. We looked at um the entirety of our system um and positions by school because each school has different levels of need. Uh and we we worked our best to bring forth something that as an educator I'd like to have it all. Um but the reality of the resources is we cannot. So the articles overall um you you have a binder that has all of this in greater detail. Um but this just gives you a snapshot of the articles as they build out. Um our budget built on these articles is based on the Department of Education uh coding structure. So that's why you see these different articles and when we go to referendum the article amounts are part of the Warren article that you'll be able to see uh the numbers where they land uh if approved. And in this you can see um again these are the numbers from about a week ago different areas um regular instruction all the way through um and adults education at the bottom which has remained almost flat. It's a different visual a very similar uh grab of of what where the money goes. And so um the the larger blue slice is regular instruction. So that's teaching learning staff, teachers, edex, things of that nature. Um, article two is special education specifically. Um, so that coding has a different setup so we can track that. And then you can see the other slivers that are much smaller moving through each article all the way to the the smallest being adulted. Talked earlier about our support for our kids and we've talked about the what we

call the climb program. That's an acronym for the students that we're we're having back in our district that we used to pay to go elsewhere. Uh that's happening right now at McMahon in one of the wings. And as we predicted two years ago when we started talking about bringing these folks back in and building out a space to do it, we would exceed that wing area. We're there. Um that's a it's a good problem and a bad problem. Um space is a concern. Um but our out of district placements are now below 100. When we first started this process, we were at 133. And in the two years, we've also added um at least 35 students, last I checked, new that just they grew up and now they're in our schools. So, we have the reduction of outplaced kids and we have um dozens of new that just came through because they're they were now in pre-K or first or second grade. Um, another major concern of ours that we've been working closely with the state on and assistant superintendent Karen Pette is is really trying to build out in advance is child development services or what's known as CDS. That is in a transitional process that districts can opt into until fiscal year 28 when you must take on CDS kids. The estimate for us is somewhere between 80 and 120 kids that we will be taking on at that point in time. And these are three and four year olds um and and 5-year-olds that are much younger u but have high levels of need. Um they already live with um diagnosis and and IEP supports. Um those students will need to be serviced by Louis public schools at that point. The state does it right now. Um so we would need staffing space. They do have a funding model for it. We're still estimating that out. Um, I think the funding model is supportive, but I always worry about funding models that are two years out with state funds, and that's not on anybody. Just that's that makes me nervous with different

changes in administration and legislation and appropriations. As you know, I do have a a refresher slide uh that shows what we talked about. Um, so this was back in 2425. We talked about starting in a small space, investing some money. Um, again, these do have cost increases tied to it. And in the the middle part of this slide, you can see years two and three, which is where we're at. We're in the middle of that. And our goal was to grow in-house programs by 60 students to uh 300. We are we are on our way. We're close to that. Um, we're mid 200s right now. Um, and there's there's some movements in and out, but um, we should hit that 300 number um, in that 27 year next year as as part of our goals. That's a good thing in that it deflects cost. Um, and that's a hard term to throw around because it it's not inexpensive. However, we we've done estimates on what would it cost if these students went to school elsewhere and we paid their tuition and their transportation far away, some of them, and the level of need. And we are saving millions of dollars with this effort. But I need you to understand it does cost millions of dollars to do. Um and then as we look at years four and five, so a year from now, we'll be talking about CDS coming online, our enrollments have stayed steady or grown and also um more and more construction projects being completed that might generate more families uh for our community. And so when we look at space, not just as it relates to child development services, the projection of growth of enrollment, uh, and other factors, um, we're out of space at McMahon right now to grow that program much further. Uh, so we'll have to have that tough conversation. I know at times 287 Main Street comes up. Um, we are working hard on grants for that. Um, we did ask for some funds locally around that project. One of the ideas right now that we've written some grants

for um again this preliminary is just to do uh look at doing sixth grade uh hands-on type projects or spaces so we can really try to engage kids that we're losing in that that early middle school late elementary level. Um and if we can do that we can move some sixth graders out of some elementary schools. This is not built out perfectly yet but that would create space for CDS students. We had been working with um an architect on some concept plans and we should have that um available pretty soon for everyone. Um so there's there's a plan out there that is is working in a direction uh still needs to be more formalized. I mentioned this already. Um just as we look for those grants and those dollars, we're trying to find a way to get funds to support the effort locally without asking our local taxpayers for all of it. um we continue to do that. So just so you know as as I restating really but the school committee continues to meet as information becomes available. There's some different things that are functioning right now from a state perspective. Um there have been some changes made to the funding formula the the ED279 the essential programs and services. Um those changes if adopted and they're on their way um will take effect not this coming fiscal year but the year after. There is an effort um led by Senator Ratundo to do what they call bridgeear funding and if that occurs there'll be funding next year by way of the appropriations process that will help ease that transition for us. Um we have an estimate of half a million dollars but we don't we won't know that until everything is final and approved. Um any adjustments that come into us, uh the school committee takes a very close look at. They consider positions that

have been cut, different potential reductions, uh putting money back in as revenue so that it lowers the burden on the community. Um and they're they're doing that work. It's it's been a hard series of meetings because we're talking about people that we know that work with our kids and and do a good job with them. So it's a it's a challenging conversation. Um, after more school committee meetings, again, we'll return to you on May 5th to seek your approval to hold the referendum one week later. And between now and then, we'll do some community conversations and be available to answer questions um town hall style or in other spaces if people wish to have us. Uh, that's that was it for my overview of the budget for now. You do have the binder with detail. Um, I do have some slides that discuss LCIP requests if that's something that you would like to know more about. Um, but really want to thank you for your time and take any questions and recommendations you have.

Uh, thank you very much, Superintendent. I want to note that we have Chair Mclofflin here along with several schoolboard members. Want to thank you all for your service and many educators here. Thank you for your service. I appreciate everyone being here. Um, yeah, my thoughts with LCIP. If counselors have questions, we can uh address them at that time. Uh, questions, comments from counselors. Councelor Nene. Yes.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, thank you, Superintendent. Um, I have a couple of questions as far as if you could possibly explain um just looking at the increases um the um the utilities and power increase is that so that's if you can just go into why we're seeing such a large increase other than the new power agreement. Is was the new power agreement not beneficial for us or Yeah. So, Billy, if you want to chime in, you can, but it is it's just the power agreement that changed it. It It ran its course, so we had to to do a new one. Cre It should just be on is it? Okay. Yeah.

Um, so the new power agreement, you probably saw in the city your your power might have went down. We had a really good rate over the last 5 years. So, we were paying like around a little over 5 cents a kilowatt and the new contract went up to a little over 10 10 cents a kilowatt. So that's why we saw a pretty significant increase on our side. Um we have talked to other districts around the state and actually Adam and I were just at a conference on Friday. Um and 10 that that 10 cent range is actually what's the pretty competitive rate out there. But with us we were we were just we had a really good rate for five years and and that's come up. So

can I just add real quick too? I I think part of our intentionality of of keeping a very lean budget, we were budgeting on actuals. And so when the power rate shifted, there was nowhere to to to put it. So it had to be an addition. I know that there are some um budget processes where they project um but we did base our budget on actuals to try to reduce the cost here locally, but when you do that and then it jumps, it jumps. Then you have no pad for it, right? But then you're also appropriating what you need to expend, too. So, um, the transportation cost. So, we have a new contract with Hudson and that's dro driven that up, but the growth in level of need, we're talking about students that are out of district. Is that correct?

So, there's actually a number of factors. Um, one of them is Mckin Vento, our homeless students. Um, they have different qualifiers to get rides to and from our community. Uh, depending on their scenario. We do have some increased costs um for special education transportation. Some of that is local actually. Some of it is the kids that we're keeping here. Um but for instance, um a kid who is now in first grade who we didn't have but we now have that requires a wheelchair um ride. So there there's added cost to some of those things and as we have more and more students who have that level of need, we are seeing that drive it up a little bit. And could you just quickly speak to how many out of district students are attending uh LPS now and how many we have out of district?

Yeah, so right now we're just under a hundred I believe. I don't know if Director Crash is behind me there. I don't know if she's nodding or not, but I I think last we looked, which was about a week ago, it was 98 students that were out of district. Um, and we were, like I said, pushing 150 um not so long ago. So, that's that's an improvement. So, on the Mckin Vento and the special needs education uh packages that we now offer or level of education we now offer, how many out of district students are now at LPS? Uh so it's it's close to 50 students that were once not with us that were outplaced that are now with us. Okay. And that includes Mckin Vento.

Uh Mckin Vento numbers u they go all over. Uh we're in the hundreds of students that qualify as Mckin Vento. Not all of them need specialized transportation though or or shouldn't say specialized unique transportation. Um but we do move I could get back to you with a number. Um it's in the double digits for sure. um different communities and and some of those scenarios they're not all that close but their their life has been disrupted and they qualify and so some of those rides come from you know Jay and Augusta and as far south as as uh you know Saco and that area for students to maintain their schooling experience. as a followup at some point if I could get more detail on the out of district students that are in the McGini uh Kento program that would be I'd thank you for that. And just really quickly on the CDS pro programming I know that we don't have to put this into place until 2028. We're t taking active steps to pay for uh uh incorporating this program now.

So not in this budget. We're taking active steps with the state. Um the state has an appropriation for this transition. Um it was essentially mandated after a federal audit going back about three years. They appropriated funds back then that are used to um pay for students who have CDS services within a school district that is outside of the funding formula that we use for our subsidy. And so I do talk to a lot of other superintendents. What's your experience? How will this play out? And some superintendents feel like it's it's going okay. Um, others are still wondering where the rest of the dollars are going to be. Um, but but they have a transition team that we can talk to and we've been talking to about if we do this, how many kids, what will it cost? So, their funding is direct to that. It's not a reimbursement model, which is good because we'd have a delay if it were. Um, so we are not budgeting specifically for future CDS kids other than our attempts at trying to figure out facilities and spacing

and and people's time to plan. But

Gotcha. And my my last question is just around the some of the cuts. So you had uh um public facing cuts that you proposed and all of those still stand from the original budget proposal. Uh I I think all those are still in discussion, but I think the committee has done a pretty good job processing what are these potential cuts and then trying to figure out depending on what happens with the revenues and the different funding models that are shifting right before us. Um what they will do ultimately as it relates to those budget reductions. We continue to look for other things. Um and we continue to if we find little things, we we grab them. One example um we shared publicly a week or so ago um we had our JOTC instructor, we have two of them at the high school, one retired and when we hired the new one, it went in the budget but it looked like we had three positions. So when we found that we were able to extract that. So those kinds of things that we find throughout the process, those are all coming out. The school committee will look at new revenues hopefully and then make some they'll have to make some tough decisions on what of those pieces I presented or others that that will ultimately land in the budget.

The one thing I'd just like to note I've been contacted by several uh constituents who are concerned about certain positions including uh the dean of student affairs at um Montello and uh the uh social worker at uh the middle school. And so if those are um hopefully the school board is being contacted by people who have the same concerns. So yeah, thank you very much. Thank you. Uh further questions, comments from the council, councelor Chidam. Yes.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh there's been a lot of talk and action in Augusta about redeveloping or re-examining the school funding formula. Uh could you talk to your perceptions on how that's going? Uh what you expect may be happening? Uh Lewon is one of the largest recipients uh of the school funding formula and my fear is that that being so and there's a reallocation, it will hurt Lewiston. Can you talk to that?

Yeah, I think the the biggest one right now is that the the funding formula has not had a substantial change since 2005. So, it's been 21 years since it's been adjusted, changed, modified in any way, shape, or form. A few years back, we had an adjustment that was put in place for um COVID that changed one of our adjustments, and they found that correction, and they peeled it back. That was the year, I don't know if you recall, that we had a loss in subsidy. Um we've had we've had a jump in subsidy as of late. The latest legislative language will um it's attempting to again if passed adjust the um the increaser or the factor to multiply those who qualify as economically disadvantaged. Um it's a it's a 0.15 factor currently. They're looking to move that to a 38 factor. Uh if the language stands, there's also language in there about um special education caps. I'm actually a little concerned about that. The state has a I want to dive into this too deeply but or I can I guess but the state has an arbitrary line of 15% saying essentially that 15% of your population will need special education so here's your funding well we have more than 15% and so when they cap it at 15% it's not helpful so what the state has done at least through the department of education and appropriations is send out what they call either hardship funds or highcost adjustments and so we've been a recipient of those high-cost adjustments uh and it ranges is um from two to I think as much as $748,000 if I'm remembering correctly. That was a multilingual adjustment. That was on the bigger end. Um but some of the language proposed if they take the full adoption takes those hardship funds and either caps them or potentially removes them. So the adjustment from 15% to 17% could be beneficial, but if they put in an arbitrary cap over a percentage or a hardship fund, we might land flat as it relates to that. However, the economically disadvantaged adjustment

will benefit the our district a great deal. I think over a million dollars a year. Thank you. Do you have any guidance for uh the council as a whole or individuals uh in the city to talking points that we can address our legislators?

