Presque Isle Council Advances Dangerous Building Orders, Micro Loan

[0:00] Council Chair (presiding officer): Welcome to the Presque Isle City Council meeting for Wednesday, October 2nd, 2026. We have five out of seven councilors present this evening. And could I ask you all to join me for the Pledge of Allegiance. 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. Any changes to the agenda? Everything as presented looks good. All right, I'd like to start out tonight folks with a public works proclamation if I could. Whereas Spirit of America Foundation values municipal officials help with its program and created Municipal Officials Appreciation Month, in 2026, dedicated nationally to public works employees to express gratitude, whereas municipal officials make personal sacrifices to serve constituents and deserve more public recognition and respect than they generally receive, whereas public works employees maintain essential community infrastructure, including roads, parks, and municipal property including buildings. Whereas, public works employees key duties include operating heavy machinery for snow removal and road repair, repairing street signs, maintaining public landscaping, and performing maintenance on municipal vehicles and facilities to ensure public safety and functionality. Whereas, public works employees may be on call 24-7 to respond to emergencies and may work in severe weather conditions. Whereas, the City of Presque Isle much appreciates the services provided by its Public Works employees and other municipal officials. Now therefore, be it proclaimed that the City of Presque Isle, Maine designates October 2026 as Presque Isle Municipal Officials Appreciation Month and encourages our citizens to show gratitude to their municipal officials and especially to Public Works employees for all they do to make this a better community. So we have a few Public Works employees present tonight. Thank you folks for showing up and thank you all for everything you do. Before we proceed with the public hearing portion of tonight's council meeting, I would like to thank one of our Public Works employees specifically Dave Eastler who happened to have a pretty fun job he was tasked with a detail of doing a couple home demolitions on pawn Street and st. John Street and seemed like he was enjoying what he was doing, so I don't know how you lucked out on that one. So the council is going to present you with a Wreck-It Ralph t-shirt, and I hope it fits ya. Kind of a big deal. Come on up, model it for us. I think that's going to look good on you. [3:24] Speaker B (unidentified): Everybody in the shop is going [3:28] Councilor: to tease you now, you know that's all right. I teach everybody there, so [3:35] Council Chair (presiding officer): gotta want to get a picture. This is the dedication that our public works employees show. There you go, they can't be beat. No, all right, a little tight. We're ready for the barbecue. Good people, good times, it's good stuff. Okay, moving on, I guess, time to get down to business here. Item number one on tonight's public hearing portion of our agenda is to approve amendments to Chapter 48, the General Assistance Ordinance, Appendix A-H. This is an annual request to adopt the General Assistance Ordinance, Appendices A-H, provided by the Maine Department of Health and Human Services. These appendices shall be in effect from October 1st 2026 through September 30 2027. Council, did you have an opportunity to review any of this? We have any questions? Is there anybody from our audience that would like to address the council and regarding to in regards to the amendments to chapter 48? We entertain a motion. [5:23] Councilor: Mr. Chair, I'll make a motion that we accept the general assistance ordinance appendix change A [5:28] Council Chair (presiding officer): through H. Second. Okay, we have a motion made by Hank and seconded by Mike. Is there any further discussion? All of those in favor, 5-0 unanimous. Moving on, item number two is to approve an automobile graveyard permit to Paul Jalbert doing business as Jalbert Auto Salvage located at 204 Chapman Road. This is a renewal. Citizen has been satisfied all requirements and approval is recommended. Anybody from the audience who would like to address the council on the renewal for Chalberts? Okay, council, any discussion, questions? Once again, I would entertain a motion. Mr. [6:29] Councilor: Chair, I move that the city council approves and authorizes the issuance of an automobile graveyard permit to Paul Jailbear doing businesses Jailbear Auto and Salvage for the property located at 204 Chapman Road, subject to all applicable ordinances, regulations, and permitting requirements. [6:45] Council Chair (presiding officer): of the city and state thank you Mike motion made by Mike so seconded by Hank any further discussion all of those in favor next is another approval of an automobile graveyard permit to cow it's used auto parts doing business as car parts located at 259 Fort Road and again This is a renewal citizen has satisfied all requirements and approval is recommended Is there anybody from the audience would like to address the council on this one? All right, seeing none Council if any questions concerns comments, but again you entertain a motion [7:34] Councilor: Mr. Chairman, I move that we approve and authorize the assurance of our automobile graveyard permitted to the couch used auto parts doing business as CAR parts for the property located at 259 Fort Road, subject to all applicable ordinances, regulations, and permitting requirements of the City and the State of Maine. [7:54] Council Chair (presiding officer): Thank you, Herman. I'll second it. Seconded by Hank. