The Presque Isle City Council approved the city’s eighth retail marijuana shop and heard a plea for help from a local day care owner during its Wednesday meeting.
Chad Junkins owns Here We Grow, a hydroponic greenhouse and organic gardening store, and Northern Euphoria, a medical marijuana cultivation center.
He applied for license renewal for the grow facility and requested approval to open a cannabis retail shop at his 11 Davis St. location. The council convened a public hearing on his and other licenses.
“We’re going to close down Here We Grow and then we’re going to put a medical dispensary there in [its] place,” Junkins said.
No one spoke during the hearing. Councilors unanimously approved Junkins’ plan.
Expenses are threatening closure of another local child care facility, said Shyla Pinette, who owns Kelly’s Place Learning Center. Pinette requested financial help with a Community Development Block Grant to keep her business open, but did not specify a dollar amount.
“We are seeking financial intervention which will give us the ability to continue our day care services to over 89 local families,” Pinette said during the public comment period. “I am sure you are all well aware that day care centers in The County struggle to meet their operating costs, and many fail to stay open.”
She referenced the closure of several local facilities in recent years. Without support of a block grant in the form of academic development funds, Kelly’s Place could become one of them, she said.
The center employs 20 staff members, who would lose their jobs if the center loses, she said.
“I think it shines a light on the fact that parents can’t go to work if kids don’t have somewhere safe to go after school or during the day when school is out,” Councilor Craig Green said.
The state has not fully funded day care programs, and advocating for that support is part of what communities and citizens need to do, he said.
Three residents spoke in support of Pinette and Kelly’s Place. Two have children at the center and said its closing would be detrimental to their families and their jobs.
Many day cares struggle with costs, said Melanie Tompkins of Mapleton.
“You don’t want parents asking, ‘Is it worth it to go to work,’ because then our businesses start shutting down,” she said. “Child care is about the future of our communities.”
Since Pinette’s request was made during public comment and was not on the agenda, the council took no action and did not say whether Pinette’s request will be considered at a future meeting.
Also during public comment, resident John Steinberger made a plea for local drivers to look out for pedestrians. He has been hit by cars twice in the last month while crossing Main Street, he said.
“I do have a visual disability and it is a little tough for me to get around, but nobody sees me. And look,” he said, indicating his bright yellow shirt. “I wear fluorescents now.”
Nobody looks for pedestrians, he said, suggesting if there were more pedestrian crossings like the one in front of the Northeastland it might cue drivers to look for people walking.
In other business, the council moved a step closer to construction of its new airport terminal when it awarded a bid for site and utility work to Soderberg Construction of Caribou.
Councilors also voted to write off a bad debt in the amount of $64,785 that had been loaned from the Presque Isle Development Fund to James Stacy, who at the time operated the Crow’s Nest. The restaurant closed several years ago.
Stacy had two loans with the city for about half a million, councilors said. He paid one of them with mutual funds, which the city cashed in. City officials have tried in vain to have Stacy pay off the second loan.
“There have been numerous avenues of collection attempted. There’s really no opportunity to get this money,” Council Chair Kevin Freeman said.
Councilors also approved marijuana licenses for Cloud 9 and Richardson’s Remedies, an entertainment permit for the University of Maine at Presque Isle and a food and beverage license for Shogun Japanese Steakhouse, a new restaurant coming to the city.
Also of note, residents can now submit code compliance complaints online, Brown said. People can visit the city’s website, presqueislemaine.gov, and click on “Contact Us” at the top and select “File a complaint.” A form will appear where they can specify the address and their concerns.
The group will hold a workshop to discuss how to spend $829,110 in leftover American Rescue Plan Act funds that it must allocate by Dec. 31.
The next meeting will be held Wednesday, Oct. 2, at 6 p.m. It will include the initial budget presentation and the first public hearing on the next year’s budget.
