Augusta council backs Arsenal settlement, Hatch Hill transfer station deal

[6:33] Mark O'Brien: Good evening. This is a business meeting of the Augusta City Council, and today is Thursday, October 1st, 2026. Let's begin with a Pledge of Allegiance, followed by a moment of silence. [6:47] Kevin Judkins: I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [7:09] Eric Lind: Thank you all. [7:15] Mark O'Brien: Right, as you all can see, we're a little light on the to my right, so everybody on the left is going to have to carry the load tonight, so but I'm sure you're all up to it. Have a quorum and we can certainly conduct business tonight. The first order of business tonight on our agenda tonight is an executive session. Kind of changing things up, I know that or we typically place our executive sessions at the end of the meeting, but for tonight I've asked that we take it right off the top. So the chair would entertain a motion. Mr. Mayor, Council Lind, if we head into an executive session to discuss [7:53] Eric Lind: pending litigation on the authority of one main revised statute section 4056e. Second the move [8:00] Mark O'Brien: with council then seconded by Council Gary Allen. Any objection, please vote. Motion carries, six in favor, zero opposed. All right, so this appears is 26 160 on your agenda if you have it with you or in front of you, we can read it. So the council is going to take a break, go into the adjoining conference room for our executive session. I don't expect that it's going to be too long, so please hang with us and we'll be back in for the for the bounce of the meeting very shortly, but right now we're going to go to that executive session. We'll be right back, thanks. All right, thank you for your patience everyone. The council is back in the public session, having concluded its executive session, represented by order 26160. So we're going to move ahead through our agenda tonight. The next portion of our agenda is new business orders and resolves [18:25] City Clerk: and 26161. Please 26-161, city manager bureau of city clerk. Be it ordered that the minutes of the city council regular business meeting held September 17th, 2026, submitted by the city clerk's office, be hereby approved. Thank you. Is there any public comment hearing? [18:44] Mark O'Brien: None. Next is 26162. [18:48] City Clerk: 26-162, city manager. Be it ordered that the city manager be hereby authorized to accept from Zachary Gagnon and Picture Perfect Pro Painting a donation of paint and services in kind for the repainting of the infrastructure at Fuller Field, to include the concession stands sign and bathrooms. [19:07] Mark O'Brien: Thank you. Any public comment? There's none. We'll move next to 26163. Please, 26-163, City Manager. [19:19] City Clerk: Whereas in June 2022 the City of Augusta commenced a land use enforcement action in Augusta District Court against Main Street 1 LLC regarding the condition and maintenance of the buildings and property known as the Kennebec Arsenal, and whereas in September 2022 Main Street 1 LLC filed an appeal of the City's Council's August 4th 2022 order declaring the buildings located at the Kennebec Arsenal to be dangerous and a nuisance, and whereas both matters currently remain pending before the Augusta District Court and the Kennebec County Superior Court, and whereas the City and Main Street One LLC each desire to ensure the prompt redevelopment and restoration of the Kennebec Arsenal and to avoid the further cost and expense of litigation, and whereas the City and Main Street One LLC have negotiated the terms an agreement to resolve the to resolve the pending matters on terms that provide a mutually agreeable timeline for the redevelopment of the Kennebec Arsenal and the resolution of all identified violations of the City Code of Ordinances on the property, now therefore be it ordered that the City Manager be hereby authorized to execute on behalf of the City a settlement agreement with Main Street One LLC and substantially the form presented to the City Council, and be it further ordered that the City Manager and Corporation Council are hereby authorized to take such actions and to prepare and execute such documents instruments and agreements as are contemplated by said settlement agreement and as may be necessary or convenient for the City to comply with and perform under said [21:16] Mark O'Brien: settlement agreement. Very good. So before I open it up the public comment, I'm going to ask our Corporation Counsel to kind of explain in simple terms what this amounts to by way of a settlement with respect to the Arsenal property. Certainly, Your Honor. [21:38] Cameron Ferrante: Cameron Ferrante, Corporation Counsel to the City. But as the City Clerk has succinctly explained in the order, essentially there's two matters currently pending in court. The first is a land use enforcement action alleging violations of the city code of ordinances on the property and in