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all of those in favor? 5-0. okay moving right along item number four is to consider approval of a special amusement license to dana cassidy doing business as a rustic center mall located at 8 30 main street and mr cassidy has completed all of the city's requirements for this license and again approval is recommended is there anybody from the audience who wishes to address the council on this one? Seeing none. Council? And again, I would entertain a motion. Mr. [8:46] Councilor: Chairman, I move that we approve the special meal license to Dana Cassidy doing business at Roofstick Center Mall for the property located at 830 Main Street, subject to all applicable ordinances, regulations, and permitting requirements to the city and the state [8:59] Council Chair (presiding officer): of Maine. Very well. Thank you, Herman. I'll second it. And seconded by Hank. Any further discussion? Seeing none. all of those in favor 5-0 motion carries moving along to the citizen comments portion of tonight's council meeting this is a time when members of the public are invited to address the City Council on matters that are not on tonight's agenda or during the designated public hearing portion of a specific item comments should be directed to the chair and limited to three minutes or so per speaker unless otherwise adjusted by the City Council. Speakers are asked to state their name and address for the record. The Council will listen respectfully to all comments. While Councillors may ask for clarifying questions, this is not a time for debate or immediate action. Matters raised may be referred to staff for review or placed on a future agenda if appropriate. Is there anybody in our audience today that wishes to address the Council? Okay. Kim, did you receive any emails or Facebook messages or anything of that sort? No, all right. Zipping right along as we come to the consent agenda portion of tonight's meeting. These items are considered routine in nature and may be approved by the City Council in one motion. Any counselor may request that an item be removed from the consent agenda for discussion or vote? And unless council wants to discuss items individually, staff recommends approving in one motion. We have item number five, which would be to approve the minutes from August 26th, 2026, as well as September 2nd, 2026, September 15th, 2026, and September 21, 2026. Item number six would be to approve the 2026 warrants number 33 through 37 totaling two million seven hundred and seven thousand four hundred and forty nine dollars and twenty nine cents and item number seven would be to approve road closure for the holiday light parade scheduled for December 5th 2026 [11:17] Councilor: Council, Mr. Chair, I move we approve the consent agenda as presented. I'll second. [11:22] Council Chair (presiding officer): All right, thank you Mike and thank you Hank. Any further discussion? All of those in favor, 5-0. Okay, heading into new business portion of tonight's meeting, agenda item number eight as a hearing considering consideration of dangerous building designation for 5 Archer Street. Sonia, is there anything you wish to add [11:55] Speaker F (unidentified): to this or would you like me to? Yes, I'd like to add George. How? All right, very [12:00] Council Chair (presiding officer): well, George, could you please come up? We'll probably keep you up here for a few minutes. We get a few more right behind this one, it looks like. So okay, thank you as [12:15] Code Enforcement Officer: you know we inspected several buildings here that are dilapidated and for warrant of considerable amount of maintenance. So, therefore, I felt the need to bring these that they need to be fixed up immediately or torn down. The first one, 31 Cairn Street, the owner died, and that's kind of in limbo. But it's full of food, rats, raccoons, holes in the roof, ceilings coming down, floors uneven. Even and it being a trailer, it really doesn't have enough value in order to remain. As you can see from the top right picture, you know, the ones that you have, there was considerable amount of garbage and debris around the outside of the building, which I've already had cleaned up. So I would request that the city issue, oh, I'm on 31 Cairns Street, apparently. [13:27] Councilor: The first one is 5 Archer. [13:28] Council Chair (presiding officer): Oh, all right. Sorry about that. All right. [13:31] Code Enforcement Officer: Wrong order. That's all right. Okay. On 5 Archer Street, I did speak with the owner, Tony Brett Kelly, and he was going to disable that as a dwelling unit and clean up around the yard. The last time I was over there wasn't