2026-08-06 - City Council

Summary

Built from the official minutes. No video is posted to this page, so there is no transcript or timing.

Business meeting in Council Chambers at 7:00 PM, after a 6:30 PM pre-meeting; Mayor O'Brien presiding. All councilors present, with Gary-Allen on Zoom (she left the meeting during the executive session). Adjourned 10:35 PM.
Needle exchange moratorium passed on second read 5-3, after a motion to table failed 4-5.
Opioid Settlement Fund grants: five awards totaling $225,000 passed 8-0; a $50,000 van request failed 3-5, a $14,750 request failed 0-8, and two more requests died for lack of a motion.
Request for proposals for a 50 to 70-bed low-barrier shelter authorized 8-0.
Term sheet with Hatch Hill Power, LLC for a landfill gas-to-energy generator authorized 8-0.
Four board reappointments or appointments passed 8-0 on the consent agenda.
Subdivision, accessory dwelling unit and Water Street ordinances had their first read.
Executive session on real estate matters from 10:24 to 10:32 PM; afterward a City-owned strip on Pierce Drive was conveyed to give an adjoining lot legal frontage (7-0).

Order 26-105, sponsored by Mayor O'Brien and Morris-Polley: 180-day moratorium on new or expanded needle exchanges, applying to anything pending on or after June 25, 2026.
Motion to table by Gary-Allen, seconded by Sienkiewicz, failed 4-5; the nays were Judkins, Michaud, Lind, Morris-Polley and Mayor O'Brien.
Passage on a motion by Morris-Polley, seconded by Michaud, carried 5-3; the nays were Austin, Gary-Allen and Sienkiewicz. (The minutes list the Mayor among the nays on the tabling vote, so the counts include nine names; recorded here as written.)

Passed 8-0: $50,000 to the United Community Living Center for its Community Center expansion (26-114, Lind and Judkins); $25,000 to the same group for street outreach (26-115, Sienkiewicz and Lind); $50,000 to the Augusta Teen Center Boys & Girls Club for a Teen Center Community Coordinator (26-116, Lind and Morris-Polley); $50,000 to the HFGC Recovery network for its Anthony Avenue Recovery Stabilization project (26-117, Lind and Sienkiewicz).
Failed: $50,000 to Zysk Recovery Partners for a van (26-118) 3-5, with Judkins, Michaud, Lind, Morris-Polley and Lilley opposed; $14,750 to Zysk Recovery Partners for a recovery support program (26-119) 0-8.
No motion for passage: $8,686.65 to Zysk Recovery Partners for an Intensive Outpatient Program curriculum expansion (26-120) and $50,000 to AccessDirect Recovery Network for its Growth Helps Healing expansion (26-121); both were sponsored by Mayor O'Brien and Lind.
Each award is conditioned on a grant agreement acceptable to Corporation Counsel.

Order 26-113 authorizes the City Manager to issue a request for proposals for operating a 50 to 70-bed low-barrier shelter. Passed 8-0 (Lind, Judkins).

Order 26-122 authorizes the City Manager to execute a term sheet with Hatch Hill Power, LLC for a landfill gas-to-energy generator. Passed 8-0 (Lind, Judkins).

Consent agenda, 8-0 (Lind, Judkins): Aaron Sienkiewicz reappointed to the Conservation Commission (term to August 3, 2029); Keith Lind reappointed to the Conservation Commission (to July 20, 2029); Bruno appointed to the Planning Board (to February 15, 2027); Levesque reappointed to the Planning Board (to September 9, 2029). The July 16 minutes were also approved.

Order 26-123, first read, no vote required; reading waived by unanimous consent.

Order 26-124, first read, no vote required; reading waived by unanimous consent.

Order 26-127 conveying City-owned land between a Tax Map 10 lot and the Pierce Drive right-of-way passed 7-0 (Lind, Michaud).
Minutes certified by City Clerk Gooldrup on August 7, 2026.