There's a work session Wednesday on LD2226. Uh if you can make a push to support that, I do think that would be beneficial to our community. But I would also push um really a larger conversation about the essential programs and services formula as a whole. Um, we've picked up on some things that we we've asked questions about that we find challenging. Um, for for one example, we do main care billing. Um, just like outside organizations do for our kids who qualify that have high level of need and they have to qualify in other areas. But when we do that billing, um, there's a factor in the formula that calls that revenue and it takes it out a year later once it's been audited. And it's it's um Adam was able to find almost a one forone removal of those funds. And so it's it's hard to put the money in upfront to do the work, do the main care billing for what qualifies, then have it deducted from your revenue in in a year or two. So I think there's a lot of room in the essential programming services to look at some modifications that would benefit. Um we are a large receiver, but I also know that we have a high level of need. So, if you could continue to push on anybody who wants to do more work with u the essential programs and services, I'd love to see it look like the CTE model where it's you do this thing and it costs this much based on your regional costing and that's why we're going to give you this much money to do that and we don't currently have that model. You want to add Bill? Yeah, I just want to I was I was at the conference I had referenced earlier and MEPRI was there doing a presentation um and they obviously did the study of the ED279 along with the department of ed and one of the really the two pieces that they were looking at um would benefit almost every district. Um there was one district they said that that would have a little bit of a a loss, but we were not that district. I can tell you that. And ultimately um again they're just pro providing data and and

how this becomes the most equitable formula they can have um and what they presented. So if you have a chance to look at what me put together um it would I believe it would benefit Lewon um quite substantially federally I would say IDEIDA which is essentially special education law has never been fully funded by the federal government. If that was fully funded, we would not even be having these conversations. Thank you, Councelor Harmon.

Thank you. And yeah, just to add to what the superintendent was saying, the the bill to revamp the education funding formula, it wouldn't take effect until the next budget year. Um, assuming it does pass. And there were there was at least one maybe a handful of schools that or districts that could lose funding. um they were much wealthier districts and it seems like they're moving in a direction where they won't basically they won't go backwards. They'll sit at the same level for a few years and then once they catch up again they'll their subsidy will start to increase. Um the other piece which I don't know I apologize I was late. I don't know if you talked about uh it's kind of still in the early stages but the supplemental or bridge funding I did. You mentioned that. Okay.

Thank you. Uh, councelor Roy. Thank you. Uh, thank you, Superintendent. Um, I don't know if this is the place for me to bring this up or not. I don't know if we've had any talks with like Bates College to invest in our education program here in Lewon. I would really love to see that because again, we have some great students here that would love to go to Bates and all that stuff. And I really think if we could get them to invest in our community, that would be amazing. you know, our kids would really benefit from that and we wouldn't be having to have these conversations every year. Like we we'd have a a hopefully a partner that would really invest in us. So, I don't know if this may start it or what, but I don't I don't even know if I'm supposed to be saying that right now.

I I think Yeah. Do you want to talk about the Harwood Center? Well, I mean, I'll start with a piece of it. Um, in that um I can't speak to the nonprofit status and the the taxation rules. that's bigger than than than me. Um, but I will say uh Bates has been a great supporter of our schools with student volunteers, with tutors, with programming. Um, but to your point, it's it's not a revenue draw for the city. Um, so I I can look for opportunities to mention that if if it welcomes itself. Um, but I Yeah.

Yeah. I mean I just wanted to add through the Harvard center um there are many many students who participate in uh Lewon students education and um and they're doing real work and um yeah we are grateful for that. Uh further uh questions comments from counselors. Councelor Nene back to you. Um thank you Mr. Mayor. Um, just really quickly, can you tell us at this moment where the budget sits, how much in in a dollar amount is the is the municipal portion? How much the municipal portion of the budget is? Yeah, correct. So, we have the overall budget. Um, you and if you could just break it down by the funding that's coming from the state. Yes.

And then the funding that's coming from the municipality. again. Uh so if I go back here a few slides, 35 million um $417,93 U which is that third to the last bullet and the the increase locally is 3.9 million over the last year. So the remaining amount the 95 million is completely coming from state and federal sources subsidy. Yes. And fund balance other revenues that would be our main care billing and then uh state subsidy. And if you could just briefly, if you know off the top of your head, the funding formula for EPS is usually somewhere around 55%. I know that a community like Portland receives 8%, 8 n%. How much do we receive?

Yeah, we we exceed we're the highest receiver in the state and I I don't know the exact percentage, but it's it's like it's over 70. It's like 80%. Yeah. Okay, perfect. That those are the questions that I had. Uh, further questions, comments from the council. I think that wraps it up. Thank you very much. Thank you. I appreciate it. Just a quick number. I did get McKini Vento. There's 131 students. 131 students. And out of those, how many are currently out of district? Do we know? That's the ones that are out of district. Those are the ones that are out of district. Okay. Appreciate it. Thank you. Uh, gentlemen, thank you both.

Thank you. Uh we are uh I think we're we're in a good spot to start our meeting on time at 7:00. We'll see you back here then.

Hello. Welcome to our Tuesday evening council meeting. If I can have it quiet in the chambers, that would be great. Thank you. Uh we thank you all for coming. We're going to kick things off with the pledge of allegiance and we are absolutely honored to have Elsa Delario who is the Nesc player of the year here and she will lead us in the pledge of allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you very much, Elsa. Uh, madame clerk, I believe we're ready to begin.

Uh, yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. All roll call votes for this meeting will begin with the counselor of ward uh one. The agenda says W 7, but the W seven counselor has an excused absence this evening. So, we'll move on for the council for Ward One for roll call votes. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Thank you. Uh, we now have a few presentations. If I can have the Bates, uh, women's basketball team and, uh, I believe we have the two coaches here. Please join me up front.

Come on down. One more. uh really proud really really proud to have the Bass women's basketball team here and I am holding a a proclamation recognizing the Bates College women's basketball team uh out for outstanding achievement. Uh whereas the Bates College women's basketball team achieved an historic 24-4 record during the 2025 2026 season, the most wins in program history. And whereas team captured the Nescat championship with a victory over Bowden. So exciting to always beat Bowden. And advanced to the NCAA N NCAA Division 3 Women's Basketball Championship tournament Sweet 16 for the fourth time in program history. And whereas the team demonstrated resilience and determination throughout the season, including a remarkable comeback from an 18-point deficit to defeat Smith College, I'm always happy when we beat Smith in overtime during NCAA tournament play. And whereas co head coach Allison Montgomery and her coaching staff were recognized as Nestag coaching staff of the year with coach Montgomery also earning the New England coach of the year honors and recognition as a finalist for the national coach of the year. And whereas student athletes earned numerous individual honors,

including senior captain Elsie Deleria, who is named a WBCA all-American Nescap player of the year and NESCA defensive player of the year, along with additional allconerence, all region, and all state recognitions for team members including Sarah Hughes and Claire Gatani.

Yes. And whereas the Bates College women's basketball team has represented the city of Lewon with distinction through its commitment to excellence, teamwork, and sportsmanship. Now therefore, I, Carl Elchelene, mayor of the city of Lewon, do hereby recognize and commend the Bates College women's basketball team, for their outstanding achievements during the 2025 2026 season, and extend the city's congratulations to the student athletes, coaches, and staff for their continued success and representation of Lewon at the regional and national levels. Thank you all so much for being here. Council Long Champ.

Hey Joe, are you good? Can you see council long champ? There you go. There you go. Ready up there. Everyone look at Joe. Here we go. All right. Here we go. One, two, three, four. Excellent. Got it. Yeah. Okay.

Here. Three, two, one. Two. One. Good. Great job. Excellent job, ladies. Great job.

Congratulations. Uh we now have the Bates College uh swim and dive team here. If the members could please uh join me here at the front. Great. When you can. Maybe he'll give us the diving board. Who's team?

Are you a team captain? Just hold this for a minute. Who else is a team captain? Who else is a team captain? Hey, Mr. Mayor. You're a team. Should we put some people in the back? So, the taller ones, can we go in the back? We're standing. We're standing now. You're good. Yeah, this is super.

Oh, you just said a few people. Okay. Yes, you do.

Oh my god. It's like the women's team, too. Like 25ish of each of us. Wow. Thank you. No worries. Appreciate you letting us come into your spot.

Oh, no. Uh, thank you for your patience. We're going to start things off with a huge round of applause for the Bates swim and dive team. So, yes, I have a proclamation recognizing the Bates College men and women swimming and diving programs for outstanding achievement. Whereas Debates College men and women swimming and diving programs have demonstrated exceptional athletic excellence during the 2025 season, achieving historic success at both the conference and national levels. And whereas head coach Peter Casaris, you got it.

Okay. uh was named the 2026 NCAA Division 3 men's swimming co- coach of the year and along with his staff was honored at the Nesc men's swimming coaching staff of the year reflecting outstanding leadership and program development. And whereas the Bates men's team achieved a program best sixplay finish at the NCAA Division 3 championships highlighted by the program's first ever relay national championship in the 400 yard medley relay. And whereas student athletes include Marage

Exactly. and M and Max Corey earned national titles and multiple all-American honors with Maritch setting a Nesc record in the 100yard breaststroke and Corey becoming the most decorated men's athlete in Bates history. And whereas additional student athletes including Sarah Palmer and Tim Johnson achieved all-American status and set new program benchmarks reflecting the strength and depth of the Bates program. And whereas the Bates swimming and diving programs have also demonstrated a strong commitment to academic excellence with both teams earning CSCAA scholarship all-American team honors and maintaining exceptional grade point averages. And whereas the success of the Bates College swimming and diving programs reflects not only individual achievement, but also the strength of teamwork, dedication, and a shared commitment to excellence both in and out of the pool. Now therefore, I, Carl Elchelene, mayor of the city of Lewon, do hereby recognize the Bates College men's and women's swimming and diving programs for their outstanding achievements during the 2025 season and extend the city's congratulations to the student athletes, coaches, and staff for their continued success and exemplary representation of Lewon on the national stage. Thank you all so much. Congratulations. Uh I I know that some of you are in position, but I need all the uh the 14 captains to join me up front here. So uh yeah, thank you. And we're going to get a photo.

on our chair. Okay, we all can everyone see me right here. Okay, on the count of three, two, go. Joe, we took a bunch. Okay, wait. Three, two, one, two, one. Good. Thank you.

Congratulations. Great job. Did you just email me these like women?

I didn't bring a basketball. Huh? I don't know. Not giving us a presentation. Pretty much I feel bad.

I do too. uh really appreciate Lucen's adult education here. We have uh Raiselle and we also have Jen Tiner here, the director. And uh we have uh two uh apprenticeship students. if you can uh just introduce yourselves really quick and just tell us uh what you're studying.

My name is Mimi Kenya. Uh I'm staying open. I was I was take my training apprentices in adult education to and res

Yes, I'm a CNA. Right now I'm working in Clover head. And my name is Jazelle. I'm one of the first students at apprenticeship program at adult education western. So I finished there I started as a student to learn English and then from there I went to CNA program and then fletomy and then after that now I'm doing my eyeset for nursing to go to nursing college and then now I'm working for spawn weeks as a CNA looking for adults with intellectual disability.

A huge round of applause for these two. Thank you so much. So this is a proclamation celebrating National Apprenticeship Week. Whereas National Apprenticeship Week annually raises awareness of the vital role registered apprenticeships provide in meeting critical industry workforce demands, registered apprenticeship programs develop the highly skilled workforce that employers need and create pathways for Americans to catapult into in- demand high-paying careers. And whereas registered apprenticeship programs are industrydriven highquality career pathways that enable employers to develop and train their future workforce. And individuals can obtain paid work experience with a mentor, receive progressive wage increases, classroom instruction, and a portable nationally recognized credential. And whereas the city of Lucen recognizes the urgent need to prepare and maintain a highly skilled workforce that can meet the current and future demands of the industry we serve and fortify our economy. And whereas the city of Lewon recognizing the pivotal pivotal role educators, school counselors, and educational institutions serve in not only bringing awareness of registered apprenticeship opportunities to students and parents, but also serving as training providers, program sponsors, and intermediaries. And whereas Lewon Adult Education has demonstrated a strong commitment to workforce development by expanding access to education, supporting career pathways, and partnering with employers to connect residents with meaningful training and employment opportunities. And whereas registered apprenticeship programs are uniquely able to meet the changing demands of the city of Lewon's economy. Now therefore, I, Carl Elshene, mayor of the city of Lewon, do hereby proclaim April 26 to May 2nd, 2026 as National

Apprenticeship Week 2026 in the city of Lewon and call upon stakeholders and partners to recognize the value of registered apprenticeship and to promote awareness and expansion during National Apprenticeship Week. Thank you so much for being here and congratulations We don't need to be

Yeah, I was close this time. I was very close. All right, everyone ready? All right, three, two, one. Perfect. Thank you. I was Yes.

Another huge round of applause for Lewis and Adult Education for everything they do for our city.

Madam Clerk, I understand we have minutes. Uh, yes. the meeting minutes of March 17th and March 31st. May I have a motion to accept the minutes? Accept both. Uh, councelor um, Chidam, I would second. Followed by councelor Nene. Madam clerk, please call the vote. Counselor from W one, yes. W two, yes. W three, yes. W four, yes. W five, yes. W six, yes. And Mr. Mayor, yes. Motion passed a vote of seven to zero.