the buildings, and the second is the city's dangerous building order that was adopted back in August of 2022, which just asserted that the buildings were not being maintained in a habitable or useful condition and constituted a nuisance. Both of those items of litigation been pending for now nearly four years, and this settlement agreement is a way to move forward and bring the property into compliance with the city's code of ordinances and make sure that the property is being used usefully to the extent that the city is able to. So the central terms of the agreement are that once signed by Main Street and the city, Main Street will have 90 days to close on anticipated financing for the redevelopment of the project, so essentially 90 days to obtain its funding to restore the property. If they fail to close, then the litigation will proceed. Hopefully that doesn't happen, but after closing, the city will receive a payment of $75,000, and at that point, Main Street will have 12 months to obtain certificates of occupancy from the Bureau of code enforcement declaring that the buildings are habitable essentially and compliant with the city code. In the event they fail to do that, then the city can obtain or enter a consent judgment in court, which will require Main Street to both pay the city $60,000 and to bring the property and the buildings on it up to code within three months. That's essentially the terms of the settlement agreement. Basically it puts Main Street on a timeline for redevelopment of property and bringing it into compliance with the city's code. Okay, thank you for that. At this [23:49] Mark O'Brien: point I'll open it up for any public comment. Seeing none, we'll come back to this for council action later, as we do with all other orders on the agenda. Next is 26164 26 [24:08] City Clerk: -164 Mayor and Council, whereas City staff has negotiated and presented to the City Council a term sheet with Municipal Waste Solutions, LLC, MWS, and its affiliates for the establishment and operation of a waste and recycling transfer station at Hatch Hill, and whereas City staff has negotiated and presented to the City Council a term sheet describing essential terms of an agreement between the City and MWS, FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT AND OPERATION OF THE TRANSFER STATION, NOW THEREFORE BE IT ORDERED THAT THE CITY MANAGER BE HEREBY AUTHORIZED TO EXECUTE, ON BEHALF OF THE CITY, THE TERM SHEET WITH MWS AND SUBSTANTIALLY THE FORM PRESENTED TO THE CITY COUNCIL AND TO NEGOTIATE AND EXECUTE, ON BEHALF OF THE CITY, AN AGREEMENT WITH MWS THAT IS CONSISTENT WITH THE TERMS OF THE TERM SHEET AND IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO CORPORATION COUNCIL. [25:06] Mark O'Brien: Thank you. Please, is there any public comment? Hearing none. 26165, please. 26-165, Mayor and [25:20] City Clerk: Council be ordered that two hundred thousand three hundred twenty two dollars forty four cents with within the fund 3086 Dickman parking garage representing the remaining unexpended balance of funds allocated to finance the construction of the Dickman parking garage is hereby reallocated to the Augusta Civic Center for the purpose of financing the costs of restoration and repair of non-load-bearing walls within the Civic Center's locker rooms [25:52] Mark O'Brien: and restrooms. Thank you. Any public comment? Next is 26166 under new business. Ordinances is being read for the first time with no vote required tonight. 26-166, Mayor and Council. Whereas [26:11] City Clerk: the Planning Board held a public hearing and unanimously recommends a general rezoning for a portion of tax map 33 lot 135 from RB2 to BP, and whereas the rezoning will both enable development on land owned by Kennebec Savings Bank as well as project the adjacent neighborhood by limiting the uses to those allowed in the business, office, and professional BP district. Now, therefore, be it ordained by the City Council of the City of Augusta that the official zoning map be hereby amended as shown on the attached map where the portion of tax map 33-135 that is zoned RB2 shall be rezoned to BP. [26:58] Mark O'Brien: Thank you. Is there any public comment? All right. Let's go back to the top of the agenda, and under new business orders and resolves 26161 for passengers. Council in second by Councillor Mishu. This is minutes. Any discussion? Please vote. Motion [27:24] City Clerk: carries six in favor, zero [27:26] Mark O'Brien: opposed 26162 is authorizing the manager to accept in-kind donation of paint and services is for the repainting of infrastructure at fuller field move for passage has been moved by passage by councillor lind second about council i miss you discussion counselor lynn i just want [27:46] Eric Lind: To thank Zach Gagnan and Picture Perfect Pro Painting. It's one thing to have the paint donated, but to have a professional paint the buildings is another thing. That just adds a sense of quality to the