By Barbara Scott
Staff Writer
At the Caribou City Council meeting held on Feb. 28, four residents had requested to speak before the council during the allotted public input session of the meeting.
During the allowed five-minute appearance, Philip McDonough addressed the council members with his recommendations for reducing the municipal budget. McDonough, a member of the Citizens for Responsible City Management group, suggested that all city vehicles remain at their respective departments at the end of the work day, discouraging city employees from being allowed to use the vehicles to travel to and from work. It was also recommended that car allowances be removed from the department budgets and city vehicles used to conduct city business.
McDonough also stated that any service provided by the public works department to any agency, or group including plowing the airport or RSU 39 parking lots, (which are not part of the designated responsibility) should be charged to and reimbursed /refunded by that agency or group to the public works’ budget.
Another recommendation by McDonough included the selling or transfer of ownership of the city owned parking lots which do not directly support government administration.
“Now would be a good time for us to look at entitlements, throughout city government,” stated McDonough, “including longevity, compensation for unused sick pay, health insurance and retirement plans. Maybe our unions have outlived their usefulness. A person only has to watch the news to see measures that other states such as Rhode Island and Wisconsin are taking to trim their budgets,” he added.
Doug Morrell, also a member of the citizens group, address several financial points of interest regarding the city’s cash position including short and long term investments from 2007 through Dec. 31, 2010. According to Morrell’s figures the total loss of cash assets to the Caribou tax payers during these years was $3,256,947.
“This backslide of our cash position also reflects negatively on our cash interest income,” stated Morrell, “which until now has been a long term benefit for all of Caribou’s taxpayers.
Morrell continued by relaying figures of the city’s earned interest amounts over the past four year stating,, “Now in order to help me understand the city’s cash position, which will help us make solid decisions on where to cut, I am requesting the following actions. Please summit in writing why the council has allowed such a loss to occur in our cash investments of $3,256,947 over the past three years, representing an approximate loss of over $1 million per year.” Also requested from the council was expenditure control for 2009 and a detailed report on the RSU 39 commitment for 2009.
Following these requests Morrell continued his address by reviewing figures of revenue sharing over the past five years totaling $6,188,776.70. “This represents an average per year increase to the city of Caribou of 4percent and according to my research the cost of inflation average was only 2.2 percent each year. Now that’s on top of the city council voting to transfer funds to the city’s operational budget the following funds: 2009 Tri Community Landfill, $156,000; 2009 school funds, $280,000; and 2010 Tri Community Landfill, $510,000.”
“This represents a one time operational budget benefit, but defeats the long term sustainability to the Caribou tax payers,” continued Morrell, “it is clearly obvious that the city council has been allowing the Caribou municipal government to spend and grow way beyond our means and the problem is now coming home to roost.”
Morrell’s presentation drew objections from councilor Chris Bell, who questioned the figures that were stated. The two began a heated discussion which was cut short by Mayor Ken Murchison.
The third member of the citizens group, speaking before the council was Wilfred Martin. “My colleagues have already addressed some potential means of savings to soften the blow and stave off future and unaffordable increases in property taxes,” said Martin, “other areas to explore are vehicle inventory/replacement and maintenance.”
Martin suggested the possibility of keeping municipal vehicles for longer periods of time with proper preventive maintenance and when necessary, replacing them with newer but used and well maintained vehicles purchased by other government agencies both state and federal.
Also questioned by Martin was the number of vehicles currently used by the city especially the heavy-duty equipment. Martin asked if it would be cheaper for the city to lease or rent the equipment on an as-needed basis(per job).
“Are there any equipment logs to coordinate fuel usage and time of specific jobs?” asked Martin, “to take the mystery out of where the equipment is being used for proper justification?”
Martin’s third recommendation was to explore the possibility of 12 furlough days for a 12 month period. “Properly staggered, this would not take away from the efficiency of the departments,” he said.
Also suggested was the cross-training and consolidation of multiple departments, thereby reducing the number of department heads. Martin used the police and fire department as an example stating the two could be combined under the heading of Public Safety.
“Let’s explore all avenues to make this city a more affordable place to live,” Martin added.
Milo Haney, was the final individual addressing the panel of city councilors on Feb. 28, voicing his concern on the way Caribou’s snow plowing was being handled.
Haney’s business located on the corner of the Access Highway and the West Gate Road (now C & J Service Center, operated by his sons) is the location that has caused concern for the business owner for some time. Haney addressed the council by stating, “In your packets are a couple of letters (and pictures) that I wrote to city manager, Steve Buck, showing where the plow driver, Dana Johnston purposely turned his plow truck almost at a 90 degree angle directly into the snowmobile trail, plugging it completely. We, C & J Service, pay the snowmobile club about $400 a year to keep it open for us.
Haney also provided other pictures of residences on the Brissette and the Sawyer Road, both of which he stated had driveways plugged by the city’s plow. Haney stated, “In the city mangers letter, which I believe you all got from him, he stated that the snow in the snowmobile trail was put there so the driver would not carry the snow around into C & J’s driveway. Well, that is bogus, because on Feb. 15, the day after the snowstorm, all he was doing was plowing where snow was drifting. There was no excess snow in this area,” he added.
According to Haney, the letter from Buck also stated, that what the driver was going to do was leave the wing down and carry it around the corner and then he (Haney) would take care of the snow from there. ‘But, continued Haney, “as you can see he did not just leave the wing down and continue on, he deadheaded the snow directly into the front of C & J’s driveway so customers could not get in for gas.”
The local business owner reminded the council the letter also stated that Dave Ouellette, head of the DOT, had counseled the plow driver as to the revised terms of plowing the West Gate Road; and also stated that Ouellette would monitor the plowing practice to make sure that it stayed in compliance. “Well, I don’t believe that is true,” stated Haney, “after the driver dumped the snow in the driveway, Saturday morning, three minutes later Ouellette’s pickup came down the Sawyer Road and turned right in front of the snow that was piled up in the driveway, — nothing was done.”
Haney requested the council address these concerns, with disciplinary actions taken regarding responsible parties.
Following Haney’s presentation, Buck provided photos of the location in concern, discussing with Ouellette about the possibility of the plow pushing the excess snow into the corner of the intersection. Ouellette said that he would go with the driver the following morning and turn the plow as tightly as possible to see if this action was feasible, without causing unsafe situations for the both the plow driver and vehicle operators traveling in that area.
In other matters the council approved a first-time application for a restaurant liquor license for Gary St. Peter d/b/a Napolis Restaurant. A special entertainment permit for the same location was also approved.
Meeting times and dates for the following were also established.
• March 14, 7 p.m. — Public hearing to receive written and verbal input on the 2011 Capital Improvement program.
• March 14, 7 p.m. — Public hearing to receive written and verbal input on the 2011 municipal budget.
• March 14, 7 p.m. — regular council meeting.
