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OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD

Record of Proceedings

Biddeford City Council Regular Meeting - June 16, 2026

City Council & Committees — Tuesday, June 16, 2026

BodyBiddeford, Maine

SessionCity Council & Committees

DateTuesday, June 16, 2026

StatusFILED

Video Record

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Transcript — Verbatim

Speaker numbers apply only to this recording.

Speaker 1

0:00

Good evening.

0:01

I will call the June 16th, 2026 City Council meeting to order.

0:05

It's great to see a good group of people here.

0:07

We've got a lot of important items on tonight's agenda.

0:09

Before we begin, I wanted to turn it over to the city manager for a brief announcement on our public access.

Speaker 2

0:14

Yes, thank you, Mr.

0:15

Mayor.

0:16

For those of you who might have uh folks at home looking to tune in, I just want to let you know that our streaming function from our website is down, unfortunately.

0:24

Community members can still engage and join using the link from the agenda.

0:30

So if you've got anybody you're texting at home, just let them know to use that link from the agenda.

0:35

Um our public access is also streaming, so that is another way to watch um the meeting tonight.

0:40

So I just wanted to let everyone know

Unassigned speaker

0:42

that.

Speaker 1

0:43

Thank you.

0:43

And with that, please stand for

Speaker 3

0:45

the Pledge of Allegiance.

1:05

In terms of our roll

Speaker 1

1:06

call tonight, uh, Councilor Boston is online.

1:09

Counselor Kurtz and Councilor Cody are excused.

Unassigned speaker

1:15

Speaker 1

1:15

we'll need a voice vote from Councillor Boston, and we'll call on you as the we go through the voting rolls.

1:21

In terms of adjustments to the agenda, there is one this evening.

1:24

I would like to call up our interim city clerk Lisa Ward for an update on elections.

1:29

Thank you, Lisa.

Speaker 3

1:36

Thank

Speaker 4

1:36

you.

1:37

I I just want to um start by saying it was um it was a pleasure to work on the election with um with the staff and uh election volunteers in Biddeford.

1:50

Everybody was really wonderful, and I had the opportunity today to um talk to a few different people about how hard all of those people worked.

1:59

It was amazing to see it all come together.

2:02

Um it's really interesting that the huge number of people we had voting both absentee and in person.

2:12

And um we had over 4,000 voters.

2:17

Let's see, 4,253 ballots were cast, which is a huge difference from uh any recent uh June elections.

2:27

And it um it competes with some November elections.

2:32

So everything came together very well.

2:35

It was very well attended.

2:37

The public was incredibly kind to the staff who were working so hard.

2:45

It was a very long day, a very hot day.

2:48

Um Mayor LaFountain, thank you for introducing us to the chefs at the high school who provided us with lunch, and it was uh a welcome respite, not only for the lunch, but for the um cool break from the hot gymnasium.

3:08

Um I wanted to also give you an update.

3:11

Um it came to my attention this morning um a little before noon that um the secretary state's office uh needed additional information from us.

3:22

And I spoke with a representative at the Secretary of State's office personally right away.

3:29

Unassigned speaker

3:31

Speaker 4

3:31

give you a little insight into how the process works.

3:35

Um, I'm gonna backtrack a little bit and then come back to that.

3:39

Um after the polls close and we are ready to um end the election day, the warden and the city clerk um work together to print out the uh results information on tapes.

3:59

And um we print a couple of actually

Unassigned speaker

4:03

Speaker 4

4:03

think this year we printed out three.

4:05

Usually we do two copies of the results, their complete results.

4:12

We then store the memory sticks in packaging and put that with the ballots.

4:22

Um those ballots are secured for travel back to City Hall with me and my warden.

4:32

And then the police escort waits while we transfer all of those cast ballots along with the printed out tapes and the thumb drives into our vault.

4:46

And if you haven't seen our vault, we have two vaults, uh, which was really good this year with all that election material.

Unassigned speaker

4:53

Um access to each vault is um only for authorized personnel.

Speaker 4

5:00

That means you must be sworn in by me, the clerk.

5:06

The vaults are locked inside a locked office inside City Hall.

5:14

Then I prepare the preliminary or unofficial results that are posted.

5:21

After the election, the warden and I meet and we review the ROVC, which is the return of votes cast.

