Council raises permit fees,
ponders rec center charges
PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — The Presque Isle City Council and staff find themselves again facing the issue of money as they look to the new community center.
Area residents are going to have a lot of options for recreation and events when the new community center opens next fall, recreation and parks director Chris Beaulieu said at Monday’s council meeting.
Beaulieu and programming director Brad Boyles are coming up with ideas for the new $7.5 million space, where there will also be a seniors’ room and a teen room, along with enough gym space that Beaulieu wants to leave half a basketball court open during after school hours — “so the kids can come in and just play.”
But how to pay for the community center’s operations, like employees to oversee the gym or teen zone, has yet to be determined.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do to figure out what to do on pricing,” Beaulieu said. Should kids from Mapleton playing basketball for an hour after school have to pay while Presque Isle youngsters can come in for free, Beaulieu asked? What about seniors from outlying towns who want to use the walking track?
Beaulieu and members of a parks and recreation committee are considering those issues and planning to come back to the council with potential options. Some council members already see a need to reach out to other town governments.
There are concerns that if the community center is free or priced at one low cost to all residents, without any other towns offering some funds, Presque Isle residents will effectively be “subsidizing lower taxes in Mapleton,” said councillor Richard Engels.
“I absolutely agree with you,” said councillor Mike Chasse. “But I don’t want to turn this into something that alienates Presque Isle against the other communities, because a kid’s not going to understand if they’re turned away.”
Chasse suggested that the council and city staff talk with leaders from the school district and towns to “try to get this resolved, so that it’s not something that we’re going to have to go after each individual user.”
The new community center may provide opportunities for bringing in revenue. Beaulieu and Boyles have been in talks with LiveWell United about the community center hosting some of the group’s exercise classes, and Wintergreen Arts Center is also interested in using the space for some of its programming.
“We want to make this just wide open for everybody,” said Boyles, mentioning activities like youth gardening, “senior Zumba” and “parent-toddler yoga.”
In other city government news, the city council approved updated licensing and permitting fees, many of which have been on the books for “quite some time,” said city manager Martin Puckett.
The council adopted the suggestions of Engels and councillor Craig Green, who studied the permit ordinances and and recommended new fees: $75 for a bowling alley, $50 for an employment agency, $25 for a taxi driver, $100 for a taxi cab company, $100 for a pawnbroker, $100 for an automobile graveyard and $50 for special amusements.
“Itinerant vendors,” or people selling products outside, would have to pay a $25 fee and show they have the property owner’s permission. Farmers market vendors already pay a separate fee and would be covered.
“All of these activities require some work by city employees,” Engels said. “Some require background checks from the police department. Some of them require monitoring by code enforcement, the police department and fire department. So it’s not as if these things go without cost.”
The City Council also approved a $44,000 municipal grant to the Star City ATV Club for fixing a section of the multi-use trail, discussed repairs for the Echo Lake Sewer System, and held a private “executive session” to talk about three real estate matters.
The next council meeting is Monday, March 7, at 6 p.m.