much done. I did tell him that if he wanted to use that as a storage building that it had to be totally just disabled as far as a dwelling unit, and he said when his workers were in the area that they would call me. Well, it's been three weeks and I still haven't gotten a call, so the building is run down, it's on a slab which is starting to disintegrate, the roof is bad, the addition that's on the back of it is bad, so my recommendation would be to issue him a 30-day notice for a plan of action and a 90-day fix. Could [14:43] Councilor: that be hauled away or is it have [14:46] Code Enforcement Officer: to be demoed right there? It would need to be demoed if there was nothing done to it, yes. [14:52] Council Chair (presiding officer): It's in that bad shape? Yes. Okay. Definitely not habitable? No. Okay. Council, you want to act on these as we go through per item or do you want to act on them? I think that would be appropriate as well. Okay. All right. Council, do you have any questions for George Howe? [15:20] Councilor: So, George, would you say it's unsafe for the neighborhood and the people around it? Yes. Okay. Okay. Mr. Chair, I move that the council judges the property be a nuisance and dangerous to life or property, that the council make and record an order stating that the owner shall within 30 days of service to this order abate all conditions creating a nuisance or dangerous condition to the satisfaction of the code officer, and that should the owner fail to comply within the specified time the owner shall be assessed a civil penalty of a hundred dollars per day, and the city council further directs the city manager to cause the structure to be demolished and removed. The cost of such demolition and removal shall be charged against the real estate upon which the structure sets and shall constitute a lien on such real estate. I'll [16:10] Council Chair (presiding officer): Second that. Very well, thank you, Mike, and motion seconded by Hank. Is there any further discussion among council? Seeing none, all of those in favor. All right, moving on. We've got the same thing, consideration of dangerous building designation for 63 DuPont Drive. Yes, DuPont Drive, thank you. You're welcome. [16:39] Code Enforcement Officer: Go ahead, sir. Okay, as you can see from the pictures, there's substantial damage within the inside of this building. If you look at the right-hand column, the middle picture, that's of the cellar floor, and there's about a foot of water in there that's been there for a considerable amount of time. The place is full of mold [17:03] Councilor: So at all levels all extensive water damage, yes. Okay, and is that basement more concrete or is it [17:09] Code Enforcement Officer: Their water, I didn't, I didn't walk on it to find out. My recommendation here would be to issue an order to tear down. Okay. [17:29] Speaker F (unidentified): And you're going to clarify that it is 63 DuPont Drive and not DuPont Street, correct? Yes. I'm sorry. Yes. [17:44] Council Chair (presiding officer): Council, do we have any other questions or discussion regarding 63 DuPont Drive? Entertain [17:55] Code Enforcement Officer: a motion. I might add on that there's been no response from the owner. Okay. [18:01] Council Chair (presiding officer): And it's not, nobody's living there, nobody's squatting there. No, it's taken. Yep. And has an issue or anything, are there any other news nuisances affecting neighbors due to it right now? No animals such and such. No, I didn't, I didn't witness anything as far [18:23] Code Enforcement Officer: as rodents go. Okay, they would have to be able to swim like snakes down there [18:31] Council Chair (presiding officer): Okay, I would entertain a motion. [18:40] Councilor: Mr. Chair, I would make the motion that we accept the recognition of 63 DuPont Street as being a nuisance and dangerous to life or property, that the council make and record an order stating that the owner shall within 30 days of service to this order abate all conditions creating a nuisance or dangerous condition to the satisfaction of the code enforcement officer. That should the owner fail to comply with the specified time The owner shall be assessed a civil penalty a penalty of $100 per day in the City Council further directs the city manager to cause The structure to be demolished and removed Cost of such demolition and removal shall be charged against the real estate upon which the structure sets and shall constitute a lien on such [19:21] Council Chair (presiding officer): real estate. Very well, the motion made by Hank and seconded by Herman. Is there any further discussion? Seeing none, all of those in favor [19:37] Councilor: Alright. 