overall project and adds to that long-term investment we've been working on. The paint's just going to preserve that and really make it good, and Coney Red is popping. So thank you, Zach, and thank you to Picture Perfect Pro Painting. Councilor Sengowitz? [28:13] Stephanie Sienkiewicz: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I echo what Councilor Lynn said and just want to extend my thanks to Zachary Gagnon and Picture Perfect Pro Painting. And just, again, name that we live in a community that is so giving and full of volunteerism. And that is one of the great things about the city of Augusta. So thank you for showing that again, Zachary. [28:36] Mark O'Brien: Is there anyone else? Again, I'd like to add my thanks to Zach and his company for this donation. They came up with the idea very quickly and implemented it, and the results were fantastic up there. So much appreciated. If there's no further discussion, please vote. [28:57] City Clerk: Motion carries, six in favor, zero opposed. [29:01] Mark O'Brien: All right, next is 26163. This is the authorization to the city manager to execute a settlement agreement with Main Street 1 LLC, otherwise known as the Arsenal. [29:15] Kevin Judkins: Mr. Mayor, move for passage. [29:18] Mark O'Brien: Move for passage by Councilor Gary Allen. Second. Seconded by Councilor Lind. Discussion? Councilor Gary Allen. [29:27] Kevin Judkins: I just wanted to state on the record that I have absolutely zero faith that Mr Newman will get this done. However I do have 100 faith in the other two co-members of this in this agreement, particularly Richard Parkhurst. May God be with him if he can get this done. Council [29:48] Mark O'Brien: issue well [29:50] Michael Michaud: Well, this piece of litigation has been on our plate for over close to five years. Absolutely the longest running situation we've had to deal with. And I am certainly looking forward and hoping that this is finally going to turn a corner and that property is going to be rehabbed. Again, I will echo what Councillor Gary Allen says. Seeing Mr. Neiman in action and lack thereof in the last four and a half years, as I have very little faith in what he brings to the table. But Richard Parkhurst is the rock of Augusta. If anybody can get it done it'll be him. So again I'm hoping that a year from now we're not sitting here discussing this issue anymore other than it's almost done. Thank you. Thank you. [31:02] Eric Lind: Council Lynn. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So coming to the end of my term, nine years, and I just, for a variety of reasons where we are today, I just would express my intent to Mr. Nyman that this is serious, and he should, in his counsel listening, understand the gravity of this and the intention behind this counsel is clear. And I'll leave the rest to the attorney. I want to thank our corporation council for their work. And hopefully this will be executed and taken care of in a timely fashion by both parties. So thank you. Mr. Mayor. Thank you. [31:37] Mark O'Brien: Councilor Sankowitz. Thank You. Mr. Mayor. I [31:41] Stephanie Sienkiewicz: Echo what councillor Lind was saying in particular. Thank you to our corporation council. This has been a long process that This just this iteration of the process has been long. I remember sitting in this room while I was not a member of this body watching those deliberations happen and the care and depth of passion that was in the room during those meetings. I think that this agreement is the best balance we can strike of continuing to push to move forward knowing the limits of what the city council can actually control and do here, and maintaining the fiscal responsibility for the city. The goal of all of us is redevelopment of the arsenal and making sure that those historic buildings do not fall into further disrepair. We also have to balance that with what the taxpayers of the city can actually do in terms of litigation and what our rights are around private property. So this I think is our best foot forward and like other counselors I am not expecting a miracle to occur but I am hopeful that this will keep us moving forward. Thank you. Thank you. [33:00] Mark O'Brien: Mr. Ferrante. I'm wondering you Mr. Parker's name has been brought up by a couple of counselors or can you elaborate on what his involvement might be going forward. Certainly so he's going to have [33:16] Cameron Ferrante: essentially two roles. He's going to act as a managing member of Main Street's parent entity which is also Main Street one LLC but it's a North Carolina entity rather than a Maine LLC and in that capacity is going to have a vote on the board as to any actions taken by Main Street in the redevelopment of the Arsenal and then in addition to that he's going to function as a clerk of the works who will be responsible for overseeing activity on the site relating to the redevelopment and construction. And providing weekly reports to the city