Fire staffing issue left to simmer
By Kathy McCarty
Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE — Discussion of staffing at the Presque Isle Fire Department will continue at a later date, following councilors’ unanimous decision Monday night to table talks yet again.
Councilor Dick Engels had requested the resolution — established by councilors in December 2012 which would reduce full-time staffing at the PIFD to three per shift, with reductions completed by Jan. 1, 2013 — be placed on Monday’s agenda, but when it came up for discussion, he requested no action be taken at this time and for talks to continue at a future meeting.
“I was going to bring it up as a motion to rescind the resolution. But I will not be bringing that at this time, based in part due to a pending grant application the department has applied for that would help cover the cost of keeping a four-person crew,” said Engels.
Council Chair Emily Smith noted that since no action was taken, the matter was tabled, with the resolution kept alive and discussion to continue.
Several citizens were in attendance who’d planned to speak on the issue but chose not to when they heard the resolution was not being voted on at that time.
In other business, councilors:
• Approved a special permit for music, dancing and entertainment for Carol Ayoob dba The Whole Potato Cafe & Commons, LLC, located at 428 Main St.;
• Held the first hearing to amend Chapter 48 — General Assistance Ordinance Appendices A — F, with the next hearing slated for Jan. 7, 2013;
• Approved rezoning of portions of Industrial and Parsons streets from either Urban Residential Zone — 1 (URZ — 1) or Urban Residential Zone — 2 (URZ — 2) to Business Zone (BZ) along the easterly side of those streets. Portions of Mechanic Street are proposed to change form Urban Residential Zone — 1 (URZ —1) to Residential Office Zone (ROZ);
• Approved consent agenda items, including approval of return of votes cast for the Nov. 6 municipal/SAD 1 election, with Councilors Craig Green and Dick Engels abstaining from the vote since they were involved in the election;
• Approved solid waste collector licenses for Gilford A. Berube dba Gil’s Sanitation, Inc., and Edgar J. LeBlanc dba Star City Sanitation, Inc., with the following conditions: only solid waste produced and originating within Presque Isle and the seven communities consisting of Mapleton, Chapman, Castle Hill, Wade, Washburn, Perham and T11 R4 (Scopan) may be handled at the solid waste facility of the city; the recyclable materials shall be kept separate from the solid waste and delivered to a recycling facility; payment for all invoiced tipping fees shall be received by the city within 60 days of invoice date or the City Council may suspend or revoke the solid waste collector license; and loads containing waste from more than one member municipality must have an individual scale weight for each municipality’s waste, unless an exception is authorized by the public services director;
• Approved solid waste licenses for Pine Tree Waste and Jack Herbert dba McNeal’s Trucking, with conditions listed above and to include the condition that the license is only for semi-trailer and roll-offs for construction and demolition debris only;
• Approved the 2012 salaries for trustees of the Presque Isle Water and Sewer districts;
• Authorized the city treasurer to contact the prior owners of the properties acquired at the Nov. 7 automatic foreclosure of the 2010 tax liens, per the policy for tax acquired property, to make acceptable arrangements for repurchasing the property from the city by paying all taxes, costs, administrative fees and interest due the city if they wish to regain title of their former property;
• Accepted the response from the management of the city of Presque Isle to Runyon Kersteen Ouellette in their management letter dated April 4, 2012;
• Authorized all funds in the reserves listed in Attachment B, and all future revenues to those reserves, be committed for the purposes stated;
• Appointed Kevin Sipe, AJ Clukey and Mike Chasse to the Community Center Fundraising Committee;
• Approved the transfer of $25,000 from the undesignated fund balance into an account to support fundraising for the Community Center;
• Approved the closure of non-essential city offices on Monday, Dec. 24, with employees agreeing to use personal time to cover the day off;
• Approved the Presque Isle Development Fund’s recommendation of a loan modification to the Crow’s Nest Event Center, LLC;
• Reviewed a petition from Dudley Street residents regarding traffic concerns. Councilors plan to meet with PIPD Chief Matt Irwin and the residents to determine what the problems are and the best way to address them;
• Tabled appointment of member to the Sewer Board until the applicant can be interviewed; and
• Denied a request to trap on city-owned property by a vote of 4-3, with Councilors Emily Smith, Craig Green and Dick Engels in favor of allowing trapping at the Presque Isle landfill by an employee’s son. City Manager Jim Bennett recommended the request be denied, noting it was a matter of fairness and wouldn’t be fair to allow one person to trap while denying others to do likewise.
Councilors will gather for another budget workshop on Wednesday, Dec. 5, at City Hall, beginning at 5 p.m. Adoption is tentatively set on the 2013 municipal budget set for Monday, Dec. 10, at City Hall, with a public hearing scheduled for 6 p.m. Council sessions are open to the public and participation is encouraged.
For more information, visit www.presqueisle.govoffice2.com or call 768-2785.
