By Natalie De La Garza
Staff Writer
CARIBOU, Maine — After a season’s worth of discussions regarding the seven city-owned downtown parking lots, Caribou City Councilors approved a decision to sell the parcel on Water Street for $1 and continue efforts to sell the lots at 37 Hatch Drive for $1 as well; the other four municipal parking lots are slated to remain under the city’s responsibility. Of the municipal parking lots put out to bid in July by the city, local business owners had expressed interest in only a few of them — rental property owner Robert Fern, and John Swanberg of Aroostook Federal Savings and Loan, had eyed the Water Street parking lot; Sam Collins of S.W. Collins had shown interest in parking lots 97 and 102 that abutted his property, and Phil St. Peter had considered acquiring the lot next to the Caribou Business Office Park. Officials with the American Legion had also indicated that, if forced, they would assume responsibility for their lot.
During the City Council meeting on Oct. 21, councilors agreed to sell the Water Street parking lot to Fern and continue working with Collins toward a $1 sale, but left the rest of the parking lots under municipal responsibility. The council chose not to sell a parking lot to St. Peter due to multiple conditions he’d stated the city would have to meet before the $1 transaction could occur — including removing nearly 10,200 feet of hot top and a sidewalk, and the removal and reinstallation of 183 feet of curbing.
“I would suggest we continue negotiating with Mr. Fern and Mr. Collins and leave the rest as is, nor force the parking lot on the American Legion Hall and leave Mr. St. Peter’s parking the way it is; it seems to be quite an investment for us to make in order to give it up,” Councilor Kenneth Murchison said in his motion.
Two very different vehicle purchases were also on the council agenda and while the board denied the proposed purchase of a 2014 Ford F150 for the Caribou Fire and Ambulance Department, they did approve the purchase of a new snowmobile trail groomer.
The new snowmobile groomer — a $197,424 T7-170 New Holland tractor with a Soucy trac kit and a Mounting Equipment drag purchased from Crown Equipment in Caribou — was purchased with a $30,000 trade-in on the current groomer, available funds in the groomer reserve account and $28,000 that Caribou Snowmobile Club members have obtained since 2003, the same year they exhausted their funds purchasing the 2003 Gilbert groomer now being replaced.
Caribou Parks and Recreation Director Kathy Mazzuchelli told councilors that Caribou has historically replaced their groomers approximately every seven years, but a lot of factors go in to determining how long a groomer will last. Generally, the equipment is rotated out every 5,000 to 7,000 hours spent grooming. The city’s other groomer — purchased new in 2006 — is slated for replacement in 2016 or 2017.
For large purchases, the snowmobile club (through the city of Caribou) can apply for a capital equipment grant from the state; Mazzuchelli said that grant funds received through this program range from $15,000 to $20,000, and the grant amount will be placed back into the trail groomer reserve account.
The council did approve the purchase of the groomer as the funds were available, Mayor Gary Aiken expressed his concerns for the future, particularly when Caribou’s other groomer will need replacement in the next three or four years.
“I don’t have a problem supporting the club to a limited amount,” Aiken said.
This one is fine as the money is there, but if we’re talking about replacing another unit in three to four years — and are we going to have $150,000 to $175,000 in three or four years? To me it’s a lot to ask the taxpayers of Caribou to put in that kind of money,” he added.
Mazzuchelli said the snowmobile club did quite well in their last major capital pledge drive for the 2003 purchase.
Council denied the purchase request from Director of the Caribou Fire and Ambulance Department, Chief Scott Susi, for a new command vehicle. Susi explained to the council that the proposed truck from Griffeth Ford could be purchased at $30,950 and would be able to operate at a capacity greater than the current Crown Victoria car that’s accumulated over 120,000 miles.
“Through networking at the last Fire Chief’s meeting and talking about selling an ambulance, I was able to acquire an extra $22,500 through the sale of an ambulance that Calais has agreed to purchase,” Susi told the council, explaining how the unexpected funds could be used to offset the purchase of a new truck.
“If I recall in the past, you’ve always had ‘hand-me-downs’ so to speak, and there’s ample vehicles within the city inventory,” said Councilor Phil McDonough II. “Plus you have a rescue truck that’s quite decked out — I just wouldn’t understand why you’d need another truck to haul stuff.”
They council also approved the adoption of the 2012 International Property Maintenance Code, as published by the International Code Council, effective as of Jan. 1, 2014 to allow contractors, suppliers and developers time to further familiarize themselves with the new rules.
The Caribou City Council will next meet tonight at 6 p.m. in the council’s chambers for a budget workshop; the next regularly scheduled meeting takes place on Monday, Oct. 28 at 7 p.m.