Uh, thank you very much, Madam Clerk. Uh, we are now up to public comment. Any member of the public may make comments regarding issues pertaining to Lewon City government. This period is reserved for non-aggenda items. Public comment is also allowed during individual agenda items. Public comment is limited to three minutes per person. Please state your name for the record and please indicate if you're a Lewon resident. Prior council rules. This period is reserved for Lewon residents only. Because this is the business meeting of the city council. All qu all questions should be directed to the mayor who will ask staff to follow up at a future time. It is illegal for the city council to allow comments related to personnel matters. All personnel compl complaints should be made directly to the city administration office. And then I also wanted to note that um we will be having a budget hearing. So anything pertaining to the budget will need to wait for that uh for that agenda item. I think it's number seven.

Andrew Jones, ward two. On January 21st, the mayor posted on social media that fascism is at the door. At the time, I didn't realize how right he was until approximately two weeks ago, three weeks ago. Um, fascism is at the door. As a matter of fact, it's in this chamber and it sits to his right. Councelor Scott Haramman. About two weeks ago, I was visited by the LPD at my home and issued a cease harassment notice that was requested by Councelor Haramman. Uh his statement is included in the packet that was given to you. Um and if you read the the statement, it reads like something Melissa Dunn wrote. Um the notice was rescended later that evening when the police realized that virtually every uh piece of evidence that he presented as harassment was actually constitutionally protected speech. Um most of those items were right here in this chamber. Um a similar opinion was also issued by the district attorney um which is included in that packet as well. All of this came about as a result of criticism that was directed at an elected official uh in the course of his duties. And he wasn't alone in that criticism. Uh Mike Roy was also criticized for what appeared to be inattentiveness. Um the difference is that Mike Roy and I had a good conversation about that. He explained why he uh he appeared the way he was and I thanked him for it. I apologized and uh we've been tight ever since. Um, however, we didn't get such a such a consideration from Scott. He acted just like he is now, doing whatever it is that he's doing. Um, he's not just ignoring me, but he ignores the rest of the public as well. Uh, Scott attempted to shift the blame

for increased security in this chamber on me and my wife. funnily enough, I cannot think of any time in our years of participation here in this chamber that uh the police were required to intervene in something we were involved in. Uh Scott attacked the First Amendment by attempting to silence someone he disagreed with. We're not a threat to his safety. It's only I've only seen him once outside of city hall and that was during the special election in February. I walked up to him, I shook his hand, and I wished him luck. I I don't understand how that could have been considered threatening, but it's in the packet as as something he claimed to bother him. Uh he doesn't belong in public service if he can't handle uh criticism. I'd call for his resignation, but I don't think he's going to resign. And if a censure meant anything, I'd ask the council to consider that, too. But he's got two so far. Uh maybe he needs a punch card for centuries. I'm not sure. I think this council needs to consider whether or not a person with zero respect for constitutional rights of others should even have a seat at that deis. Thank you.

Further public comment.

Hi, Robert McDonald. Uh, ward six. It's been a while since I've been in here. Uh, and things have changed. I try to come in through that door there and it's locked and I had to come in through here and now I'm seeing this whatever it is across so nobody can get up there and you know I'm what I'm wondering is is when are you going to put the claymore mines and the uh machine guns in I said you're supposed to be here for the public not s shying away from I want to talk about tonight. I just want to point out a couple of things. These meetings have been going all kinds very long. The mayor is supposed to be running the meeting, not continually giving his opinions and telling the counselors how he thinks they should vote. He and he alone is responsible for the long meetings. Why aren't out another thing? Why aren't outside investigations being done to find out why Somali groups were given money intended for shooting victims and Ren Soul is not sitting up there because she is actually the only candidate up for election. Why you couldn't put her up there, I don't know. Uh you've taken an oath to uphold the laws of this country and state, yet you ignore the those you don't like. This is the cause for removal from your office.

A majority of the Lewon residents would like ICE to remove those who should not be here. If that was accomplished, how much lower how much lower would our unannounced mill rate be? In the mo in this morning's paper, it appears that several of our counselors and the mayor seem to be taking the Somali side over the police and code enforcement. Also, in this last Sunday's paper, two weeks ago, a we the mayor called deceased and foreign may uh former mayor Larry Raymond's letter disgusting. Well, what I'd like to know is did you actually read that letter or was that just an attempt to get a minority vote? Lastly, Mr. President, could you please place your hand over your heart during the pledge of alleg

further public comment? Lonnie Parody Wood 6. I'm back. Um, I want to talk about the taxes. I'm really concerned. My partner just died six weeks ago. We're going to have a public hearing for taxes. I think that's item number seven. Is that correct? Yes. Item number seven. I don't want to stay that long. Mayor, I'm just telling you. Okay, I'll take up I I'll take you up with this other subject. Seniors, I am worried about losing my house. I have one income and it's a fixed income and I want my assessment now. I want to be able to lower your voice just a little bit. That would be great. Thank you.

Why you always lower you? You you always say hi and everything like that. You never say hi. You you up your vote. Anyway, all you do is talk, mayor. Anyway, seniors, you have not paid attention to seniors. And I have to say to the new administrator, when I talked to you at the beginning, you promised that you would help the seniors. You have done nothing for the seniors. All you talk about is downtown. I'm afraid of losing my house. I I have fixed income and I know a lot of other seniors. You are not helping any of the wards. The only ward you care about is ward five. And then you didn't put Ren back in as and she should have been back in. She knew what was going on. Do you know that up in Bangor there's 41 cases of HIV now? And they had to hire two case managers and now you don't want public health person up here in here and they're giving out a 100 syringes. That was supposed to stop HIV and stuff. That doesn't stop. It needs to be on a one to one. You guys did not listen to Ren and other people that knew what was going on with public health. It's funny. Bangor is doing the same thing was given a 100 syringes and they got 41. At least they have a pace uh public health person up there and you guys aren't thing. You're paying a communication director 120,000 a year. At least I'm paying for it. She is doing nothing. What did you do with Doy? You did a job with Doy administration and Brian. I have to say that is too bad. Everybody liked Doy your new your director of communication is not like

we cannot talk about personnel issues here. Sorry I I you don't listen anyway mayor. So I'm saying what I want. The rules are the rules. We're not going to be talking about personnel issues and Martell school. You have done nothing about Martell school and seniors. Nothing. And even my uh chidum doesn't even listen to me anymore. But thank you for code. At least they got rid of that house at the corner of my road. At least and John John listens and everything like that. You need to do something about seniors. Our our Thank you. That's time. Thank you. Thank you.

Further public comment.

I'm Ren Soul. W five. And I'm going to try to be real civil here. I'm here because yesterday morning my life changed in a nancond. While I was simply going about my day, I was stuck by a dirty bloody syringe. I have now spent the last 24 hours asking myself who was to blame for this. Is it me? Absolutely not. Is it my employer? Nope. The blame lies squarely with the state of Maine, the CDC, and specifically four sitting counselors in this room who voted to prioritize service syringe service programs over basic physical safety of your constituents. You had a chance to do the right thing for the people who live and work in Lewon. Instead, you choose to protect the drug user while leaving the rest of us to deal with the hazardous waste left behind. Right now I am living a nightmare. Do I have HIV? Do I have hepatitis? I don't know and I won't know for six weeks. I'm one of the who has I'm sorry. I am the one who has to go through the testing, the anxiety, the medical protocols because of a policy you all supported. How many more victims have to stand in front of you before you see what you're doing to the city you swore to protect? The irresponsibility you are displaying on behalf of Lewiston is unacceptable. We deserve better. I'm demanding today that this council revisit the needle exchange policies and implement immediate aggressive protocols to for public cleanup and disposal. Stop protecting the syringe and start protecting the citizens. One person can receive up to 700 needles a week. How many clients do they have? I don't know. Let's say 200. That's 140,000 needles a week. Do better.

Further public comment.

Hi, it's been a while. My name is Adam Jones. I live in W 2 now, so you'll probably be seeing lots of me. Um, Carl, first off, uh, I'm back. So, nice to see you again. Um, don't worry, Brian. I'm not here to talk about administrators tonight. Um, I just want to start off in saying when I moved to Lewon, I thought really heavily of where I wanted to live. I wasn't even sure if I wanted to come back here. Um, thankfully, I was relieved. And for interpretation sake, I don't mean relieved like Caramman would interpret it, but um I was happy to learn that council long Champs was my counselor. Um and I commend her on having a voice recently and I'm really um looking forward to seeing her grow that and I hope she continues uh into another term. Um most importantly, I think it's just important to go back to the vision statement for the city of Lewon. Um Haramman, are you doodling? Okay. Um, most importantly, the first line of the vision statement for the city of Lewon is Lewon is committed to being a community of excellence. And I think all of you should kind of sit back and take that in for a minute. That's the first line of the vision statement. That's not the third line. That's not the last line. It's the first line. Excellence. And I think week after week, you guys are communicating hopefully with your constituents. finding the needs of the people and communicating that back to make proper change and bring positive change to the city. And it it brings me to my next point. Um if you look back uh on the mayor's inaugural address back uh January 2nd of 24, there's a couple things I just want to read that he actually stated. As we move Lewon forward, I offer you these two guiding principles. Lewon is for everyone and nobody gets left behind. you seem to

have left behind all of those shooting victims and their families. I think that's unfortunate. I think if you move ahead to his next speech when somehow he won again, um this actually dates back to the 22 era, he talks about how can we streamline the permit process. We should examine our code and zone ordinances to determine what makes sense moving forward. I'd like to just point out the mayor has apartment buildings that he never registered as part of the rental registry program as required by the code enforcement office and local ordinance. I don't think that's excellence, mayor. And lastly, I'd like to just call out the fact that I have come before this council many times and spoke on many different topics. And as a citizen now, I expect better. I couldn't really have the change like I wanted to back then. you're not going to hear um the same thing by all these constituents that I I have to say because I come at it from a different perspective. But I I want all of you to go back to that one line of excellence.

That's time. Thank you.

Matthew Aren Ward 4. Hello members of the city council. I stand here to thank you all publicly for making the correct call on March 17th on item 11. The only feedback I will give is to an idea that was spoken by council lady Jean saying public comment emails don't need to be responded to. My response is if they're not responded to or put up on the city's web page, how do we even know they've been received? After all, Councelor Harman not too long ago found out that he was not receiving comments from the public due to a systems failure. So, and as we're now building the Lewon wall to keep the citizens and taxpayers of Lewon from being able to directly interact with you here in the council chamber. I assume you'll be setting up watchtowers soon with armed guards like they did in East German East Berlin. And then we have this elephant in the room. We had a counselor file harassment charges against members of the public who've come here to challenge him and call him out. Councelor Chidum, I have to ask, will I be should I be expecting the same? After all, before the 317 meeting, I did knock over your name plate. And let's be honest, I have called you out from here and asked you to resign as council president for your words on the charter that if you knew what was in it, you would not agree to follow it. As we both agree, words have meanings. We've come to understandings on things, I hope. But it's not just councelor Chinam. I'm pretty sure I've annoyed all of you up there at least at one point or another. Well, maybe not counselors Noble and Martell because they're new, but I'm sure I'll get to them eventually. Yet, I've spoken to both of them outside the council chambers. Yet after these harassment charges were

served and then reversed by LPD when they figured out the claims of harassment were from public interaction, not so while serving as a public servant. So that would be a false claim, is it? And didn't you all wish that LPD did not have any option but to follow law? So should he not be charged with filing a false report? and I ask you to consider censoring him again for this act as a way of saying none of you support his method of silencing critics of you. Thank you for your time.

Uh administrator Ali, can you run a uh a stopwatch? Okay, thank you. Thank you. Uh all right. the uh you know we're appears to we're appears to be that we're having some technical difficulties with the clock but administrator Lali has kindly agreed to run a stopwatch and we'll let me we'll let all of us know when the when the time is up. Uh please continue. Okay. Thank you. Uh there's a form I'm handing to you. Uh this form is from the main community foundation. Can you uh identify yourself and state where you live?

Sure. Yeah, I was going to I was going to right after I explained what this form was. So, this form is from the main community foundation and it states that 100% of the funds were to go to the survivors that were at Smegis in the bowling alley. So, my name is Destiny and I am a Lewon shooting survivor. I was um at Smegis. I'm sorry. Do you live in Lewon? I do not, but I have family that live here. I understand. But this is this comment period is for lucen residents only. So you're not going to let me speak? I'm sorry I cannot. Mr. Mayor, I would I would I would move that we allow the person to speak

given her ties to the community. Uh please continue. Thank you. Thank you.

Survivors and victims families did not request the city's council's assistance in addressing their needs. Instead, our focus has been on seeking accountability for the 1.9 million awarded to 29 nonprofits that were not at SMANIS or the bowling alley on October 25th, 2023. We specifically asked for an investigation into the allocation of these funds, not to partnership with the main community foundation or the main resiliency center. The main resiliency center does not handle fund dis dispersement, nor does it retain the funds raised by the main community foundation. It is worth noting that the main resiliency center is the only nonprofit recipient of 65,000 from the 1.9 million which was specifically designated to aid survivors like us and has been providing ongoing support to survivors and families. Given your current partnership with the main community foundation, it seems reasonable for you to ask the main community foundation to return the 1.9 million to the victims and their families. While we cannot undo what happened the night at Smeangis or the Bolanelli, we cannot erase the fear, the loss, or the trauma. But we can demand accountability. We can insist that when money is raised for victims, the victims come first. I escaped to the kitchen of Swangies. Others didn't make it out at all. The least we can do now is ensure that their names in the support promised in their honor are treated with the fairness and transparency and respect. Thank you.

