City Council - workshop

Hello and welcome to our Tuesday evening 6 p.m. workshop. We're joined here by Catherine Reiter from Spurwink. She brought along two colleagues. If the three of you could introduce yourselves properly and then kick us off. And if I can have counselors hold their questions until the end of the presentation, that'd be great.

Good evening. Catherine Reiter, Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives for Spurwink.

Hi, Rebecca Patkes, Vice President Outpatient and Community Services at Spurwink.

Hello, Ernestine Peralt, Community Outpatient Programs Supervisor.

Thank you so much for your time this evening. We have provided you with a packet of information which I imagine you have before you and I have those same materials in front of me as well as a few additional which I will offer to leave behind with me when we complete our presentation this evening. But if you would allow me just a few moments to give an overview of Spurwink and its services and its partnerships in the community, I would love to set the stage with that. I have written this out just to make sure I don't leave anything out. Good evening, Mayor Chalene and Lewiston City Councillors. My name is Catherine Ryder, and I serve as the Senior Director of Strategic Services for Spur Wing. I would like to extend my gratitude for the opportunity to speak with you today. We appreciate the Council's commitment to addressing the challenges of substance use disorder, mental health concerns, and homelessness in our community. These are complex issues that require practical, evidence-based solutions and strong partnerships. At Spurwink, we are a healthcare provider first and foremost. Our work is grounded in clinical integrity, evidence-based practice, and a belief that every person deserves the opportunity to recover. Our focus is not simply on providing services. It is on building trust, offering hope, and creating pathways to recovery. One thing we have learned through decades of behavioral healthcare is that recovery cannot be forced. People engage in treatment when they feel respected, supported, and connected to trusted providers. Lasting change happens through relationships. That is why our secondary prevention program is designed to meet people where they are, reduce barriers to care, and connect them to treatment and recovery services, whether those services are provided by Spur Wing or another community partner. You will soon hear from my colleague, Ernestine Peralt, about the success we have had in connecting those we serve to treatment and the joy experienced when someone reclaims their health and ultimately their life. What makes this work effective is not any single organization acting alone. It is the network of partnerships that we have built throughout Lewiston and the surrounding communities. Today, SpurWink works closely with community hospitals, behavioral health providers, recovery organizations, first responders, and healthcare partners to ensure individuals can access care when they are ready to take that next step. One example is our lengthy collaboration with United Ambulance Service. When individuals experience an overdose in the community, United Ambulance will soon be able to offer real-time opportunities to begin treatment. Through Spurwink's Options and Project Support You programs, we have committed to accepting their referral within 72 hours to support those individuals and connect them to ongoing care and recovery resources. This is exactly the kind of rapid intervention that research shows can make the difference between continued crisis and a pathway toward recovery. We are also excited about the pending opening of Spurwinks Crisis Center, which will provide an important alternative to emergency departments and law enforcement responses for people experiencing behavioral health crisis. The crisis center will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, and will help ensure that individuals receive timely assessment, stabilization, and connection to appropriate treatment in the least restrictive and most therapeutic setting possible. Spurwink also collaborates with Maine Family Planning's mobile healthcare services and a network of community providers to bring healthcare directly to individuals who may otherwise have difficulty accessing services. These partnerships allow us to address both immediate health concerns and the underlying issues that often contribute to ongoing instability. Our presence in the community is focused on engagement health care access, privacy, dignity, and connection to treatment. The ability to offer confidential spaces where people can meet with medical and behavioral health professionals is a critical component of effective care and an important part of respecting the privacy of those seeking help. The outcomes we see every day reinforce what the evidence tells us. When people are engaged rather than judged, when they are offered support rather than barriers and when providers work together instead of in silos, more people enter treatment, more people remain connected to care and more people move toward recovery. Spurwink is committed to being a trusted healthcare provider and community partner. We look forward to continuing to work alongside the city of Lewiston, our healthcare partners, first responders, and community organizations to create solutions that improve individual lives while strengthening the health and safety of our community as a whole. Like you, we are waiting on the outcome of the November referendum. Our position is that reducing barriers to proven healthcare and recovery services matters. Tonight, our focus is on the broader work of the secondary prevention program, including connecting people to medical care, behavioral health treatment, recovery support, and community resources that will help them move towards stability. Thank you for your time. And those are my formal written comments. We also have a PowerPoint, which I believe is in your packet. and you will see that it goes with our proposal for a mobile unit and the mobile unit is designed to provide all types of interventions to folks in the community most importantly to those who may not be able to reach us and this was a conversation we had last year during council meetings as well as when we went in front of the zoning board and there was concern from members that not everybody would be able to find their way to us at the end of 1155 lisbon street that being said we went forward and we pulled together a proposal that we have submitted to you as well as to the city of auburn and with the hope that they would be a sharing of the cost of that unit so that we could deploy out and care for those individuals for whom there may not be another alternative And so you can see we've used the term community care mobile unit. Our outreach programs have long come under the term of community recovery. And so we borrowed that for this program as well. So I could go through the roster of challenges, but I think you're probably pretty familiar with those. They are listed on the second slide where we're talking about the fact that we still face an overdose issue in an addiction crisis and we are seeing increases in homelessness clear across the board all ages including older adults which we have not previously experienced the same number of people that are beginning to be faced with losing their homes and ernestine's folks have been reporting back to us that there is a specialty population of folks they're working with that we have not seen before so seriously concerned for them and wanting to make sure that they have an opportunity to access care We know that transportation is an issue. We have been told that repeatedly by the people that we serve.

One second. Councillor Chittenden.

If you have that PowerPoint, the folks at home are looking at it. I am so sorry.

Oh, thank you.

Yes.

Would you mind doing that while I do this? Thank you so much.

Maybe. Thank you, Councillor Chittenden. Can you just move the mic a little closer to you?

We're going to share the same nightmare, Councillor Roy.

There we go.

So barriers to treatment, we know transportation is an issue. People tell us that all the time. They often have to be picked up by someone else who has a vehicle and can bring groups of folks to our brick and mortar facility. Some walk, some bike. Others may be able to take a bus route if they have the available cash to be able to do that. But there are many that we reach out to in the community for whom that would not be possible. We also know that stigma is an issue and so when we are out in the community tapping people on the shoulders, bringing them warm socks, bottles of water, food to eat, we are building relationship and trust and over time that transitions to conversations that allow us to dig a little bit deeper using what we refer to as motivational interviewing. It is an evidence-based practice designed to help people come to their own conclusions through a series of prompts that we use that are mostly question marks and not periods about how their life is going. Health and social impacts, we know that untreated addiction increases fatal overdoses, spreads infectious disease, and raises the costs of care. So when somebody shows up at the hospital and they don't have a pay source and they're needing emergency care, that has a much higher price tag than if we are able to meet people's basic needs in the community. And a need for innovative solutions. So we believe that we have some opportunities here. We know it works. We've seen it working. We've been doing this work for a half a dozen years. And we are very confident that we can continue to produce excellent results. Why mobile care? We've talked a little bit about getting to where people are, but there are folks that are embedded in encampments that are not receiving much care, if any at all. And we have built into this program design the ability to go into those spaces and places. The unit that we're looking at would allow us to be able to bring care through telehealth So if we do not have the nurse practitioner on the mobile unit with us on any given day, we can dial back into the center and be able to bring a provider onto a screen to be able to work with someone. Let's see, community trust and support. I believe that we are known in the community. I would like to think that we have an excellent reputation of clinical integrity and we live by the ethics. of our professional codes and firmly believe that we should be doing the best work possible in the interest of saving lives and moving people forward and then we have good technology available to us that we can bring out into the community as well so our solution and the spur wink mobile harm reduction unit would include integrated primary and behavioral health care so we are currently we have been and will continue to do wound assessment emergency first aid HIV and HCV screening with referrals and and telehealth behavioral health. Comprehensive secondary prevention services would include naloxone, fentanyl strips, all of the things that will help produce overdose and potentially bring someone into some kind of a contagious illness. And then we use peer support and community connection. For folks who don't necessarily understand what peer support is, it is someone who has lived with addiction and or a mental illness, has recovered from that and is in a place in their life where they have held recovery for six months to a year and they are now ready to give back. I would probably draw a comparison to if you think about a a and having a sponsor it is somebody who is able to now give back because they have walked that path and it often creates very quick bonds between people because it's not somebody who does not understand what that individual is going through and so we see that in a lot of different services safe voices and Often the volunteers, there are people who have been victims of sexual assault or violence, and so they, again, are able to build those bridges quickly. Let's see. And then data driven. So we collect a lot of data. We're gonna report some of that data out to you. I've asked Ernestine to have data ready for you tonight and she will share that with you in just a few moments. Our guiding principles and what we believe our best practice is humanism and respect. i have always believed and i have been a clinician in the field for 40 years now and it has always been my way of approaching people is to give them the respect that i would want to receive back from them and it doesn't matter where they are at that point in their life i think that's a critical connector between two human beings and so that is how we deliver our services We focus on reducing harms by acknowledging drug use rather than insisting that somebody be abstinent from the get-go. And I will tell you that many years ago when I was a young clinician, if somebody came to the agency and they had alcohol on their breath or they smelled like they had been smoking marijuana, we turned them around and sent them home. And they felt immediate shame, perhaps some guilt, and I can almost guarantee you that fairly significant number of them never came back again. And so today we greet people where they are and as long as they're able to participate, we are working with them and trying to move them towards harm reduction, which means less use until you can get to the place where there is no use. Individual autonomy. We believe people should drive their own treatment. They should be telling us what their goals are and how they think they can get there and we will support that. And then holistic integrated care. We cannot do the work alone. I just said that a few moments ago in my summary statement to you. We have excellent partnerships with community providers and we have built those over years and those are critically important. We continue to draw on them and plan to do so in this process as well. building healthier communities we built into our application to you for the syringe services program a commitment to being good neighbors there is a good neighbor's policy that has been drafted I brought a sample of that here but if you wanted the full document it is on file with the city and we have scheduled in cleanups across the community we recently completed one last last week Boy, time flies. Two weeks ago. In preparation for the Balloon Festival in Smart Payne Park, we swept the park and the river walk and some of the surrounding areas and collected six bags of trash. That is part of what we want to give back if we're out there doing this work. Everything that we are suggesting here is that we will continue to be good stewards of the funding that we receive. We will continue to be moving people towards treatment and recovery and we will continue to be good collaborators with other providers in our community. So I'm going to stop there and Ernestine, I wonder if you would go into the data points that you pulled together.

