Board: Lewiston City Council

Met: Tuesday

Event funding
Issue: Councilors said they recognized
that special events, fairs and festivals are an integral part of life
but said they didn’t want to spend too much city money on them. In
November, they discussed a new city policy to limit special event
funding in November.
The scoop: The new policy would limit city money from paying for
most new events until those events become established. Four events —
the Festival FrancoFun, the Liberty Festival, the Great Falls Balloon
Festival and the Dempsey Challenge would be exempt from funding limits.
New events could receive $5,000 of in-kind support, and events could be
eligible for no more than 25 percent of the sponsor’s total budget. 
Up next: Calling the policy a good beginning, councilors approved it unanimously.

Snow Riders
Issue: The city provided money to a local snowmobile club until
last year. Councilor Robert Reed said he was approached by members of
that group this year, asking to have the money reinstated. 
The scoop: Members of the Hillside Family Riders Snowmobile Club argued that
snowmobile owners pay an estimated $5,587 per year to the city in the
form of excise taxes and registration fees. They asked the City Council
to refund $1,000 of that money as a donation to the club to be used for
trail maintenance equipment and guide signs.  
Up next: Councilors agreed, paying the group from the city’s general fund. 

McMahon School work
Issue: Plans call for $4.48 million in renovations at McMahon Elementary School next year.
The scoop: The work would be paid for with proceeds from the
sale of federal tax credits, in the form of stimulus-money-backed
Qualified School Construction Bonds. Finance Director Dick Metivier
said the work would allow the school to close two temporary buildings. 

Up next: Councilors approved the bond sale.  

Franco lights
Issue: Lights built to illuminate the Franco-American Heritage
Center are being powered by city-owned circuits, and the center’s
managers agreed to pay the city for that use. But Central Maine Power
Co. said that amounted to reselling the company’s product and told the
city to stop.
The scoop: Franco Center managers proposed to have the city pay
for the electricity, about $1,000 per year. They told
councilors Tuesday they were not ready to present their proposal, and they asked councilors to
table the matter.

Up next: Councilors agreed to table the matter to a later date.

Minutes
Issue: Councilors are supposed to review and approve the city
clerk’s notes from each meeting. Those minutes become the official
record of the council’s decisions. 
The scoop: Since  Tuesday was the current council’s last meeting, it had to adopt minutes from meetings dating back eight months. 
Up next: The new City Council is scheduled to be sworn in Jan. 4.  

Liquor licenses
Issue: Local restaurants and bars must reapply for liquor licenses
and amusement permits each year. Liquor licenses permit the
establishments to serve alcohol; amusement permits allow them to play
music, have a DJ, host karaoke or have games on site.

The scoop: Councilors renewed a special
amusement permit for Pub@33, 33 Sabattus St.

Next meeting: The next meeting of the Lewiston City Council is
scheduled to include the City Council, mayor and School Committee
inauguration on Monday, Jan. 4. A regular council meeting is scheduled
for Tuesday Jan. 5.

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