BELFAST — The Belfast City Council will hold its regularly scheduled public meeting Tuesday, Nov. 1, at 7 p.m. and address an agenda that includes liquor license requests, special permits, new BPD officers, the intersection of Salmond and Congress Street, and wastewater management, among other tops. 

The first item on the agenda seeks Council authorization to bury a recently deceased City employee, Robert Hills, who died Oct. 19. The request is for up to $10,000 for burial services, with funding taken from the Undesignated Fund balance. 

“Bob grew up in Belfast, attended our local schools and graduated from Belfast Area High School. He first began his service to the City in 1998. Bob served the City of Belfast as a member of our Public Works crew for over seven years. The City of Belfast will forever be in his debt for his exceptional service to the community,” Herbig’s agenda reads. 

The official authorization of a new Belfast Police Officer will also take place at the meeting. Tyler Baker will be a full-time officer once he is sworn in at the Council meeting. 

Baker graduated from Belfast Area High School in 2013, and enlisted in the army following graduation, where he served for five years. During his career in the army, Baker was promoted to sergeant and was responsible for overseeing a water operations unit. Following his service in the army, Baker returned home to Maine with his wife. The two are expecting their first child, according to the report.

A second new full time BPD officer is expected to be confirmed at Tuesday’s meeting. Ethan Fitzjurls graduated from BAHS in 2012, after which he attended the University of Southern Maine. For the last eight years, he has been employed by GAC Chemicals in Searsport. Fitzjurls currently resides in Belfast with his fiancé, “and is looking forward to making a career with the City of Belfast as a police officer,” the report reads. 

Belfast’s fire chief is requesting funding of up to $89,250 to purchase firefighter turnout gear. The majority of the department’s gear was manufactured between 1994-2011, according to the report. 

“The integrity of the material of gear this aged is incredibly compromised and in turn, less effective at ensuring the safety of our staff. Only seven sets of coats and pants have been replaced in the last ten years,” the agenda item reads.

It is noted that much of BFD’s turnout gear “met its limitations,” during the devastating Penobscot McCrum fire, which burned the processing plant to the foundation. 

The items needed by the department include: twenty sets of coats and pants with suspenders, 35 helmets and pairs of boots, all of which must be custom fit to ensure proper wear. 

A presentation on the proposed amendments to the City Code of Ordinance, Chapter 58, Traffic and Vehicles will take place at the Council meeting. 

According to Herbig’s report, residents on Congress Street have “shared their concerns regarding the rate of speeding that occurs on this City street. This matter became a focal point during the listening sessions and permitting process for the housing developments on Wight Street and 115 Congress Street.”

An ordinance amendment making the intersection of Congress and Salmond Street a three-way stop was discussed during the Sept. 20 Council meeting. A first reading of the amendment was read at the Oct. 4 Council meeting. 

A public hearing on the proposed amendment will immediately follow, after which a second reading will take place. 

The Council will also hear a request from Parks and Recreation Director Norm Poirier to expend up to $5,000 for a replacement filter for the City pool. The price quoted for the filter, including installation is quoted as $459. 

The presentation and first reading of an “order pertaining to the issuance by the City of Belfast to a lender of general obligation bonds and bond anticipation notes in amounts not to exceed $4,245,000

The funds will be used for the purpose of “financing all or a portion of the costs associated with acquisition, design construction, renovation, rehabilitation, upgrading and equipping any or all improvements to the wastewater collection and transmission of the City, including in or about Vine Street, Waldo Avenue, Miller Street, Field Street and River Avenue in the City and (2) facilities, equipment or both functionally related and subordinate to the foregoing.”

A copy of the Council Order regarding the funds is included in the agenda an is available to read. 

A request by the Harbor Walk and Rail Trail Committee to authorize up to $300 to purchase and install signage and up to $5,000 for tree plantings will also be heard by the Council. 

For more information and a complete agenda, the official agenda is available to view.

Belfast City Council meets on the first and third Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m. Meetings can be streamed on the City of Belfast website. They also air live on BEL TV and on Belfast Community Radio at WBFY 100.9. 

Comments can also be submitted by emailing the Council during the meeting. Comments will be presented to the Council.

Information and documents related to this meeting are available on the City’s website. 

Erica Thoms can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com