Thank you. If individuals here could please silence their cell phones, that would be great. Further public comment. My name's Brianlair. Actually comment all I have is for you Carl Selene the mayor. Um we had a talk that I had something positive that I had to offer that I would propose and uh at this point after what I've heard today I'm going to hold on to that until some officials are done with their term. Thank you. Further public comment.

I'll be super quick. Lisa Jones, I live in W 2. I own a business in W 7. It's right on East Avenue and I drive East Avenue daily. And I just want to publicly mention the contrast between the site where the Gendin buildings are being built and they went up speedy speedy and we're going to have people living in them before we know it and the vacant lot at the other end of East Avenue where we tore down a building two years ago and there's been zero progress. And I think it's very interesting that one is private construction and one is government construction. And I also think it's very interesting that Lewon Housing Authority never has anyone around to talk about it. That's all. Further public comments. Public comment is now.

My name is John Bachia. Um I live at Diamond Court. I don't know how many of you are familiar with what happened to my wife and I's house. Um, I'm not here for a roast. Not here to bash anybody. Uh, your insurance company denied us due to it was a broken pipe that flooded my house. I mean, it was nice to see you giving awards and stuff to all the kids and things like that tonight. And it was nice. They could have swam in my li my basement pretty much and my backyard and retrieved all our Christmas stuff and everything else that got damaged in our house. I understand accidents happen. I understand you have a not you personally. I have nothing against the city. I I got to note that everybody has been very supportive, very sympathetic, very helpful, especially the employees. Everybody has been stepping up. I've talked to quite a few in the room. It's not really important who I talk to, but I have talked to quite a few people in this room and uh I do appreciate, you know, the support you've given us. Um, I hope it continues that accidents happen, but this was a really rare circumstance. We're the only house that got damaged the way it did. People had stuff on their lawns and things like that. We're in the process of building the family room on the back of the house. I just had code enforcement out today.

that was pretty much destroyed. I got to rip it all back down to redo it again cuz I have an open permit. Um, some of the wood was saved, some of it wasn't. All the basement stuff was not saved. Um, I was able to salvage I'm doing all the cleanup myself. Um, and it's unfortunate. Yeah, accidents happen. It's all over the all over the Lewon. This was a very bad exception. I don't know how many seen it on TV, how many seen it on the newspaper. It, you know, I didn't call them. They were just standing outside doing that. This the insurance company is focused on the pipe breaking and the water. We live there. Down at the bottom, there's two storm drains. They were not draining. Granted, a million gallons of water may not take on those storm drains may not take it all on, but it would have helped. I had to clean those storm drains off many times when leaves and stuff get on them with a broom, not a backhoe. The public uh works had to bring a backhoe. I had to show them where the drains were and they had to rip it up with a backhoe. You don't need a backhoe to rip up a drain that's working properly. I was trying to explain that to the insurance company, but they denied us pretty much on the phone, which I New York side of me, sorry. Um, I had a few choice words to her because she pretty much told us, "Don't even bother submitting anything because this claim is going to be denied due to tur without even seeing what the circumstances were. There

circumstances. People get water in their yards. They get water in their cars. They This was everything we owned. This was our whole basement. This took up weeks of our time. I sat out there with a pressure washer pressure washing my lawn just to get the mud off of it. And it took me two days to do that. You know, this is all our time that we're doing. You know, I'm not up here to roast anybody or or bash any of yours. You know, you're all here to do a job. You got a lot going on. You know, we're not sitting here. I don't I'm not looking for millions of dollars. We're just looking to get replaced what got damaged. I got a fence that I have holding up with wire right now. You know, we were all excited about starting our new living room. I spent all winter shoveling off snow and right at the end of winter, the water comes up underneath. So, all the tarps, everything I had protected, I don't know what the equity in our house is going to be worth now because it was plasted all over the news, you know. So there's a lot of factors, but we just want to get compensated. We want to get our help, some kind of help. It would probably be less than what you guys would pay for a barbecue for the city employees. I'm just looking at Nobody has asked once. How much damage was there? What's your list? I got a list here, but nobody's ever asked for it. Not the insurance company. They knew before the water even finished draining that they were denying it. Our insurance company, they said it didn't happen on our property. So, they weren't going to cover it. And they said we didn't have flood insurance. I don't have volcano insurance either because I don't live near an ocean. I don't live near a volcano. I didn't know why we

would need flood insurance. So, I don't want to take up your time. I do thank all the people that have reached out to us and talked to us. Um, you know, the city has taken responsibility for this. And for the people that have talked to me, they have taken full responsibility. You you did drain our basement to a point that they could. I still had to drain a lot more. But, um, I just hope that a little humanity that you do the right thing. You know, there's there's times to sit there and there's laws to put in place to protect and stuff like that, but but it doesn't hurt to be just humane and do the right thing to help. One house, one house got really badly damaged and you seen it. You all had to see it.

So, anyway, thanks for your time. We'll be back in We'll be back in touch with you, sir. Thank you. Okay. Good luck to you. Further public comment.

Hi, my name is Nicole May. I'm a W five resident. Um, I really hate coming up here, but if not me, then who? Um, there's a couple things I just wanted to address and like propose to the city. Um lately there's been an online blog um coming to a place of worship and harassing the people that are going there to worship. And um people in the community have actually told me that it is a um elected official that is kind of inviting, engaging, creating a little bit of hostility or encouraging it I guess. Um and I want to like ask the city to revisit our ethics. um and where we stand on, you know, the entire city, right? Like it's not just about one ward or the other, it's the entire city. And um I work with young people in the community. And um you know, to hear that people are afraid to go worship because somebody was waving a a sword around is just it's crazy to me. Um, and I really want to hold the city of Lewon um, to their standards, right? Raise the standard. Um, and just please expect more of of our elected officials. Um, and the other thing I want to bring up is, um, yeah, I'm a person that is in long-term recovery. I work with, um, people who are in recovery as one of my jobs roles in the community. Nobody likes to see syringes, right? Nobody likes to see it. They're ugly. It's gross. We don't want to see anybody's bodily fluids. Um, but I will say like I've I've been in the in the trenches as the young people call it. And I've seen what happens when people don't have services um like wound care and it's just not a pretty sight. I've seen some pretty um unimaginable

things that like I wouldn't even say in a meeting like this. Um, so I don't know what the solution is, but I know we can do better as a community. That's all. Thanks. Further public comment. Public comment is now closed. Uh, Administrator Canrath, I understand you have uh the administrator's reports.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, starting off to follow up on councelor Longamp's resolution regarding the October 25th victims and survivors. Um we did as promised meet with the main resiliency center uh and talk about a process to survey the needs and identify the areas of assistance um that are out there. So we had a good conversation with them uh a number of meetings. Um we have discussed and entered into anou um a quiet in the chambers please. Thank you. If you'd like to converse please head to the hall. Please continue. You administrator Kenra. A detailed timeline of the process um will be uh forthcoming. Um but in general, we talked about a timeline of um spring and summer uh the MRC reaching out uh to those that they have uh in their contacts. Um and then uh doing an assessment and coming back with a a full and final report to us uh by the fall uh of this year uh to then identify again the needs and areas of assistance for those victims and survivors. So, I'll keep you updated uh publicly um on the process going forward and we will distribute the finalized timeline uh as soon as we have it to the council and to the public. Our revaluation process, our city assessor did host um earlier this evening the first Facebook live conversation um where residents can directly ask him uh questions and uh get their questions answered regarding the assessment process. Uh we'll have another one of these on April 21st from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. Um you can participate on the city social media pages. I also want to put out there residents can learn more about the reval process at louisisonmain.gov/reval. Uh in addition we are adding two more in-person uh events with the city assessor. Uh public events all are welcome to learn more about the reval process. The first will be on Monday, May 11th, 1:30 to 2:30 at the Lenon Armory Senior Center, 65 Central Avenue. Uh the next session uh the fourth

session will be Monday, May 18th, 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Also at the Liston Armory Senior Center, 65 Central Avenue. And we are discussing uh possibly some additional events as well in other areas of the community again to to keep getting the word out. Uh an additional note, letters notifying property owners of new assessments will be going out uh the last week of April. So look for those in your mailboxes. I'd say the last week of April or first week of May. Uh and this Thursday we will be having a budget workshop and I anticipate the discussion will largely center around as promised we would like to present some options uh for the implementation of the reval to lessen any potential burdens on residents and we're also going to have some new information uh on our overall valuation and forecast and mill rates and I will say this is um relatively good news on that front. So, we will discuss more of these options in depth on Thursday at our budget workshop. Uh, Lisman Street in our effort to create a vibrant uh downtown. Um, we are going to be uh installing banners and all the light poles, the decorative light poles up and down Lisbon Street uh this spring. They're going to feature a variety of downtown Lewon content to promote the city. Uh my thanks to Lon Public Works. They're in the process now of procuring uh the brackets needed um on the decorative light poles to affix these banners. uh and also thanks to them for getting these banners up in place. So, we're looking at hopefully within the next few weeks uh getting those out. We're also working with LA Arts. Um they're going to have some of their own banners promoting the arts in Lewon. They're going to be installed right in front uh of their building on Lisbon Street. So, we're excited about some uh new things coming up in our downtown. Uh speaking of that, the busking festival for 2026. Um just some updates there. Um we have condensed some of the dates. We're going to be doing May 1st, May 8th, and May 15th on Lisman Street between Ash and Maine, 400 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. We did um push the April date to uh into the May calendar due to some concerns about very early season

weather. Uh you see the weather outside today. We're really only a week from what we were thinking. And so it was decided that May is a better month for outdoor uh events than midappril and May. So, we're going to be again May 1st, May 8th, May 15th, downtown Elizabeth Lisbon Street, 4 to 7:00 p.m. Um, we hope to see everyone there. Again, this will be uh our second uh of these events. We had our first last October and we hope to build from there. So, thank you to everyone involved. You know, Joe Grock is here, our downtown businesses, uh the DA, so many other uh partners, LA Arts. Um we're looking forward to this. So, please join us again first day, May 1st. Uh some quick staff updates. Alec Collins at the LPD has been promoted from patrol officer to corporal. So, congrats to Alex. Also, Greg Ryder has been promoted from asset management technician to asset management analyst. Uh, and at the library, Karen Jones has retired from the Lizen Public Library for a second time. Uh, Karen first began at the library in 1988. Uh, and in her second stint here, uh, did help us catalog the library's over 100,000 books and other physical materials. So, congratulations to Karen on her retirement. Uh lastly, uh street trees. As you know, this is something I care a lot about. Um just an important update. Public works will be reconstructing, uh sidewalks on both sides of House Street between Ash and Sabatis in the coming weeks. Uh it will involve uh the removal of 10 street trees. These trees are already impacted by the emerald ashbor, which I've spoken about previously. So, these trees will be removed. The sidewalks will be reconstructed. Uh and new trees will replace all of the ones that um are being removed. So new trees will be going back where the ones are taken out. Uh I also just want to mention we do remain vigilant in monitoring the emerald ashbor. Um we are planning for treatment of I think I talked about this previously of many of the trees around the city that are eligible for treatment. Um we did put together a presentation for the public to learn

more about this. Um, this is an invasive species impacting all of our ash trees, but we do have a presentation that CD and our office put together, uh, our administration office. Um, it can be found at least.gov/emerald ashbbor. It will discuss, uh, the, uh, entire history of it, how to identify emerald ashbors, um, and lots of other information. So, if you are interested in learning more about this, uh, invasive pest that is now coming, uh, strongly into Maine and impacting all of our ash trees, again, that's Louismain.gov/emerald. /emerald ashbor. Um, lastly, I just want to say we did hear some comments from Mr. Bakia just earlier regarding the flooding on Diamond Court. Um, although as he mentioned, our insurance company did uh deny the claim, we are not done looking at options and working with him on potential resolutions. So, I just want the public to know that we are not uh forgetting about this. We are still working through options and we will be reaching back out to him um with some with some work to come. So, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Canrath. We appreciate your service to our city. Uh madame clerk, I believe we have a consent agenda.

We do. And before that, Mr. Mayor, we'll just note that councelor Martell has been able to join us for the council meeting. So, we'll retain the voting order that's printed on the agenda since councelor from W 7 is here. Sounds good to me.

Thank you. The uh consent agenda has six items this evening. Item number one, approval of the election warrant calling for a special municipal election to be held on Tuesday, May 12th, 2026 for the school budget validation referendum and recommendations from the city clerk register our voters on actions necessary to conduct set election. Number two, order authorizing acceptance and appropriation of funds from the main office of community affairs housing opportunity program municipal ordinance development grant. Number three, order authorizing the transfer of $550,000 from the 2025 Lewon Capital Improvement Plan Pond Road Waterline Replacement Bond Account to a new 2025 LCIP Central Avenue waterline replacement bond account. Number four, authorizing the disposition of property at 159 Pine Street. Number five, appointment of a member to the Lewon Area Public Health Committee. And number six, order to give notice to alter Challenger Drive via a conveyance of 049 acres from the city of Lewon to TR LLC.

