The Brunswick Town Council held a regular meeting on January 20, 2026. Key topics included the annual priorities for 2026, public comments on immigration and the Tedford shelter, the Restorive Advisory Board report on PFAS contamination, approval of police forfeiture funds and towing policy, a discussion on the Lamont Block sidewalk redesign, and setting a public hearing for changes to Town Hall Place. All votes were unanimous.
Good evening, everybody. I'm going to officially call the meeting of the Brunswick Town Council of January 20th, 2026 to order. And it looks like we have all counselors currently present. Town Clerk, has this meeting been properly noticed? Yes, it has. Perfect. I ask that you all uh silence your electronic devices or turn them off. Um and please rise if you are willing and able for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the United States of America and to republic for which it stands. One nation under God. Liberty and justice. Just wanted to make a note that as chair uh in this space. I ask that we while we hold this space together, we treat everyone here with respect and compassion as we kind of continue to work to serve our town here. So are there any adjustments to the agenda? I know there's the one about the consent agenda. We can do that, we can pull it out during that line item. So I got that one. Any other adjustments? Not seeing any. Any announcements from the council. Councillor Weems. Yes, I have a brief announcement. Um there is a very interesting art show at Curtis Memorial Library in the Moral Room, sponsored by the library and Brunswick Public Art. And it has a single topic, which is the to commemorate the Frank J. Wood Bridge as it's about to come down. Uh these are mostly uh photos, paintings, poems, some mixed media, uh contributed by 50 artists, 70 works of art, um provided by people from the ages of seven to undisclosed. It wasn't juried, so all entries that were submitted are installed. It's great fun. The reaction is but very positive because it allows for freedom of expression as expressed by the artist and those that enjoy the artwork, both. Uh it definitely engenders a sense of community, so it will be installed until the end of January. So you do have a week and a half to get in there and enjoy this. And um, so come on and enjoy this community experience. Thank you. Question for you, Counselor Williams. When is it running? It it opened on the 6th and it will run through January 30th. Got it. Thank you. Any other announcements of council? I'll make one brief one just so the audience knows and the public at large. Um we met as a official body this past Saturday for our town retreat. Um this is something that happens annually where we uh meet here in town office. We spend 9 a.m. to 2 uh where we get to know each other, have a little bit of uh understand the protocols and kind of our roles uh in this work that we're doing together, and we set out the priorities for the year. Um and just as a brief overview, I just want to say that um we gather the priorities of all of our counselors here. Um we had nine kind of overarching themes in which we dwindled down to a top four of sorts. Um, not saying that we won't address some of these other ones, but our top four for this year uh were housing ranked uh as the top priority overall, followed by growth management zoning and the comprehensive plan. Um infrastructure transportation and facilities was closely behind that, and fiscal sustainability placed forth around long-term planning and uh budgeting. So uh that's kind of where we're at, I guess, as a council is where our priorities are set for 2026. Granted, you know, things fluctuate, things happen, um, but I just wanted to make sure that folks knew that that happened, and that's kind of what came out of that process.