CARIBOU, Maine — Caribou city councilors voted unanimously on Monday to declare the home at 273 Sweden St. a dangerous property.
The home burned in a fire last January. City officials condemned the property one month later and sent several legal notices of violation and requests for corrective action to owners Ashley Thomas and Michael Quimby, who never responded, City Manager Penny Thompson said.
Thompson, who is serving as the city’s acting code enforcement officer, was the only person to address the city council during a public hearing.
Thomas and Quimby have owned the home since 2020 and now owe two years of property taxes. The home’s tax value has been reduced to $700 due to extensive fire damage, including a collapsed roof and chimney, Thompson said.
“This property meets the state standard for a dangerous building. It is unsafe, unstable and unsanitary and constitutes a health, safety and fire hazard,” Thompson said.
Thomas and Quimby did not attend the public hearing. Per the city’s declaration, the homeowners have at least 30 days to present a plan for demolishing the home’s remains and cleaning debris.
On Monday, councilors also heard initial expense budget presentations from several city department officials.
Caribou Public Library proposed the largest overall increase: a 29.3 percent jump from the $246,853 budgeted in 2023 to $319,240. The library spent $237,039 of last year’s budget.
Most of the proposed increase comes from Library Director Peter Baldwin’s suggestion to move one librarian from part time to full time. If city councilors approve that promotion, the library’s salary expenses would increase 37.1 percent from $144,061 to $197,536. The library spent $140,254 on salaries last year.
The proposed salary increase also considers annual 2 percent cost of living adjustments for library employees and additional time that Baldwin said he’ll need to expand library services to the community. With Baldwin also serving as the Nylander Museum’s director, he will need another full-time librarian to oversee the library when he is gone, Baldwin said.
The library plans to launch its first bookmobile later this spring, which Baldwin and staff will use to deliver books, digital tools and other materials to area residents, especially senior citizens.
Baldwin said that wage increases could help the library attract and keep more employees.
“We’ve had several ideal candidates who called before their interview or during the job offer to say they were going somewhere else,” Baldwin said. “The [library] board of trustees is recommending those adjustments so we can be competitive.”
For the Nylander Museum, Baldwin is proposing a $57,686 budget. The museum reopened in October after a three-year COVID hiatus and will relaunch major programs in 2024, Baldwin said.
Police Chief Michael Gahagan is proposing a $1.9 million budget for 2024, compared to the $1.8 million budgeted last year, a 3.8 percent increase. The police department ended up spending $1.5 million of their 2023 budget, Gahagan said.
That budget will not include Gahagan’s initial proposal to add two new dispatchers to the Maine Public Employees Retirement System.
“We’ve decided not to move forward with the dispatcher positions. They are working towards becoming full-time police officers,” Gahagan said.
In his proposed 2024 budget, Gahagan has put aside $33,000 to send both potential officers to the Basic Law Enforcement Training Program at the Maine Criminal Justice Academy in Vassalboro and one of the individuals to firearms and K-9 training.
Gahagan proposed $1,131,488 for employee salaries compared to $970,098 in 2023. The department is down three officers but Gahagan said leaving the budget proposal as it is now would set aside salaries for future officers.
Although the police department spent only $3,720 on drug testing last year, compared to the $17,000 budgeted, Gahagan is proposing $16,000 in case of unexpected events, like major drug busts and travel expenses for transporting drugs to the state lab in Augusta.
Parks & Recreation Superintendent Gary Marquis is projecting a $668,747 recreation budget, a 1.8 percent increase over last year’s $656,665. The department spent $619,835 of the approved 2023 budget.
Marquis’ expects heating fuel for the Wellness & Recreation Center to decrease 15.1 percent from $49,500 to $42,000. Parks & Recreation spent $33,508 last year.
Electricity for all buildings, including the rec center, Teague Park and Soucie Sports Complex, also will see a decrease of 5.3 percent from $52,000 to $49,200. The department spent $49,290 last year.
For the city’s parks budget, Marquis proposed a 3.3 percent overall decrease from $198,997 to $192,360. Last year, his department spent $155,437 on equipment repairs and maintenance, staff salaries, heating fuel and electricity.
Parks & Recreation also oversees maintenance for snowmobile trails in Caribou, New Sweden, Westmanland and Stockholm. The city took on trails belonging to the now defunct Nordic Lakers Snowmobile Club last fall, thus increasing that budget 18.4 percent from $70,411 to $83,383. The department came in over budget last year at $80,995.
A $44,500 gift from the Nordic Lakers is going towards Caribou’s trail maintenance budget this winter. They also gave Caribou their trail groomer, which Marquis said has been running smoothly.
“We now have one guy who will volunteer to groom [the former Nordic Lakers] trails two nights a week and another who is a new, part-time hire and lives in that area,” Marquis said.
So far, this winter’s weather has not given Marquis’ staff and volunteers opportunities to groom the trails. But Marquis is still projecting a 33 percent increase in diesel fuel expenses – from $30,000 to $40,000 – because the department went over budget last year and spent $40,067.
City councilors will hear more budget proposals in February before voting on the final city budget by mid March.
In other business, the council voted to put $608,498 in unspent funds from the city’s $11.8 million expense budget in 2023 into a tax relief fund for this year. The $608,498 includes surplus funds of $182,431 from state revenue sharing, $208,327 from Homestead Exemptions and $217,740 from the Business Equipment Tax Exemption program.
The next Caribou City Council meeting will be held Monday, Feb. 12, at 6 p.m. at the Caribou Municipal Building, 25 High St.