May I have a motion, please? So moved. Uh councelor Nene. Second. Second by councelor Chidum. Madam clerk, please call the vote. Council from W 7. Yes. W one? Yes. W two? Yes. W three? Yes. W four? Yes. W five? Yes. W six? Yes. Motion pass by vote of seven to zero. Thank you very much, Madam Cler. We are now uh skipping ahead. Uh well, not skipping ahead. We are now at item number seven. Uh I am now opening the um uh the public hearing for the budget. Should anyone like to speak on the budget?

Good evening, Mr. Mayor and counselors. Matt Roy six. As I said last year, well, to piggyback on what I said last year, actually, uh, state law does require that you do at least two hearings besides tonight. That next hearing, it will be in May before you at the meeting where you're going to approve it. before. There is nothing with in state law that prohibits you from having another one after your your internal workshops which will be starting Thursday as the administrator alluded to and and then that as Ronnie Purity was trying to say but although public hearing on the budget itself and taxation are indirectly they are not the same thing but but yet this evaluation is process has been going on. It's not new. Again, we had the chief or well, Mr. uh the chief assessor having another series of meetings, which as far as I can tell, it's all the same stuff that he said last year without actually mailing out the uh new assessed values to the residences and uh well, and businesses who have or property owners in the city. those those meetings have no value. The only value that you're going to get from a assessment is having your new assessment so you can compare it to to what at this point the proposed and then we you guys wasted a half hour having a budget presentation from the school when the school department hasn't the school committee sorry hasn't even approved a budget themselves to present to you know and then the insurance company compared to a decade ago takes way longer to get to what that increase is although the there might be some savings from that. Again, this is another broken process

and more reason why we need a charter the the whole process that revolves around city government. Thank you. Further public comment for our budget hearing.

The budget hearing is now closed. Madame Clerk, item number eight. Item number eight, public hearing for approval of outdoor music concerts in conjunction with the Lewon Live busking festival event at various locations in the downtown area. requested action to conduct a public hearing on an application from the city for the outdoor music concert to be held at five locations in the downtown area on May 1st, 8th, and 15th and to authorize a permit for an outdoor entertainment event as required by the city code of ordinances chapter 10 article 1 section 10-3 to the Lewiston to Lewon Live for the outdoor concerts contingent upon positive recommendations from the police department, fire department, code lean use officer, and code health officer regarding compliance with all regulations and compliance with all city ordinances.

May I have a motion please? So move second by councelor Nene. Discussion public comment back to the council or public comment. Okay. Um I just want to say I support this. I attended this last year. It was a great event for something that was put together in three three months maybe. I think this year given that they've had a year to work on it, it should be another wonderful event. We all should support it.

Further public comment back to the council. Uh Joe, great job. Uh councelor Harman, did you have something? Yes, thank you. Um, are we going to have a presentation or anything on this to uh see how it's going to be different from last year or similar to last year or or anything like that that's going to be presented to us? Uh, we typically don't for outdoor entertainment permits. The only thing that you are approving for this is to allow the outside music concerts to be held on city property. That's the only purpose of this agenda item. So, applicants um are usually here to answer any questions, but they don't usually do a presentation because it's just basically a straightforward permit.

Okay. Yeah, understood. Um, will there be a presentation at some point uh before this happens? Uh, there absolutely can be. Um, if you'd like at the next meeting, we could do something or Joe is here. Um, I'm sure he can easily do uh a brief update and rundown if you're if you're interested, but if something more formal, we can come back the next meeting with a slideshow and things like that. I mean, over email is fine, too. Okay. I'd be happy to provide that. Sounds like we're doing an email and saving time. Love it. Uh further uh questions, comments from counselors. Madame clerk, please call the vote. Council from W seven, yes. Word one, yes. Word two, yes. Word three, yes. Word four, yes. Word five, yes. Word six, yes. Motion passed by vote of seven to zero.

Thank you very much, madam clerk. Item number nine. Item number nine, public hearing and first passage regarding an amendment to the business licensing ordinance regarding the annual licensing for prepackaged food sales and inspections. requested action that the proposed amendment to the city code of ordinances chapter 22 businesses article one in general section 22-2 definitions and article 2 licenses section 22-34 inspection of applicants premise merchandise receive first passage by roll call vote and to continue the public hearing to the next regular scheduled city council meeting I have a motion please so moved second councelor nene second by councelor chidam uh yes comments questions from councelor Councelor Chidum. Yes.

Thank you. Is a health inspector the same as a sanitarian? And are we consistent in our language throughout the ordinances? Uh the health inspector and sanitarian are the same. The health officer and the health inspector are two separate positions which is that second um housekeeping section you see at the bottom in section 22-34. We are adding the phrase or the title of health inspector. health officer is already there, but the health officer tends to be more of a public health officer for the um state statute requirements and and and um public health emergencies. The health inspector is the one who goes on site and does the inspections at the restaurants and so forth.

If I may, Mr. Mayor, Madame Clerk, is is health inspector a defined term or do we use sanitarian? My question is about consistency throughout in language, right? We we can take a look at that for the future. the um health inspector gave us this title to use in the ordinance. So, I'm not sure if sanitarian is more of a dated term. I can clarify with him. Thank you. Sure. Public comment. Back to the council. Madam clerk, please call the vote. Council for W seven. Yes. W. Yes. W two. Yes. W three. Yes. W four. Yes. W five. Yes. W six. Yes. Motion passed by vote of seven to zero.

Uh item number 10. Item number 10, public hearing on the Lewon fiscal year 27 federal fiscal year 2026 community development block grant CDBG budget and action plan. Requested action to conduct a public hearing on the Lewon fiscal year 27 federal fiscal year 2026 community development block grant budget and action plan. The public hearing is now open. Public hearing is now closed. Madam clerk, item number 11. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. We'll just clarify for the record that um this was just a public hearing. No action will be uh before the council for this uh CDBG item because this is just one of several public hearings as required in the process. Thank you.

Understood. Um item 11, public hearing on the Lewon fiscal year 27 federal fisc year 26 home budget and action plan. requested action to hold a public hearing on the Lewon fiscal year 27 federal fiscal year 2026 home budget and action plan. The public hearing is now open. Public hearing is now closed. Any uh clarification, Madam Clerk? Uh same deal, just a public hearing. Uh no action at this time. Thank you.

Excellent. Item number 12. Item number 12, order authorizing application and acceptance of funds from the US Department of Justice Edward Burn Justice Assistance Grant Program. Requested action to approve the order authorizing the application and acceptance of funds from the US Department of Justice Edward Burn Justice Assistance Grant Program. May I have a motion, please? So moved. Councelor Nene, second by councelor Chidam. Chief Carly, thank you for joining us. Uh are you here for questions or did you want to kick us off? Just in case you have any questions of me, um this is the the burn grant that we typically receive every year. Um it lasts for three years and I can go over what we normally apply for in it.

Uh I mean if you if you want to counselors have questions. Councelor Chidim. Yes. I have one question. Will the ultimate use of these funds, if the grant is awarded, be brought back to council, or is that a decision that's made interdep departmentally? It's interdep departmentally. Um, I believe it's April 28th that we have to submit what we would be looking for. Um, this year we're looking for laptops, printers, air cards. We typically use it for training for our supervisors, things along those lines. Understood. Thank you. Further questions, comments from council. Uh, public comment back to the council. Madame clerk, please call the vote. Council from W seven, yes. Ward one, yes. W two,

yes. W three, yes. W four, yes. Word five, yes. Word six, yes. Motion passed by seven to zero. Item number 13. Thank you, chief. Item 13, amendment to policy manual number six, the rules governing the city council. There's a couple items for requested action depending upon the direction of the council. The first item is to reconsider vote 106-2026 from the March 20 from the March 17 council meeting, which was to approve the proposed amendment to the rules governing the city council city policy manual number six to set a meeting ending time of 10 p.m. unless the city council votes to continue the meeting. Do we have such a motion? Councelor Chidum.

Clarification, Mr. Mayor. That was a universal no vote. Is that correct? Correct. I move to reconsider. Do we have a second? I'll second. Councelor Chidum followed by Councelor Haramman. Uh the only thing I want to say is well well. But uh council Haramman, do you have something else?

Thank you. Yes. I I brought this back because I thought of the three items that that were proposed under that agenda item, um I wasn't much in favor of limiting public comment. And I thought that the the proposal to shorten the meetings um had some some good uh some good bones there, but was a little bit a little bit uh lacking in the language, I guess, as far as it was very rigid and said, you know, once the clock hits 10, we have to stop, take a vote, and then the vote is either yes, we continue, or no, we don't continue. So, um I proposed this language. No further agenda items may be taken out. Mr. Mr. Mayor, councelor Chidam. Yes.

Yeah. We're we're discussing the reconsideration. We're going to be talking about the action at the next motion. Uh yes, thank you. Okay. I I was proposing or I was uh providing information as to what may be taken up uh that could affect somebody's vote on whether they want to reconsider. Anything further, Councelor Herman? Um no, I guess not. I guess we can proceed with this vote.

Uh we will proceed if there's any uh but first any other uh comment from counselors about this. Uh I appreciate uh any council action um uh that's uh uh that's how do I say this? I appreciate any council action that is um uh considerate of our meeting time. So, thank you. Uh, madame clerk, please call the vote. Councelor from W seven. No. Word one. Yes. Word two. Could you just clarify? I'm so sorry. What we are voting?

That's okay. No problem. So, the motion before you is to reconsider your vote from the last meeting on the item of setting 10 p.m. as an ending time. So if you vote yes on the motion before you, that means and if it passes amongst the group, then that motion would be back before you again for discussion as if it was never approved at the last meeting. Basically like opening it up again for discussion and another vote. Thank you. Sure. Yes. Uh word three, yes. Word four, no. Word five, yes. Word six, yes.

Motion passed by a vote of five to two. So now the motion before you is um what was approved at the March I'm sorry which was voted down at the March 17th meeting which was to approve the proposed amendments to the rules governing the city council policy manual number six to set a meeting ending time of 10 p.m. unless the council votes to continue the meeting. That's the motion before you and then the council can discuss it uh amend it, vote it, vote yes, vote no, whatever the course may be. Uh do we need a motion at this time again? No, it's automatically now before you. Yes. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. Uh yeah, I understand the uh council Herman's concerns and I uh uh am in favor of these uh these changes in favor of these changes uh to the amendment. Favor of these uh amendment that will make changes uh to the motion. Yes. Uh Council Harmon, thank you. Yes. I move that we amend this item. So, it reads, "No further agenda items may be taken up after 10 p.m. unless authorized by an affirmative vote of at least twothirds of the council. Any items remaining on the agenda after adjournment will be carried over to the next regular meeting or will be addressed at a special meeting. Further, councelor Chidam. Yes.

I have a concern of parliamentary procedure. We vote we move to reconsider the entire motion that was denied unanimously at our last meeting. We're only bringing back a part of that. What happens to the portion that was initially denied and is not being addressed tonight? We did three separate votes on March 17th. Thank you. Because there were independent freestanding items, so there were three separate votes.

Thank you so much for refreshing my memory. Uh I do have concerns about this uh ordinance uh rule change. Um I am concerned. I I appreciate very much the fact that the council would be given an opportunity to call a halt to these late late night meetings. However, I am concerned that if the agendas aren't completed and the council votes not to extend the meeting, that simply pushes the problem off for another day. It it kicks the can down the road. That's my only hesitation. I think there are other ways that we can attack and uh challenge ourselves to shorten up the meetings. Um, but I do have concerns that this will simply cause a delaying tactic which will like a bow wave expand.

Councelor Martell.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, I just can't help but point out that you run our meetings, Mr. Mayor, in the elapsed time on those have ballooned exponentially just under your administration since you've taken in. Like average 5 years ago, I went back and looked on YouTube. The average city council meeting was between 90 and 120 minutes and it was consistent for years. We are putting too many things on the agenda and people are talking for far too long and just Robert's rules aren't being followed in a lot of scenarios. It's just there's probably dozens and dozens of ways that this should and could be addressed. We are professionals. We serve the city. We don't need a bedtime. We have to address the business that's at hand. We just need to be responsible about building agendas and be responsible for our comments on the dis. Thank you,

Councelor Roy. Did you have your hand up?

