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Record of Proceedings

Biddeford City Council Meeting - November 18, 2025

City Council & Committees — Tuesday, November 18, 2025
BodyBiddeford, Maine
SessionCity Council & Committees
DateTuesday, November 18, 2025
StatusFILED
Video Record
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Speaker numbers apply only to this recording.

Unassigned speaker

2:15

All right,

Speaker 1

2:15

everybody looks like the gang's all here, so I'll call the uh council meeting of November eighteenth, twenty twenty five to order.

2:22

Clerk Patterson, would you call the roll?

Speaker 2

2:24

Council President LaFountain.

2:26

Councillor Lassard.

2:28

Counselor St.

2:29

Sear.

2:29

Counselor Emheiser.

2:32

Counselor Beauprey.

2:37

Counselor Downey.

Speaker 1

2:41

Very good.

2:41

Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.

3:30

If our uh trustee Councillor Bellanger could make a note.

5:08

Surprise you by getting there so quickly.

Unassigned speaker

5:34

On my honor, I look at my best.

Speaker 1

6:02

I'll note that this presentation is in the uh materials too.

6:08

That looks encouraging.

6:15

Will

Unassigned speaker

6:16

you thank you very much, Mayor, and thank you.

Speaker 3

6:21

Is it now?

6:22

Good.

6:23

Thank you very much, Mayor.

6:24

And thank you, Council, for uh having us tonight to report on the Sustainability Commission.

6:28

Uh my name is Will Katitsky.

6:30

I'm the chair of the Sustainability Commission.

6:32

Uh, and it's really a pleasure to be here tonight to tell you about what we've been doing in the past year, and we're very much looking forward to your feedback on uh what we can accomplish going forward.

6:42

Uh so the primary uh mission of the Sustainability Commission is to work on reducing our greenhouse gas emissions.

6:49

That's critical for a number of reasons, but primarily it's for the health of our citizens of Biddeford.

6:54

Not only in terms of uh local uh pollution, local health of our environment ecosystems, uh, and also uh you know focused on reducing global climate change and the impacts that has on our community.

7:06

Our focus is on both on adaptation uh and mitigation of climate change, uh, both of which are important for the bigger picture, our bigger picture goals in uh improving the health of our community.

7:18

Uh it's my honor to be joined by uh several commissioners that are here tonight, as well as many that are not.

7:25

Patrick Conlin is here, uh Brad Crickard is not, uh Jeff Goldsmith, Joao Grandba, Michaela Greenwald, Beverly Thorpe, and Max Zakyan.

7:34

Oh, Jeff is here as well.

7:36

Uh these these members are um all volunteers and they worked really hard uh on the Sustainability Commission.

7:43

It's really a joy to work with

Unassigned speaker

7:44

them.

Speaker 3

7:49

Uh you all passed a uh ordinance in October of 2022 on this uh to endorse this race to zero as part of ICLE local governments for sustainability.

8:01

Uh and as part of that, we said that we would reduce our emissions by 62.6% by 2030, below the 2019 levels, uh, and that we would reach towards zero net zero emissions by 2050.

8:14

Uh I am not pleased to support to report that we're going the wrong direction.

8:18

Uh so if you look from 2019 to 2023, our emissions are up from 240,000 uh metric tons to 258,000 metric tons, and we need to be at 150,000 metric tons by the end of the decade, uh, which is not probably not realistic, uh not where we are currently headed.

8:39

Uh to give you a sense of what makes up our emissions.

8:43

It's about half transportation right now.

8:45

So half of the emissions in the city just come from cars moving around.

8:49

Uh so that would mean you know, a hundred percent would need to transition to zero electric zero emissions vehicles uh by the end of the decade, which is which is not gonna happen.

8:58

Uh about a quarter is from residential energy use, a quarter is from commercial energy use, and then there's a bunch of other uses that are mixed in.

9:08

But those are the big three.

9:09

Half transportation, half energy use, basically.

9:17

We uh wrote a climate action plan that uh involved extensive public engagement, feedback from you all, uh, and we adopted that in October of 2023.

9:27

Uh the climate action plan is consists of 48 actions across five categories, which I've listed

Unassigned speaker

9:34

here.

Speaker 3

9:36

Those uh categories are buildings and energy, transportation and infrastructure, land use and natural environment, health safety and well-being, and leadership and support.

9:46

And within each of these categories, pretty much anything that you can think of to do with sustainability is embedded in these categories.

Unassigned speaker

9:53

And so uh it really enables us to address this in a um uh uh you know uh as a whole and addressing many of the problems that work across our city.

Speaker 3

10:06

We've been very busy this past year uh with many different things.

10:10

So we we've just recently been established uh as a as a full commission uh rather than an ad hoc.

10:16

Um in leadership and support, uh one of the things we immediately did was submitted a grant to help support school curricula on climate change to the CSCI.

10:27

That was unfortunately uh not awarded.

10:30

Uh we also conducted our second greenhouse gas emissions inventory this summer.