107 Dyer Street. [19:39] Council Chair (presiding officer): Up next is consideration of dangerous building designation for 107 Dyer Street. And the owner is present via Zoom. Eric, is he with us? Hello, Jeremy. Can you hear us? Alright. Thank you for joining us this evening. Okay, George, you want to brief us on this one, please? Yes. [20:18] Code Enforcement Officer: As you can see from the picture that some of the ceilings is coming down. The inside is in really rough shape. There's some issues around the doors and the windows. I found a crack in the foundation and whatnot. Not I don't recall being in the cellar to see whether it was kicked or not but going through the building it is in very bad shape some of it is cosmetic but a lot of it as you can tell from the from the cracks and the walls and stuff that the building has had some movement. And my recommendation here would be to have a 30-day plan of action and a 90-day fix. [21:12] Council Chair (presiding officer): Okay. The building's savable or not savable? [21:20] Code Enforcement Officer: I would say it is savable as long as something was done fairly soon. To be left in the condition that it is, it wouldn't vary very long and it wouldn't be worth saving. [21:32] Alan Harding, attorney for property owner: Okay, all right. [21:35] Council Chair (presiding officer): Jeremy, did you catch that? Is there anything you'd like to add to that or any comments, questions for us this evening? Yes, I agree and appreciate that. Very well. Are you going to be able to do something with this property within the next 30 days I [24:00] Code Enforcement Officer: would like a plan of action within that 30 days the fixes I couldn't I could be willing to extend that time as necessary but I really would like the plan of action within the 30 [24:14] Council Chair (presiding officer): days did you hear that Jeremy by all means yes that would be good to keep a record of that stuff but primarily I would make a I would suggest making a serious effort in getting in contact with George Howe, our code officer, and maintaining an open line of communication throughout the duration of this process. He is going to be instrumental and critical player in determining what happens to this property going forward. That's the gentleman sitting there? Yes, that's correct. Yes. [25:11] Speaker B (unidentified): My two cents George has done it for a long time he's very level-headed and I think he can assist you like you said just a plan within the 30 days you don't have to have everything resolved but [25:23] Council Chair (presiding officer): Just a plan of corrections and know that you're actively working on it. Yep, I think this guy could be a real benefit to you and by means of assisting with advice and whatnot. But we'd really like to see something get rolling on this thing sooner than later. It's been a long time and this place just didn't fall into despair overnight. It's obviously been neglected for some time. So we're at the take an action phase of this project now. So I hope you understand that and moving forward I hope that you and George our code officer can develop a good working relationship and get this issue resolved. [26:10] Code Enforcement Officer: I look forward to it. [26:12] Council Chair (presiding officer): George you good with that? I'm excellent with that. All right thank you Jeremy. Is there anything else you would like to say to the council or our code inspector? All right very well thank you very much. Okay so with that with that is it recommended that we table number 10 or until we have a until he comes to town you guys meet and [26:42] Speaker B (unidentified): develop a plan yes we could do that certainly you want to still make a motion that he's going to have a plan yeah so you wouldn't want to table it right okay yeah no that makes that [26:58] Council Chair (presiding officer): If that makes sense. Yep. Yep. Good point. [27:00] Councilor: You're going to have to keep some form of heat in there for that foundation not to move this winter. [27:04] Council Chair (presiding officer): Well, that's not up to us. [27:08] Councilor: Well, that's what I'm saying, but it'll be worse. With all that said, I would make the motion to extend the 30 days for the action plan for the owner of the property to work with our code enforcement officer to have an action plan to extend all damages and repairs within a timely manner. [27:30] Council Chair (presiding officer): Sounds good. Thank you, Hank, for that motion. [27:33] Speaker F (unidentified): Excuse me, Mr. Chair. Just a point of clarification. Are there squatters [27:37] Code Enforcement Officer: in there at the moment? There wasn't at the last time I was there. [27:41] Speaker F (unidentified): And is the building secured? It was. [27:45] Code Enforcement Officer: I will go back and double check it and make sure. [27:49] Council Chair (presiding officer): Yeah and I would recommend putting it on the PD's radar for them to pay attention to the area give it some special attention rather and I can reach [28:01] Code Enforcement Officer: out to the owner and see if he wants me to padlock it and I can secure it that [28:07] Council Chair (presiding officer): Way you made the motion, right? Did you second? All right. I think I think this is a good process to have started. If there's any way that we can work with the owners of these properties to try to rehabilitate them or come up with a plan so it just doesn't fall all on the shoulders of the city to be in the city's responsibility, I think that's key and I think that's very important, and hopefully we see more of that moving forward. We don't want to just be in the business of wreck it Ralph knocking houses