wanted to give just a snapshot of the past six months and think it's important to understand the community impact that our small program that 1155 has had upon the city of Lewiston just in a few months so some basic numbers that I drew upon is that we've had 961 visits to our clinic in the past six months that's an increasing number every month so we ranging Ranging up to I think our highest numbers have been about 170 people in one month that we've served But the ballpark is usually around 130 150 people that are coming through and Within the past six months we have provided when Katherine was talking earlier about peer recovery supports We've provided over 300 hours directly to our clients that are coming into the clinic over the past six months and And that is one-to-one engagement with an individual that comes in. And no matter where they're at at any stage of being able to seek recovery, be interested in recovery, access to treatment, wherever they are, that's where we begin with them. And we are constantly, every single time, that a person comes in, no matter if it's the first time or the 20th time that they've come in, they're constantly being assessed. They fill out paperwork every single time. They are constantly reviewing where they're at with their progress, where they're at, we're reviewing the options available to them for treatment and recovery. And there are about 26 data points that we have to report back to the state on that are all accessed in referral sources. And so we're constantly, it's a normal constant conversation every single client, every single time to kind of come in and continue to obviously foster them towards wellness, no matter what that looks like for them. So that's where the recovery support system is really critical because they are hearing support, they're getting support, they're hearing encouragement and they're also, they're really, if they have questions about how this is going to play out for them, what it will look like, any anxiety that they may have about taking those steps and whatnot, they have a person who's been through it and they can sort of obviously support them through that process as well. I talked about some of the 26 data points and whatnot. I say data points because they really are things and information that we collect, but they're also moments for conversations. They're moments to kind of talk about and educate people. It isn't a person's choice that they just don't want to engage. Sometimes they don't know what that means, what that looks like, what's available to them. They're not sure how to even go about that. It's a complicated system that we have oftentimes regarding seeking health care. So not knowing how to start, where to start, do they need insurance, all of those things, that's where they can get that information from our peer support and our staff there to kind of really educate them. And oftentimes they're sort of like, wow, if I had known it was that easy in that sense, like picking up a phone, connecting with a provider, doing telehealth at this moment, anything like that, then oftentimes they'll say, I knew this before I came here. But they're grateful in that moment that they get that information. And it begins a conversation where they're going to continue to have that conversation every single time they show up. It's, you know, to the point where it's a bit repetitive, but that's actually what works oftentimes with folks. It's just, you know, because they might not be clear today to hear everything that they may be sure to hear, but next week, next month, you know, they might be in a place where they say, yeah, you've mentioned this before. Like, what would that look like? And the next thing you know, they're making a referral, having a conversation, walking down, you know, back up to the front desk to make an appointment. But it takes, you know, countless conversations and support. And they also... It goes a long way when you have someone who's literally physically, mentally, emotionally walking through the process with you. There's a lot more follow through that people are going to engage in these things if they have someone literally sitting there or standing with them through this process. They've built that relationship and that trust with the individual, so they're more likely to take that step. And I think that that's where we arrive at our outcomes. Our outcomes are very high. And that's a thing that I think is really important in this day and age when you talk about data points to really understand that it's very difficult to change. no matter what it is of the topic that we're talking about. And so people oftentimes will try and try and try again, and sometimes, you know, it takes half a lifetime to really make a change stick. And so when we talk about our outcomes, you know, we're very proud of the fact that more than 50% of our current clients that are coming into the clinic are actively engaged in recovery resources. That's a big number and we only get there because we actually purposely make that intended conversation every single time they come in. We probably are not going to be the favorite clinic for a person who's like, just give me the supplies and I'm walking out the door and I have no intention of ever getting well. we're probably not going to be the clinic for you because we're we're going to constantly instead sort of support you towards understanding that there are a lot of options available to you some of those options are case management services where you know they can work with a particular provider and they can work through all the facets and aspects of things that oftentimes create barriers just having an identification card is a barrier to multitude of you know opportunities for them So someone assigned to them, working with them on just getting an IDE can open up a lot more doors for folks. And it's a fairly basic process, but oftentimes you need someone to kind of coach you through that. Access to treatment connections, detoxes, residential, substance use counseling, mental health counseling, self-help programs, sober living, primary care. Many of the folks that we're serving they haven't seen primary care in years They might never have they may never have set foot in you know in a medical facility Unless it's emergency department a lot of our folks are using the emergency department for their care And so we're working with them to not have that be their first go-to you know for their for whether their medical or mental health needs and ACCESS TO MED MANAGEMENT. SOMEONE TALKING WITH THEM ABOUT ARE MEDICATIONS APPROPRIATE FOR THEM. PROVIDING THAT ACCESS. WE HAVE A PHARMACY AT 1155. CONNECTING THEM WITH THE OPPORTUNITY TO GET A PRESCRIPTION FILLED. THE MANAGEMENT OF THAT. HOW ARE YOU DOING WITH THE MEDICATION? CONSTANT CONVERSATION. Access to medication is therapy as well, sort of Suboxone and Vivitrol and various different medications that will help obviously support someone in the early parts of their recovery. Access to main care, you know, it's a complicated program and whatnot, trying to be able to navigate that. food insecurities, dental care, family planning, veteran services. We're constantly screening individuals for have they ever put the uniform on? Oftentimes they think the definition of veteran is that I served during wartime. We obviously, we've tried to educate people that that's not the situation in the case. and that there might be afforded some recommendations for support and services. So we're reaching the veteran population as well. We've had, so that's probably before I continue on, it's just important to understand These are these are area resources we tried really really hard to get connected to what is in the city of Lewiston because transportation is a problem and Within our opportunity at spur wink. We do what we can for folks, but at the end of the day Wherever we can get someone in regardless of what type of treatment it is is Wherever we can get them in soonest is really, that's where we're going to refer them to. That's not always Spurwink. I'm just being very transparent with you. We will just go, you know, if a person says today's the day, you've talked to me four times now about going into, you know, a medication assisted therapy program and whatnot, where can I go and do that? Then we're, you know, pulling out our resources at that moment and making connections. And sometimes that's not within our own building. So really, you know, getting them access to care when they say today's the day is critical in that moment to do that. Outside of connecting them to resources, which obviously is a huge aspect of our time that we're doing with individuals when they come in for assessment, we're also doing wound care assessments. In the past six months, we've done 267 wound care assessments. That's really important to understand that people are not necessarily getting wounds from substance use. They very well could be, but oftentimes it's also just the living conditions, living out on the streets and whatnot as well. Getting a basic cut while you're unhoused and living in the woods can quickly go into an infectious kind of opportunity. for other things to kind of manifest from just a basic cut. So coming in and getting first aid supplies, getting someone to assess that wound and giving them proper guidance in terms of how to do that, even application of how to use some of the products and whatnot that we're supplying them with. So a critical aspect of working with our population. Some of the other things I think that's really important to kind of understand when we talk about how we also support the community is by supplies in general. So in the past six months, we've given out over 400 blankets. We've given over 600 handed foot warmers, which is really critical in the early parts of the year of when it's cold. Over 500 hygiene and basic hygiene kits. This could be anywhere from soap to shampoo, deodorant, you know, body wipes, anything that kind of helps them to stay, you know, as clean as they possibly can given the circumstances and conditions. We've given over 700 pairs of socks. I think that's an important fact to kind of point out because a pair of socks is a game changer when you're out there living in unsafe conditions. It really can be a game changer for having a clean pair of socks and dealing with the elements out there that they're working with. OVER A THOUSAND, WE'VE DISTRIBUTED OVER A THOUSAND WATER BOTTLES. WE NOT ONLY PROVIDE THE WATER FOR THEM, BUT ALSO ARE GIVING THEM REFILLABLE CONTAINERS. IT'S NOT JUST ABOUT A PLASTIC CONTAINER AND THEM, BUT ALSO Providing them additionally with one that they can continue to refill themselves hydration is very important We oftentimes are giving them Hydration packets as well that they can put into the water and that can help obviously with some of the nutrients and things that they're missing You know from from every day And lastly, I think it's important to kind of understand that we're gaining in people coming in to the clinic because they have heard me testify multiple times in the past year and a half about what our small clinic can do for the community, that people are starting to come there for other means. It really isn't about very little. I've spoken about this many, many times. Our footprint for people coming in and asking for syringes is becoming a smaller list and the folks that are coming in for all these other things, the coordination, the care, the support, all of those, is really a growing consensus as to why people are coming to the clinic. It's very well known that we really do, you know, care about the individuals that are coming in and want to continue to follow and support them. And so, you know, one aspect of the way in which we've been able to do that and getting people to come in that are what we call non-exchange clients, they're coming in for food. And in the past six months, we've given almost 400 bags of food out to the community of just people coming in saying, I'm hungry. Literally, I'm hungry. and you know and that's a Sadly a growing statistics, but it's also another way in which we can support our community Thank you.

I would just like one more quick thing about the crisis receiving center, which is pending opening We're not we're very close But it has washer and dryer so people can come in and clean their clothing It has showers so people can take a shower and we have a clothing closet so we can provide people with clean clothes and Mayor Chalene, I'm sorry I interrupted you.

No, no, no, we are good. I just want to make sure we leave time for the questions. Thank you so much. Councillor Martell, yes.

Thank you, Ms. Mayor, and thank you guys for presenting tonight. 400 bags of food, 400 blankets, 500 hygiene kits, 700 pairs of socks, 1,000 water bottles. Do I have that correct? The city's paid or committed approximately $539,000 thus far to Sparwink. How many unique individuals have actually entered treatment as a direct result of that investment and how many remained in treatment for at least 90 days? Do you have that stat?

uh like i just spoke about over 50 of the people that are engaged in our in our program are involved with resources and you know connections to treatment and whatnot so that's you know no i want to i want to know about successful treatment how many have remained clean for 90 days based on this almost 550 000 I don't know that I would necessarily know how many people are clean and sober after 90 days. What I will say to you is that folks are coming in and continuing to gain that peer support. There's an increasing number of folks that once they're engaged in some sort of treatment resource out there, they still are wanting the peer support. So that number is increasing where they're coming in and gaining that. they are obviously reporting that they're you know clean and sober they're also we're coordinating with the case managers with their counselors we're having constant dialogue with their you know with their providers so we're aware of what that how many have entered treatment and been successful for 30 60 or 90 days you've got lots of numbers locked down i'm just for the the ultimate goal is to get someone into treatment and successfully get them cleaning their lives back on track do you have any of those stats i don't have those right off the top of my head now

You didn't think it was important to have some of those? You had lots of stats tonight.

Mm-hm. I think it's important to know that the program that we operate, that we're talking about tonight, and has multiple programs, and I provided an overview of that in another sheet that's in your packet.

Yeah, I know, we're funding a lot of them. Councillor, thank you. Please continue. These are fair questions, Mr. Mayor. I understand, but we're going to have one person speak at a time. Okay.

So clinical data would not be something that Ernestine could pull down independently because we're not providing the clinical service out of the programs that she manages. It's a different part of the agency and some of those referrals are going to other providers in the community who have, they're not gonna be able to provide us with that information because of HIPAA. So you don't know what the- So we can make the referral. We can know that the referral was connected to the individual. We will not necessarily know whether they complete treatment.

So you can't tell me what the cost per successful treatment outcome is from the money that we've already given you?

Are you saying per individual?

Yeah, like say how many people have gotten clean and moved on in sobriety in their lives divided out by the roughly $539,000 we've already given or committed to you?

Yeah, I mean people's treatment length varies depending on their personal needs and I mean, recovery is not always linear. Sometimes people will relapse and come back around through again. So no, if we had had that question in advance, we might have been able to call some data for you, but we were not anticipating that particular question tonight.

You weren't anticipating a question about results?

Councillor.

No, one at a time. I'm speaking one at a time.

Councillor, we will treat our guest, our presenters with respect. I am treating her with respect. I'm just asking difficult questions. You've asked the question. They have already told us that they do not have the data right now. And I think what I heard Catherine say was that they will get back to us.

