Bangor City Council Regular Meeting Summary - December 22, 2025
Bangor City Council Regular Meeting Summary - December 22, 2025
The Bangor City Council convened for its regular meeting on December 22, 2025, at 7:00 PM. The session opened with a public comment period focused heavily on the city's handling of the unhoused population, the recent encampment sweep, and calls for systemic changes. Councilors then proceeded through the Consent Calendar, approved several zoning ordinance amendments, accepted multiple grants for health and emergency services, and voted on new business items including a postponed construction negotiation and policy updates regarding remote public participation.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Sonia Mallor: Expressed full support for prioritizing senior taxpayers over funding the unhoused. Stated that over 50% of taxpaying citizens are seniors and criticized the council for increasing taxes while funding unhoused individuals from other jurisdictions who pay no taxes. Argued that housing initiatives pose fraud risks to seniors and that the city fails to support needy seniors who are too proud to ask for help.
- Scott Pardy: Expressed full support for replacing the current decentralized system with a dedicated centralized "hub model" for homeless services. Cited statistics stating that only 28 of 96 individuals from Camp Hope entered permanent housing, and only two entered Theresa's Place. Argued that the current cycle of encampment cleanouts is a significant financial drain and that a hub model could reduce the $25,000 per person annually spent on emergency services.
- Katie Bryden: Expressed strong concern and opposition regarding the immediate aftermath of the recent encampment sweep. Highlighted that 45 individuals have been disconnected from case managers and medical providers. Stated that staff currently lack the authority to mobilize resources and urged the council to authorize the City Manager to create a temporary sanctioned stabilization site to prevent displacement and loss of personal belongings.
- Brett Johnson: Expressed support for the council's work over the last four years. Argued that the city must stop relying on a "patchwork" of organizations and instead build internal government capacity and streamline services. Emphasized the need to view the crisis as a regional issue rather than a municipal one.
- Andrew Laverdier: Expressed support for a resolution calling for federal government intervention. Argued that the city cannot solve the economic depression and homelessness crisis alone and advocated for a federal credit system, similar to the one used during the Great Depression, to rebuild infrastructure and manufacturing.
- Shane Boyes: Expressed frustration with the lack of action and the speed of council response despite weeks of discussion. Agreed with previous speakers that the council should empower the City Manager to act and authorized staff to utilize city resources.
- Jamie Beck: Expressed strong concern and urgency regarding the safety risks of current encampment sweeps. Cited specific statistics from previous years, including a spike in overdoses in March/April and a spike in HIV cases in January/February. Argued that the city is stuck in a "groundhog day" cycle of inaction and requested an aggressive timeline with milestones for a resolution.
- Tim Bush: Expressed concern regarding the safety of business employees at Penobscot Plaza. Stated that while he supports finding housing for the unhoused, the current situation involves criminal acts such as breaking into businesses, throwing needles, and terrorizing workers. Argued that unhoused individuals must abide by the law.
Discussion Items
- Council Order 26-049 (Constables): The council debated the amendment of this order to replace the list of appointed constables. A motion was made to amend the order by substitution, followed by a motion to pass the order as amended. Both motions were approved unanimously.
- Council Order 26-050 (Central Kitchen): A proposal to negotiate construction manager services with Sheridan Construction for the Bangor Central Kitchen Project was presented. Councilor Falloon noted the project involves demolishing an 18,167-square-foot structure and building an 18,000-square-foot facility for food production. However, a motion to postpone this item to the January 12, 2026, meeting was moved and seconded, and the item was successfully postponed.
- Order 26-060 (Remote Participation Policy): The council discussed amending the remote participation policy to reinstate public comment via remote means with added procedures to prevent disruptive behavior. The amendment was moved, seconded, and passed unanimously.
Key Outcomes
- Consent Calendar: Passed unanimously.
- Ordinance 25-296: Successfully passed (9-0) to amend the land development code, granting the city legal authority to review projects requiring stormwater law permits under delegated authority from the EPA.
