City of Saco, Maine – “Unofficial Unedited YouTube Transcript” of the December 14, 2020 Saco City Council Meeting 00:18 greetings and welcome to the sacro city 00:20 council meeting for monday december 14 00:22 2020 call the meeting to order at 6 30 00:26 pm 00:29 let the record reflect that uh 00:32 all the council members are present 00:34 including newest council member 00:36 mike berman congratulations and welcome 00:38 and then also the city administrator 00:40 brian kanrath with that i would like to 00:42 invite everybody to participate 00:44 in item number three of the agenda the 00:46 pledge of allegiance the flag is located 00:48 behind city administrator camera 00:54 i pledge allegiance to the flag of the 00:57 united states of america 00:58 and to the republic for which it stands 01:01 one nation 01:02 under god indivisible with liberty 01:05 and justice for all 01:11 thank you everybody 01:16 we have no items under general tonight 01:20 any committee correspondents to council 01:27 seeing no committee correspondents to 01:29 council uh 01:30 moving to item six on the agenda public 01:33 comment 01:34 city administrator can have any public 01:36 comment tonight yes mr mayor i have one 01:38 piece of public comment i'll read them 01:39 to the right thank you 01:41 this comes to us from betty brunswick 11 01:43 older workshop road she writes dear city 01:45 council 01:46 i have two items that i wish to address 01:47 firstly i'd like to to congratulate mike 01:50 berman 01:50 on his recent appointment as award for 01:52 city councilor i know your passion for 01:54 this city and i further know that you 01:55 will represent ward 4 01:57 as well as sacco citizens in general 01:59 with great attention and governance 02:01 secondly on behalf of the economic 02:03 development commission i would like to 02:04 thank denise colvette along with the 02:06 whole economic development team and city 02:08 staff who successfully implemented the 02:10 sale and closing of the former public 02:11 works facility 02:13 at 351 north street to allegiance trucks 02:16 the diligent work of the cycle planning 02:17 and economic development department 02:19 along with our legal staff saved the 02:21 city at least 15 to 18 02:22 in commission and helps to give back 02:24 more to sacco's general fund 02:26 allegiance is a welcomed addition to our 02:28 community and should be an impressive 02:30 presence 02:30 in its very visible location 02:32 respectfully betty brunswick 02:34 chair of the saco economic development 02:36 commission 02:37 that's all i have thank you thank you 02:40 city administrator kanreth 02:44 for those in the attendees if you would 02:46 like to participate and provide public 02:48 comment please use the 02:49 raise hand feature of the zoom platform 02:52 or star 9 if you're calling in 02:54 from a cellular phone again raised hand 02:58 feature of the zoom platform 03:00 or star 9 if you're calling in from a 03:02 cellular phone 03:04 first up we have don girard 03:08 don you've been allowed to speak go 03:10 ahead and unmute provide your comments 03:12 to the console please start off with 03:14 your name and address 03:15 for the record and then three minutes 03:19 yeah um mr mayor and members of the 03:21 council my name is 03:23 uh don gerard currently chairman of the 03:25 city's planning board 03:27 um can anyone hear can everyone hear me 03:30 we can hear you 03:31 okay good um first of all thank you for 03:34 allowing me to address you this evening 03:36 on a matter 03:37 that i believe is of significant 03:39 importance to the city 03:41 as we embark on establishing the 03:44 long-range planning committee 03:46 and developing a new comprehensive plan 03:49 my comments are related to your consent 03:51 agenda item 03:53 roman numeral eight sub-paragraph f 03:56 page 13 of your packet this evening 03:59 dealing with appointments of council 04:01 members to liaison positions 04:04 with the city boards and committees and 04:06 appointments to the recently established 04:10 long-range planning committee i'm 04:13 surprised and disappointed that 04:14 ward 7 counselor nathan johnston is not 04:17 proposed 04:18 to continue as liaison to the planning 04:21 board 04:22 and i'm doubly surprised and 04:23 disappointed that he is not being put 04:26 forward 04:27 as one of the two city council members 04:29 making up the membership 04:31 of the long-range long-range planning 04:33 committee 04:34 council johnston has worked tirelessly 04:37 and devotedly 04:39 as a participant in many planning and 04:41 zoning efforts in the city of saco 04:43 over a span of many many years i've 04:46 witnessed 04:47 just as i did with his father our former 04:50 mayor mark johnston 04:52 the efforts of a person who truly wants 