I didn't hear that.

What I said is our program is responsible for making referrals to treatment. We do not provide the treatment. And not all of the treatment that we refer people to is actually within the walls of SpurWink.

So then how are we supposed to gauge measurable success against the hundreds of thousands of dollars that you're being provided?

I would say that the measurable success is that people accepted a referral, people who heretofore probably would not have even considered treatment. That we are outreaching them in the community, finding them where they are, engaging them, building trust to the point where they say, today's my day, please tell me where I can go to receive treatment. I think that's a huge success personally.

Okay, let me shift gears for a second. Currently, we have an ordinance that prevents any mobile syringe services. Your proposal specifically states that one of the several services that you'll provide will be clean needles and syringe exchanges. It feels contradictory for you to be asking us for funding to do something that is currently prohibited city ordinance and you mentioned it yourself there's a referendum coming up in november that may make this if the people so choose at the ballot box to make it so that this essentially won't be legal for you for you to give needles out and you're asking us to fund it prior to that

no not necessarily and i also said that we would align with whatever position the city takes there are many other things we do it is not just about an exchange of syringes and ernestine has testified repeatedly that that is the smallest part of the work that we do i understand but it's still part of it and it's currently prohibited under city ordinance and you're asking us to fund it not tonight

It's in your proposal, okay. Another one is we have a city ordinance against camping in public places and encampments. It specifically says that you plan on servicing encampments. You're asking us to fund something that's going to service people taking part in activities, both using illegal drugs with those needles, or let's take the needles out of it. But encampments are currently prohibited under ordinance, and you're asking us to fund something that's going to service encampments.

What I'm telling you is that there are people on the streets and on the river bank and in the woods that are desperate. And we have been reaching out to them to get them out of the woods, out of the parks, out of the river, so that they can come into treatment.

I understand that. Can you address the contradiction?

First of all, I have to tell you that I did not know that there was a legal position that encampments were not allowed here in Lewiston.

Councillor do you have any other questions at this time?

I do but I will default to my other councillors right now and I will circle back if I have anything else Thank You councillor Councillor Noble I just want to thank you for what you do.

I know that it's a difficult job and I I know that it's not easy for you to come up here and talk about it in this way. So thank you for that. I wanted to a few questions you did answer for me. One of them was that you will be doing needle cleanup with the mobile with them if you got the

We do it now. We've done two. We walk, and honestly, we don't find many needles. We have found syringes without needles. We provide one of the tools, and Ernestine, can you share what it is? Because I can never get the name right. Sure.

It's a the technical term is called the BD clip and what that does is actually takes it breaks off the end of the the syringe the needle actually and it contains they know you know it stores about 1500 of them so it's sort of a pocket device and we give that we give every single brand new person that comes in that talks about intravenous drug use that they're participating in we give them one of them to

addition to sharps containers and you know safe disposal instructions and whatnot so it's a way of making it safe so to finish answering your question we picked up six bags of trash we swept the park and and had pickers and picked up papers and you know plates and pizza boxes that had been left behind very small number of empty syringes and I think there were two needles

I've experienced the same when I've been picking up trash in park. I haven't seen any needles yet. Also I wanted to know more about the behavioral health part. Well is it just somebody who is

struggling with addiction that's going to have access to the crisis part or the behavioral health any of the medical things that you spoke about yeah anybody i mean the crisis receiving center is open to anybody who feels the need and wants to pop in either on foot or if they're transported by someone or if law enforcement thinks that they're safe to come to the crisis receiving center for assessment am i missing anybody in that population

No, were you thinking about the crisis center specifically or more the mobile unit and reaching folks?

I'm sorry, kind of all of it. Yeah. You know what I mean is like say somebody downtown or wherever is struggling getting a doctor or they maybe can't, they're new to the area cuz I've experienced this working at where I worked. You know, they're new to the area. They don't have a psych doctor. Their meds are running out and they need that. Is that something that, like, say they could access through you guys if you're, you know, doing that type of work? Same thing with the medical stuff. If somebody's not feeling well, they can't get a BCP. Are they able to access this, too? Or is it something they need to be, you know, struggling with addiction to access is basically what I'm wondering.

Yeah so both for the mobile unit but also the crisis center really anyone can present with a self-defined crisis and the goal is really to connect them to resources with the crisis center people will be able to stay there for up to 23 hours In an episode so there is some time if somebody sort of needs that time and space In terms of the mobile unit certainly were you know? It could be a connection to any of our resources at 1155 part of the idea with the crisis centers that someone can present and really access support in that same day so if they need A REFERRAL TO MED MANAGEMENT, WE ACTUALLY HAVE A PROVIDER WHO IS GOING TO BE AVAILABLE IN THE CRISIS CENTER, 40 HOURS A WEEK, AVAILABLE AFTER HOURS, ON CALL, SO THAT SOMEONE CAN REALLY GET THOSE NEEDS MET IN THE IMMEDIACY. THAT'S ACTUALLY A REALLY GREAT SERVICE.

SO THANK YOU FOR BEING HERE.

THANK YOU. COUNCILOR LONGCHAMPS, AND THEN COUNCILOR NAJING.

thank you mayor um thank you guys for being here i think one thing is for certain is if we are going to allow a provider to distribute needles i i am grateful that it is you guys as you know we had lots of trouble with our our last organization and plenty of needles found everywhere with the actual needle in there in the syringe I think you know for myself and probably speaking for another counselor here the tough part for me is giving out a tool that in my opinion could potentially be the last injection because they it could be the lethal one or it could be the one that causes a wound that causes infection that puts them in the intensive care unit, which I've seen many times so I I can't wrap my head around that part of harm reduction. I've tried really hard, really, really hard. I just can't do it. I think meaningful recovery is more of really trying to get people to go to rehab and those type of resources rather than giving them, in my opinion, a tool to help them. The majority of people that I speak with on a day-to-day basis that are fighting addiction share those same thoughts with me that, you know, we're grateful we can go and pick up the syringes, but it's also helping us stay in that crisis that they're in. so for me i will never be able to support that but i do appreciate your program i appreciate that people can go in there and kind of get it's like a one-stop shop in my opinion for mental health to see a doctor get medication i'm very grateful for that and i hope you can forgive me for not being able to support it's just that i have a lot of people that I love dearly that are fighting addiction that I don't feel as though that tool actually helps them I do have one question you had mentioned that it is in your opinion that recovery only happens when someone is ready Do you?

It's not just my opinion. It has been our experience over and over and over again. And we receive forced referrals. So if it's mandated treatment through DHS or from Department of Corrections, people do not do well. They do not want to be there. They do not engage in the same way they engage when they make that decision themselves.

And I can appreciate that. And again, though, for me, my experience is the majority of people that I have seen that have had long-term recovery were made to, whether it was from incarceration or losing their child from DHS. They really were forced to, but were very grateful after. I view things a little differently, but I appreciate what you ladies are here doing and what you're doing in our city, but I will not be able to support that. Thank you.

Councillor Nagy. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. First, I'd just like to state thank you very much for coming and presenting. You've also met with the Lewiston Area Public Health Committee, and I'm just gonna read into the record the Lewiston Area Public Health Committee's recommendation concerning the request for opioid funds and the mobile syringe unit as the member of the council who sits on that committee. So the Lewiston Area Public Health Committee respectfully recommends that the Lewiston City Council support Spurwink's services proposal to establish a mobile community recovery unit serving the Lewiston-Auburn area and approve the requested allocation of opioid settlement funds to support its implementation. The committee believes this proposal represents a meaningful investment in the health and safety of our community and is consistent with the intended purpose of opioid settlement funds to address the ongoing local impact of substance use disorder through prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and recovery. Spurling's proposed mobile unit is not simply a mobile syringe, It is a comprehensive low barrier recovery and harm reduction model designed to meet people where they are at and connect individuals with services that can reduce immediate health risks while creating pathways towards treatment and recovery. The proposed unit would provide for or facilitate access to services including same day medication for opioid use disorder, overdose prevention and naloxone distribution, fentanyl test strips and other harm reduction supplies, wound assessment and first aid, HIV and hepatitis C screening, behavioral health and peer support, case management, transportation and benefit assistance, housing referrals and connections to ongoing treatment and recovery services. The proposal is specifically designed to reach individuals who face barriers in accessing traditional fixed site services, including people experiencing homelessness, people with limited mobility or access to transportation, those who are not currently engaged in treatment. The committee recognizes that Lewiston is currently engaged in a broader community discussion regarding syringe service programs and that a referendum concerning the city's SSP ordinance will be decided by voters in November. The committee also recognizes that the outcome of the referendum may affect whether syringe service activities can be provided from a mobile unit. However, the Public Health Committee believes that the value of this proposed mobile recovery unit extends far beyond syringe services. If the referendum ultimately prohibits mobile syringe service activities, the remaining services proposed by SPRWNK would continue to provide substantial public health benefit to the Lewiston-Auburn community. Individuals would still have access through the mobile unit, to overdose prevention, naloxone, fentanyl test strips, wound care, infectious disease screening, and connections to same day medication for opioid use disorder, peer recovery support, behavioral health services, case management, housing navigation, and to other community resources. for these reasons the city's investment in the mobile unit should not be viewed as an investment contingent on the ability to provide mobile syringe services it is an investment in bringing recovery treatment prevention and harm reduction resources directly to the community and removing some of the geographic transportation stigma and other barriers that prevent people from accessing care this distinction is important public health policy should be evaluated based on the totality of services and outcomes to a program that a program can provide rather than reducing a comprehensive community-based recovery model to a single component of that model there's a little bit more but i've taken a few minutes to read that so the position of the public health committee is that it does recommend to the council to support the unit

Thank you. Council Herman and recognizing that we're going to try to wrap things up to get to our next meeting. Council Herman.

Thank you. Thank you all for being here. I really appreciate what you do for our community and for the people in need. I'm definitely in favor. Basically I was on the same at the same place as the public health committee. There are so many other services that you provide that are not just syringe service the syringe service program. And I think that expanding those to a mobile unit would be very helpful to our community I see a lot of people just around town I don't see all the ones who are probably living in the woods and in other places But there are there are certainly a lot of people in need and I would definitely support this proposal So thanks again.

That's all Roy

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you for coming. I appreciate everything that you've done for the community. The work that you do is very valuable and I really appreciate the chance that you would be given to reach as many people as possible. I think that's very important. So thank you and keep up the good work.

Councillor Chittenden, did I see your hand?

