By just one vote, the Westbrook City Council rejected a plan by the city administration to hire a consultant to oversee the committee discussing paper streets.
The council voted, 3-2, Monday night against the plan to spend up to approximately $10,000 to hire an outside professional to manage the mayor’s advisory committee as it works toward a solution regarding the development of paper streets. Councilors Suzanne Joyce and Brendan Rielly voted in favor of the plan. Councilors Ed Symbol, John O’Hara and Council President Jim Violette voted against the plan. Councilors Ann Peoples and Drew Gattine were absent from the meeting.
The administration wanted to hire the consultant to make sure an impartial person who would be able to keep the discussions on track.
Paper streets became an issue this summer when residents in the area of Chestnut Street complained about a Yarmouth-based developer’s plan to build roads on paper streets for a housing development. Despite the fact that construction had already begun on the roads, the council approved a six-month moratorium on construction in August to give the city time to discuss the matter.
While the council agreed the advisory committee appointed by the mayor to deal with the problem was important, some councilors said they didn’t feel it was necessary to spend money on something that could be handled internally.
“I haven’t been convinced that we need someone to facilitate this discussion,” said O’Hara.
Symbol also said he felt it was unnecessary to spend up to $10,000 to hire someone for a small number of meetings.
Chuluda said he felt it was important to have someone who is impartial lead the discussion. He said because it is such an emotional issue, he wanted to have someone who would be able to keep the committee focused and come up with results within the timeframe of the moratorium.
“I am very, very cognizant of the amount of money this may require,” Chuluda said. “But in the long run, this could be money well spent.”
Robert Foley of Mitchell Street, whose land is adjacent to the construction site, urged the council to consider bringing in someone from outside to help deal with the problem. “I believe the people of Westbrook were looking for an impartial leader for this group,” Foley said. “I don’t know that we have anyone that could facilitate this process, and we need someone who could move this process along fairly quickly.”
Foley’s words appeared to have an effect on at least one councilor. Rielly, who had initially said he was not in favor of the plan, later said he would vote to support it. Although he added he did not want to see the city make it a practice to hire consultants for every committee.
“I don’t like the idea of contracting out every time we form a citizens’ committee,” Rielly said. “I do see with this particular committee that there may be some issues that need some outside oversight.”
In other news, the council voted, 4-1, to accept a $200,000 business development grant from the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development on behalf of NPL Systems, which is looking to start a computer equipment business on Eisenhower Drive. Rielly cast the sole vote against accepting the grant.
The company is looking to fill the void left by the closure of Sanmina-SCI, which closed its Westbrook plant early this year. NPL has indicated to the city that it expects to create up to 20 new jobs in the next two years with a total of at least 78 new jobs within five years. The company expects to fill its workforce primarily with former Sanmina employees.
City Administrator Jerre Bryant said the company would use the money for operating money to get the business off the ground. Under the terms of the grant, the company would have to create at least 10 new jobs within the next two years. If the jobs were not created in that timeframe, the city would be responsible to repay the grant.
Rielly said he was in favor of supporting NPL’s efforts to bring new jobs to the city, but he was concerned about the risk. He said he didn’t want to put the city in a situation where it would be forced to repay $200,000 if the company’s plans don’t work out. “This is a tough issue,” he said.
O’Hara also acknowledged there was some risk to the city, but he said he felt the chance to bring jobs to the city outweighed that risk. “You’ve got to take a leap of faith at some point,” he said.
The council also unanimously voted to extend through Nov. 30 a $1.6 million line of credit to Flannery Properties in connection with the office building at One Riverfront Plaza.
The city originally gave Flannery Properties the credit line in 2003 to help pay for the construction of the building. The city has extended the line several times, the most recent extension expiring on Sept. 30.
Bryant said the city expects to have the money paid in full once the building is sold. He said the building is under contract to a New Jersey-based company, but the sale was not closed by the Sept. 30 deadline, making the extension necessary. Bryant said he does not anticipate needing to extend the line past the end of November.
Because the extension requires two votes, the council will be holding a special meeting this Friday (Oct. 7). Bryant said the meeting is tentatively set for 8 a.m. in room 114 of Westbrook High School, though he said the meeting time could change based on the availability of councilors.
Check the American Journal’s Web site at www.keepmecurrent.com for an update on the meeting time.
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