5:32

We review that to make sure that all the ballots cast are accounted for.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting

Engineering And Infrastructure████████████████16%

Procedural██████████████14%

Transportation Safety███████████11%

Community Development Block Grants███████████11%

Community Engagement█████████9%

Environmental Protection████████8%

Public Engagement███████7%

Elections████4%

Personnel Matters████4%

Summary of Proceedings

Biddeford City Council Regular Meeting - June 16, 2026

The Biddeford City Council held a lengthy meeting on Tuesday, June 16, 2026, beginning at 6:00 PM in City Hall Council Chambers. The streaming function on the city website was down, requiring the public to use the Teams link or Biddeford Public Access. The agenda included the appointment of an Interim City Manager, presentations on the Elm Street project and Lester B. Orcutt Boulevard right-of-way survey, the second public hearing and subsequent approval of the Comprehensive Plan with amendments, and numerous FY27 budget approvals. Significant public comment was heard on coastal access, development plans, and the comprehensive plan. The meeting extended past 10:00 PM and adjourned after an Executive Session.

Appointments & Proclamations

Juneteenth Proclamation: Mayor LaFountain read a proclamation recognizing June 19, 2026 as Juneteenth in Biddeford, highlighting the ongoing struggle for equity, equality, and justice.
Interim City Manager: Cornell Knight was unanimously appointed as Interim City Manager. His contract is set at $115 per hour for roughly 30 hours per week, with no health insurance or retirement contributions, annualizing to approximately $179,000. He will work in-person Tuesday through Thursday.
City Solicitor Reappointment: Harry B. Center, II of Woodman Edmands was unanimously reappointed as City Solicitor for a one-year term coinciding with the FY27 budget.
Charter Review Commission: Elise Oliver (Ward 1) and Stephen Ellis (Ward 6) were confirmed to the Charter Review Commission.

Public Comments & Testimony

Election Update: Interim City Clerk Lisa Ward reported 4,253 ballots were cast in the primary election, a sharp increase from 840 in 2025. She detailed the strict chain-of-custody process and a minor human error where a state thumb drive was swapped with a local one, which was immediately corrected with the Secretary of State's office. She was thanked for her work.
Comprehensive Plan Public Hearing:
- Lauren McCready (Ward 2) urged the council to move the Thatcher Brook area from a "growth" to a "transitional" designation, citing state environmental review laws like delegated authority and the need for smart growth.
- Norm Labby (Ward 2) requested the removal or correction of a 15-foot width reference for the Town Landing road, presenting historical deeds showing it was laid out as a 49.5-foot road in 1829.
- Richard Rames (Ward 3) called for a cost-of-community-services study and highlighted the limitations of narrow, colonial-era roads in eastern Biddeford.
1st Public Addressing (General, Elm Street, Lester B. Orcutt):
- Multiple residents of Lester B. Orcutt Boulevard expressed fears about losing their landscaped yards to expanded parking and cited increasing safety hazards from crowding and litter. Peter McFeeders (Ward 1) and John Conroy (Ward 1) advocated for resident-only parking permits to manage out-of-state tourist demand.
- Ethan McCorse (Ward 3) opposed the Elm Street plan, arguing the signalization would worsen traffic, and offered alternatives.
- Drew Guild (Ward 7) heavily criticized the Elm Street project for prioritizing vehicle mobility over pedestrians and cyclists, calling it a missed opportunity.
- Sterling Roop (Ward 7) linked parking and access issues to the need for better bike/pedestrian infrastructure and called for enforcement of the judicial center's contract zone.
2nd Public Addressing:
- Rocky Angers (Ward 6) publicly condemned a "Biddeford Buzz" social media post for what he perceived as disrespectful treatment of his long record of public service.

Discussion Items

Elm Street Project (Maine DOT): Ernie Martin, Sean Davis, and Tom Erico presented the plan for Route 1/Elm Street. The scope includes a center turning lane, new signals at Upper Falls/Diamond and Lincoln (a high-crash location), signal removal at Spruce Street, and converting Pearl Street to one-way. Shared-use sharrows were included for bikes, but not dedicated bike lanes. Construction will occur primarily at night, starting spring 2027. Council questioned signal spacing, pedestrian crosswalk lengths, and impacts on Pine Street traffic.
Lester B. Orcutt Boulevard ROW Survey: City Engineer Craig Checkin presented a boundary survey showing the city's right-of-way is approximately 50 feet wide with a 22-23 foot road, leaving 10-18 feet on either side. Councilors expressed surprise at the expanse of city-owned land now occupied by private landscaping. A consensus formed to hold a public workshop to explore options for parking, pedestrian safety, and public access without cutting mature trees.
Comprehensive Plan Chapters: SMPDC's Reagan Young presented the final chapters for approval. Intensive debate centered on the Future Land Use Map, specifically the classification of two undeveloped parcels at the end of Barrow Road and the Town Landing road width.
Council Rules Amendments: An amendment requiring a 2/3 supermajority to amend the city budget on the floor was debated. A separate amendment regarding voting procedures for extending meetings during Executive Session was discussed.