You did. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Again, I express my appreciation and that of all the councillors for your being here and for the good work that you do. As Councillor Martell, Councillor Longchamp, and I think a couple others have pointed out, mobile needle exchange units are prohibited as you pointed out and I wish you would emphasize this needle exchange is a very small component of the many services that you provide to those in need in our community I DID NOT GET THE IMPRESSION THAT YOUR PROPOSAL INCLUDED A NEEDLE EXCHANGE IN THE MOBILE UNIT. PERHAPS I SKIPPED THAT PART, BUT I WOULD ASK YOU TO SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION TO SUBMIT THE REQUEST FORMALLY FOR THE COUNCIL TO VOTE ON TO EXCLUDE NEEDLE EXCHANGES UNTIL SUCH TIME AS A, THE REFERENDUM HAS BEEN RESOLVED IN NOVEMBER, AND B, THE NEXT SITTING COUNCIL MAY HAVE A CHANCE TO GO BACK AND RE-EXAMINE THE ORDINANCE WHICH PROHIBITS MOBILE NEEDLE EXCHANGES WITHIN LOUISTON. THOSE ARE THE LAWS, UNFORTUNATELY, WE'RE OPERATING UNDER TODAY. SO I WOULD ENCOURAGE YOU TO SUBMIT YOUR PROPOSAL ELIMINATING THAT ASPECT OF IT IF IT IS INDEED INCLUDED IN THE CURRENT PROPOSAL. I THINK THIS COUNCIL WOULD LOOK VERY FAVORABLY ON THE MOBILE UNIT THAT PROVIDES ALL OF THE MANIFOLD SERVICES THAT SPRWN PROVIDES, EXCEPTING THE ONE SMALL COMPONENT OF NEEDLE EXCHANGE. SO I WOULD ENCOURAGE YOU TO DO THAT.

THANK YOU. COUNCILOR NAJING, WE ARE RECOGNIZING YOU AGAIN.

The only thing I'd like to bring up in this space is that we have three years of opioid recovery funds that have come into our coffers, so to speak, and they're discretionary funds that the council decides how to spend. I believe we're going to receive funding for the next 16 years, and that amount totals almost $16 million. I would suggest that this council consider directing possibly the community development department in conjunction with the LAPHC to come up with a strategic plan on spending that money overall. Instead of having these back and forths about what is fitting or what is appropriate, if we have a strategic plan that we say this is what we want to spend this money on and this is the impact that we want to make over a period of 16 years, there's guidelines for people to follow and I think it would be helpful. So I just want to point that out to everybody. We can approach this from a way that is strategic as opposed to one offs here and there.

Thank you. And thank you, you three, for being here. We are honored by your service. Have a wonderful evening. That concludes our workshop. We will attempt to start our city council meeting right at 7. Thank you. Hello and good evening. Welcome to our Tuesday evening council meeting. We are joined here. We're going to kick things off the Pledge of Allegiance as we always do. And we are joined by Cass and Mimi from out of town tourists as it were. And they have graciously agreed to 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.

Please, I invite you all to join me in a round of applause for Cass and Mimi. appreciate your service to our city thank you very much uh madam clerk i believe we're ready to begin yes thank you mr mayor um all roll call votes for this meeting will begin with the council of ward two uh and i understand we have minutes you do at the august fourth meeting yes we have a motion to accept the minutes so moved councilman i'm saying by councillor nagey and madam clerk please call the vote counselor from word two yes word three yes word four yes word five

Yes. Ward 6? Yes. Ward 7? Yes. Ward 1? Yes. Motion passed by a vote of 7-0.

Thank you very much, Madam Clerk. We're now to public comment. Any member of the public may make comments regarding issues pertaining to Lewiston City Government. This period is reserved for non-agenda 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 Lewiston resident. Per our council rules, this period is reserved for Lewiston residents only. Because this is the business meeting of the city council, 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. Our personnel complaints should be made directly to the city administration office. Please continue.

Ronnie Parity, Ward 6. I hope everybody gave somebody a compliment tonight before they came and everything. And remember, as voting starts, well, voting, that we talk about issues instead of personalities. I want to go to the mobile unit since we were not allowed during thing. I have to agree with Councilor Longchamps. I feel that it's true, and with Brent, and they could not answer Ward 7's questions tonight. My questions are, what are the police, who's going to protect them when they go out into these camps? Quote, unquote. The police has enough work to do, and they agree in with this mobile unit. We still haven't settled the violence in the shootings. I can see people trying to go after that mobile unit, especially out in the middle of the woods or wherever they're going to be. That's giving the police more work. second of all they did not say the reduction of how the reduction their harm reduction is supposed to be hepatitis b c and hiv they did not give that information and even though they go to practitioners they can get it online they should have had that data ready for us tonight and the questions that counselor What was up from seven? Ask they did not know those questions and it really bothered me that they did not know so at this time I have to disagree with the mobile unit and again, I think we should wait to the election for the thing and I'm saying this is a public health nurse and And I'm just looking at the city too and, hey, Bangor had to hire two case managers up in Bangor because of the HIV spread up there and the homeless. My brother who lives in Bangor said the homeless situation up there on house is desperate and everything like that. And HIV is still around, so are we going to hire some case managers to take care of these people that have HIV when we don't even know the numbers, that thing? So harm reduction is all supposed to reduce HIV and hepatitis B and C, and that was not talked about in the thing. The other things they do are wonderful, and they should not be doing the syringe exchanges. Van Gogh is still doing 100 syringes and they're still spreading HIV. Thank you.

Melissa Dunn, community organizer, homeowner on Blake Street in Lewiston. I've been dealing with a growing concern of not only seeing classism and racism, and what it looks like through city hall and police through community engagement projects disguised or as a guise of engagement and accountability when i am witness to and observe observation of civil and human rights even searching vehicles without having the warrant in the person's name that the car belongs to if i said that right Anyway, what's resulted in about 14, 15 Lewiston Mean Police Department officers that have stalked and cyber stalked me, some family members too who are on the panel even, just for observing a community. And the most recent was when a van was pulled over on the end of opposite of the root cellar, that half section on Pierce Street. Even one man had a Nazi tattoo on his back and sitting on the sidewalk. But my number one concern was that people knew their rights when being engaged by police or stopped and frisked or their car searched. And so anyway, they were hooting and hollering, celebrating me and told me to keep doing what I was doing. Dalton Wing and Joe Dighton, Lewiston Police, have me on their personal devices either recording or taking photos.

If there's personnel complaints, you need to address them to administration. You cannot use names here.

That's okay. I just did. But anyway, I didn't acknowledge the Nazis leaving in the van because I don't entertain them. But I think there's a growing concern that in my amendment rights to observe police or even record free from degradation, abuse, stalking, cyber stalking, harassment, terrorizing, menace, and even much worse. I'm concerned for people that might speak against the city of Lewiston or city administration or elected officials or police when we have concerns. What we want is trained officers on the streets. when they're engaging people that are in their survival that when they're told that their way to survive isn't the right way but they're still alive they're still alive that's the right way i don't condone things like selling substances or using or things like that But I will support somebody in community who is in that struggle. It's a whole different approach. So I see this as the white supremacy mating calls for the National Guard just redisguised in community engagement project and community ambassador. Stop trying to kill us.

Thank you. Further public comment?

Hello, John Horton from Ward 2. I'm here to speak against the manufactured home park rent stabilization, as you all know. I'll start with a quote from Ronald Reagan, my favorite right now. The nine scariest words in the English language are, I'm from the government, I'm here to help. Well, the intent and everything was good with this ordinance. It does not work. The simplest explanation in the world is if you got a bucket and you got a six inch pipe on one side, a six inch pipe on the other, and you change the inflow to a four inch pipe, sooner or later that bucket's empty. That's what's going to happen. And when you look at the numbers, some of the counselors have this because I've sent it to him. We did 2026 to 2027 quick analysis showing current and next base. I'm just talking taxes, water, sewer, electric, grounds care, trash removal, very basic, not including anything special at all, a storm hits or a pipe breaks in the ground or anything. And we're $4.31 in the hole per lot. and every single lot in the park based on that the regular rate i didn't use the modified increase because we're below market i use the standard rate i did that on purpose to show what all the parks in the place have a potential of seeing These things compound. It's not simple. You're using a simple CPI number with a compounded interest on top of it, basically, and expecting the parks to survive. If they do survive under the ordinance, every three years, you might have small increase, small increase. That third year, you're going to have us all coming in saying, I need a big one to make up for it. And you're right back to where you started. a problem with the increase getting hit big instead of small small small this is a problem on top of that you've got the state doing all kinds of things on mobile home parks right now they just bagged the manufacturing housing board and they're moving into main office of community affairs using their own little website they put up we're asking for 502 as the target according to the housing committee for the normal rate the current rate published today for all of anderscoggin county is 523 per lot you don't have a problem in lewiston your average in lewiston is 502 that's why he went for that you're below the average in the city with the higher taxes the higher water and sewer costs There isn't a problem here. Look at the numbers, look at the facts, and you should understand the parks have been good. People like me, the eight other parks that are owned by local people. That's time, thank you. Are not the conglomerate of California.

That's time, thank you. Further public comment?

My name is Chris Roy. I'm John's business partner. I'm going to continue with what John was discussing. The fact that the targeted rate in Lewiston is 502 or 503, whereas the average in Androscoggin County is 523. It seems to me this ordinance is a solution in search of a problem. But one of the problems that this ordinance would create, as John indicated, is that you're gonna restrict the inflows. Now, historically, we've been very cautious with our rental increases over the years. In fact, we own parks that have the lowest lot rents in the community. However, there are times when you need to increase your lot rents more in order to keep up with expenses. As John indicated, just the normal operating expenses we're not going to be able to keep up with under the standard increases with the ordinance. That said, what's going to happen is that we're going to have to cut reserve funding. So you're going to end up with a situation where the parks can't fund the reserves that are needed to properly maintain infrastructure. paving water and sewer lines electrical lines cutting back brush and trees as necessary These are the things that's going to work that are going to affect the quality of life for those people living in the mobile home parks The other thing I want to mention and I think I alluded to this in the last council meeting was that the lot rent increases are only one of the increases that people in the mobile home parks may be facing and And if they're facing a $50 a lot rent increase versus a $20 a lot rent increase, I would say that that probably pales in comparison to what they've seen an increase in groceries, for instance, in recent years, or the cost of fuel or the cost of health care. So you're targeting one aspect of their personal budget. What you can end up doing is affecting people like John and I, whose livelihood is derived from the rental properties that we own, two of which are these mobile home communities. If you cut our income to subsidize somebody else, this is a targeted charity that's using the authority of the council to force One small group of people to subsidize. The budgetary concerns. But people that are they're not related to to me, that's morally and ethically wrong. And I think what you're going to see is John mentioned is that you're going to see small increases and then the owners are going to have to come to the city every three years and request a larger increase. So like John said, you're right back to square one.

Further public comment. If we can silence our cell phones that'd be great.

Good evening. My name is Destiny. I'm from Wyndham but I'm a Lewiston shooting survivor. Like many people in this community, the Lewiston shooting on October 25th, 2023 changed my life forever. 18 innocent people lost their lives. Many others were injured and survivors and families continue to carry the trauma of that day every single day. After everything this community endured, many residents expected our leaders to make public safety, accountability, and preventing another tragedy the highest priorities. Instead, we have watched Mayor Carl Chalene devote significant time and energy to opposing federal immigration enforcement efforts and supporting policies that many residents believe make cooperation with federal authorities more difficult. The lessons of October 25th should have pushed all of us to focus relentlessly on public safety, communication between agencies, accountability, and doing everything possible to prevent another tragedy. This is not about politics and political parties. It's not about any of that. It's about priorities. Mayor, serious questions still remain regarding your role as a board member of the Maine Mill and whether that relationship created a conflict of interest after $65,521.79 was directed to that nonprofit. On June 30th, I issued an invoice to the Maine Community Foundation for the remaining $1.9 million that I believe is still owed to the loose and shooting survivors. I also wanted to hand deliver you a copy, Mayor. I included a voided check should you wish to arrange those funds to be deposited directly into the account. If you need the amount, it's on my shirt. Lewiston deserves leadership that puts the safety of residents first listens to survivors and families and works to rebuild trust within our community. We owe that to 18 people who never came home into every survivor whose life was changed forever on October 25 2023. Thank you.

