Penobscot County Commissioners Back $7,000 Match for Together Place, Advance Tower Fix

Penobscot County commissioners voted to match up to $7,000 in discretionary opioid funds for the Together Place, contingent on the City of Bangor providing a matching amount, and approved spending $51,425.50 in bond money to repair the county radio tower. Commissioners also heard a request to buy digital notebooks for prosecutors, approved two fire and rescue contracts, and received presentations on an overdose response system and a door-to-door outreach proposal.

Key points

• Commissioners voted to approve the August 19 minutes, 2-0 with one absent.
• The board approved using $3,000 from a criminal forfeiture account to buy Remarkable digital tablets for the District Attorney's office.
• Commissioners approved allocating $51,425.50 in remaining bond money for the 97 Hammond Street radio tower project, addressing a roof leak and the risk pool issue.
• Together Place representatives said the nonprofit faces a $13,521 funding gap to reopen and is turning away about 50 people a day; they asked for opioid settlement funds.
• Commissioner Andre Cushing moved to match up to $7,000 in discretionary opioid funds, contingent on a matching allocation from the City of Bangor, with the money not coming from the $400,000 opioid committee budget. The motion passed unanimously.
• Chair David Marshall said future opioid funding requests should go through the opioid committee process.
• Commissioners approved three-year contracts with Mattawamkeag Fire and Rescue for a township and with Milford to cover Greenfield Township, the latter with about a 3% annual increase.
• A presenter demonstrated a video-enabled overdose response box with QR-code tracking for naloxone resupply and data collection; commissioners referred the application to the opioid committee.
• Civic Operations Group presented a proposed peer-to-peer outreach program for Penobscot County, drawing questions about cost and duplication of existing Narcan distribution efforts.

Next steps

• The administrator will confirm that the City of Bangor provides a matching $7,000 before the county disburses its share.
• The overdose response box application will be forwarded to the opioid committee for its grant process.
• The opioid committee plans to release its RFP in the fall, make awards in December, and cut checks in January.
• The Greenfield Township road paving project bids are due by 4 p.m. September 14, with a bid opening September 16.
• A budget committee meeting is planned for Wednesday, September 16 at 5:30 p.m. on the third floor.

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