The Presque Isle City Council swore in two new councilors and re-elected its chair in its first meeting of 2026 Wednesday night.
Political newcomers Herman Legassie and Debra Plummer officially took their places on the council after slim election victories in November.
Legassie defeated Harold Hull and Tim Levesque, two incumbents who held their seats for less than a year, by 78 votes. Plummer won her race by 25 votes.
Councilors reelected Jeff Willette as council chair for the second straight year. Willette, a second-term councilor first elected in 2018, received five votes. Councilors Mike Chasse and Hank King each received one.
King, elected in 2023, was subsequently reelected as the council’s deputy chair. He brought in four votes from the council, while Chasse received three.
With its leadership set, the council turned its attention to other city appointments, approving nominations for positions governed by the city charter, a dozen local boards and advisory committees. The vote was unanimous aside from a conflict-of-interest abstention.
The council also re-passed 12 ordinances with sunset provisions set to expire this year, among them those regulating taxicabs, public assemblies, city council compensation and marijuana businesses.
City Manager Sonja Eyler indicated during the meeting that some of the ordinances will come back before the council in February to review for changes. Councilors in November suggested they review the marijuana ordinance.
Presque Isle is soon to have its 10th cannabis business after the council approved a license for Marijuanaville, an in-state chain of medical dispensaries mostly based in central Maine, in November.
But in approving that license, councilors questioned the wisdom of the ordinance — the zoning provisions of which have driven nine of those businesses on Main Street — and wondered, six years after they approved marijuana sales and manufacturing, whether there was too much cannabis in Presque Isle.
“I think it might make sense maybe before June if we revisit the ordinance and just see if it still makes sense or not,” Chasse said during the November meeting.