Hi my name is Darren Gallant. I'm a candidate for the full member for the planning board. I currently serve.

We are. I might have misled you. You will. So this is public comment but since you're an agenda item you can speak during that agenda item. Sorry. I apologize for the confusion.

Good evening, Christine Holden, Ward 1. A couple of nice things. A lot of sidewalks and roads that were in pretty bad shape have been paved recently. It's looking very good. But I do have a couple of concerns. One, I apologize, maybe the city administrator will be speaking to this, but I would like to suggest that given the recent delivery of the new carts that the city consider some kind of review after a month of use. There's a lot of concern and confusion already. I've experienced it in calling both Public Works and Casella. So have other neighbors. So please I know it took a lot of work to get this going, but could we please at least have an early evaluation before people get really upset and start doing strange things? I'm not threatening to do anything. I'm just saying I've heard rumblings, okay? The second thing I want to address is somewhat more serious, and that's the incredible, dangerous usage of two-wheeled electric vehicles, whether they are scooters, e-bikes, or whatever. I can't always say. Excuse me. But one day last week, I was coming down Bartlett Street and crossing Sabatus to go up College. And a gentleman who was probably in his middle age, let's say 40s, was coming down Sabatus Street, crossed right in front of me when I had the green light, and stayed on the left side of College Street up to Holland. When he turned left, of course, without signaling, he was going extremely fast. And by the time I went past to turn left on Elm and stopped at the stop sign on Elm and Oak, he was whizzing past me. He was paying no reward to any of the rules of the road. We all know that small children and those new to biking occasionally ride on the sidewalk. Very occasionally, they may ride on the wrong side of the street, though that's not recommended. But an adult speeding along faster than my car was going, crossing traffic with a green light, and being on the wrong side of the road is only one of many such things. I hope we can address that as another aspect of public safety. Thank you.

Excuse me, sir. I recognize you. And, you know, we try to give people the benefit of the doubt around here. But if you can just make sure that your comments pertain to City of Lewiston business, that'd be great.

Okay. I would say the same thing I have said before. uh nathan pearl from lewiston born and raised our country has been capable of building skyscrapers since 1885 for 141 years now yet we're allowing 800 000 plus citizens to suffer unhoused and that it that does affect our locality no matter what further public comment

Hi. I guess there's been a lot going on over the past couple of weeks, that's for sure. This is Kim from Ward 2. Oh, thank you. Thank you. Sorry. Kim from Ward 2.

Please continue. Thank you.

A COUPLE OF FRIENDS, YOU KNOW, A FRIEND OF MINE GOT HURT BLINKERING OUTSIDE OF A STORE, I GUESS. IT'S LIKE A NEW SAFETY CONCERN THAT A COUPLE OF PEOPLE ARE TALKING ABOUT. THEY'RE WONDERING ABOUT STORES BEING OPEN UNTIL MIDNIGHT AND IT JUST SEEMS LIKE THAT'S WHEN A LOT OF THE CHAOS TENDS TO HAPPEN. JUST A THOUGHT TO THINK OF. THIS PERSON WAS HURT PRETTY BAD. THEY WERE HOSPITALIZED. NOTHING REALLY CAME OUT OF IT. So I've been just wondering what's going on in the homeless community? What's going on with the shelter? I've been getting real frustrated because I'm like, why are they not having turnover? Why do people keep saying there's no room? So I got to know them a little bit and it turns out they're under construction. They have 40 beds. on Horton Street and they're in the process of something or other. Protocols, paperwork, ordinances, requirements and things of that nature. So I'd really like to see that speed along. I don't know where they're at in the situation. I also heard about the Methodist Calvary Church. They've been doing meals, a meal program for people for quite a while. Um, big concern is that they're shutting their doors. Um, they just don't have the funding and I guess they apply for grants every year and they just, they're not getting one. So I don't know if there's a way to push that along at all. Um, I find that getting to know people that work with people in the homeless community or substance use people that, um, there's a lot of stuff that's not really true that I initially thought might have been. So I just been out there asking questions, getting some answers. And basically a lot of people are just falling through the cracks. They're waiting on housing. They can't get into a drug program. They may have some mental health issues. They don't have case management and all this and that. And I think that's what the shelters would be doing more of if we had a bit of a higher turnover. So I don't know what the solution is for that for people, but it's definitely something I'd like the city of Lewiston to think about. Is there any other way we could push that along for them? Can we make sure that our meal assistance programs stay running, take a second look at their funding? People that are out in the community, such as myself, I've delivered first aid to people that were having pretty significant issues, offered rides, given food and water. And according to the people that I've met, there's a lot of people out there that do that. They're taking the overflow from what the shelters and the crisis places can't help with. And they're getting some flack for it, including me. And I don't want to make my neighbors mad. I don't have people lingering, but I just want to do the best that I can to see if there is anything the city can do to assist with funding and grants to make things easier for those that are out there. And also just ask the public in general, please be patient with those of us that are willing to hand out clothes, food, and first aid. We're not having anybody lingering. We're doing it. Thank you. That's time. Thanks. Have a good night.

Matthew Agron, Ward 4. I'm hoping to hear very soon how the new plan for the full reorganization of the third floor is going to go with code planning and economic development into one fully integrated organization. It's been months since it's been proposed. I'm hoping we'll hear more about it tonight. But what I really want to talk about is public safety. I've had a couple of really interesting conversations with people in town. some people about why they don't come down to these meetings because they just don't feel safe down here they question why why i feel safe to come down here and i'll be honest i say because i'm a larger gentleman and you know people don't really bother me but i understand how somebody who's older might not want to come down here they don't feel safe because you have the news that publishes every incident that happens downtown you have social media which magnifies everything that happens downtown our police department is doing amazing work look at the their clearance rate of cases is above national average but they're down 12 officers maybe 13 depending on if the officer got injured in the car accident How long can we keep this pace up? We need to get public, people aren't gonna come downtown. People aren't gonna come into Lewiston if they don't feel safe here. We're not gonna have growth. We're not gonna have development. We're gonna lose things, things that are important to all of us. We need that public safety. Thank you.

Further public comment? Public comment is no. Do you have public comment? Okay. Anyone else has public comment please line up so we can move through public comment. Oh you are okay. If we can make it so you can both stand in front and then hear both through the microphone.

Her name is . I don't know English. I'll be interpreting for you. Okay, hello.

I was sick for three days and I didn't leave my house.

My car was in a parking lot close to my house.

And there was no construction happening on the street.

They gave me a ticket and they tow it.

Usually I'm careful around winter time because of the snow storm removal.

There was no snow storm and there was no construction happening, so I didn't think my car was gonna get towed. That's my problem. And I would like for you guys to do something about it. Okay, thank you.

Thank you. Deputy Administrator, can you please hand her my card, Ifrah? yeah uh if she can please uh email me or with your help

Okay, thank you.

Thank you. Further public comment? Public comment is now closed. Administrator Kainrath, I understand you have a report.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Appreciate it. First quick update on Cards to Curb. Kosoa has now nearly finished delivering all 22,000 trash and recycling carts in time for new service to start. the week of August 24th. They appreciate everyone's patience throughout the process. If anyone did not receive a card or they have the incorrect cards, they're encouraged to please contact COSOA. The direct number is 207-518-8653 or email. Or if you need assistance contacting them, please call City Hall. We can help set that up for you so again August 24th new server starts if you had any trouble with your cards please get in touch with Casella or you can contact City Hall and we'll help arrange those communications for you thank you to everyone who showed up last week for the kickoff of the new community ambassadors program we now have over 40 people signed up to be part of this effort we really appreciate everyone's passion and optimism and we hope this can be a model for harnessing community spirit volunteerism into action for the city of Lewiston to better our community so thank you to everyone who was there last week don't forget this weekend coming up is the 2026 Balloon Festival August 21st to 23rd at Simard Payne Park for a full schedule please visit LAballoonfestival.org again should be a great event weather looks uh promising at least through the first half of the weekend we'll see how it goes weather is obviously very important for launching balloons but again everyone please come down this weekend to smart paint park a great event our largest event for the city of lewiston uh staff achievements and milestones i want to recognize this is this is a big one to recognize i want to congratulate elaine brackett who is our director of social services for now 40 years of service with the city of lewiston four decades of public service represents far more than a milestone reflects a remarkable commitment to the city its employees and our community she has served throughout her career elaine as of this november is also marking her seventh year as director of the department her experience is is deep and wide and she's a leader in her field and we just want to recognize elaine for a remarkable 40 years of service to the city of lewiston so um you know we we thank elaine for all of her years uh we congratulate her and hope to get at least a few more out of elaine and her time here but we will see how long she wants to stick around but um again elaine thank you so much and i appreciate your 40 years The Business and Opportunity Loan Program from the Economic Development Department is again launching. New and existing Lewiston businesses may be eligible for financial assistance. For-profit businesses may apply for a loan of up to $50,000 or a competitive grant up to $40,000. The businesses must be located in the city of Lewiston, employ fewer than 100 people. and be in good standing. Home-based businesses, including childcare providers, bookkeepers, home bakeries, marketing professionals, or other professional services may also qualify. Funding may be used for working capital, rent, payroll, utilities, equipment, inventory, marketing, professional services, or code-related improvements that are necessary. To request an application or to learn more, please contact our economic development department or you can email ecdgrantprogram at lewistonmaine.gov. We had a really successful last year, really supported some great new startup businesses in the city, so we're looking forward to this year and continuing growing small businesses throughout our city. 1820 Spirits is receiving an award. I want to congratulate local business 1820 Spirits, who has been recognized by its international parent company, Sazerac, as the 2026 E.H. Taylor Plant of the Year, the prestigious company-wide award. honors honors exceptional performance and quality safety employee engagement service cost management and innovation the recognition reflects the dedication and pride of the employees at the company's 21 saratoga street facility employees and their families will celebrate the achievement on labor day monday september 7th with a banner unveiling unveiling at their location so congratulations to them we appreciate them being uh in the city of lewiston uh lastly i just want to extend a reminder um counselor martel and i will be co-hosting my next meet and greet it will be at the new and revamped clarion hotel and conference center 490 pleasant street on august 20th 5 to 6 30 p.m please come down and share any of your thoughts concerns questions or anything else you'd like to share with us and again i'm hoping to hold one of these with all the counselors and their awards coming up thank you very much

Thank You administrator Kinrath we appreciate your service to our city and You know deputy administrator O'Malley. Well, I should appreciate your service to our city. So, thank you Madam clerk we have a consent agenda. I understand I

There are five items on the consent agenda this evening. Item number one, authorization to accept transfer of forfeiture funds. Number two, amendment to the traffic schedule to add two-hour parking on a portion of Bates Street. Number three, order authorizing execution of waiving the utility lien foreclosure on certain distressed structures on leased land. Number four, order authorizing the application and acceptance of funds from the main Bureau of Highway Safety. And number five, order calling for a public hearing for the proposed city charter amendments.