Um, thank you, Mr. Mayor. And, um, I would agree with councelor Martell on that. I think, you know, we have a job to do and I I think we can police ourselves in some ways, right? I mean like for an example tonight and I don't want to call out another counselor but word smithing can be done through an email. It doesn't have to be done through right now uh taking time away from from other business. And I think you know we need to do better as that. Um and again I do agree with uh councelor Chidimma also that we're just going to further complicate by pushing agenda items to another agenda and I and I and I just can't see doing that. So,

uh, councelor, um, long traps, I would just like to say that, um, although I do understand, uh, what the counselors are saying, uh, Martell and Roy, as long as I've been sitting up here, this has been our normal. Um, I don't think it's going to change, unfortunately, unless we have a time that's set for us at this point. I wish I wish it would. Um but I just don't think it will. I think we have to set a time unfortunately. Councelor Nene. Yes.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um I'm I'm not an expert. I'm a citizen volunteer. Um some may be experts, I'm not. Um, I would suggest that we do consider um based on the supermajority vote um the idea that we could uh postpone agenda items that have staff present that need to speak so we can let them go home at 10 o'clock. Um and then also that agenda items that have no one here from the public to speak to. Um it's just it's just a consideration uh around when these meetings run till 1:00 in the morning and we've seen it before. We've had staff sitting here waiting till 1:00 in the morning and that's that's really rough and we need to figure out a way to handle that. And I agree we could run a a quicker meeting, but this is one of the reasons why I would support this concept because it would be a supermajority and maybe we could change which agenda items were taking up that day um if they weren't pressing um or stop completely if nothing was pressing. But

we're now heading to public comment for this agenda item. Well, I'll make this easy because you probably all can guess. Uh we all know who I am, mayor. People could be tuning in at home. Please identify yourself and state where you live. Sir,

again, Matt Roy, ward 6. Again, we have to look at the absurdity of this. Three weeks ago on March 17th, everyone, all seven of you who have an affirmative vote at every meeting when you're here voted no. But yet, we're going to reconsider this. And then as councilors Roy and Martell have said tonight and to a certain degree the council president too, we're going to reconsider this and we don't need rule changes to fix the problem. The problem lies with the cred coordination between the city administrator and the mayor who make the agenda and the mayor's after 5 years his ineptitude when it comes to fulfilling his chief duty presiding at a city council meeting and again you know and then earlier tonight he said you know the rules are the rules well that's a that's a fluid concept for the last 5 years in these council meetings Well, and apparently um as somebody else, you know, apparently our city ordinances are the rule of law does not apply there. Again, there's many of you who have forsaken your oath, including council president Chidam when it comes to the charter upholding the laws of the state the um the uh federal law, state law, uh city charter and ordinances. Again, stop taking multiple bites each all seven of you cuz all of you have done it at least once of on an agenda item going round and round and not knowing what direction you guys want to go in. You have the agend you have the agenda packets Thursday, the meeting is Tuesday. you have plenty of time to know what's in the agenda and and and then some of you like to use the false

equivalation of not understanding when you've had five days to review it by time the city clerk po sends out on by 4 well the end of business on Thursday by time you get here for your meeting at 6:00 p.m. especially in March and April since it's budget to know what's in the me in the agenda to wrap your minds around it and how you want to do your job. Thank you. Matthew Aren Ward 4. Um one on the 17th you all voted no to extending to ending the meetings early. And let me remind you, when you have 29 items on an agenda and then you end it at item 14, that's 15 items that just got promoted to the next agenda. So the next agenda is, let's call it 34. Eventually, you're going to have a bowel wave in front of you that you guys will sink under or you're going to have to start calling Thursday meetings or maybe having two meetings in the month of July and August instead of one. But you guys, this is a bad idea. And it's 8:20 tonight. I might have a chance at making ice cream at Dairy Joy if this meeting continues at the path it is. You don't need to do this if it's done right. Don't vote for this. Vote no. Further public comment. Uh back to the council. Uh so I will agree that there's a lot of reasons why our meetings have run long. Uh we're not here to litigate or rehash any of that. We're here to talk about the specific agenda item. Uh, I want to um repeat

what I said uh last time about this agenda item when I argued for it or advocated for it. Uh, I do think that having um a a time limit will um, you know, give us all a goal to work towards and I think um, that will help a lot. Um, and then obviously if there's agenda items uh that need to be handled uh, uh, that night, we can obviously vote affirmatively to uh, to continue the meeting. So, that's that's always an option. Uh, thank you, Council Harmon.

Thank you. You have some good points brought up. I'll point out that the amendment that I proposed addresses some of them. So, um, items remaining on the agenda can be carried over to the next regular meeting or can be addressed at a special meeting. Uh, this also is not a hard stop at 10 p.m. Um, it's no further agenda items may be taken up unless at least five of us vote to do so. Um I am not a necessarily a par parliamentarian but my interpretation of that is that we could vote um that that has some flexibility to it. I think that we could vote to take up you know the next three items or we could and then we could take another vote or we could um we could choose after that. Um but just having some sort of deadline there I think will help us to um you know to keep these meetings from dragging on quite so long. Um it is again a twothirds majority so it's uh it's a super majority and would take at least five of us.

Council Long Champs, did you have your hand up? I did. Um I would just like to say that I think

Can you just move the microphone? I think that um we will be pleasantly surprised and we will most likely get through all of the items on the agenda. It'll motivate us. I think we've gone on too long um dragging out our meetings for whatever reason. We don't need to place blame. Let's just try to move forward. Um I think setting the time for 10:00 is appropriate. I I think it's um much better for all of us. I know I can't function too well much longer after that. Um, so I would say that I think it would definitely help motivate us to get through the items more efficiently. Um, and uh, would be pleasantly surprised that we will most likely get them all done.

Council Martell. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, I just looked up the last normal city council meeting for New York City, a city with 9 million people, and it ran 2 hours and 7 minutes on March 26th. 50 council. Further comments from the council before we vote. Councelor Nene. Yes. I would just like to point out that public public comment is not allowed on every agenda item in a New York City council meeting. Um but I do agree that we can um police ourselves as well. So uh councilors, I don't want to go back and forth or repeat ourselves. Um council Herman, did you have something new?

Yes. I just wanted to point out I don't believe the motion to amend has had a second. Uh Madame Clerk, can you uh uh where are we? I agree with Council Haramman. I did not hear a second, so I was going to ask for clarification right before the vote whenever you were done. Who was the first? Council Haramman. Council Herman. Do we have a second for this? Second. Councelor Long Chams. Uh we've buttoned that up. Thank you. Uh back to you, Councelor Martell.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. These are the type of comments I like to avoid. But if we're going to call on counselors, two I've even seen three times in a row without another counselor being called on, just someone repeating their hand uh putting their hand up and being recognized two, three times in a row on an agenda item. And then also feeling the need to offer rebuttal to other counselor statements, which seems to become the norm. Uh that is contributing to the length of these meetings as well. So, I'm not usually the one that's going to put my hand back up and and get into the back and forth. I think counselors can speak about the agenda without having to feel like it's their opportunity or uh responsibility to police the other counselors. Thank you.

Thank you. Um Madame Clerk, seeing no further uh request for comment, uh please call the vote. Councelor from W seven. No. Right. Uh I can't see. So, so what's your Madam Clerk? Can you please uh repeat the uh motion that we're voting on?

So, the motion before you is the amendment which is printed um on page two of item 13. It is to add that language into the uh rules. And I'll just read it for the record. No further agenda items may be taken up after 10 p.m. unless authorized by an affirmative vote of at least twothirds of the council. Any items remaining on the agenda after adjournment will be carried over to the next regular meeting or will be addressed at a special meeting. The um the motion on the floor is the amendment to remove the language that was adopted on the 7th and to basically substitute it with the language that I just read will be the motion before you right now as the amendment. No.

Uh W one. No. Wo. Yes. W three. Yes. Word four. No. Word five. Yes. Word six. No. Uh motion failed by a vote of three to four. So the motion before you is the original one from March 17th. Uh please call the vote. Councelor from Ward 7. No. W. No. W two. Yes. W three. No. W four. No word five. No. W six. No. Motion failed by a vote of 1 to six.

Item number 14. Item number 14. Order authorizing the acceptance of the public art committee's recommendation to reallocate fisc year 26 budgeted funding from a project that was discontinued in the amount of $24,999 to address unmet public art needs. requested action to approve the order authorizing the acceptance of the public art committee's recommendation to reallocate fiscal year 26 budgeted funding from a project that was discontinued in the amount of $24,999 to address unmet public art needs. May I have a motion, please? So move.

Councelor Chidum second. Second by councelor Nene. Uh we have staff and a a valued community member up here. If all the three of you can uh if all three of you can please introduce yourselves and then uh kick us off. John Blae, uh economic and community development acting director. Katherine Ruth, community development manager. Deanna Hehart, uh assistant principal at Montello Elementary and local artist. She is also the chair of the public art committee.

Yes. Thank you. Yes. So, thank you to the mayor and the city council for having us this evening. You had previously approved a budget of $52,000 in fiscal year 26, which runs for 25 to 26 and is the current budget. Now, all of our projects are going along well. They have purchase orders, uh, contracts or bills coming in with the exception of a couple of projects which we'll describe this evening. In reference to a project that was approved for $24,999, we would like to reallocate those funds from the John Jenkins Bridge Lighting Project to three projects which the committee thinks are very important. And this was a very nice project that the proposer and the contractor worked on vendor um but they just simply couldn't get the bridge uh lighted well enough with the um setup that was arranged. So that project was discontinued. So the committee went on and worked on their call for artists and other projects and are now back to this specific project because we're coming to the few months during the year in which public art can take place. So, all of our projects are moving forward with the exception of the John Jenkins Bridge and the Lewon Farmers Market uh mural project that we'd like to allocate some funds to. So, the three projects are as follows, voted on by the public art committee. One, name plates for five sculptures uh here in the community. That includes all of the costs. This project has been going on and off for uh the committee tells me three years. So, it has been resolved. We have the exact price for it. Everybody is in agreement. The artists are all in agreement. Uh it's wonderful. It's also required as part of our 2017 choice grant that we have uh name plates for these sculptures. So, we should

certainly do that. And if you think about it, when you have your new residents come in or even residents that are here that see the sculptures and go over, there should be name plates that explain them out. It's good information and public relations. So that price is $11,69629 the exact amount two uh second is the Lewon farmers market mural project when a variety of entities came in for funding the committee wanted to fund everything so they didn't fund the projects at the total amount that most had asked for and so everybody went forward except the Lewon farmers market has some additional issues that they're dealing with So their fundraising attempts in which they were going to raise the rest of these funds had been diverted to um taking care of their food supply. Uh they also uh were recruiting for um a director and so they just don't have the staff capacity to do this. So the um LA Arts uh would work with them uh if there was an additional $4,000 added to the $8,000. So it would go back to pretty much the price of the original project and this would get done down in the area of the park and uh in a wraparound that would be very nice for that area that we have designated as one of the um priority projects. Three and the last item is street art and mitigation of graffiti. We have a number of locations around the community where there's graffiti and public works tries very hard to clean this up, but they have to go out with the spray paint and that's pretty much um what they can do. But there are some areas where we could shine light on these areas by putting in small amounts of street art which are uh approved by the committee in alleys and other areas. Uh that areas would be

cleaned up with the spray painting, trash, and vandalism. And so $9,32 would be allocated to that and the committee members have reached out to a number of local artists about this. Thank you. Uh could I think we have some audience members who are also on the public I'm sorry the public art committee. Could they raise their hand? Darby Ray, thank you for being here. Uh questions, comments uh for our uh panel here. Uh council Martell.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, is there any way um we could um change the allocation and just give this money back to the taxpayers or do we have to spend this money on some sort of sidewalk art? Well, it's it's not just some sort of sidewalk art. Um these are projects that we've been working on for quite some time. And uh when that money came back from the bridge project um we thought it would be prudent to use it for these projects that have been waiting. And the nice thing about this is it's multiple projects, not just one.

So it affects many areas in the city. and um I don't know uh public opinion that I get on all of the public art that's going on in Lewon is extremely important for us for our image and um makes us a little bit of a destination in Maine and um um that's what uh public art's all about and that helps bring in our own revenues because people are going to come and see our murals, our art, our parks, all of these areas that we're investing investing in public art is an investment in our community and our future and and our finances. So, it it's a positive.

Thank you. I appreciate that. You didn't answer my question, though. Is it possible to give the I understand why you want to keep the money here. Is it possible to just put the money back in the general fund? Uh if I may, Councelor Martell, um administrator Kanerath or um Finance Director Roy, I'm sorry. No, we're we're just No, we're we're attempting to get your question answered. Yeah. Yeah. Uh could you answer that? Could this money um I think what councelor Martell is asking, could this money be reappropriated for some other purpose or are we um bound to spend this because it was part of a grant or some other reason?

So, these were funds that were originally um in the budget used fund balance for um put to the economic reserve. If you look at your notes from the budget meeting on the tiff night and the CDBG night, I had that screenshot that shows all the projects and what was remaining in those funds. So that was put aside for LA Arts by the city council, approved by the city council, therefore can be approved by the city council to be used for other other funds, other items. Right. Thank you. Anything further, Council Martell?

Yes, thank you for that explanation. I'm just trying to demonstrate the point that taxpayers are going to be put out of their homes. And I I'm not trying to mit like minimize the passion that you clearly have and and you're how strongly you believe in this, but if we aren't willing to cut some artwork, which can be beneficial, but is not a crucial service or uh that that is provided. I it's just if we're if we're not willing to take dollars like this and put it back in, where are we going to be willing to make cuts? And cuts need to be made. There is there's so many people that are going to be forced out of their homes. And it's this is the type of spending that really needed to be reeled in because this reevaluation is going to crush some people. and we need to look for every dollar that we can save and this doesn't seem to demonstrate that especially with the fact that we can claw it back and give it to the taxpayer. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Uh, councelor Herman.

