Saco City Council Meeting - September 15, 2025
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Saco City Council Meeting - September 15, 2025
The Saco City Council met on Monday, September 15, 2025, at 6:30 PM. The meeting covered a street acceptance request for the Amari Springs subdivision, administrative updates, recognition of the fire chief, and an executive session that led to authorization for negotiations for the city administrator position. All votes were unanimous 7-0.
Public Comments & Testimony
- The public comment period was opened and closed with a motion and second, but no members of the public stepped forward to speak.
Discussion Items
- Street Acceptance Request (Amari Springs Subdivision): Director Moore reported that all final punch list items have been completed and legal documents have been reviewed by Tim Murphy and sent to new legal counsel for additional review. Councillor Hatch commented that the subdivision is beautiful and noted the strong demand for single-family homes in Saco, expressing a personal view that state-level efforts to minimize single-family housing may not align with local demand. The item will come forward at a future council meeting.
- Administrative Updates: Interim City Administrator Emily Cole Prescott provided three updates:
- A traffic advisory: Main Street will be closed on September 17, 2025, from 9 AM for CSX railroad maintenance; detour information is available in the administrator's report.
- The Saco Schools strategic plan survey is open; community members can participate online or email Meg Parkhurst to join the strategic planning committee.
- A GP COG public meeting on reimagining Route 1 will be held September 24, 2025, from 6-8 PM at Saco Public Works.
- Congratulations to Fire Chief David Hamill: The Mayor announced that Chief Hamill graduated from the National Fire Academy Executive Fire Officer Program on August 22, 2025, a prestigious program completed by fewer than 5,000 leaders nationwide and only 18 in Maine since 1985. A motion to recognize this achievement passed unanimously.
- Executive Session & City Administrator Search: The Council entered executive session at 6:38 PM and exited at 7:08 PM. Following the session, Councillor Hatch moved to authorize Interim City Administrator Cole Prescott and HR Director Cox to enter negotiations with the Council's chosen candidate for the city administrator position. The motion passed 7-0.
Key Outcomes
- Unanimous approval (7-0) to recognize Fire Chief David Hamill's EFO graduation.
- Unanimous approval (7-0) to authorize the interim city administrator and HR director to negotiate with the selected candidate for the city administrator position.
- The street acceptance request for Amari Springs subdivision (Amari Court and Dupey Drive) was discussed but will be brought back for a future vote.
Meeting Transcript
Good evening, everyone, and welcome to the Saco City Council meeting from Monday, September 15th, twenty twenty five at six thirty PM. Would like to make recognition of all members present this evening, including the interim city advantages, Emily Cole Prescott. And would you please join me for the Pledge of Allegiance? Pledge allegiance to the flower of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, everyone. Moving on to item number four. There is no general this evening. Item five is committee correspondence to council. Are there any counselors wishing to speak? Not seeing anyone. Moving on to item six, that is public comment. If you would like to address council, please step forward to the podium, state your name and address for the record, and you will have three minutes to speak. Motion made by Councillor Johnston. Is there a second? Second. Second by Councillor Berman. Oh, I'm sorry, Councillor Edwards. Okay, roll call vote. Councillor Edwards. Yes. Councillor Parks? Yes. Councillor Gunn. Yes. Counselor Berman? Yes. Councillor Hatch? Yes. Counselor Hewitt? Yes. Counselor Johnston. Yes. Motion passes seven zero. Moving on to item nine. There are no action items this evening. Item ten is new business. We do have one item, and that is item A, which is the city street acceptance request for Chapter One Eighty Six Standards, Amari Court, and Dupey Drive in the Amari Springs subdivision. So as of uh the end of last week, all the final punch list items have been completed. All the legal documents were formally uh reviewed by Tim Murphy. Those have been sent off to our new legal council. Just uh have them do uh do a review of that as well. Just uh have them do uh do a review of that as well. Everything else is has been completed. Okay, great. Do we have any questions for Director Moore? Counselor Hatch. Yeah, I I just I just want to make a comment. Uh I'm very familiar with the subdivision. My brother uh in it, my niece and nephew live there. It's a beautiful subdivision and I think it's interesting if you watch that evolve.
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