May I have a motion please? So moved. Councilor Chittum? Second. Seconded by Councilor Nagy. Madam Clerk, please call the vote.

Councilor, from word two? Yes. Word three? Yes. Word four? Yes. Word five? Yes. Word six? Yes. Word seven? Yes. Word one? Yes. Motion passed with a vote of seven to zero.

Thank you very much, Madam Clerk. And just like that, item number six.

Item number six, appointment to the planning board. Requested action to confirm the mayor's nomination and to appoint the following resident as a member of the planning board. Darren Gallant, 40 Benson Street, term to expire January 2nd, 2029.

May I have a motion, please? So moved. Councilor Chittum? Second. Signed by Councilor Nagin. I just want to kick things off. Really appreciate Darren serving on the, what is the title of that position? Multiple member of the planning board. YES. ASSOCIATE, THANK YOU, YES. I REALLY APPRECIATE YOU SERVING AS ASSOCIATE MEMBER, WORKING HARD HERE TO MOVE HIM TO A FULL MEMBER POSITION THAT OPENED UP. QUESTIONS, COMMENTS FROM THE COUNCIL? Public or Councillor Chittum, yes.

I'd like to thank Mr. Gallant for being present. That's not often the case with appointees and for being willing to speak earlier, even though it was aborted. Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor Chittum. Yes, as previously noted, he is in attendance. Public comment for this agenda item.

Hi, Darren Gallant. I'm a homeowner in Ward 1 and associate member of the planning board currently. Really enjoy the work. I would really be honored to continue to serve on the planning board as a full member. I'm really focused on keeping a future-focused city that's considering the safety and future growth of the city. I moved to the city and thought, wow, there's so many opportunities here. I know we have our challenges, but I think through some conscientious planning and future-focused work, we can continue to take advantage of the many opportunities here. So I thank you for your time and your consideration. I look forward to working with you all.

Further public comment? Back to the council. Madam Clerk, please call the vote.

Councilor from Ward 2? Yes. Ward 3? Yes. Ward 4? Yes. Ward 5? Yes. Ward 6? Yes. Ward 7? Yes. Ward 1?

Yes.

Motion passed by vote of 7 to 0.

Thank you very much. Item number seven.

Item number seven, public hearing regarding the Lewiston Falls Hydroelectric Project Federal Energy Regulatory Commission relicensing. Requested action to conduct a public hearing to receive input from the public regarding the proposed relicensing of the Lewiston Falls Hydroelectric Project.

Public hearing is now open. Director Conner, I understand, did you bring a friend, Director Gagne, as well?

I did.

We're here tonight to... Could we just have you just move to the table? I think that'll just be easier. Sorry, I should have prepped you guys. I take full responsibility for this delay. If you can both introduce yourselves and kick us off. Thank you. Good evening. Kevin Gagne, Director, Lewiston Public Works.

And I'm John Connor, Director of Planning and Code Enforcement. So we provided our packet last week to you guys. It's got a wealth of information in there. We heard back from the state, from the EA, we received that. And we have until Monday to submit all of our rebuttals and further comments. This is our last bite at the apple, but obviously staff needs to prepare all that and submit it by Thursday of this week. So we are kind of on a time clock here. The the whole purpose of this meeting tonight is to get City Council's comments Open it up to the public get as many of the public comments as we can We'll act as a I'm acting as a scribe tonight to write down all of the comments that you guys have Director Gagne is is well versed in the the FERC relicensing so he can answer any questions that you or the public may have and But our goal is to have something concrete that we can submit back to the relicensing agency by Thursday.

Excellent. Thank you very much. Dr. Gagne, is there anything you'd like to say?

thanks for having the conversation I think this to reiterate the lifecycle on these permits we need to act now and we've had a lot of input but it's a 40-year cycle so we need we need to make sure that we really raise our voice one last time and get in there what we'd like thanks

Questions, comments from the council?

Councillor Naging, yes. So the way this all breaks down, we have the request that we put forward originally, and then on the front of the document, it gives us kind of some guidelines over what is pending. But I guess like the questions that I have specifically, on the the signage the access to the river the improvements for lewiston's side for the um portages including on deer rips which an 18 year old just died out there due to the conditions that that that are out there and also the the amount of water that's flowing through the canals which I if I'm if I'm correct we still hold two FERC licenses in the canals is that correct

We do have FERC license. We're trying to get out of those because we no longer are purchasing, we no longer are manufacturing power. So those FERC licenses are for power generation which we cannot do. When we say we cannot do why so we have one for we have limits on the amount of water coming through the canals and it's part of when we purchased the canals.

So from Brookfield right that's the 50 cubic feet. Per second per second, right? so you're saying that we're attempting to allow FERC licensing to expire because The dam owner won't give us enough water to run our own FERC licenses in order to generate our own electricity based on the system that we built I'm just checking

That is the crux of it. Through the years of different negotiations to procure it, our water rights were given up for power generation. And that was not part of any administration or council that was here. But we are limited to non-generation flows for aesthetics or for recreational use, if there were to be recreational use or other uses on the canal. And that's based on the current FERC licensing and not- That is for our purchase and sale agreement that we secured.

Interesting. The reason why I'm asking those questions specifically, you know, when we were talking about the data center, the fact that we were going to look at providing a TIF in order to buy power from a Spanish energy conglomerate. Brookfield is a multinational power company. I don't know. I'm just bothered by that. But I guess if that's nothing we can move in the FERC licensing,

So we have brought this up during the last several years and iterations that this is the culmination of our input over the last 5 years. We have said we want the canals included. We want the portages included. We want the signage is included because You know just because it's on the Auburn side of the river doesn't mean there isn't use and valid. Benefit on the list inside and they keep coming back to its out of the project area so they've reduced the project there to actually to the to the dam and immediate to that so our canals are now private are publicly owned by us and outside of the project area.

And yet Durham somehow falls into the.

So it's still outside of of this permitting cycle is my understanding so those are already launches that are already in there. There there. What they're providing for public service as part of having the dams up and downstream so.

Okay, my personal opinion, I think that we should push back on both the signage pieces, the access or egress around Brookfield's Dam in order to ever possibly see some type of river walk. I do believe that improvements around, how do you portage currently around the Brookfield Dam on the Lewiston side?

It's not on the Lewiston side, it's on the Auburn side that's established

So that means, for instance, when the Iron Man used to run here, which at one point in time had, I think, a thousand people per, they would run the canoes down West Bates Street, right? Like that's literally what they did. um what i'm talking about is basically if all of the activity is going to happen on the auburn side and all of the improvement happens on the auburn side what is the benefit to lewiston uh having uh the structure in the middle of uh of our river right um so I would also suggest that we push back on both the portage at Deer Rips Dam and the portage for the Brookfield Dam at Great Falls. Those would be my suggestions. I don't know if anybody else has any.

THANK YOU, COUNSELOR. YEAH, I AGREE WITH EVERYTHING COUNSELOR NAJIN JUST SAID. AND DIRECTOR GANIER, IF I'M UNDERSTANDING CORRECTLY, THEY JUST DREW, YOU'RE SAYING THEY JUST DREW THE CIRCLE SMALLER? CORRECT.

IS THAT WHAT YOU'RE SAYING? CORRECT. AND WE'VE HEARD FROM SEVERAL COLLEAGUES IN THE INDUSTRY THAT HAVE BEEN DOING THIS A LOT LONGER THAN I HAVE, YOU KNOW, OUR PREVIOUS GENERATION. Over the last each permit cycle there. They've narrowed this one down to where it's very immediate to the dam Sneaky sneaky.

All right. Thank you councillor Herman

Thank you. I don't have any specific suggestions, but I would just encourage you to push for as much as you can for public accommodations. I mean, essentially, we have a public resource, the river, that's basically owned by everyone in the state of Maine that's been taken for private use and private profit by a for-profit corporation. And they block fish passage. They block the passage of boaters. We don't have flows, water flowing over the falls as much as they, as much as it should be. And I just think for that, for that benefit that they're gaining in income, they should provide as much as, basically as much as we ask for in public accommodations.

Councilor Chittum. Yes. Thank you. This is a stretch here and it is coming at the 11th hour But we have recently received word from the DEP in the main legislature that the water quality and its Gargan River will not be upgraded from C to B I believe part of that is because of the impoundment upstream of the dam And I'm wondering if there's anything that FERC can do to increase oxygenation aeration something to

allow dep and our legislators to consider upgrading the river to the class b standard that it should be counseling aging and just to follow up on that from what i understand uh brookfield refuses to test the the quality of the water from um from the dam as well right is that something they're not going to

I am not aware. I'm not up to speed on the water quality of what's in this agreement or what they're willing to do in the past. The Andescagan River Water Alliance, you know, we sampled all the way up and down and it was a full partnership with all municipalities as well as some of the pulp and paper and I believe Brookfield participated, but that was 25 years ago, so I'm not sure.

So one of the things I would just mention really quickly the Lowell Street lofts when that project goes into place right now Lowell Street from what I understand does not have runoff containment That that water actually runs directly Into the dam into the backfill of the dam. Is that correct?

I believe most areas along the river are flowing directly. And that's something that in the design of previous developments, it was all beat the peak on a spring flood or some flood conditions. So it was more of a hydraulic issue than a water quality issue.

so i believe you're right so looking at the elevation aspects of lowell street right so i i run to the exact same situation at the end of riverside street water pushes down riverside street until it hits riverside cemetery at a pretty exponential rate which causes some of the erosion that riverside cemetery currently experiences can we ask for a oc container or some type of water diversion along the Retaining system to keep all of the water from dumping directly into the river into the backfill of the dam Though I would I would request that I mean I would rather see us get an egress through there because I think that's more important But I'll take both if we can get or either so We're now having a public comment for this agenda item I

MacRory Ward six mayor and council. Yes. Councilor children. Yes, this is ridiculous. As counting a gene pointed out at last December, when you, for the AI data center, I sent an email to originally a council Harriman and then January to both council Harriman and a gene at that time. We knew then in January through the emails provided from both councils from Deputy Director Norton that the two current licenses were going to be merged as one to have one unified process and then here we are nearly eight months later and we're just going to have a public hearing on the future a 40-year future days before it is due. Again this is Malpractice of governance, if there's ever such a thing, lately in the last numerous years, that list seems to not get shorter but longer. Again, and of course my original question was exactly to the point Councillor NG made because of the then proposed TIF, but as the circle keeps on getting smaller, there is a ARGUMENT THAT AS COUNSELOR, I BELIEVE MY INTERPRETATION OF WHAT COUNSELOR HERMAN WAS STATING THAT IT IS A PUBLIC ASSET, YOU COULD MAKE THE ARGUMENT THAT FERC IS OUTSIDE THE ARTICLE 1 SECTION 8 ENUMERATED POWERS GIVEN TO CONGRESS, I.E. THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT That only really relate to wildlife. Well, I guess there is a fishery aspect, but that's been this getting smaller and smaller. Of course, then there is the irony when a certain Prime Minister of Canada was not busy being a central banker on either side of the pond, was the head of Brookfield. Thank you.

