At the beginning of 2002, Lewiston had been without a permanent city administrator for nearly two years. Long-time Administrator Bob Mulready had stepped down in March 2000 and his replacement, Bogdan Vitas, lasted 11 months before taking a job in Belgrade, Serbia.

Councilors moved quickly and hired Jim Bennett away from Westbrook by March that year – just in time for him to step into the city’s budget discussion.

The letter

Lewiston came under national scrutiny in the fall of 2002, when Mayor Larry Raymond wrote a letter to the Somali community asking them to slow their migration to Lewiston.

The story drew the attention of neo-Nazi groups. Some came to Lewiston to leave pamphlets and one group staged a rally in the city.

The rally on Jan. 11, 2003, was met with the largest police mobilization in Maine’s history and 4,000 people rallying in support of the Somalis.

Raymond and city councilors were criticized for fostering an intolerant atmosphere and for letting the issue of the letter get out of hand.

The Colisee

Local hockey fans realized a dream in 2003 when the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League approved moving the Sherbrooke Castors semi-professional hockey team to Lewiston. The move required renovations at the aging Central Maine Civic Center. When center ownership couldn’t meet the demand, the city took over control of the facility and its $5.7 million debt, renamed it the Colisee and began nearly $3.8 million in renovations.

Last year, the Lewiston Maineiacs won the President’s Cup, cementing their claim as the best team in the Quebec league. But critics say the city spends too much on the Colisee and doesn’t get enough back.

Bates Mill exit strategy

The Bates Mill Enterprise Complex was once the economic well for the City of Lewiston and two referendums showed public support for keeping the buildings intact. Councilors wanted the buildings in private hands as quickly as possible, but had $56 million in contract obligations through 2011.

Negotiations in 2003 reduced the amount Lewiston owed to about $30 million. The city still owns only one building, Mill No. 5, the largest building in the complex.

Gateways

It started at Longley Bridge, as city councilors moved to take over a pizza place and a tattoo parlor at the western entrance to Lewiston’s downtown. That was followed on Lisbon Street with a similar effort. Both were aimed at cleaning up the entrances to the city’s central district, giving it some gloss and what City Administrator Jim Bennett called the “windshield ‘wow’ factor.”

The most ambitious plan, the Heritage Initiative, would have brought in new office buildings, affordable housing and a cross-town boulevard that was designed to pave over hundreds of the downtown’s most decrepit buildings. Downtown residents and activists rallied, complaining the city was trying to force its urban poor out of their homes and out of Lewiston. The council withdrew its plan.

Rain fee

Like other cities of its size, Lewiston must meet a federal clean water mandate to replace its storm-sewer system. With no federal money to help, the cost falls squarely on Lewiston taxpayers.

Councilors approved a fee on flat, hard surfaces in 2006. Since it was a fee and not a tax, it would apply to every property owner in town, including those who don’t pay property taxes, such as Bates College and the hospitals.

The fee was designed to provide a break for homeowners – councilors cut property taxes by $1.6 million in 2006 because of the fee – but residents didn’t understand or simply objected. Councilors fended off one citizen-driven initiative to get the fee repealed and the city began collecting the fee.

Casella

Councilors approved a plan in 2005 to have Casella Solid Waste manage the city’s landfill, but the plan was halted by the state. Fearing trash from Massachusetts and other northeastern states could be bound for Maine, the state’s attorney general and Department of Environmental Protection put the deal down.

Councilors brought it back last year, having negotiated agreements with Casella to limit waste from outside Maine to construction debris and only for the first four years.

Hundreds of opponents attended a public forum on the plan and councilors agreed to end the discussion.

– Scott Taylor