down just because we got them to knock down. I'd like to see some of these places taken care of by the property owners and put back on the tax roll, so I think that's great. So with that said, motion in a second, all of those in favor? All right, 5-0. Thank you very much. Moving right along to item number 11, again hearing for a consideration of dangerous building designation for 499 Caribou Road. [29:13] Code Enforcement Officer: George, yes, again I have some pictures that show some improvement to the property already. Okay. [29:29] Council Chair (presiding officer): No, I'm just on, they used to have like all the all the pallets and this would be on the right hand side, Mike, just before you go down the steep hill. Okay, yep, I see it. [30:12] Speaker B (unidentified): So [30:20] Councilor: George, with the pictures that you have in the binder and with the pictures that you have now, could you explain a little bit about what it is that they were cleaning up in [30:31] Code Enforcement Officer: the front yard and the backyard? The grass hadn't been mowed all summer, so they've come in since the notice of the hearing went out, they've mowed the grass. [30:44] Council Chair (presiding officer): Have you been in direct contact with the property owner? No, I haven't. [30:48] Code Enforcement Officer: Okay. Only through the mail. Yep. Okay. So initially what I saw, the worst part of this building, and I believe that this is rehab-able, the worst part of it is that section between the garage and the house that sets on just wooden blocks, and those have rotted, and that section of the floor has actually dropped about two inches, so enough to deem it unsafe. Safe, a lot of the other stuff in inside the building is more cosmetic type stuff. There was the back door in the garage has blown off, the back door going down cellar is missing, so there's there's stuff that really needs to be done, and now this is another one that I would recommend a 30-day plan of action and a 90-day fix. Great. [31:56] Council Chair (presiding officer): and currently not inhabited no nobody isn't it hasn't no evidence of such right okay do you do you have anything alan mr harding come up to the mic please so we can be all recorded thank you again [32:30] Alan Harding, attorney for property owner: Good evening, my name is Alan Harding. I'm an attorney here in Presque Isle. I have been retained by Purvez High, who's a resident of Illinois. He purchased this property as distressed property in a foreclosure sale. He's never intended to do anything other than fix and flip. Unfortunately, the available contractors to do the fixing, it's not going to be Mr. High, have not been available, nor has he had the time to attend to this. That's the reason for the problem with the lawn. However, it is, in fact, his intention to rehabilitate it. The 90-day fix would be a problem just because of the timing. We're at a time when, first of all, it's difficult to do outside work. Most of the work, as has been mentioned by a code enforcement officer, is in the exterior, and most of it is cosmetic, but it's very difficult to do that in our winter climate, and so we would agree to a 30-day plan of action, and I will work with Mr. Howard coming up with that plan of action, but I think is unrealistic to expect that there would be a 90-day remedy of these problems. Maybe nine months would totally take care of it. But I've already begun the search for a carpenter or a contractor, and as you should know, they are in short supply and in high demand. So finding a contractor who would take this on in a relatively short period of time is not likely. I have in fact located a contractor in a nature of a handyman who can do some of the exterior cosmetic work, but he in no way is capable of doing some of the work that Mr. Howe has outlined, which involves removal of the dilapidated sill in the center section, and so they'll have to jack up that section, which probably needs to be done anyway, and then remove the sill, replace it, and then there's some other work that takes really a craftsman and not a handyman. And so I would ask that you give us a 30-day time to come up with a plan of action, but also that plan of action give you a reasonable timeline. And again, it's my client's full intention to rehabilitate this structure, which he bought as distressed property in a foreclosure sale. Again, it never was his intention to occupy it or to rent it, 's his intention to fix and flip it. And so he will in fact do that, but he has to have a reasonable period of time in which to do that, and it's going to require some better weather than we're facing in the next six months. [35:51] Speaker B (unidentified): Mr. Harry, how long ago did he buy it, roughly? Two and a half years ago. So he's had two and a half years to try and fix an already deemed distressed property. Well, no, it was distressed property when he bought it. Distressed, yes, that's so he was aware it needed work, and it's been two. [36:09] Alan Harding, attorney for property owner: Two and a half years, that's correct. But again, he's in Illinois, and it's very difficult. We didn't. [36:17] Speaker B (unidentified): Force his hand to buy that. What's