Further public comment?

Christine Holden, Ward 2. I'd like to note that this is a very complicated material and as Mr. Roy has just said, It's not exactly new news, it's historical. I did want to make a comment about the access for public recreation, and unfortunately carrying my computer over here, it's gone back on pages. But I was going to refer to a letter which was sent by Shelley Norton to the FERC secretary, There are no page numbers on these letters, which makes it a little difficult, so I'm going by the count that shows up on the computer. This is pages 106, 107 of today's agenda items. and i would like to say that the access and recreation to the river really is important i say that as somebody who chose to buy a house very near there as a member of the board of riverside cemetery and somebody who's very well aware of the appreciation of people for access to the water to the greenery and all that that provides and specifically in the section of that letter that is mitigation requests there are the illustrations of what was on the a um The comprehensive plan which I remember many of us looked at in Callahan Hall some two or three years ago having access under Longley bridge to the main part of what is going to be what we're calling the island and really also important the more people can get close to the river and see its potential the more they appreciate it I hope we can do something and I do appreciate the time constraints for the departments but again I wish it were not so tight thank you Further public comment?

Back to the council. Director Gagne, it's my understanding that we've had many, many, many bites of the apple here in terms of public feedback, or am I not remembering correctly?

I think Director Kahn has some more information, but yes, we brought this several times. When I was acting with Acting Deputy Director Norton, we brought this forward several years ago. And each time there's been an update or an opportunity, we brought it forward. I think we've also put out some of the FERC public hearings that were held locally at the Hampton Inn. opportunity for the public to come and we sent out those messages through our social media our web page and things like that so really want the voice of all the Lewiston residents and visitors to to be able to be heard and I think we we've tried to make that known

Given all those opportunities. They appreciate you coming back tonight to give us one last chance to chime in Councilor Nagin back to you.

Thank you. Mr. Mayor. I would also point out that the Berkeley licensing process is is Overly complex, opaque, and actually does not care about community feedback in any way, shape, or form. That's not the process that this is set up for. I showed up at the Hampton and spoke into a microphone that I guarantee you nobody has listened to. And I'm sure it's filed away somewhere, but it is what it is. One of the points that was interesting if we if we're unable to get any type of concession around and I understand the Footprint that we're talking about of the project But if we're unable to get any type of concession whatsoever around access on the Lewiston side of the river around those dams Then I would highly suggest that that we pressure to get an underpass under under our bridge under the longley bridge i mean these are small uh amounts of dollars for this humongous corporation um and you know i understand some of the concerns around immediate access to the to the dam space because of some of the damages that have occurred things like that you still need to make it safe for people to navigate those spaces but if we can't move them in any way shape or form yeah I would highly suggest that we get an underpass on our side of the long way bridge because that actually makes the area in front of the dam usable for people on foot so

If I could, so to follow up with that, we have looked at that engineering-wise as part of a separate project and really tried to evaluate and get it done similar to what the Auburn side has. And just for the public information and for you all, Auburn constructed it as an earthen embankment as a walkway down through and underneath their side of the Longley Bridge. that volume was considered by DOT and we are not able to construct it in the same way because that volume would take away capacity under the bridge during a flood so that basically created an instance where we need to make kind of a bridge so we have peers and we have an open space to be able to get flow underneath there so that raised the price uh so yeah this was kind of queued up as a project several years ago when um director brentchik was here but we can follow up with that and update that and put some pressure on on the dam owners well well aware during the the review of the redundant water line right like that was part of the project I remember that fully um but what I'm saying is um

We're not talking about spending our money. We're talking about Brookfield spending money in order to operate a dam in our community. Yep.

We don't need to do research. We've got a design and a scope and a cost that we can bring that forward and present that to them and make it an ask. Yep.

Thank you.

uh further comments questions from counselors uh gentlemen thank or counselor chinem did you have something yes thank you a question the the final state water quality certification for mandate uh is that a fait accompli will that be included in the re-licensing as it stands now that's a good question i don't i honestly don't know the answer to that counselor There is a matrix in your packet, and it does say, because I wanted to mention the releases, it does say that it mandates 16 total aesthetic flow releases, and I want to make certain that that doesn't get lost.

Correct. That's what we're currently at is the 16. We're working with our counterparts across the river to come up with some dates that work for both. We're trying to get some clarification on what constitutes an event. The balloon festival over three days, if we want, is that one event or is that three events? So that's what we're trying to push back on with, you know, with the licensing as well as around the hours. If they're going to come back and say you only get the hours, we're going to ask for the hours in the morning launch and in the evening launch and try to make it as most efficient as possible and get the maximum value out of it.

so we don't actually know then whether the relicensing that will be issued is after the final public comment and after this process will contain those 16 mandated releases so this is annually not total over the 40 years correct okay we don't know whether those will be included at this point

We feel confident. I mean, the Maine came back and mandated the additional. So we feel confident that we'll get at least the 16.

OK. Well, that's my confusion is mandate versus it sounds as though FERC can do pretty much whatever it wants to do in the 40-year relicensing. So OK. I just want to make certain we don't lose sight of that.

Councilor Nagin.

Just to speak to that we had asked for 40 aesthetic flows and the original answer was from Brookfield was five I think was what they were talking about but it got pushed up to 16. I am totally happy with pushing again for 40 right and and if we get that 40 we get that 40 but we've gotten 16 right now so that's an improvement over

I'M TELLING YOU TO GET US TO AT LEAST 20. Further questions, comments from the council? And I'm thinking that you two are probably heading home after this. So if there's something else that councilors think of, they can email later on tonight and you can get it in the morning. And then if public who are not here want to email publiccomment at lewistonmaine.gov, that will get forwarded to these fine two gentlemen.

uh directors yes thank you any anything further from you too thank you very much to the council mayor and the public for all the input we greatly appreciate it and we'll we'll diligently start putting all this together

Thank you very much.

Councilor Nguyen, yes, sorry. I just want to say thank you both. I know this has been a process that has passed through a few different hands, and I know it's been difficult to move this forward. Thank you both, and City Planner Norton. I know it's not perfect, and it must feel very frustrating, but it's much appreciated. You're welcome, sir. Thank you.

Thank you both. And yes, thank you, Planner Norton. Item number eight.

Item number eight, amendments to the city's ethics policy, policy manual number 94, requested action to approve the proposed amendments to the ethics policy, city policy manual number 94.

May I have a motion, please? So moved. Second. Councilor Nagy, seconded by Councilor Longchamps. DISCUSSION. COUNCILMAN MARTELL, YES.

THANK YOU, MR. MAYOR. I MIGHT BE MISTAKEN, BUT I'M UNDER THE IMPRESSION THAT THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE WORKSHOPPED. WAS THAT NOT THE CONSENSUS? I SEE ON THE AGENDA THAT IT SAYS IT WAS CONTINUED TO THE NEXT MEETING, BUT I WAS UNDER THE IMPRESSION THIS WAS GOING TO BE SCHEDULED FOR A WORKSHOP WHERE WE COULD SIT and talk and and work through this is that what we're intending to do right now and pass it or let me rephrase that I would like to make a motion to table this until we can have a workshop and bring it back at the next available date uh do we have a second for this second we have a second uh Madame clerk did you get the motion on the floor yes to table this to a future workshop

OK, DISCUSSION ON THIS MOTION FROM THE COUNCIL. MADAM CLERK, PLEASE. COUNCILOR NAJING, YES.

WHEN COULD WE, BASED ON THE SCHEDULE, WHEN COULD WE SEE A WORKSHOP FOR THIS ETHICS PIECE?

We'd have to go back and look at the schedule, perhaps the next meeting, but we'd have to go back and check the schedule, see what's already on there for the workshop. Basically, the workshop slot is that 6 p.m. time frame. Unless you can come a little bit earlier, we could maybe move to 5.30, but depending on other business.

Well, if I may, occasionally we've made workshop-like items just later on in the agenda. And in that case, we would have more time.

I would actually argue for that because I fully expect this discussion to take longer than an hour Councillor long champs Thank you I'm not in favor of tabling this my hopes were that we could have discussion regarding this ethics policy changes that our administrator Took time to do and We would have discussion, and then if there were lots of concerns or amendments, then we could move this to our next council meeting and share those amendments with our city administrator, is what I was hoping for.

Thank you. Further comment, or sorry, were you finished, Councilor Longchamp? Yes. Okay.

Yes, Councilor Harriman. Thank you. I would agree with moving it to either a workshop or an agenda item that's like a workshop. I feel like the number of changes being made are pretty significant. It's creating a brand new board, an appointed board in the city. and I feel like those are large enough changes, and I have some questions about some of the provisions of the ordinance as well. So I feel like a workshop would be helpful where we could go back and forth with staff, possibly with legal counsel, and get those questions answered.

Thank you. Yes, I've advocated for this to be a workshop from the beginning and support this motion. Are we, Councillor Martell, did you have something?

Yeah, thank you. I was going to mirror some of the comments Councillor Harriman made, but also I don't see a particular sense of urgency to adopt this tonight or to run through this tonight or run through it partially tonight to potentially run through it again. I definitely think that city attorney should weigh in on this. We're creating another committee, another board. I don't know if it's permanent or And I'm not looking to abandon the ethics policy. Hold on, I'm gonna get some notes here. yeah it it's about the board i i just think there should be safeguards in place we should clearly define uh the the authority of the board i think there's some confusion in the wording about um you know this the city council is still going to have the final decision in the final vote but we're also there's some wording where we're challenging the committee to make certain recommendations that the council doesn't have to follow those recommendations I just think there's a lot to do here.

And I and again that that's hence asking for the workshop I'm planning to take a vote but Administrator Kenrith you first.

Yeah, just a quick note for the workshop We can invite the city attorney but just everyone knows the city attorney has already reviewed this and is okay with all these proposed changes, but we can invite him to the workshop further discussion and

I THINK THAT MIGHT BE HELPFUL BECAUSE THERE'S BOUND TO BE QUESTIONS. COUNCILOR CHIDDOM, YES.

THANK YOU, YES. I'M NOT SURE WHETHER IT'S IN ORDER NOW SINCE WE'RE DEBATING THE MOTION TO TABLE, BUT I'D LIKE TO KNOW THE ORIGIN, WHAT INSTIGATED THIS REQUEST FOR CHANGE TO THE ETHICS POLICY.

YEAH, THAT'S NOT IN ORDER RIGHT NOW. THANK YOU. WE'RE GOING TO STAY ON TOPIC HERE. COUNCILOR NAJING, DO YOU HAVE SOMETHING ABOUT THE MOTION TO TABLE?