10:35

Uh Brad working with a student did that uh and so we have a municipal uh we have uh the greenhouse gas inventory that I just showed you for 2023 now as part of that work.

10:47

We have drafted a solar ordinance that's uh currently in review in policy, and hopefully we can there were some questions on that, and hopefully we can get that moving again soon to allow uh solar as a permitted land use in the city.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Procedural███████████████████████████████████████39%
Sustainability Initiatives████████████12%
Parks and Recreation██████████10%
Personnel Matters██████████10%
Public Engagement████████8%
Fire Prevention██████6%
Public Procurement██████6%
Active Transportation███3%
Community Engagement███3%
Summary of Proceedings

Biddeford City Council Meeting – November 18, 2025

The Biddeford City Council met on November 18, 2025, at 6:00 PM in City Hall Council Chambers and via Zoom. The meeting included a public hearing on a liquor license, a presentation from the Sustainability Commission, consideration of a limited parking ordinance on Lester B. Orcutt Boulevard, and votes on several orders including city hall hours and a code of ethics amendment. The council also tabled a fire ambulance purchase to a future meeting and entered executive session for personnel, real estate, and labor negotiations.

Public Hearing & Liquor License Consideration

  • 4.a The Velvet Lounge Liquor License: The public hearing was opened at 6:02 PM and closed at 6:03 PM with no public comments. The council then unanimously approved the liquor license (motion by Councilor Belanger, second by Councilor Lessard).

Presentation

  • 6.a Sustainability Commission Report to Council: Commission Chair Will Katitsky presented the commission's work, noting that greenhouse gas emissions rose from 240,000 metric tons in 2019 to 258,000 metric tons in 2023, with transportation accounting for about 49% of emissions. The goal of 62.6% reduction by 2030 (to 150,000 metric tons) is not on track. Commissioner Patrick Conlin highlighted bike initiatives including a bike rack inventory map and planned bike-ped plan. Councilors discussed the need for cost-benefit analysis and focused on local actions like solar and landscaping ordinances. The commission reported that a large federal grant for climate work was not awarded and was later rescinded for others.

Appointments

  • 7.a 2025.162 Approval/Mayoral Appointments to Committees—Citizen: The council unanimously approved the appointments of Catherine Mayo to the Historic Preservation Commission and Emily McAuley as a student representative to the Sustainability Commission.

Public Comments (First Period)

  • Shelley McNeil (1 Bear Run Road) thanked outgoing councilors, especially Councilor Emheiser of Ward 1, for their service.

Consideration of Minutes

  • 9.a Council Minutes 11-6-25: Approved unanimously.

Second Reading

  • 10.a 2025.159 Limited Parking Lester B. Orcutt Blvd.: The order proposed restricting parking on 130 feet of the street (approx. 6-7 spots) for safety. Councilor Lessard moved to amend the order to require the city to remove all rocks and barriers in the right-of-way for the first 1,000 feet from Ocean Avenue, but after discussion with the Public Works Director, the amendment was withdrawn. Councilors debated access, safety, and alternative parking. Councilor Belanger suggested creating a map of available parking. The order passed 5-4 (yeas: St. Cyr, Beaupre, Whiting, Emhiser, Belanger; nays: LaFountain, Lessard, Gross, Doughty). The city manager and public works director will develop a public engagement plan for right-of-way enforcement.

Orders of the Day

  • 11.a 2025.163 Approval Police Department Contract: Moved to a future meeting.
  • 11.b 2025.155 Approval of Change to City Hall Hours: The proposal to set consistent hours of 7:30 AM to 4:30 PM was debated. Several citizens (Abigail Woods, Ward 2; Max Zakyan) supported considering staff needs and flexibility. Councilors expressed concerns about reduced access for working residents. The motion failed 0-9, with councilors noting the issue should be taken up by the next council with more public input. Councilor Beaupre recommended defeating rather than tabling to allow a fresh start.
  • 11.c 2025.161 Approval/Code of Ordinances, Ch. 2, Art 1, Sec. 2-3 Code of Ethics: The policy committee's revisions introduced a graduated disciplinary process for ethics violations. Multiple amendments were adopted. Councilor Lessard's amendment struck the phrase "shall listen to all citizens" from the introduction. Councilor Whiting's amendments added "alleged" to violation language, added "as elected or appointed officials" after recognition of authority, replaced "making decisions" with "stating a position in any quasi-judicial setting," and clarified language about rules and regulations. All amendments passed (most unanimously, with one amendment passing 8-1). The ordinance as amended passed unanimously.
  • 11.d 2025.146 Approval To Sign Contract To Place The Order To Purchase A New Fire Department Tower Truck: No motion was made or seconded; the item was not discussed.
  • 11.e 2025.145 Approval To Sign Contract To Place The Order To Purchase A New Fire Department Ambulance: Fire Chief Best explained the need due to long lead times (30-36 months) and a 2013 truck with 150,000 miles. Several citizens (Brad Cody, Ken Griffin, Sam Picker) questioned the timing, funding, and lack of detailed cost information. Councilors expressed reluctance to commit the next council to a large expense. Councilor Belanger moved to table to the first meeting after inauguration (December 16, 2025). The motion passed unanimously.
  • 11.f 2025.164 Approval/Appoint Finance Director as Treasurer for City: Unanimously approved after confirming Director Mathern is already bonded.