- Ordinance 26-023: Successfully passed (9-0) to rezone the property at 38 Blue Hill East from Urban Service District to High Density Residential.
- Ordinance 26-024: Successfully passed (9-0) to rezone the property at 195 Thatcher Street from Industry and Service District to Urban Industry District.
- Ordinance 26-025: Successfully passed (9-0) to rezone the property at 557 Hammond Street from Contract Urban Service District to Urban Service District without contract conditions.
- Resolve 26-041: Passed, authorizing the acceptance of $243,225 in grant funding from the Cole Foundation for a community paramedicine program.
- Resolve 26-042: Passed, authorizing the acceptance of $625 from the Maine Health Access Foundation for technical assistance on community response grants.
- Resolve 26-043: Passed, authorizing the acceptance of $150,000 from the Maine Office of Behavioral Health for an overdose response program. (Councilor Beck excused during the vote).
- Special Amusement License: Approved for Bangor Motor and Corp (dba Bangor Inn and Suites) for the location at 701 Hogan Road.
- Postponement: Council Order 26-050 regarding the Bangor Central Kitchen construction manager negotiation was postponed to January 12, 2026.
- Adjournment: The meeting concluded with holiday wishes from all council members.
Meeting Transcript
Do you think? Well, I think you're right. Good evening. Welcome to the regular meeting of the Bangor City Council. It's December 22nd, 2025. It is 7 p.m. You are aware we always start our meeting with a pledge of allegiance, and I'm going to ask Katie Bryden to lead us. One nation under God, individual injustice for all. Thank you, Katie. Okay, this is the portion of the meeting set aside for general public comment related to city business that do not appear on this evening's agenda. Public comment 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 or offensive, and items that are confidential. As a reminder, topics that are considered out of order include situations that are in litigation, discussing individual employees or employee groups for which complaint or grievance procedures are in place. Personal disputes between the speaker and other private residents, matters not germane to city business, support or opposition to any candidate for political office, and personal complaints pertaining to individual employees. There is a time limit of 15 minutes at the beginning of the meeting with the ability of the chair at the conclusion of the regular business meeting to move another 15 minutes to the end of the meeting. The public comment period is for city council members to listen, not to respond or debate with persons during the public comment period. 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 not appearing on the regular agenda, you may approach the podium. Alternatively, counselors may be reached via email at counselors at Bangor Main.gov. A link to the adopted public comment policy can be found on the city's website, public comment policy. Oh, yeah. We do have a new timing uh timing device. It's over here on the wall. Um it's louder, and we're gonna have her test it in a minute so you can all hear it. We have had some people that were speaking that did not hear the timer when it went off, and it caught it caused a little bit of um discussion because their time ran longer than somebody else's. So hopefully this will help. Um give it a whirl. Can you all hear that? Okay, I'm seeing nods. Good. Okay. Um, my name is Sonia Mallor. I'm a taxpayer of the city of Bangor. I am here to speak on behalf of the seniors in our city that don't dare to speak out. Over 50% of the taxpaying citizens of Bangor are seniors at each council meeting when members of the council vote to spend money on the unhoused who don't pay taxes, and are a very small percentage of people residing Bangor. Do you ever think of the seniors who are living on Social Security or small pensions who wonder when you vote to spend money? How that group of citizens feels about the taxes going up. Most members of the council have jobs with benefits and salaries. They increase every year. Seniors may get a small increase in their income, but have to turn around and pay for Medicare increases. Maybe we can pay our taxes, but not heat our homes. Buy a medicine, pay electrical bills, or buy food. And Krieg and Economic Development want us to turn our houses into one bedroom apartments. That puts seniors at risk of fraud and crime. Bangor Housing wants seniors to sell their homes. But where will seniors live? Unhoused people with vouchers cannot attain housing as landlords won't rent to them. Look at the mess at the encampments with trash cans, et cetera, provided for them. You need to start thinking of our senior taxpayers before you vote to give more money to the unhoused. We need to stop funding the unhoused that pay no taxes in Bangor and come here from other places.
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