Yeah, I'm just going to speak briefly to the fact that if we do table this and then go through a workshop, which I'm not opposed to, but at the same time, this has been put before us now two different council meetings where we were looking to put something in place based on a concern from one of the counselors that sits to the well the one that sits a meet to the immediate left of me and I had reached out to all of the council just to say please read through this policy indicate anything that you wanted to change I realize this is a complex document, right? And I think that having somebody explain all of the ins and outs is valuable, maybe in a presentation format, like a workshop, but I would say The biggest challenges that I've seen or concerns that I've heard are appointments and how appointments occur for the board. And then secondly, if you are shown to have a conflict of interest asking somebody to leave the room when they're actually a citizen who can speak to any agenda item and also has the right to see their elected officials make decisions doesn't make sense. I think we just need to kind of change

those two pieces uh if I may interrupt her talking about the motion to table yeah but what I'm saying is I don't think there's an enough here oh I'm fine either way okay uh Madam clerk can you please read the motion and then call the vote for the motion before you is to table this item to a future workshop counselor from word two

No. Word three? Yes. Word four? Yes. Word five? Yes. Word six? Yes. Word seven? Yes. Word one? Yes. Motion passed by a vote of six to one.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. We will let administration get back to us. We are now up to item number nine.

approving the amended city fiscal year 27 federal fiscal year 2026 home budget and action plan for submittal to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development requested action to approve the order adopt I'm sorry to approve the order I'm sorry look to adopt the order approving the amended city fiscal year 2027 federal fiscal year 2026 home budget and action plan for submittal to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development

May I have a motion, please? So moved. Councillor Chittum. Second. Second by Councillor Martell. Manager Ruth, thank you for joining us. Please kick us off.

Thank you, Catherine Ruth, Community Development Manager. Thank you to the mayor and the city council for having this item on the agenda. I'll be very brief because you have seen the home budget before. Your package includes the budget for federal fiscal year 26, which is our fiscal year 27, for the period of July 1st, 2026 through June 30th, 2027. HOME stands for the Home Investment Partnerships Program, which is funding for housing, which the City of Lewiston has been receiving since 2002 when it joined with the City of Auburn in order to have a large enough base to do so. In 2002, the City of Lewiston and Auburn formed the Auburn-Lewiston Consortium. You have a current agreement that was approved last year in 2025. The Community Development Office brought in the proposed budget earlier this year in May along with the regular budgets. Unfortunately, the grant agreements are coming through later in the years, as we've seen, and there is a slight change. The exact budget for federal fiscal year 26, or our fiscal year, is $1,195,374.04 for the city of Lewiston. Over last year, that is an increase of $2,614.37, or 0.22 of a percent. So basically 0.22 of 1%. So basically the same as last year. And as a subrecipient, this is our only grant in which we are a subrecipient, we can't be reimbursed for any of our expenses for fiscal year 27 because we don't have a signed contract, which just came through to the city. So it's important to bring this to the council as soon as it was issued. We have a large payment coming up for Choice DeWitt Project, in which we'll be providing $205,000 toward a two-bedroom unit as part of the agreement. Thank you.

Questions for Manager Ruth? PUBLIC COMMENT FOR THIS AGENDA ITEM. BACK TO THE COUNCIL. MADAM CLERK, PLEASE CALL THE VOTE.

COUNSELOR, FOR WORD 2? YES. WORD 3? YES. WORD 4? YES. WORD 5? YES. WORD 6? YES. WORD 7? YES. WORD 1? YES.

thank you very much for joining us this evening item number 10. number 10 order directing the city administrator to explore the disillusion of the lewiston auburn railroad company requested action to approve the order directing the city administrator to explore the disillusion of the lewiston auburn railroad company have a motion please

Mr. Mayor, I move that this item be postponed indefinitely.

Do we have a second for that? Second. Perfect. Discussion on this motion? Madam Clerk, please call the vote.

Councilor, from Ward 2? Yes. Ward 3? Yes. Ward 4? Yes. Ward 5? Yes. Ward 6? Yes. Ward 7? Yes. Ward 1? Yes. Motion passed, a vote of 7 to 0.

Thank you very much. Item number 11.

Item 11, order approving the acquisition of a 1.44 acre portion of 9 Foss Road. Requested action to approve the order approving the acquisition of a 1.44 acre portion of 9 Foss Road.

May I have a motion, please? So moved. Second. Second by Councillor Martell. Director Gagnon, please kick us off.

Yes, good evening. This is a bridge that we've been dealing with for several years. In the packet you have a memo to the Planning Board from Deputy Director Boley, also City Engineer. The Planning Board actually did vote on this and gave a positive outcome to purchase this land I can get in some of the details if you'd like but this 60 year old bridge has issues with wing walls and abutments that are dry laid stone it is more costly to repair and replace this bridge at 1.5 million which is estimated by Thornton Tomasetti This alternative for purchasing this land will allow us to demo the bridge after construction of a city road along this property. The property is a little bit higher than the assessed value of $27,000 because some of the aesthetics we are creating a street through and in front of the church. So we've made some accommodations for that, and the price seems fair. And I'm more than happy to get into more details or answer any questions that you may have.

Questions? Councillor Martell, yes.

THANK YOU, MR. MAYOR, AND I MAY NOT HAVE CAUGHT THIS YET. WHAT IS THE PROJECTED COST SAVINGS OVER REDOING THE BRIDGE?

OUR CITY ENGINEER IS OUT RIGHT NOW, BUT I DID TALK WITH HIM, AND IT'S AT LEAST HALF IS WHAT WE'RE EXPECTING TO SAVE.

Councillor Nagy. I would just like to speak to the fact that this was a creative and enterprising way to solve a problem. Ultimately we've been dealing with this bridge for quite a while and the washouts that have happened from it and no bridge means no problems and it's cheaper too. So that's that's great. Fantastic. Thank you. Thank you all.

Thank you.

Public comment for this agenda item. Back to the council. I'm clerk, please call the vote.

Council for word two? Yes. Word three? Yes. Word four? Yes. Word five? Yes. Word six? Yes. Word seven?

Yes.

Word one? Yes. Motion passed with a

Thank you very much, Dr. Gagne, thank you. We are now up to the second public comment period for those that did not speak during the first public comment period. And public comment is now closed. We are up to reports and updates along with new business. Should there be any from counselors? Counselor Noble, yes.

I have a couple things hold on one second one of them is I have a couple traffic things so there apparently is a school bus that's running down Marcotte and Barron Avenue it's going really fast according to constituents I haven't seen it but it's an ongoing issue that they're concerned about And also, half of Sylvan is a one-way. And people don't necessarily realize that when they're going the opposite way and they're just continuing down the road at a normal speed, which is extremely dangerous for the kids that are living on that street and people who are going to Dairy Joy, thinking that, you know, not expecting traffic to come in a certain way. And it is. The second thing that I would like to ask is if we could research doing a workshop About the abandoned car ordinance I'd like to know if we could talk with the police and maybe planning and code to see about Rezoning the city in a way to make it more fair for the people who have to park on the street and And I wanted to say thank you to everybody who showed up at the community ambassador kickoff. And I wanted to just give a couple shout outs to Marcel LeClair, who did the music, and to Dina, who sprung for lunch, but there was a mishap with that, but she's donated $100 for a community investment fund. And I just wanted to say thank you to both of them for their time and money and their investment in Lewiston. And that's all I got. Thank you.

Councilor Nagin. So I have a few pieces to go over but I'll be quick about them hopefully. I'm wondering if the council could receive any ordinance information about e-bikes and e-motorcycles and whether or not we license or register them as well as whether or not we require Lights on the these vehicles for the night Driving because I can tell you that we do have something in place. I believe for at least reflectors for bicycles and I could tell you that I've come out of a couple of council meetings and folks have zoomed out of the dark at 35 40 miles an hour and which indicates me that's an e-bike and not an e-motorcycle and not an e-bike. But yeah, if we could get information about those ordinances sent to us so we can make a decision around whether or not we'll act on any of those pieces. I would also like to quickly read a statement from, again, uh the lewiston area public health committee uh concerning uh vaccines they just wanted to share this with the general public as well as the council a message from the lewiston area public health committee in light of the recent statements regarding childhood vaccination recommendations at the federal level the lewiston area public health committee reminds parents and caregivers that maine's childhood immunization guidance remains in place Maine CDC continues to recommend the healthcare providers follow the evidence-based pediatric immunization guideline of the American Academy of Pediatrics, including the recommended two-dose MMR, which is measles, mumps, and rubella, vaccination series for children. We encourage parents, guardians, and caregivers to follow the guidance provided by the Maine CDC and consult with their child's pediatric or healthcare provider about their child's individual vaccination needs if they vary from recommendation. The health and protection of Maine's children remain our shared priority. also I would just like to quickly check with the administrator from what I understand the Maine Resiliency Center survey is closing in about a week is that correct I believe that's correct I'll double check I think it's the last day of August Okay, last day of August. And will we have findings brought back to us in public session or how is that data going to be shared?

We will we will discuss with them Daniel parent how the information will be brought back But I know that their timeline is I believe it's end of August is the survey period and they'll need some time to compile And then they'll come back to us with results and the fall time frame is what they gave us So I'll follow up with her for some specific dates if they can nail anything down And also just kind of format of how we'll be receiving that information on anywhere Okay, I appreciate that.

Thank you Councillor Martell.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I just want to mention once more, the city administrator did mention this earlier Thursday, August 20th, the mixer at the new renovated Clarion in Main Grill. I have heard from multiple residents that there are safety concerns throughout the city due to some of the ongoing violence. I've gotten a commitment from both the chief members of the command staff and officers. They'll be there in both the security capacity and to answer any questions about the CEA, how they're dealing with the violence, any questions that anyone might have, any comments, and absolutely criticisms as well. uh I want to invite my colleagues up here any members of city staff that want to join and remind our city that it's not limited to just Ward 7 residents anyone that wants to come down and take part and get engaged is absolutely welcome and I hope that we see a lot of people there and have a great turnout so and i want to thank the uh city administrator for uh getting this on the schedule and attending and i think it'll be a good chance to engage with the community i know there's a lot of people with a lot of concerns and questions right now and i really hope that they'll come down and voice those uh thank you uh any further reports and updates from counselors counselor long tramps

Thank you, Mayor. I have not been given the opportunity to share why that item was placed on the agenda. So I would like to just share that now. That item was placed on the agenda because we had two businesses that had a dispute. That was increasingly getting worse by the hour, to the point of where someone was going to get hurt. Two businesses that were directly across from each other. We received complaints and emails regarding a committee member affiliated with the city that was online engaging in negative comments that could have been very harmful. I asked our city administrator to please review our ethics policy and sharpen it up and make any necessary changes to help prevent this from happening in the future with any of our council members, committee members, or board members. So I just wanted to share that, thank you.

uh madam clerk it appears that we're ready to head to executive sessions we have uh the two motions the first one is executive session regarding consultation with the city attorney requested action to enter into an executive session pursuant to main revised statutes annotated title one section 4056 a and e to discuss a legal matter with the city attorney and executive session to discuss acquisition of disposition of real estate of which the premature disclosure of the information would prejudice the competitive bargaining position of the city to enter into an executive session pursuant to main revised statutes annotated title one section 4056c to discuss the acquisition or disposition of real estate of which the premature disclosure of the information would prejudice the competitive bargaining position of the city

I have a motion, please. So moved to vote. Councillor Chittum. Seconded by Councillor Martell. Madam Clerk, please call the vote.

Councillor from Ward 2? Yes. Ward 3? Yes. Ward 4? Yes. Ward 5? Yes. Ward 6? Yes. Ward 7? Yes. Ward 1? Yes. Motion passed.

I vote if 7 is 0. Thank you very much, everyone. Thank you, Madam Clerk, and good night, Lewiston. We're heading to executive session. We will not be back.