manager on progress to ensure that Main Street is staying within its anticipated time period of 12 months to complete redevelopment, and that is the central aspect of his, you know, involvement in [34:11] Mark O'Brien: the agreement. Very good, thank you. Any other discussion among council members? All right, hearing them, please vote. Mostly [34:27] City Clerk: carry, six in favor, zero opposed. Thank you. [34:32] Mark O'Brien: The next is 26164, which is the municipal waste solutions proposal for a waste and recycling transfer station in Hatcho. Move for passage, Mr. Mayor. Second, and seconded by Councillor Mishu. [34:48] Stephanie Sienkiewicz: Discussion, Councillor Sinkwitz. Thank you. Mr. Mayor. I am very excited to have this item on our agenda tonight. This has been the culmination of a long process, and our staff had put, have put in, I don't even know how many, dozens, I am afraid to think, maybe hundreds of hours finding a solution for us so that we can maintain our Hatch Hill landfill for as long as possible without a steep funding cliff of taking on an entire vertical increase on paid for in large part by the citizens of the city of Augusta. What we are voting on tonight will help us divert most of our rubbish to MWS, and it will increase the rates of recycling in the city of Augusta, and allow our rubbish to be turned into natural gas cover for landfills, so there's just multiple ways that this is a huge benefit for the city, and puts us in a much better position long term for environmental responsibility, fiscal responsibility, and the longevity of our landfill without giving up that landfill. Phil, I, when we started this process, I don't think I thought that this solution could exist where all of those things could be true, and our staff and the other municipalities that are involved in this coalition have really done amazing work. So thank you, Leslie and John and everyone else involved in this work. I am delighted to be voting for this tonight, and I hope everyone who has emailed about the reduction in recycling will listen to this, and if you have questions, please reach out to the city council, because we heard you, and many of us are in the same boat that we were frustrated about the reduction in recycling. This will increase the rates of recycling in the city of Augusta across the board, and it will make it easier for everyone. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. [36:57] Mark O'Brien: I we went over this pretty thoroughly at our last informational meeting, a lot of the details, and we had city staff kind of explaining what the citizens can expect. I think council, which sink, which has done a good job summarizing them, the benefits, that it's going to extend the life of our landfill and increase recycling and increase the convenience for people recycling. People will be able to just put their rubbish curbside, they won't have to separate their recyclables. It's going to be all single screen, be picked up, move to a site at Hatch Hill, a transfer station, and then take an off-site. So it's something we really couldn't talk about during the budget process because it was still being explored and negotiated, but now we can, and I hope it goes a long way to soothing those folks who are understandably passionate about recycling, and they can take some solace and knowing that everybody will now be recycling whether they're conscious of it or not, and at an increased convenience to our residents. So with that, let me ask if there's any further discussion. I see none here, none, so please vote motion [City Clerk: carries six in] in favor, zero opposed, very good. 26 165 please over passage of spare second move a council in seconded by Councillor Gary Allen. This is redirecting funds from the leftover funds from the Dickman parking garage to the civic center to fix those locker room walls that we had an episode with this earlier this year. Discussion, Council Sankowitz. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. [38:46] Stephanie Sienkiewicz: I want to thank, I believe it's probably Director of Finances, Ingrid Nivison, for helping us find a way to fund, and Matt Nazar, Director of Development Services, Matt Nazar, find a way to fund this needed repair, especially ahead of the high use of the Civic Center's locker rooms during basketball season. season. This is something that is necessary throughout the building and is kind of wrapped into the ongoing renovations of the Civic Center, but this was not something that we expected. And so finding these funds that had been previously allocated for the Dickman Parking Garage but are no longer necessary as that bond has been paid off is the type of work that our director of finances and our director of development services are constantly doing, and that is so useful for us as a city to be able to take this on without disrupting the basketball season this year. Thank you. Further, please vote motion [39:52] City Clerk: