Board: Lewiston City Council

Met: Tuesday night

Clown signs

Issue: The Kora Shrine Circus, coming to Central Maine April 18-26, wants to advertise on signs placed throughout the city.

The scoop: Councilors agreed to let the group place 76 signs on public rights of way, on traffic medians and at intersections.

Up next: The signs will be up April 13-27.

Cool Cities

Issue: Councilors have said they favor the Cool Communities program, and agree to reduce the city’s carbon footprint and save taxes, but they never formally joined the effort.

The scoop: Councilors Tuesday agreed to endorse the effort, which calls for finding more economical, environmentally friendly ways to do business. They stopped short of endorsing the politics behind the program. The effort lists global warming and support for the 1997 Kyoto environmental accord as some of the reasons behind its founding.

Political signs

Issue: City rules don’t allow political signs in public rights of way, and city staffers regularly must go out to public property, street medians and corners to remove the signs. Other cities, however, allow the signs in public places.

The scoop: City Administrator Jim Bennett said the rule is one of the dumber parts of the city’s land use code, requiring city staff to spend hours before elections policing public rights of way. Staffers have been accused of playing favorites by some candidates, removing some signs but not others. He asked councilors to change the rule, and allow candidates to place public signs.

Up next: Councilors agreed.

Drug money

Issue: The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency shares the proceeds from drug busts with the other police agencies involved. In Lewiston’s case, that money is put into a special account to help pay for drug enforcement actions.

The scoop: Councilors on Tuesday accepted proceeds from two drug arrests; that amounts to part of $35,515 in seized money. Councilors also asked for a full accounting of exactly how the Lewiston Police use that money.

Contact government reporter Scott Taylor via phone at 689-2846 or via E-mail at [email protected]