04:55 to see the best 04:56 for all of sako and who participates 04:59 wholeheartedly 05:01 whenever and however he can counsel 05:04 johnston's latest work on the zoning 05:06 ordinance revision committee since 2018 05:10 and more recently working with the 05:12 planning board on finalizing the revised 05:14 ordinances and maps you have before you 05:17 waited this evening 05:18 for first reading have been nothing 05:21 short of remarkable 05:23 Page 1 of 40 caring devoted hard-working 05:27 insightful rational level-headed 05:32 these are just a few things you can say 05:34 about the way counselor johnston 05:36 views and participates in contributing 05:38 to planning soccer's future 05:41 please do not interpret any of this 05:45 but do not interpret excuse me any of 05:46 this is an indictment of the abilities 05:48 and qualifications 05:50 of other counselors whose names have 05:52 been put forward for these appointments 05:54 we will always need fresh viewpoints and 05:57 insights to the city's planning efforts 06:00 and i'm confident that others can and 06:02 would 06:03 make significant contributions in that 06:05 regard 06:06 however as the old adage goes 06:09 we should not throw out the baby with 06:11 the bath water 06:13 and we should continue to avail 06:14 ourselves in any way 06:16 shape or form of counsel of johnston's 06:19 fast planning experience and expertise 06:22 thank you again mr mayor members of the 06:24 council for allowing me to address you 06:25 from our team this evening 06:30 thank you don 06:44 up next we have kevin roach kevin you've 06:46 been allowed to speak go ahead and 06:47 unmute 06:48 and present your comments to the city 06:51 council 06:52 again state your name and address for 06:53 the record uh in 06:55 three minutes oh i'll keep it brief this 06:58 is uh kevin roach 07:00 18 vines road first my own 07:02 congratulations to mike berman 07:04 a great addition to uh council look 07:07 forward to 07:08 working with him on different issues 07:10 especially sos saco bay 07:13 appreciate him joining the council um 07:16 just a quick uh 07:17 uh disappointed here that nathan's not 07:19 gonna be on uh 07:21 the playing board i my interp my thought 07:24 was that 07:25 commissions would uh be able to rotate 07:28 overall but 07:29 i hope this isn't just uh a one change 07:32 here that 07:33 if counselors do want to become a 07:34 liaison different commissions they 07:36 should be 07:37 able to uh you know rotate as best you 07:40 guys can decide i know it's the mayor's 07:42 decision but 07:43 and if uh the long-range planning i mean 07:46 i'd 07:46 i definitely value uh counselor 07:48 johnson's 07:50 inputs on that um for your joint 07:53 school board meeting tonight i want to 07:57 make sure 07:58 that there is priority when talking 08:01 together on budgets 08:02 on new schools 08:05 new school new school new school there 08:08 are 08:09 plenty of needs in the city understood 08:12 but 08:13 you have to work collaboratively to get 08:15 new schools going 08:17 first step on council side is to find 08:19 the land 08:20 um i understand that we might not be 08:23 pursuing you you'll hear it later 08:26 the industrial uh the land that the city 08:29 bought 08:29 possibly for industrial park it doesn't 08:31 have to be industrial park 08:32 it can be a smaller business park 08:35 or what have you but you need land 08:39 to do priorities of the city and there 08:42 is no bigger priority 08:44 than once and for all resolving a new 08:46 school and i hope with a new board 08:49 a forward-thinking superintendent that 08:52 that will become reality thank you 08:55 thank you kevin 09:00 any further public comment 09:04 if so please use the raise hand feature 09:06 or star 9 from a cellular phone 09:14 next we have john harkins john you've 09:17 been allowed to speak go ahead and 09:18 unmute 09:19 provide your comments to the city 09:21 council again ask that you state your 09:23 name and address for the record 09:24 and please keep it to three minutes 09:28 for christopher terrace congratulations 09:31 to the new member 09:32 mr vernon um 09:37 uh i want to be brief but a 09:42 few things i like to comment about i 09:44 tried to last week to get in but i had a 09:46 few problems 09:48 uh chief jurass as many years service 09:50 and michelle hughes 09:52 outstanding department heads for the 09:54 city 09:57 i'd like and the focus of the council of 10:00 all the things that 10:02 are happening around us it's got to be 10:04 the shoreline 10:05 and focus on pressure on the army corps 10:08 of engineers 10:09 number one also the need for 10:12 a new school it's been long overdue we 10:15 have a state 10:16 in our side at this point we got to move 10:18 ahead with those two 10:20 major