Bangor City Council Regular Meeting - August 25, 2025
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Bangor City Council Regular Meeting - August 25, 2025
The Bangor City Council met on Monday, August 25, 2025, at 7 p.m. The meeting included a pledge of allegiance led by Parks and Rec Director Tracy Blett, public comment periods, approval of a consent agenda, referral of two ordinances, and a censure vote against Councilor Joe Leonard. The meeting concluded with additional public comment and councilor closing remarks.
Consent Calendar
- Approved minutes of the August 11, 2025, City Council meeting and the August 18, 2025, Finance Committee meeting.
- Approved order 25-253 authorizing the city manager to apply for a Federal Aviation Administration airport terminal program grant not to exceed $22 million.
- Approved order 25-254 authorizing a contract with Sargent Corporation for Bangor International Airport stormwater system maintenance in the amount of $382,700.
- Approved resolve 25-255 ratifying staff action to apply for a Maine Department of Transportation discretionary transit funds competitive grant for FY 2026 in the amount of $468,682.
Public Comments & Testimony
Initial Public Comment (items not on the agenda):
- A speaker (name not given) discussed magnetic field lines and criticized universities and NASA.
- Leslie Brigham, a Bangor resident, opposed the establishment of another recovery home at 168 Cedar Street, stating that approximately eight drug and alcohol recovery centers are already within close proximity. She noted that children's school pickup is at Fifth and Cedar, directly across from the address. She argued that the property was sold for $150,000 (below market) and that a cap on recovery homes in the area is needed. She expressed support for recovery homes in general but not in an area already saturated.
- Steve Farron, owner of 198 Broadway, described his prolonged effort to obtain a certificate of appropriateness for replacing a slate roof with slate facsimile. He accused Councilor Wayne Meller of lying to the Board of Appeals about historic preservation rules and of improper conduct at the August 14 Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) meeting. He stated that HPC Commissioner Matthew White Camp, a part owner of Blackstone Restoration, should have recused himself due to a conflict of interest. He also noted that Commissioner Rebecca Krupke had missed six of ten HPC meetings since October 2024, which affected the vote requirement (four affirmative votes needed).
- Rick Violet, a general contractor and shareholder in a property in the historic district, stated that he and other property owners are proposing amendments to the historic preservation ordinance. He noted that cost does matter, citing a slate roof replacement estimate of $1.225 million for an assessed property of about $500,000.
Public Comment on the Censure Order (25-258):
- Brian Ray, a Bangor resident, criticized the finance director's delays in completing the 2024 audit and questioned the motivation behind the censure, referencing leaked text messages among councilors.
- A former city council member supported the censure, stating that previous ethical discussions did not cost the city $100,000 (referring to severance and investigative fees).
- Another speaker defended Councilor Leonard, arguing that his questions about the audit were reasonable and that the censure would discourage transparency.
- Scott Party, a Bangor citizen, stated that Councilor Leonard's frustration was born of accountability and that sanctioning him sends a chilling message.
- An independent observer questioned why the employee involved was not identified and whether they would have an opportunity to speak.
- A speaker applauded Councilor Leonard for asking hard questions but disapproved of his methods.
- Wendy Dana, a taxpayer and citizen, expressed concern about the lack of answers and criticized the council for not being strong.
Public Comment After Business Meeting (30-minute period):
- Speaker Blender (a lawyer) raised a compliance issue regarding Tyler v. Hennepin County and Maine law (36 MRS 943C) requiring municipalities to return surplus equity from tax-acquired properties, and urged caution against excluding elected councilors from votes.
- Jacob Leonard (agent of family restaurant, lawyer) echoed the same compliance issue.
- Hillary Simmons, a Bangor resident, reminded the council and taxpayers that elections are coming and that voters should choose representatives who follow through.
- Adam Baker, a Bangor resident, thanked Councilor Leonard for his work on homelessness and criticized the censure.
- A speaker thanked Parks and Rec for the men's over-40 softball league and mentioned the five-mile road race.
Discussion Items
Censure Order 25-258 (Councilor Joe Leonard):
- Councilor Fournier moved the order, which censures Councilor Leonard for inappropriate public remarks made at the May 7, 2025, budget workshop, allegedly violating an employee's right to confidentiality under state law and acting outside his authority as a city councilor.
- Councilor Beck raised a point of order, arguing that the censure was not preceded by a proper hearing as required by the city's Code of Ethics (Chapter 33, Section 3). The city solicitor responded that the hearing was occurring at that moment. Councilor Beck appealed the chair's ruling, and the council voted 6-3 to proceed (Beck, Leonard, Mallor voted no; Dean, Fish, Fournier, Haas, Trumbull, Pelletier voted yes).