Key Outcomes

Comprehensive Plan Approved (6-1): The final chapters of the Comprehensive Plan were approved, sending them to a second reading on June 29. Two amendments were adopted: 1) The 15-foot width reference for the Town Landing was removed. 2) Two parcels at the end of Barrow Road were re-designated from "Growth" (suburban residential) to "Rural Farm" on the Future Land Use Map. Councilor Lessard was the sole dissenting vote.
Budget Supermajority Rule Fails: The proposed Council rule requiring a 2/3 supermajority to amend the budget at first or second reading failed to pass.
Executive Session Rule Tabled: An amendment to Council rules on Executive Session extension votes was tabled for 30 days to refine the language.
Search Firm Selected: Garish Municipal Consulting LLC was unanimously selected to lead the permanent City Manager search.
UNE Permit Extension Authorized: Council unanimously authorized the City Solicitor to represent the city at the July 2 Saco River Corridor Commission meeting to demand a definitive ruling on the 250-foot setback from the river.
River Jam Approved: A special event permit for River Jam on August 15 was unanimously approved.
Business Impact Fee Ordinance: Pulled from the agenda for revisions due to legal issues.
Enterprise Funds Approved: Approved Airport, Ambulance, Recreation, Mooring, Pool Beach, and Public Access funds (all unanimous). The Sewer Operations Fund was approved on a 6-1 vote, with Councilor Lessard opposed.
Workshop Scheduled: A public workshop on Lester B. Orcutt Boulevard parking and right-of-way uses will be scheduled for late summer.

Meeting Transcript

Good evening. I will call the June 16th, 2026 City Council meeting to order. It's great to see a good group of people here. We've got a lot of important items on tonight's agenda. Before we begin, I wanted to turn it over to the city manager for a brief announcement on our public access. Yes, thank you, Mr. Mayor. For those of you who might have uh folks at home looking to tune in, I just want to let you know that our streaming function from our website is down, unfortunately. Community members can still engage and join using the link from the agenda. So if you've got anybody you're texting at home, just let them know to use that link from the agenda. Um our public access is also streaming, so that is another way to watch um the meeting tonight. So I just wanted to let everyone know that. Thank you. And with that, please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. In terms of our roll call tonight, uh, Councilor Boston is online. Counselor Kurtz and Councilor Cody are excused. So we'll need a voice vote from Councillor Boston, and we'll call on you as the we go through the voting rolls. In terms of adjustments to the agenda, there is one this evening. I would like to call up our interim city clerk Lisa Ward for an update on elections. Thank you, Lisa. Thank you. I I just want to um start by saying it was um it was a pleasure to work on the election with um with the staff and uh election volunteers in Biddeford. Everybody was really wonderful, and I had the opportunity today to um talk to a few different people about how hard all of those people worked. It was amazing to see it all come together. Um it's really interesting that the huge number of people we had voting both absentee and in person. And um we had over 4,000 voters. Let's see, 4,253 ballots were cast, which is a huge difference from uh any recent uh June elections. And it um it competes with some November elections. So everything came together very well. It was very well attended. The public was incredibly kind to the staff who were working so hard. It was a very long day, a very hot day. Um Mayor LaFountain, thank you for introducing us to the chefs at the high school who provided us with lunch, and it was uh a welcome respite, not only for the lunch, but for the um cool break from the hot gymnasium. Um I wanted to also give you an update. Um it came to my attention this morning um a little before noon that um the secretary state's office uh needed additional information from us. And I spoke with a representative at the Secretary of State's office personally right away. Um to give you a little insight into how the process works. Um, I'm gonna backtrack a little bit and then come back to that. Um after the polls close and we are ready to um end the election day, the warden and the city clerk um work together to print out the uh results information on tapes. And um we print a couple of actually I think this year we printed out three. Usually we do two copies of the results, their complete results.

SUMMARIZED BY OPENPUBLICA AI

TRANSCRIPT VIA PUBLIC VIDEO
openpublica.com

Biddeford City Council Regular Meeting - June 16, 2026

Appointments & Proclamations

Juneteenth Proclamation: Mayor LaFountain read a proclamation recognizing June 19, 2026 as Juneteenth in Biddeford, highlighting the ongoing struggle for equity, equality, and justice.

Interim City Manager: Cornell Knight was unanimously appointed as Interim City Manager. His contract is set at $115 per hour for roughly 30 hours per week, with no health insurance or retirement contributions, annualizing to approximately $179,000. He will work in-person Tuesday through Thursday.

City Solicitor Reappointment: Harry B. Center, II of Woodman Edmands was unanimously reappointed as City Solicitor for a one-year term coinciding with the FY27 budget.

Charter Review Commission: Elise Oliver (Ward 1) and Stephen Ellis (Ward 6) were confirmed to the Charter Review Commission.