carries six in favor, zero opposed, as I [39:55] Mark O'Brien: Mentioned before, 26166 is an ordinance being read for the first time tonight. There's no vote required. This is, this is a some minor rezoning along Chapel Street that will assist the Kennebec Savings Bank redevelopment and of their property and move forward with their new office space, and that'll come up at our next business meeting in due course. So with that, we move to communications. First, any committee reports? Sir, city manager's report. No report, your honor. [40:31] City Clerk: Madam Clerk. Thank you, Mayor. Yes, I just want to announce that absentee voting will begin on Monday, October 5th. It will be on the first floor, the Learning Gallery, so when you walk into the building, you take a right, it'll be down there on the end. There'll be signs that'll help. It will run until Thursday, October 29th, and it'll be open from 7 15 a.m. to 5 30 p.m. There are two ballots, one city, one state, both are two-sided. Thank you. Thank you. Are there any [41:08] Michael Michaud: announcements counselor mishu i just want to take a moment and acknowledge al cludier he lifelong resident of augusta he will be inducted into the maine baseball hall of fame this sunday it's a big honor for him but al has given back a lot more to the community and the youth than any accolades he'll ever get but just a shout out to al counselor [41:37] Stephanie Sienkiewicz: thank you, Mr. Mayor. I wanted to highlight in addition to the early voting, the Portland Press Herald released profiles of local candidates today. If the candidate elected to fill out their profile, it is listed on their website under the Main Matters 2026. I know it's often difficult to find information about local candidates. Campaigns are usually not nearly as well funded as state and federal, and the TV ads are not, those are not the candidates on your TV. So if you're looking to educate yourself on who is running for these local races, that is a great resource, Main Matters 2026 by the Portland Press Herald. I also wanted to highlight that Monday is also the first leaf collection date for the city. This will be every Monday through, well, every other Monday, it looks like, the 5th, the 19th, 26th, and then November 2nd and 16th. Five bags per residence right at the road, like you do your rubbish. And it's highly encouraged that people use biodegradable leaf bags because those leaves are composted and the citizens of Augusta have access to compost. That way we were able to attend a really wonderful groundbreaking today. Many of the council was there and Mr. Mayor spoke and gave great remarks at Riverlands, the supportive housing development that the council had the opportunity to partner with and provide a TIF earlier this year. I think all of us in the city have talked quite a lot about the chronic homelessness that we see and the ways that impacts us as a community. And it was an honor to be there today to see something move forward that I believe will make a real difference in this community and hopefully as the other sites go online throughout the state, in our state at large. If you get a chance, you can check that out online and I hope that they have just the smoothest sailing throughout their process of construction so that we can see that come to be in the next year. My last thing is I had the pleasure of attending the Capitol Read event last night and if you have not had the opportunity, this happens once a year, Lithgow puts it on, Lithgow library. It was phenomenal. Our director of library services, Sarah Schultz Nielsen, does an incredible amount of work to get that off the ground and it is such a fun event. It was the main author Monica Wood about How to Read a Book, which is a very good book and everyone should take a read. The talk was wonderful but the part that I took away from the most was exactly what this Capital Read program is for, that room. Looking around, there were so many people that I did not, I did not know anybody else that was going to attend and I walked in and I probably saw 10 or 15 people I know from different aspects of my life and that is the intention behind Capital Read is to build community through everyone in a community being able to read the same book at the same time and talk about it if they should choose to do so. When you see this come up next year, I would encourage everyone to take part in it if that's something that would interest you because there certainly was a lot of community built in that room last night. Thank you to our library staff for getting that off the ground and thank you to Monica Wood for a great evening. Thank you Mr. Mayor. Thank you. [45:07] Mark O'Brien: Anybody else with remarks or announcements? All right, very well. So having completed our agenda, we finished our executive session at the beginning of our meeting so we've got no further business tonight. Therefore I adjourn this meeting. Thank you and good night.