that? We didn't force his hand to buy that. No, that's the. [36:21] Alan Harding, attorney for property owner: Business he's in, and fixing and flipping. But again, each separate area has its availability of contractors and carpenters who are willing to undertake such a project, and he said certainly didn't buy it with an understanding as to the shortage of tradesmen in the construction field that exists in this area, and that as you may know, postcovid contractors, carpenters were have been in very short supply. So again, we fully support a 30-day plan, but working with Mr. Howe coming up with a reasonable period. Of time to complete the particular access acts that need to be done to rehabilitate this property. All right, you had said. [37:21] Speaker B (unidentified): There's a door that's blown open, or multiple doors. Yes. So could someone enter the house? Do you ever have multiple stages or plans something that we can say, hey, you've got to at least have this thing secured by winter? If I may, I would modify. [37:40] Code Enforcement Officer: My recommendation that there be a marked improvement within the 90 days, and we can extend that as needed. What. [37:53] Councilor: Would you deem to be an extended improvement that. [37:58] Code Enforcement Officer: That kind of is a judgment call. When we do the 30-day plan, then we'll address that then, and I can bring that back to the council. [38:08] Speaker B (unidentified): If you, if you wish, within that plan, the building is deemed secure within 60 or 90 days, because I think that's the biggest concern, just for the city itself. Sure, and then you know, whatever other plan, but so we can at least have something in writing that you're gonna have this thing secure by. Yes, because stepping in. [38:35] Code Enforcement Officer: The garage, the main house door was wide open, so yes, it does need to be secured. [38:42] Councilor: Mr. Chair, I move that we judge the property be a nuisance and dangerous to life and property, that the council make a record an order stating that the owner shall come up with a plan of action within 30 days to resolve the issues of the building, secure the building within 60 days, and work with the code. [39:02] Council Chair (presiding officer): Enforcement to resolve the issues. Motion made by Mike, seconded by Doug. And might I, not I'd like to also comment to Alan, to make it clear to your client that yes, we've got a 30 days to make a plan, but if it's not realistic, if it's not a realistic timeframe of 90 days or nine months and it's already been two and a half years, perhaps listing this property for sale as is so somebody else can maybe do something with it and get the property up to snuff the way it should be might be something that you might not. Okay. Okay. I just wanted to make sure that might have been an option that you would have discussed with him. Okay. Thank you. All right. Motion made by Mike and seconded by Doug. Any further discussion? All of those in favor? There we go. All right. Thank you. One more. Consideration of a dangerous building designation to 31 Karen Street. George, can you shape this one in? [40:27] Code Enforcement Officer: And I already started talking about that earlier. Yeah, that's this one is bad. I would recommend an immediate tear down. I Haven't Had the inside cleaned out. Like I said, there's there's food stuff throughout the place, there's signs of rats, other rodents, raccoons, there's there's a whole host living there, and my recommendation here would be to issue an order for to be torn down immediately. The family has been contacted, nobody seems to want to have anything to do with the property due to its current condition. I did speak with the original owner's sister, and she came in and looked at it, and she recommended tearing it down as well. [41:29] Councilor: So we're gonna forego 30 days, we're gonna forego the $100, just get rid of it, [41:34] Code Enforcement Officer: get rid of the rodents and all that? Yes, because there isn't anybody that's willing to take responsibility for it. [41:44] Council Chair (presiding officer): Yep, I would agree with that. Council any questions for George on 31 Karen Street how [42:00] Councilor: should how would you like your motion? Well Mr. Chair, I would go under the recommendation of the code enforcement officer that due to the condition of the property that we look to have it torn down and removed [42:17] Council Chair (presiding officer): Seconded by Herman. Is there any further discussion? Seeing none, all of those in favor, 5-0. All right, thank you, George. Thank you for your work on these, truly appreciate it. I know it's not easy, but needs to be done. Okay, item number 13 under new business this evening would be to approve a micro loan to Allison Pelletier at 425 Main Street in the amount of ten thousand dollars. The development fund board requests approval of a micro loan to Allison Pelletier and the details are in a packet at the September 16, 2026 meeting of the Prescott Development Fund. The Prescott micro loan listed below was considered and recommended to the city council for approval by the Prescott Development Fund trustees. Please add this to the council