Public Comments (Second Period)

  • Abigail Woods (Ward 2) thanked the outgoing council. Ken Griffin (Ward 7) suggested that the city install survey stakes to mark right-of-way boundaries before clearing rocks on Lester B. Orcutt Boulevard.

City Manager Report

  • City Manager Dever thanked the council for their service and support and wished everyone a happy Thanksgiving.

Committee Updates

  • Council President LaFountain announced cancellation of the December CIP meeting and other committee meetings lacking a quorum between the Dec. 2 inauguration and Dec. 16 meeting.

Council President & Mayor Remarks

  • Council President LaFountain and Mayor Grohman thanked the council for their work over the past two years. Mayor Grohman expressed optimism for the future.

Executive Session

  • The council entered executive session at 8:12 PM under 1 M.R.S. § 405(6)(a) (Personnel Matters), (c) (Real Estate Matters), and (d) (Labor Negotiations). They exited at 9:37 PM. All votes to enter and exit were unanimous. No action was taken following executive session.

Key Outcomes

  • Approved: Velvet Lounge liquor license, mayoral appointments, code of ethics (as amended), appointment of finance director as treasurer, and limited parking on Lester B. Orcutt Blvd. (5-4).
  • Defeated: Change to City Hall hours (0-9).
  • Tabled: Fire department ambulance purchase to December 16, 2025 meeting (unanimous).
  • No Action: Fire tower truck purchase (no motion).
  • Directives: City manager and public works to develop a plan for public engagement and right-of-way enforcement on Lester B. Orcutt Blvd.; future council to address city hall hours and ambulance purchase.

The meeting adjourned at 9:37 PM.

Meeting Transcript

All right, everybody looks like the gang's all here, so I'll call the uh council meeting of November eighteenth, twenty twenty five to order. Clerk Patterson, would you call the roll? Council President LaFountain. Councillor Lassard. Counselor St. Sear. Counselor Emheiser. Counselor Beauprey. Counselor Downey. Very good. Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. If our uh trustee Councillor Bellanger could make a note. Surprise you by getting there so quickly. On my honor, I look at my best. I'll note that this presentation is in the uh materials too. That looks encouraging. Will you thank you very much, Mayor, and thank you. Is it now? Good. Thank you very much, Mayor. And thank you, Council, for uh having us tonight to report on the Sustainability Commission. Uh my name is Will Katitsky. I'm the chair of the Sustainability Commission. Uh, and it's really a pleasure to be here tonight to tell you about what we've been doing in the past year, and we're very much looking forward to your feedback on uh what we can accomplish going forward. Uh so the primary uh mission of the Sustainability Commission is to work on reducing our greenhouse gas emissions. That's critical for a number of reasons, but primarily it's for the health of our citizens of Biddeford. Not only in terms of uh local uh pollution, local health of our environment ecosystems, uh, and also uh you know focused on reducing global climate change and the impacts that has on our community. Our focus is on both on adaptation uh and mitigation of climate change, uh, both of which are important for the bigger picture, our bigger picture goals in uh improving the health of our community. Uh it's my honor to be joined by uh several commissioners that are here tonight, as well as many that are not. Patrick Conlin is here, uh Brad Crickard is not, uh Jeff Goldsmith, Joao Grandba, Michaela Greenwald, Beverly Thorpe, and Max Zakyan. Oh, Jeff is here as well. Uh these these members are um all volunteers and they worked really hard uh on the Sustainability Commission. It's really a joy to work with them. Uh you all passed a uh ordinance in October of 2022 on this uh to endorse this race to zero as part of ICLE local governments for sustainability. Uh and as part of that, we said that we would reduce our emissions by 62.6% by 2030, below the 2019 levels, uh, and that we would reach towards zero net zero emissions by 2050. Uh I am not pleased to support to report that we're going the wrong direction. Uh so if you look from 2019 to 2023, our emissions are up from 240,000 uh metric tons to 258,000 metric tons, and we need to be at 150,000 metric tons by the end of the decade, uh, which is not probably not realistic, uh not where we are currently headed. Uh to give you a sense of what makes up our emissions. It's about half transportation right now. So half of the emissions in the city just come from cars moving around. Uh so that would mean you know, a hundred percent would need to transition to zero electric zero emissions vehicles uh by the end of the decade, which is which is not gonna happen. Uh about a quarter is from residential energy use, a quarter is from commercial energy use, and then there's a bunch of other uses that are mixed in. But those are the big three. Half transportation, half energy use, basically. We uh wrote a climate action plan that uh involved extensive public engagement, feedback from you all, uh, and we adopted that in October of 2023. Uh the climate action plan is consists of 48 actions across five categories, which I've listed here.

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