- After public comment, Councilor Beck moved to postpone the hearing to September 8, 2025, citing lack of proper notice and a conflict of interest. The motion failed 3-6 (Beck, Leonard, Mallor voted yes; all others voted no).
- Councilor Leonard was given an opportunity to speak. He apologized for his bombastic tone but did not apologize for the substance of his statements. He claimed his freedom of speech and due process were violated and announced he had filed an ethics investigation request against the council for alleged violations of Maine's public meeting law (MRS 403) regarding text messages. He was then ruled out of order and removed from the chamber after continuing to speak.
- Council members (Trumbull, Fish, and others) expressed that the censure was about protecting employee rights and following state law, not about the merits of Councilor Leonard's questions.
Key Outcomes
- Censure Vote: The council voted 6-2 to approve the censure of Councilor Joe Leonard. Councilor Leonard was not permitted to vote on the order. Councilor Beck and Councilor Mallor voted no; Councilor Leonard's vote was not counted. The censure was passed as Order 25-258.
- Consent Agenda: Approved unanimously.
- Ordinance Referrals: Two ordinances (25-256 and 25-257) were referred to committee for first reading.
- Postponement Motion: Failed 3-6.
- Next Steps: The council will continue to address historic preservation ordinance amendments and other business at future meetings. The censure is now in effect.
Meeting Transcript
Thank you. Good evening and welcome. This is a regular meeting of the Bangor City Council. Today is Monday, August 25th, 2025, and it is 7 p.m. We begin our meetings with the Pledge of Allegiance. I would like to ask Parks and Rec Director Tracy Blett to lead us in the pledge. Thank you. This is the portion of the meeting set aside for general public comment related to city business that does not appear on this evening's agenda. Public comment, whether in person or via Zoom requires a person to state your name and whether you are a resident of Bangor. The city council has adopted a public comment policy that we will adhere to that governs topics, comments considered out of order, offensive or confidential, and a time limit of 15 minutes at the beginning of the meeting with the ability of the chair to reopen public comment at the conclusion of the regular business meeting. Each person is limited to three minutes during the public comment period. The public comment period is intended for city council members to listen, not to respond to or debate with members of the public, although we may ask questions. If you do not live in Bangor or own property in Bangor, please allow those who do to have the opportunity to speak first. If you'd like to offer comment on any item related to city business that does not appear on the regular agenda, you may approach the podium. On Zoom, the public can be recognized to speak by utilizing the hand raise function or on the phone by pressing star nine. And people should know the field lines of the magnetic field daily on Earth just as they do the clock. And we need to put research funding into those employees administrators at the universities, the scientists getting paid, and with tenure should know how many field lines every day there are in the magnetic field in rotation on planet Earth. Nobody on the council knows. Thank you. And you know that if you know and have mapped the magnetic field lines of the earth. They're not identical, but it's an awesome lesson. And our universities are failing, our scientists are failing because they're not in a not even allowing that in a debate venue format in the United States of America. It's ridiculous. And they have retaliated again in 2014 up to the present after I got a master's of public administration degree. I don't care about that. I care that we get the information about the science and the math out to the people who need it. We've known nobody teaches us at home or in schools, NASA knows best. Nobody teaches mother knows best, right? Nobody says NASA knows best. We shouldn't have a department and administration, a spy agency like that, global and domestic, just to allow them to get away with health care costs, way ballooning beyond recognition by the media. It's not the health care costs that are a problem. They are a problem, but we have to face the rain with people who aren't getting their jobs done. Thank you. Thank you. Hi, I'm Leslie Brigham. I'm a resident of Bangor, Maine. And I'm here representing a group of other residents within my area where I live. I prepared some documents for you guys to take a look at. Okay, so members of the city council. Already approximately eight drug and alcohol recovery centers are within close proximity to this address. In addition, children's pickup for school is at fifth and cedar, directly across from 168 Cedar Street, which just was just purchased to be turned into yet another recovery home. So there will be a total of nine recovery homes within close proximity. In an area where families are fixing up their homes, 168 Cedars sold for only 150,000, which is way below market. It's predatorily priced below other properties in the immediate area. For their specific reasons, the former owner owners sold below cost, and we don't know why that happened. Don't you agree with us that there should be a cap on the number of recovery places within a single area? Remember, Fifth Street is an area where people are adding significant value to their homes. It's an area where recovery house doesn't belong, where there are already too many recovery houses. To tell the truth, we aren't opposed to recovery houses, but when they try to locate in an area where people are greatly improving their properties, have children playing and going to school with their friends, and are building the values of their homes. We are opposed to another recovery house in an area that is already saturated with them.
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