agenda for tonight's meeting. This lady was requesting a micro loan to expand her nail care business, satisfied everybody's requests and the development fund. Mr. [43:49] Speaker F (unidentified): Chair, yes, excuse me, but you sit on the development fund board, correct? Yeah, do you remember anything about this loan that you can share with the council? This is not a lot of information in your [44:04] Council Chair (presiding officer): package. Mike, were you there that night as well? I wasn't there that night. She currently has a nail care business with some other girls, I believe, in Caribou, and I don't know if each was going out on their own or whatnot, but she had a well-established clientele and was going to relocate, leave, she was somewhere down on Main Street next to Wilders, I want to say in between Wilders and Gary's Furniture and Appliance, I believe, somewhere. So she was going to be opening up a new business on Main Street and just needed help with some startup costs to buy some equipment. She was really well presented, really recommended, and she satisfied all the concerns of the development fund board, financials and everything, we're good as far as being able to pay back the, yes, and I'm sorry that stuff's not in the packet, the details and the finite stuff, but that is all stuff that was vetted through the Prescott Development [45:13] Speaker F (unidentified): Fund. Terrific, thank you, Mr. Chair, and we'll follow up with the council sending [45:17] Council Chair (presiding officer): that information afterwards. Yeah, if you see that, if you see that it's applicable or needs to be, but where I thought that it had already gone through to the development fund, that was, they basically did that job ahead of councils, this is basically just a procedural portion of this. Thank you, Mr. Chair. You're welcome. Any other questions, concerns? Council, entertain a motion, Mr. [45:53] Councilor: Chair, I move that the City Council hereby accept the Prescott Development Fund Trustees recommendations, Michael Long to Allison Pelletier, 425 Main Street, in the amount of ten thousand dollars. [46:04] Council Chair (presiding officer): Arbitrage for five years at six percent. Thank you, Herman. I'll second it. Motion made by Herman and seconded by Hank. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all of those in favor? Five. Oh, item number 14 is to schedule a public hearing to approve zoning changes to Davis Street. The staff requests a public hearing to approve zoning changes. Sonia, is this anything you would like to [46:41] Speaker F (unidentified): give a quick there's a overview of? Yeah, there's, there's this is changing from urban residential zone over on Davis Street to a residential office zone. This is something the Council's been working on for a few months in collaboration with the Planning Board, and we're asking you tonight to just simply put this on the schedule for a public hearing in November. We [47:08] Council Chair (presiding officer): have a okay at November 4th. I see it. I'm sorry, Mr. Chair, I move that [47:13] Councilor: we schedule a public hearing for the November 4th City Council meeting to hear public opinion on the proposed rezoning change on Davis Street to change the urban residential zone to a residential office zone on the north side of Davis Street from the edge of the retail business zone starting at the easterly edge of 19 Davis [47:33] Council Chair (presiding officer): Street to Carmichael. All right, motion made by Mike, seconded by Herman. So any further discussion, questions, concerns? All those in favor? All right, that will be on the agenda for November 4th. Goodness, Sonia, it's your turn. We're already at the managers for wait 15, which is scheduling another hearing. Sorry about that. Okay, this is to discuss a schedule a public hearing on November 4th for the 2026 Council meeting to discuss additions to our tax increment financing program. I can't believe I missed that. Looking for a motion to get that on the agenda. [48:33] Councilor: Is there anything additional that needs to be added or any other explanations? [48:38] Speaker F (unidentified): There was a request for a specific list for what changes there would be. We simply are going to align that with state law, and it is in committee at the at the Development Committee right now and the Planning Board, so we will have a recommendation shortly for what that list [48:55] Councilor: should be. Very well, so with that said, I would make to make a motion to schedule a public hearing on November the 4th, 2026 at our City Council meeting to discuss additions to the [49:08] Council Chair (presiding officer): Tax increment financing program. We have a motion made by Hank, seconded by Herman. Any further discussion? All those in favor? 