Thank you. Um, if I could just ask staff, how much is in our uh, not this not this reallocated funds, but how much is in our FY our next fiscal year funds for public art for the public art program? So, there's there's no uh, you know, allocation directly to this account. So, we've we've basically line this this account out. Um, we do have funds through the TIFF account. Um, and we'll be identifying that through the the budget process, but that's dedicated specific dollars per per year that'll go into an account that we could spend our money on, art money on. So,

thank you. So, I guess as far as this this reallocation goes, um I mean, one of the projects that that this would go to is finishing up a project that has been um you know, has been somewhat unfinished for a few years and we're we're really bound to or we're we're required by the terms of that grant to to finish that up. Um, I would also add just in general that uh when we're talking about public art, I would I would not support taking money away from a public art program that's been operating well for years and has uh brought a lot into the city that that is is visible and um able to be experienced 24/7 or at least when it's light out um every day of the year. and but we're taking money and funding it towards public performance art that is only available for a few hours out of the year. So just as a an overall public art priority, I would prioritize the program uh the visual art program that's been working well for quite a while. Um, I would like to do both, but if we can only do one, I would prioritize the one that's going to have more impact on folks because it's it's there every single day rather than just for a few hours out of the year.

Councelor Longs, did you have your hand up?

Yes. Thank you, Mayor. Um, I would first like to say thank you to uh Councelor Martell. Um, I do appreciate his sincerity and looking out for the taxpayers. I think it comes from a very good place. Um I think public art is very important. Um I've seen the change that it has made uh to beautify our city. Uh we clearly can't get that bridge lit. Uh the money was there for it. I would like to um reallocate that money to these three um things that you have proposed. uh tonight. I think public art is very important for our city. Um so, thank you,

Councelor Naene. Um thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um just to verify, if we did not fund uh these projects, this money would then go into the general fund for the following year's budget. But we've already allocated these costs for uh our last year's budget and we're just shifting this to other projects that weren't complete. Am I correct on that? So, correct. So, they're they're taking what they originally um had budgeted and requesting that they transfer for three other projects. And again, for fiscal year 2027, there is zero dollars out of the general budget for the public art committee.

Correct. All of the the funds were removed in that economic reserve account for budget. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Uh are there councelor Chinam? At the risk of incurring the wrath of my fellow counselors, I'm going to ask that the council order be corrected to reflect the John Jenkins Bridge as opposed to the John James Bridge.

Thank you, councelor Chidum. Uh we are now heading to public comment for this agenda. item. Public comment is now closed. Uh yeah, I I support uh I support this. Uh we're not going to um art's important and this recognizes that and uh we're not going to be able to uh you know, if we reallocate what this is coming to what just under $25,000. Um how much is that on the uh on the tax roll? Um, finance director Roy, a penny is 37,500.

Yeah. Uh, we're not going to be able to, you know, reduce the budget u by any meaningful amount by um by getting rid of these items which will have a meaningful impact in our city. I fully support this. Urge the council to vote for it. Further questions or comments from counselors? Councelor Nagene. Um actually I'm going to pass. Um anything further from our um distinguished uh presenters? Madam clerk, please call the vote. Council from W seven, no. W one? Yes. W two? Yes. W three? Yes. W four? Yes. W five? Yes. W six? Yes.

Motion pass by a vote of six to one. Thank you all for being here. Thank you. Uh item number 15. Item 15. Order authorizing application, acceptance, and appropriation of fiscal year 27 congressionally directed spending. Requested action to approve the order authorizing application, acceptance, and appropriation of fiscal year 27 congressionally directed spending. May I have a motion, please? So move. Councelor Chidum followed by councelor second. Nine. And I didn't want to jump the gun there. Uh, Chief Connley, welcome back. Uh, anything you'd like to say? Uh, no. Again, I'm just here if you have any questions about how this process works.

Can you uh uh explain what a Bearcat is for our folks at home? So, that's actually a reference to um the funding that we we requested for FY26. Um that is basically sort of like a rescue vehicle. Um, and what we're requesting this year for FY27 through the congressional directed spending is um some updated surveillance camera systems, the exact vision, uh, 3D laser scanner mapping device, some night vision optics, police batons, defensive tactics, training equipment, and pepper ball launchers.

Uh, understood. Thank you. Uh, questions, comments from counselors. Uh, councelor Chidim. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, Chief, thank you for this. Um, I have a question about in general, but specifically the 3D laser scanner mapping device. Uh, how is it going to be used? How how will it help the police department better serve its function? And will there be ongoing operational and training costs to maintain this equipment if it's awarded?

So, I'm not sure about the ongoing training. Um what that generally is used in is um for homicide investigations, accident reconstruction, things along those lines. I think it's minimal as far as the ongoing training, but it's it's really a tool that just helps us really um more effectively handle a scene such as a major accident or a homicide or things like that. Okay. Thank you. Uh I'm I'm familiar with how laser scanners work and and it's not simply push a button and you've got what you want. So there is some training involved and I'm just concerned about incurring ongoing operational costs. Thank you.

Uh further questions, comments for the chief? Um councelor Ni. Um thank you chief. Um thank you Mr. Mayor Chief. Um, I just have a quick question on so the congressionally uh directed direct spending that we requested in 2025 that was for fiscal year 2026. Was that actually uh approved and did we actually get that money or is this just a rewriting of the same? So we did receive word that it was approved. Um it was approved for a lower amount than what we requested. And right now, to be honest, we're in this waiting phase where it's being moved to what we talked about earlier, like a burn grant.

Um, where we'll then be given instructions on how to draw down from that. Okay. And at this point, you're comfortable with not getting the Bearcat. You'd want to switch to these other items. That that would come from that particular funding source. But what we've done is we're reapplying for FY27 and requesting additional items. things like, you know, when we talk about the defensive tactics trainings, the uh pepper ball launchers, those are all things that we would have liked to have put in our budget this year. Um things that we could use, but we're looking for other resources to obtain those. Okay, completely understood. I was just concerned about we haven't had a a tactical rescue vehicle in a in a bit. So that that's all I was concerned about.

Yeah, it's not going to change any of the previous requests. Okay. Uh brilliant. Thank you so much, Councelor Long Tramps. Yes. Um, I would just like to say that uh first, thank you for being here, Chief. And you guys know what you need. Um, and it's it all of these items are are very very important to uh help solve um crime. So, thank you. Thank you. Public comment for this agenda item. Back to the council. Uh, madame clerk, please call the vote. Council from W six, I'm sorry, W seven, yes. W one, yes. W two, yes. W three, yes. W four, yes. W five, yes. Word six, yes.

Motion pass by vote of seven to zero. Thank you very much, Chief. Uh, we're now up to the second public comment period for people who did not speak during the first public comment period. Second public comment period is now closed. We are now up to reports and updates and we will hear from uh Peter Peter Rubin's come on down. Did you have a presentation on the laptop too? I do. I think it's here. Okay. Uh

you are good. If Kurt could join us up here and make sure that everything's uh all set with that, that'd be great. Kurt, can you hear us? I see you. Believe it or not. Oh, look at that. Okay, never mind, Kurt. We're fine. All right, I apologize. Um, I'm Peter Ruben. I'm with Roy and I've been with We need to uh start using the mic here. I'm sorry. Okay. Yeah,

I'm Peter Rubin and I'm with Grow LA and um I've been working with the Grow LA River working group for the past 15 years. Um uh our mission statement is to be the conduit between Lewon and Auburn uh for best use of the river and we've been working together for the past 15 years. Uh we're just going to make a small judgment uh adjustment to the presentation here, Peter. Presentation. Okay. Okay. Is that all right? Please. There we go. You can click it for me if you want. Okay. There we go. Okay. Huge round of applause for Darby Ray. Thank you. Thank you.

Boomer. Boomer here. So, I'm going to try and cut my what I've written into shorter order. Just move the mic closer to you. You just scoot the whole thing over. Love it. Thank you. So, um, basically, uh, Grow LA has been working with Auburn and Lewon, uh, David Hediger for 15 years, Eric Cousins, um, and of course I graduated with John Jenkins and your former mayor. Um, Senator Ed Oh, here we go. Go back. Can I go back to the second slide? Okay.

Okay. Okay. Um, Senator Ed Musky, uh, Rumford on the Skagan passed the Clean Water Act in 1972. He is my hero and I I have aspired to work towards his goal of swimmable and fishable from one of the top 10 Pluto rivers in the country, our own Andrew Scoggin. There are two issues coming up to a head in the next couple of months that will affect us for the next 40 years. Um to reimage the Androskagan from the dirty Lou to the that many remember as the polluted and uh and D says that does not meet their computer modeling for class B. Uh go to the next slide. uh reclassification from class C to B main and federal law when a body meets a higher class and it shall be upgraded to the higher class and not be allowed to slip backwards grow in both cities who cooperated under D volunteer program for water testing for the past 10 years and confirm that the river meets class B. Our bill 2187 was defeated a couple weeks ago in the legislature by the D threatening the Lewon Auburn Clean Water Authority with increased cost if the bill passed even though all testing proved class B. Okay. Next. Um, this just shows uh uh a class B dissolved oxygen with um um uh Brookfield's tests and they all meet all the all of the tests that they did meet class B and that's this is on their application for for FIRK for the next 40 years. Um so uh there are two so so one of the things we're trying to do is reimage the Androskagan from the dirty Lou and many uh remember the pollutive D and the D

says that it does not meet their uh class B. Um go to the next slide and Brookfield needs a WQC a water quality certification. Brookfield is pushing to complete their license for the next 40-year period by August 2026. That's about 4 months away. They need a WQC water quality cert certificate. And since our bill for class B was defle defeated, it is now going to read class C at the lowest class possible. The cities in Lewon and Auburn need to send a letter to Claire Briggs, Department of Environmental Protection Hydro Coordinator, to make sure that when we finally get to class B, that the WQC will then be upgraded by FIRK for the 40-year period. The next triannual review, the next three years, Grow LA will continue to pursue class B with the legislature. Okay. Next, um FK requirements. FK uh the FK the act requires FK to balance the licens's interest in generating power through the use of public resource with the public interest in protecting natural resources providing recreational opportunities aesthetics and other factors absent those absent thorough study of these impacts by the licensed fenc will be able will be able Oh, excuse to be unable to conduct an adequate NEPA review calling into question its ability to rellicens the project. All right. Next. 40 years ago, we applied to CMP when they built the Monty. Uh we asked for uh we asked for uh trails, uh signage, uh

pathways, and they wrote all of this on their uh on their recreation uh agenda. And at the bottom, you'll notice it says needed now none. So CMP basically did as little as possible when they built it in in in uh 1970 uh 1986. uh they proceeded to sell it to Brookfield and Brookfield basically has done as little as possible. So very little has been done for the aesthetics and recreation from the power companies. Um I'm I'm I'm cutting it down. So, uh, the combi, uh, we want, uh, Brookfield owns three hydro plants here in LA. One especially that controls the Great F Falls, our little Niagara. The combined dams generate anywhere from 30 million to $50 million per year. The two cities have the power to assess Brookfield's tax values and are an asset to finance our dreams that were promised by CMP in creating an inviting waterfront for locals and visitors alike. Um, all right. And this is basically the Lewon Auburn have have these asks that we've made to Brookfield and these are the major things that have been been applied to to FK and it's under consideration uh for their license in the next three or four months and Brookfield has not answered many of these these asks that we've made. We've asked for minimum water releases over the Gulf Island dam to guarantee minimum flow of the Great Falls in the downtown LA for aesthetics and irerration downstream to minimally

require warbo. Um minimum flows are timed releases for weekends special events and whitewater boating and dressers rips plus endangered species. We're asking for 40 timed releases plus holidays over the falls. Uh uh we're asking Brookfield to sponsor portage for kayaking on both sides of the river, signage and parking at dressers rips and scheduled times for whitewater releases similar to other locations already upstream and to guarantee this is really important for Lewon to guarantee the guarantee the ability to get more cubic feet per second in the Lewis than in the Lewon canals over the next 40 years. The city's plans include aesthetics and recreation possibilities that will require higher minimum flows. 4,000 cubic feet used to run through the canals at one time. And when they gave the canals to Lewon, they cut it back to 50 cubic feet per second, which is basically a very small flow to keep it from polluting. Um, we're asking them to guarantee the ability to get more cubic feet per second for the Lewon canals. uh lighting studies for the granite faces for the 10 months that water isn't flowing flows over the Great Falls were reduced from the Monty when the Monty was built from 150 days a year down to 45 days a year. And these are the aesthetics of a natural resource that we own and it's been taken away from us basically for their power. uh things we need to do. The administration of both cities need to sign a copy of our draft to the DP, the Department of Environmental Protection Hydro Power Coordinator, Claire Briggs. You have copies of that and I've given copies to the uh to Brian uh and be ready to work with Auburn in the next couple months

