AUBURN – Mayor John Jenkins has unleashed a flood of neatly named programs aimed at keeping residents warm this winter, but councilors wanted to know Monday if the city owned any of them.

Councilor Ron Potvin questioned Jenkins about a copyright symbol next to the names of each of his new programs: CHEAP, or Community Home Energy Access Program which offers educational information about heating programs; Neighbor’s Keepers, which relies on residents to watch out for their neighbors this winter; Community Cords, a program to use wood culled from the city’s forests to help heat local homes; and MERIT, the Middle-income Energy Resource Investment Trust.

Jenkins outlined MERIT, his newest program, to councilors Monday. According to Jenkins, the program will provide low-interest loans to residents who make too much money to qualify for other aid programs. They can use those microloans to pay for heating oil.

Jenkins handed out a summary of all of the programs Monday, with the final copyright at the bottom of the sheet listing John Jenkins as the copyright holder.

“So my question is, are these the city’s programs, or are they yours?” Potvin said. “Are we talking about an action taken by the city council or are these something owned and controlled by another entity – namely yourself?”

Jenkins said he put a copyright on the names as a way to protect residents and keep them from being mimicked and used in an unsavory way.

“It’s unfortunate that things like that can happen, but I don’t want someone to say they’re a Neighbor’s Keeper when they’re not and then end up hurting someone,” Jenkins said. “I’m just trying to protect the names. But the programs are public programs, and I’m encouraging everyone to use them.”

Jenkins said he hopes other Maine communities will adopt the names and the programs as a way to help their residents.

Jenkins said he would schedule a workshop to discuss the programs and answer councilors questions.