5-0. All right, now it's your turn again, Sonia, with tonight's [49:24] Speaker F (unidentified): manager's report. Thanks for my manager's report. I would like to thank our city clerk for all of the election work that she is doing, and I will say there is going to be quite the turnout for our elections this year. There are a number of absentee voters and inquiries into her office, and it is a significant amount of work on top of what she normally does. So that is my manager's [49:57] Council Chair (presiding officer): report for this evening. Thank you, Kim. Yes, thank you, Kim, and I saw people dropping off ballots as I was walking in this evening, which is great to see. How [50:08] Speaker F (unidentified): many are you? How many a day? 30 [50:14] Code Enforcement Officer: people a day coming to either register or get [50:18] Council Chair (presiding officer): get ballots. Fantastic. Good. Well, with that said, here's a reminder in our announcements that your absentee ballots are currently available. Come see Kim at City Hall or City Clerk, and she will be more than happy to assist you and set you in the right direction. Additionally, the Presque Isle Historical, The Presque Isle Historical Society will put on a Haunted Hearst Tours on October 31st at 6 p.m., 7.30 p.m., and 9 p.m. Reservations are required, and it is $10 a person. Also, the Presque Isle Historical Society will put on a Haunted Lantern History Tours on Friday, October 9th and Saturday, October 10th. Trolley Tours at 6pm, 7pm and 8pm. Reservations are required and is $10 per person. Roosevelt Day at the Museum. Celebrate President Theodore Roosevelt's birthday by pursuing our fascinating Roosevelt collection free at the Maysville Museum on October 27th from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. And the city has the following employment vacancies. Public works looking for a truck driver and a mechanic. The facilities departments looking for a maintenance tech. We're still looking for police officers, and we've got openings for a firefighter and a paramedic. We also have the following vacancies for boards and committees. The rec and parks we're looking for one year alternate. The assessment review board is looking for one -year alternate. The downtown revitalization committee has two four-year Seats open the downtown Tiff Advisory has one-year community member seat open and the library board of trustees has two one-year alternate seats open and the planning board has one-year alternate and one full member seat open. Presque Isle Development Fund also has an opening for one member at large. Please see the city clerk for an application or apply online. [52:37] Councilor: Anything you want to add? If I could, I'd like to extend a small bit of a public safety announcement. October is recognized as the National Fire Prevention Month featuring the NFPA fire prevention week from October the 4th to the October the 10th. They are focusing on lithium and ion battery safety. Some key safety rules to take into this upcoming winter season for 2026 with the use of lithium batteries is to use only manufactured approved chargers and batteries. If you get a Milwaukee or DeWalt drill, if you buy some of the batteries that they have on Amazon or anything else, those are the ones that are necessarily causing the fires. You want to pay attention to manufacturers and what the manufacturer uses for specified tools and batteries for those equipment. Charging devices on hard flat surfaces instead of beds and couches, again, these things overheat whether it be a laptop or an iPad or your phone. Unplug any devices once they are fully charged to avoid any overnight charging. Discontinue any use immediately if your battery gets hot, if it smokes, swells, or leaks, and again, most of these batteries and battery issues that we're having are from the second-hand batteries, not necessarily the ones made from any of manufacturers. General home and prevention tips, you want to test your smoke and your carbon monoxide detectors monthly. Make sure that you have fresh batteries in them. You want to keep flammable materials at least three feet away from any space heaters or any cooking equipment. Create and practice a home fire safe escape plan with two distinct exits from your home. Keep an unexpired fire extinguisher accessible and remember that pass is the rule when you use those. Pull, aim, squeeze, and sweep. And if you do have an expired fire extinguisher, as they do only last about 10 years, you either want to get it recharged or to replace it. The last thing I would have is that you want to make sure that you're also checking your chimneys for your wood stoves, your pellet stoves, or any of the furnaces that you do have. Excessive creole will build up and cause any unexpected chimney fires. Again, we enjoy everybody in the community. We want to make sure everybody stays safe and sound and kind [54:44] Council Chair (presiding officer): gets through this heating season. Thank you, Hank. Thank you. That's fantastic advice, and I'd like to echo that right to the T. We want everybody to be safe, and it's, it's we're heading into a, heading into a cold season. We just looking out for everybody's safety. Thank you, that was great. Our next scheduled meeting of the Prescott City Council will be on Wednesday, November 4th, 2026, at 6 p.m. Right here in the city council chambers at City Hall, and with that, I would entertain a motion to enter executive session pursuant to state statute 1 MRSA 4056 C to discuss real estate. So moved, Mr. Chair. Motion made by Hank, seconded by Herman. Any further discussion?