Public Comments & Testimony

Election Update: Interim City Clerk Lisa Ward reported 4,253 ballots were cast in the primary election, a sharp increase from 840 in 2025. She detailed the strict chain-of-custody process and a minor human error where a state thumb drive was swapped with a local one, which was immediately corrected with the Secretary of State's office. She was thanked for her work.

Comprehensive Plan Public Hearing:

Lauren McCready (Ward 2) urged the council to move the Thatcher Brook area from a "growth" to a "transitional" designation, citing state environmental review laws like delegated authority and the need for smart growth.
Norm Labby (Ward 2) requested the removal or correction of a 15-foot width reference for the Town Landing road, presenting historical deeds showing it was laid out as a 49.5-foot road in 1829.
Richard Rames (Ward 3) called for a cost-of-community-services study and highlighted the limitations of narrow, colonial-era roads in eastern Biddeford.

1st Public Addressing (General, Elm Street, Lester B. Orcutt):

Multiple residents of Lester B. Orcutt Boulevard expressed fears about losing their landscaped yards to expanded parking and cited increasing safety hazards from crowding and litter. Peter McFeeders (Ward 1) and John Conroy (Ward 1) advocated for resident-only parking permits to manage out-of-state tourist demand.
Ethan McCorse (Ward 3) opposed the Elm Street plan, arguing the signalization would worsen traffic, and offered alternatives.
Drew Guild (Ward 7) heavily criticized the Elm Street project for prioritizing vehicle mobility over pedestrians and cyclists, calling it a missed opportunity.
Sterling Roop (Ward 7) linked parking and access issues to the need for better bike/pedestrian infrastructure and called for enforcement of the judicial center's contract zone.

2nd Public Addressing:

Rocky Angers (Ward 6) publicly condemned a "Biddeford Buzz" social media post for what he perceived as disrespectful treatment of his long record of public service.

Discussion Items

Elm Street Project (Maine DOT): Ernie Martin, Sean Davis, and Tom Erico presented the plan for Route 1/Elm Street. The scope includes a center turning lane, new signals at Upper Falls/Diamond and Lincoln (a high-crash location), signal removal at Spruce Street, and converting Pearl Street to one-way. Shared-use sharrows were included for bikes, but not dedicated bike lanes. Construction will occur primarily at night, starting spring 2027. Council questioned signal spacing, pedestrian crosswalk lengths, and impacts on Pine Street traffic.

Lester B. Orcutt Boulevard ROW Survey: City Engineer Craig Checkin presented a boundary survey showing the city's right-of-way is approximately 50 feet wide with a 22-23 foot road, leaving 10-18 feet on either side. Councilors expressed surprise at the expanse of city-owned land now occupied by private landscaping. A consensus formed to hold a public workshop to explore options for parking, pedestrian safety, and public access without cutting mature trees.

Comprehensive Plan Chapters: SMPDC's Reagan Young presented the final chapters for approval. Intensive debate centered on the Future Land Use Map, specifically the classification of two undeveloped parcels at the end of Barrow Road and the Town Landing road width.

Council Rules Amendments: An amendment requiring a 2/3 supermajority to amend the city budget on the floor was debated. A separate amendment regarding voting procedures for extending meetings during Executive Session was discussed.

Key Outcomes

Comprehensive Plan Approved (6-1): The final chapters of the Comprehensive Plan were approved, sending them to a second reading on June 29. Two amendments were adopted: 1) The 15-foot width reference for the Town Landing was removed. 2) Two parcels at the end of Barrow Road were re-designated from "Growth" (suburban residential) to "Rural Farm" on the Future Land Use Map. Councilor Lessard was the sole dissenting vote.

Budget Supermajority Rule Fails: The proposed Council rule requiring a 2/3 supermajority to amend the budget at first or second reading failed to pass.

Executive Session Rule Tabled: An amendment to Council rules on Executive Session extension votes was tabled for 30 days to refine the language.

Search Firm Selected: Garish Municipal Consulting LLC was unanimously selected to lead the permanent City Manager search.

UNE Permit Extension Authorized: Council unanimously authorized the City Solicitor to represent the city at the July 2 Saco River Corridor Commission meeting to demand a definitive ruling on the 250-foot setback from the river.

River Jam Approved: A special event permit for River Jam on August 15 was unanimously approved.

Business Impact Fee Ordinance: Pulled from the agenda for revisions due to legal issues.

Enterprise Funds Approved: Approved Airport, Ambulance, Recreation, Mooring, Pool Beach, and Public Access funds (all unanimous). The Sewer Operations Fund was approved on a 6-1 vote, with Councilor Lessard opposed.

Workshop Scheduled: A public workshop on Lester B. Orcutt Boulevard parking and right-of-way uses will be scheduled for late summer.

Meeting Transcript