In a very brief and mostly uncontroversial meeting, the City Council met on Monday, April 22nd to knock out a variety of minor items. Though this meeting was efficient, (if not for public comments it might not have even lasted half an hour,) the council also teed up a very busy night for its next session in May. All councilors were present in chambers except Councilor Bullett, who was absent.
First, as always, the Mayor opened the floor to public comments not already on the night’s agenda.
General Public Comment
Matt Walker, Rent Board member and outspoken advocate for tenant’s rights, stepped forward to ask the City Council to make the Rent Board’s agendas available to the public. According to Walker, the documents are not shown anywhere on the city’s Agenda Portal, and this prevents the public from adequately following the board’s proceedings. The documents aren’t confidential, Walker claimed, the public is allowed to request them, but a formal request must first be made, and this process can be slow – even his own requests have been indefinitely stalled. Using the Planning Board as a positive example, he asked for the board’s agenda and documentation to be made fully and freely accessible. The mayor replied that he would personally inquire about the issue.
Jim Hall spoke next “to celebrate the success of the medical assistance treatment program,” a collaboration between Greater Portland Health and the city’s Homeless Services Center (HSC), and to talk about the lives it has saved and improved. Moving to a more polemical point, he argued that this is an example of the success of the HSC, and criticized those who advocate for a return of dispersed homeless camps. Sarah Michniewicz rose to speak, sharing details of a video depicting homeless individuals “sprawled across” the steps of a low-income apartment building, “moan[ing] in agitation” while they receive injections in the neck from friends, “taking over” sidewalks and parking lots with encampments, “urinating” on the steps of a family’s home, fighting each other with axes, getting stabbed, showing off a firearm, etc. Throughout, she highlighted examples of black families being most affected by the mayhem. “So, my question is, what are you going to do about this?”
George Rheault, West Bayside regular, offered comment on a more obscure topic: Fund Balance Policy. According to Rheault, the city’s policy for more than fifteen years was to retain a fund balance of 12.5%, but “sometime in the last fiscal year,” it was changed to 16.6%. He had no idea as to how this came to pass, with nothing being reported to the Finance Committee, (“Our ‘A’ triple threat, Anna, Anna, and April,”) or to the Council. He went further, accusing Finance Director Brendan O’Connell of having “lied to this council,” misrepresenting the “tens of millions of dollars difference” the change means. While Rheault acknowledged that the balance could dip as low as 8.5% by ordinance, he nevertheless continued to accuse city staff of not dealing honestly with the public or its representatives.
Mayor Dion then closed the comment period, and called for announcements and proclamations from the councilors.
Announcements and Proclamations
Councilor Phillips spoke to recognize this week as “National Crime Victims’ Rights Week”, and shared that the Cumberland County District Attorney’s office is holding an event on Thursday, April 25th from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM at Lincoln Park.
Councilor Ali recognized the passing of Joseph Brennan, Portland native and former Governor of Maine. The council observed a minute of silence to honor his life and death.
Mayor Dion announced that three structures in the city have recently been entered into the National Register of Historic Places: Fort McKinley, the Trefethen-Evergreen Improvement Association, and Franklin Towers. He invited the executive director of the Portland Housing Authority, Brian Frost, to offer comments. Frost elaborated on the historic stature of these places, and on the access to grants and other benefits the designation provides. The tax credits which will be made available to Franklin Towers, home to many low-income households, will be especially helpful for redevelopment and maintenance.
City Manager West also briefly recognized the second week of April as “National Animal Control Officer Appreciation Week.” She thanked the Portland Police Department’s Animal Control Officer Ruthann Weist for her service to the city.
Recognizing May 2024 as “Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month”, Councilor April Fournier read a statement recognizing the “contributions of generations of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders” to Maine and the United States. The month of May was chosen because the first Japanese immigrants are believed to have arrived in the US on May 7th, 1843, and the trans-continental railroad (built with substantial labor from Chinese immigrants) was completed on May 10th, 1969.
May 2nd, 2024 was also declared as the National Day of Prayer by the City Clerk, honoring the religious traditions of the faithful of all religions in the United States.
