HOULTON, Maine – A mixed bag of town issues, resident complaints, farewells and final eclipse kudos dominated the regular town council meeting in Houlton.
In a Monday night turnabout – the last council meeting before new town manager Jeremy Smith arrives – the room was packed along with a long list of public commenters.
The night began with the swearing in of a new Houlton police officer, Joshua Robbins, a Syracuse University graduate with 11 years experience with the Old Orchard Beach Police Department and most recently as an executive protection officer in Los Angeles guarding celebrities.
“Recently Joshua decided it was time to return home. The Houlton Police Department was where he landed to reestablish his career,” DeLuca said.
During the meeting, the president of the Houlton Fair Association expressed concerns about the proposed location for the Recreation Department’s new pickleball courts in Community Park. According to Colby Dunn, the new courts take up about 6,000 square feet and will interfere with already limited fair parking.
The Houlton Agricultural Fair is held annually in July.
“The fair board was not involved in the planning process for any of this and we were only made aware of it two weeks before the proposal was brought to council,” Dunn said. “For us, it is an area used for parking and a vendor area.”
Josh McLaughlin, owner of J. McLaughlin Construction, who is volunteering the $26,000 cost of groundwork for the four new courts, apologized to the fair board members at the meeting.
“I would gladly give gravel in another area if there is an area for staging. Whatever we can do to give you that 5,800 square feet,” he said. “I would be more than willing to donate that.”
They all agreed to meet within the next week and bring their location decision to the next council meeting for a vote. .
For the third council meeting in a row, the town’s tax increment financing districts were discussed. Nonetheless, a decision on how to move forward was tabled until the next meeting to include the new town manager who begins his new role on April 29..
Last month, Portland attorney Philip Saucier shared information on the town’s seven tax increment financing districts. As Saucier said, Houlton has a significant amount of unspent TIF revenue.
According to town assessor Terry Duff, the town has over $3 million in unused TIF funds.
“Anybody can disagree with me, but I think we ought to discuss how we can better manage the funds of this town,” Councilor Eileen McLaughlin said. “We could have used $3 million in a lot of different ways, and roads were one of them..”
Council chairman Chris Robinson agreed with McLaughlin, saying that ultimately the town has to look at themselves. .
“I think we should sit down and simplify this so the entire town knows where its money is going, where it’s coming from so five years from now we won’t do this again and that we learn the lesson we should have learned years ago,,” Councilor Mark Horvath said.
In other business, two different residents said during public comment that they were upset with the police department.
Karen Lewis, who is a Houlton native, said that she has not gotten a response from police regarding an individual who has been harassing her.
Robinson said she needs to contact the police chief directly regarding the matter.
“There’s this one cop who seems like he doesn’t want to do anything with this kid,” she said.
Councilor Eileen McLaughlin told Lewis that when there is a threat of violence, it is taken very seriously by the council.
Still, Robinson said it is not the council’s job to do police work.
DeLuca told Lewis he would meet with her on Tuesday.
Jacqueline Junkins said she also has issues with police regarding checks the police department is allegedly holding.
Again, Robinson said that it was a police matter and asked the woman to make arrangements to talk with the police. DeLuca said he would meet with her on Tuesday.
At the end of the lively meeting, Robinson said the town has waited a long time for a new town manager and he believes the town council made a good decision in hiring Smith.
“We took our time and I think the town of Houlton will be pleased with our choice. We were tasked with a big one to get this right,” he said. “We believe we have gotten it right and I hope you will all show up for the next town council meeting and give a warm welcome to our new town manager.We want to support him in his success.”