when the 30-day window is open for us to appeal to FK for our ask for the next 40year license. So now this is really important. Brookfield's lawyer Brookfield's lawyer's job is to do as little as possible for the next 40 years. Both cities need to have their legal teams able to be involved in those 30 days. Okay. Next, this is a recreation study that was done and uh uh recommended in 2012. These are things that can be done on the on the in the canals. Uh Scow Heaggan is doing things on the water. Uh Saco Bitterford uh and uh we can do that ourselves. And next um this just shows the chart of the flows basically uh that that Brookfield does every day. They can open and close their dams from a computer center in Marboro, Massachusetts to for maximum use and maximum profits, which they should be doing. But that also shows that they can open the falls for three or four hours on a Friday night or a Saturday night to bring people downtown. All right, one more. Uh this just shows the number of uh the number of dollars and hours that Brookfield makes, how many kilowatt hours that they we want them their clean power and we want them to make money, but we also want them to be able to fulfill the asks that we have for them and our little Niagara. How can we argue that this natural wonder is something that really we should relish? Where else can you drive up to a parking lot and walk a couple hundred yards to see our little Niagara? You don't have to go very far. And next, and this is it

without the water, which is about 320 days a year. Okay. Next. Uh, one of the things that Brookfield had promised was s we had asked for signage and they had promised that and again that was never done but Grow LA in Lewon and in Auburn worked together to put together Museum in the streets which is you may or may not know uh circumnavigates the falls for people to come down on Sunday afternoons with their friends and teach them more about Lewis and Auburn than anyone would ever want to know. And there's the map. Uh you can download this as a QR code and uh take the tour if you haven't already. And this is what people are also doing around the country is lighting the falls. There's a company that is anxious to do a laser light show at the falls and possibly on the rocks when it's not when there's no water flowing, which is most of the time. And this is the last slide. And you can see that uh the uh uh uh the first uh river uh river botted that we had was about three years ago. So uh these are the kinds of things that we can do. So again the need to do we need to we need to get back to we need to get the uh application to the D uh coordinator hydro power connect coordinator and be ready to work with Auburn when this 30-day window will open up and it could be June or July and Grow LA is happy to work with you guys for until we can't

this happens once every four years we have the yes this is this is it is it's 40. It's a for this is for the next 40 years what we decide and get under. Can you move the mic closer to you please? It it is over the next 40 years what happens on this application from FK to FK and that Brookfield is applied to do basically as little as possible. Thank you. Was that five minutes? I tried to cut it back for you. You're a good sir. Thank you very much, Peter Ruben. We appreciate you being here. Thank you. All right. Uh yeah. Uh councelor Nene.

Uh thank you, Mr. Mayor. First, uh Peter, I just want to thank you for coming. Um and um I would ask that um any of the follow-up pieces that Grow LA working river group is asking of both Lewon and Auburn um be presented to both administration um and to the council so that we can go through to see uh which pieces that we can do. I I believe it's pretty easy to to sign on to the class B uh certification request. Um that's one thing we can absolutely do. Um I and I think that we have staff in place that are working on this. So there's I believe it's directors Gier Connor and uh our uh city planner um Norton. Um so possibly if um administration could check with that group to see how we're working with Auburn and also to see what we can move forward on these pieces. You're right, the FK licensing is every 40 years and at the end of the day, if we don't ask Brookfield for concessions and we're not prepared to fight for those concessions, we will not get them. And so there's an opportunity here um to improve um the public spaces as well as the um egresses around the falls that are incredibly important for access just for we're not even talking recreation. We're talking about like the ability to walk from one place to another. And so, um, this is very important to me and I'm and I'm thankful that you've come to, um, speak to it and and I'm hoping the remainder of the council would be supportive in asking Brookfield to while conducting business in our community, make sure that they consider the community that they're conducting business in.

I had working link I worked with Lincoln Jeffers for years. Again, we've been doing working on this for years. And one of the things I really want to emphasize is the canals. Brookfield was first tried to sell the canals to you and finally their consultant said or your consultant said they should be paying you to take it off their hands. It's a liability. So then it was rec then it was negotiated to lower the amount of water going through the canals. And basically I that picture I showed you with all the things that could possibly happen would take about 200 cubic feet per second. and uh it's been negotiated down to 50. So that's one of the things Lewon needs to be able to do over the next 40-year period. Realize that you can go back demand that you're able to ask for more water whether it's 200 cubic feet per second or or whatever. So

thank you. Yes, councelor Nene. Another point is we still hold two FK licenses on the canals. Um, and so if we don't have enough water supply, those f lices don't mean anything. Yep. Okay. Well, onward. Thank you. Thank you. Uh, councelor Chidum, did you have something? Thank you. Yes. I just wanted to thank Mr. Rubin's for his continued advocacy for the river. Uh, it's been a lifelong project for him. Um, I wanted to clarify perhaps a mis misapprehension that the class B certification is a dead issue for the next three years. Am I correct in that, Mr. Ruben? That's a good question. Please use the the mic. Uh Peter,

uh it has to do with this WQC that's coming up right now and the our group is is talking to some legal getting some legal advice on this. Um um so at this time the the legislature specifies and approves classification. Um and uh if we challenge this it it could it could go back go back up but it could be another three years but it's been 10 years already. This is the third triangle we've been refused and there's something going on there between the DP and Lewon Auburn and their feelings toward our our goals.

So, if I could restate, you've just said there is hope yet, albeit a faint glimmer. Very faint. Okay. Yes. I did want to move forward the letter that you asked the councils to sign. Um, I would like to ask the administration to review this and put it on a future agenda. fairly soon. Um, this simply states that we would like the D to insist in their application to FK that should the river be reclassified to be in subsequent years during the 40-year license, that would reopen the water quality classification requirements of the FK license, it would not be fixed at class C from now for 40 years. That is that correct?

Correct. Thank you. That's what this is all about is uh the Warumbo Lewis Lisbon Falls was classified to be below us and at that time it was 90 days before it took effect and they got their license they they got their FK license a month before. So they had to go through this whole rigma roll basically to get it up to B and we're trying to basically eliminate that kind of thing happening again. Thank you sir. Okay, we're now heading to public comment for this uh report update.

Uh Matt Roy, W six. Well, Mr. Mayor, back in December, I emailed councelor Haramman uh because for the last year, this we've been rene Well, the renewal of our FK license, although it took city staff nearly a month to get back to the council, then to get back to me. Um, in that email from deputy director Norton that councelor Herman sent basically said they were going to be as councelor Nene said currently there are two licenses but uh the commission is looking or has decided to combine those into one EA and what and so I haven't that was back in January when they said that and at that point well I imply by the count deputy director Norton's email that they hadn't issued that final EA combining the two previous ones at that point. Um so have have I guess we for that as councelor Chidam basically said so for that next when this is actually a workshop item or agenda item uh be helpful if we had that update uh to Mr. Ruben's points, uh, we could be too late if FK has already issued that EA and the time frame for that 30day comment period to make our next 40 years finalized. And I guess to the point about the legislature acting statutory adjourment for the second and final session of the current legislature is next week. So I don't I wouldn't be that grimmer is like the snow that fell this morning fast evaporating.

Further public comment.

Good evening. Christine Holden, ward one. Uh I'd like to congratulate Peter Rubin's. Um, I've known Peter as when I was a former member of Grow LA and I've also known him since he was a student of Bates back further than either of us are going to want to say. And Peter is also a property owner. His property on L Street in Lewon has a view of the river and his former properties on Main Street or in Auburn also were close to the river. This has obviously been a big passion for him and I appreciate all the work that he's done. As somebody who's seen the transitions in downtown Lewon and along the river, and as a member of the Riverside Cemetery Board of Trustees, I hardily applaud the efforts to make the river be a scenic, safe, and exciting place, not only for people, but for the animals and fish that are around. And I think if we can restore the amount of flow on the river, not only does it benefit the canals, as has been mentioned, but it's also a return to the condition in which not only 18th century people helped develop this community, but it's also a return to the way this community was long before any of us immigrants came here when it was settled by the Wapanaki. Thank you. Further public comment back to the council. Council Haramman, did you have something?

Yes, just two things real quick. I just wanted to mention I did vote for the amendment um in the legislature to include the lower Androskagan. Unfortunately, it didn't get enough support. Um, and I also wanted to emphasize the timeliness of this um, you know, this opportunity for comment and for um, having our say with this licensing process because it is a 40-year license. Um, you know, just think of where we'll all be in 40 years. I'm going to be an old man and many of these people here won't be here anymore. So, it's it's really important to get this in here now. Um, so that so that if these if the classification does go up in the future, which I think it probably should in the next 40 years that that gets reflected in the license.

Well, I'm proud to say that I was here 40 years ago and I didn't expect to be here now, but uh I'm still doing it and we are still plowing on. But we certainly have can say that we've seen the the increased um beauty of the river and the use and the walking paths and um basically CMP promised to do a lot of these things and they basically were able to do almost nothing. So I think the assessments of the for for the power company the the three dams in Lewon Auburn should be something that you should be able to do and have the strong arm basically if they're not going to produce we can just tax it and do it ourselves

through assessment. Thank you uh Mr. Rubin. We appreciate you being here. You have a wonderful day. Hi, Administrator Kanerath, you'll be checking in with uh the people running point on this. Absolutely. Thank you. Uh we are now up to reports and new business from counselors before we move to executive session should there be any. Councelor Chidum.

Yes. I'd like to know when the council is going to make a an action on the the tape barricade. Um I appreciate that administer had no direction from the council. There were all over the map. um he had no choice but to res reply somehow. So we have this tape barricade up here now and I'd like the council to weigh in on whether or not it remains at some point. All right. Yeah. I uh say let's try it out for a little longer, but uh councelor Haramman.

Yes. I just had a couple items that I've asked about before and I wonder if we could come back to them at some point about um a policy for city employees uh partnering with content creators as part of their jobs and also uh policy around uh the use of AI in city workplaces um just to have some guard rails and uh common understanding of what we're doing in those areas. Thank you. Um Councelor Roy. Thank you, Mr. there. Um, I witnessed You just lean forward into your mic. Thank you.

I witnessed somebody almost getting their face slapped with that tonight. That's dangerous. Going to say that. And I think other people saw it, too. So, I would definitely uh encourage people to probably not have that anymore, but that's me. Further uh back to you or Council Long Champs, what do you have? I just want to thank the council. Um, it's only 9:15, I believe. Um, and I get it. Our agenda was pretty straightforward, but we could have dragged it out and I just appreciate, uh, going home very shortly.

Um, you know, I don't want to count our chickens before we they hatch, but uh, Councelor Herman, did you do you have something else?

Yes. I just said one more thing. Um, I wanted to mention that the month of April is recognized worldwide as autism acceptance month, which is a time to promote understanding, inclusion, and acceptance of people living with autism while also celebrating their strengths and their differences. And I shouldn't be required to explain this part, but since it keeps being brought up, I'll go ahead. Um, I am someone who has been diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum. And like many neurode divergent people, I find it helpful to do something with my hands while I listen to other people speak. This is a well-known and well doumented method that many people use to improve their focus and their attention. Some people use therapeutic aids or fidget tools, while others knit or crochet or draw with a pen. This helps people like me better comprehend what others are saying, which is exactly what my role is here as an elected official. It's not hard to be a decent person and to be nice to others, but it does require acknowledging that not everybody is exactly the same as you are. Every one of us is different and those differences should be accepted and celebrated and not used as a way to harass or tear other people down. Let's try this month and every month

point of order to make every space that we're in a more inclusive. One second, Councelor um Herman. Uh yes. Uh councilor Martell, what's your point of order? I just Germaine is this new city business. Uh this is uh reports and updates and this is you know for lack of a better way to explain this this open mic for counselors. Uh please continue. Councelor Harman.

Thank you. Yes, this is an announcement. Um so I'll repeat the last line here. Let's try this month and every month to make every space that we're in a more inclusive space. Thank you. Uh further uh reports or updates or or announcements from counselors? Madame Clerk, I think we're heading into uh multiple executive sessions.

Sure. Um and so we will usually uh vote all three together. Um so I will read the motions for you. Um, item number 19, executive session to discuss labor union negotiations regarding Lewon Professional Technical Unit Local 3855, requested action to enter into an executive session pursuant to main revised statutes annotated title 1 section 4056D to discuss labor negotiations regarding the Lewon Professional Technical Unit 3855 and item 20, executive session pursuant to main and revised statutes annotated title one section 4056A to discuss a personnel matter. requested action to enter into an executive session pursuant to main revised statutes uh annotated title one section 4056A to discuss a personnel matter and item 21 executive session regarding consultation with the city attorney regarding a personnel matter requested action to enter into an executive session pursuant to main revised statutes annotated title one section 4056A and E to discuss a legal matter with the city attorney regarding personnel.

Thank you very much. Uh, do we have a motion? Councelor Chidum, second thing by councelor Nene M. Clark, please call a vote. From W seven, yes. W one, yes. W two, yes. Word three, yes. Word four, yes. Word five, yes. Word six, yes. Motion pass by vote of seven to zero. Uh, thank you very much, Louis. You all have a wonderful evening. You're all heading to bed uh earlier than we are. Uh, and Madame Clerk, thank you so much. I appreciate you. Sorry.