Appointments and Consent Items
Moving into substantive work, the council first renewed the appointments of Wardens, Ward Clerks, and Election Clerks for all of Portland’s wards. These appointments need to be made every two years, and will be effective for all elections held in the city. The names of the eleven Wardens and Ward Clerks can be seen below, while the master list of election clerks can be found here.
With no comment or discussion, these two orders passed unanimously.
Next, a calendar of events was queued up for approval as consent items. This calendar consisted of:
- May 1st, 2024 – April 30th, 2025 | “In the Square Festival” from the Friends of Congress Square Park
- May 5th, 2024 – September 29th, 2024 | “Sundays on the Boulevard” on Baxter Boulevard
- June 8th, 2024 | “Shipyard Old Port Half Marathon and 5K Festival”
- July 27th, 2024 | 22nd Annual “Greater Portland Festival of Nations” from Women In Need Industries and the Mugadi Foundation
The only commenter to speak on this slate was George Rheault, asking why the Friends of Congress Square Park is being awarded a festival which lasts literally the entire year, from May 1st 2024 to April 30th 2025. He wondered what it was about this group in particular which entitled them to this “24/7 365-days-a-year festival, a non-stop festival like one of those dance marathons,” while other groups needed to apply for individual days or weeks. Rheault also noted that a change in state policy prevents the city from closing a highway off-ramp for the Half-Marathon, and that this had led to the sponsors needing to “re-do the entire course.” He asked whether the city has a position on this new incursion by the state’s highway authorities into city events.
Mayor Dion appreciated the humor of Mr. Rheault’s comment, and with no further comment or discussion the items passed unanimously.
Licenses
A handful of business licenses were also approved, all unanimously and with no public comment. Oscar Pizza LLC, better known as Otto, acquired a new license for Indoor Entertainment at its 225 Congress Street location. A new pizza spot, Noble, received a Class I Food Service Establishment (FSE) with Outdoor Dining license to open at 476 Stevens Avenue. The site had previously been Elsmere BBQ and Wood Grill.
Battery Steele Brewing, an existing establishment at 1 Industrial Way, similarly added an Indoor Entertainment license to its location. Newscapes Brewing, meanwhile, was changing the nature of its business and received a Class I FSE with Combined Entertainment and Outdoor Dining licenses for its location at 163 Washington Avenue.
Finally, a new restaurant called Paella Seafood garnered a license to open at 865 Washington Avenue as a Class III & IV FSE with Outdoor Dining. The previous occupant was Piaziola.
Budget Referral
Order 178 concerned the Portland Board of Public Education’s proposed FY2025 School Budget. This final draft from the school board had been approved at their April 9th, 2024 meeting and now had to be referred to the City Council’s Finance Committee. Assuming all continues to go as scheduled, the final budget will be read at the City Council meetings on May 6th and 20th, with a vote on the 20th.
Manager West introduced the item, noting that the budget draft has already been thoroughly discussed before the public, the City Council, and the School Board, and encouraged members of the public who wished to learn more to seek out these past presentations. Mayor Dion then opened the floor to public comments, of which there was only one.
Rheault noted that May 6th, the date of the first and (according to him) most lively public debate on the budget, is going to be “a very busy night” for the Council. While he doubted that there would be too much controversy with this particular budget, he noted the confluence with the debate on the Portland Museum of Art’s requested demolition which was also scheduled for the 6th. Rheault lamented that the council seemed to have some meetings which are very brief, and others which are “six-hour marathons.” He asked the council to not give important, complex issues “short shrift” by combining them all into single, busy sessions that extend late into the night. Rheault advocated for a special meeting to be held, dedicated solely to discussing and voting on the School Budget.
Manager West replied to Mr. Rheault, reminding the public that the 6th was only going to be the first of two meetings during which the budget will be discussed, and a final vote won’t be held until the second one. West disagreed with Rheault’s prediction that the first meeting would be busier, and believed the second meeting is typically more contentious in such matters. She regretted the impression that some meetings are too densely packed, and reiterated that her office works closely with the Mayor to try and balance agenda loads.
The budget was referred unanimously to the Finance Committee.
