Lewiston City Council
Tuesday, June 5
Council sets goals
What happened: The City Council finalized its list of priorities for the next two years, following a retreat and planning session.
What it means: The list of goals is meant as a guide for city staff and the council to work from. The council listed priorities focusing on specific ways to better its relationship with the School Committee, improve the quality and variety of housing, including a rental registration program, improve the economy, improve the city’s image, and improve community outreach and city services.
What’s next: The City Council will formally accept the list of goals at an upcoming meeting, but also added items to the goals Tuesday, including focusing on food insecurity.
Support for rental registration
What happened: Jay Allen, a local landlord, spoke during public comment in support of a proposed rental registration program in Lewiston.
What it means: Allen said he missed a previous council workshop on the item, when a number of local landlords spoke against the proposal, which would charge a per-unit fee for multiunit property owners in Lewiston, with funds going toward new code enforcement positions.
Allen said the original proposal of $35 per unit per year is “frankly, not high enough.”
“Remember, real estate should not be a depreciating asset, and for decades that’s what it’s been in Lewiston,” he said, adding that he doesn’t understand why some landlords push back against increased code enforcement efforts.
What’s next: The City Council will form a subcommittee to look at the registration program and will formally take up the issue this fall, most likely. Allen urged the council to make sure the program “has teeth” to require all landlords to register.
Hazard mitigation
What happened: The City Council adopted the 2018 countywide hazard mitigation plan, a document produced by Androscoggin County municipalities and emergency personnel to identify important measures in case of emergency.
What it means: The plan, according to City Administrator Ed Barrett, is important for cities to prepare for possible floods or snowstorms, but also is required by the federal government in order to be eligible for any emergency relief funding.
Most of Lewiston’s section of the plan has to do with flood-prone areas, but Barrett said being eligible to receive emergency relief funds is especially important now because of more natural disasters around the world.
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