Orders
The council had just a few items left on its agenda, the first of which was a holdover from the previous meeting. As described in the previous edition of City Council Review, a typically scathing but particularly impactful criticism from George Rheault reinforced doubts which some councilors already had about a service contract with the Lions Club of Peaks Island. The contract, which included a $9,153 pass-through grant to the organization from the Maine Historic Preservation Committee, would be for the benefit of the Greenwood Garden Playhouse on the island. Councilors became concerned about the identity of the grant recipients and accountability over the project, and so voted to postpone the approval of the contract until more information could be obtained.
Additional information, including a letter from the Lions Club, was obtained, and Manager West ensured that the councilors had access to the full background and supporting documentation of the project. While this didn’t erase the other concerns which Rheault expressed about the project, it did remove some awkward question marks hanging over the order. Councilor Fournier thanked staff for providing this background, and asked that “this level of information is provided the first time” going forward. Order 153 passed unanimously.
Order 165, approving an agreement with the Maine Department of Transportation to effect planned improvements to Canco Road, was considered next. Under this arrangement, the state would pay 30% of the improvements’ costs, or $250,000, while the remaining $580,000 would be paid by the city out of FY2025’s budget. With no comment or discussion, this order too passed unanimously.
The last order to require a vote on the evening of the 22nd was Order 179, approving a “substantial amendment” to the Home American Rescue Plan allocation plan. This rather technical order was formally sponsored by the Housing and Economic Development Committee, of which Councilor Pious Ali is chair, but he seemed unprepared to explain the item. Mary Davis, staff liaison for the committee, had been expected to provide further information but was not in the room. While Ali and West awkwardly attempted to introduce the item without her, Davis suddenly arrived, evidently having hurried back to chambers.
Davis apologized for her lateness, and since the council had in fact been quite speedily progressing through its agenda, none were too offended. Davis explained that the Cumberland County HOME Consortium, a city-county joint body devised to efficiently receive and spend federal HOME grants, received $3.6 million from the federal government to provide affordable housing, rental assistance, and other services to homeless people in and around Portland. While the Consortium is already governed by a plan, emerging circumstances had led the city and county officials to believe that some changes to their plan should be implemented.
Davis further explained that these changes included transferring funds originally earmarked for establishing “non-congregate shelters” towards “Supportive Services” instead, clearly defining homeless individuals as the preferred recipients of assistance, and establishing a referral method for new rental units. She did not provide more specific examples of what these changes would mean, but did say that this amendment was prerequisite to the Consortium offering new Requests-for-Proposals (RFPs).
Opening to public comment, once again the only member of the audience to step forward was George Rheault, resident of the West Bayside neighborhood. “This, on its face, is extremely neutral,” he began, before warning that “a very elaborate plan has been cooking.” Rheault postulated that the changes being offered here were essential to a long-term collaboration between Port Properties, Preble Street, and Avesta. This plan is, according to Rheault, to demolish the building which had previously been the Oxford St. Shelter, and to build a large-scale “Housing First” development on the site for troubled people. Although he doesn’t object to such projects entirely, Rheault protested while that any other neighborhood – such as Parkside or the West End – would have resisted this plan, the city is accustomed to sticking such projects in Bayside. “That’s not equity.”
No other comments were offered from the public, and no councilor made any remarks before passing Order 179 unanimously.
Two orders were read into the record as “first reads,” and will be voted on next week. While one, (an amendment to Portland’s Floodplain Management ordinances,) appears anodyne, the other has attracted notably more public interest. The Portland Museum of Art’s ongoing effort to de-classify the building at 142 Free Street as “contributing” to the Congress Street Historic District has faced one-sided defeats before the Historic Preservation Board and Planning Board. The only venue which truly matters, however, is the City Council, which will be debating and voting on the future of the former Children’s Museum site at its next meeting.
Wrapping up a very short session, the meeting which had begun at 5:00 PM adjourned almost exactly an hour later at 6:00.
Ashley D. Keenan – Ashley is an editor of the Portland Townsman, with work focusing on the mechanics of local government and housing policy, and also a member of Portland’s Historic Preservation Board. You can reach Ashley personally at ashley@donnellykeenan.com