Peaks Island Council

Peaks Island Council MEETING MINUTES Wednesday, December 17, 2025, 6:15 p.m. Hybrid ZOOM/in-person meeting in the Community Center NEXT Regular Monthly PIC Meeting January 28, 2025 CALL TO ORDER: 6:18 p.m. ROLL CALL Present: Laura Glendening, Fred Somers, Scott Mohler, Karsten Rees, Norm Proulx, Shelagh Reiser, Jess Burton Absent: Bill Patnaude Number of Audience Members (AM) in attendance: 5 in person, no wifi for zoom attendees APPROVAL OF MINUTES Unanimous approval of minutes from November 22nd PIC meeting with a correction to the snow ban ticket fees. ANNOUNCEMENTS Somers expressed appreciation for Scott Mohler’s service as president of the council for the past year. Burton expressed thanks to Shelagh for her service on the PIC. New councilors Jerzy Sylvester and Jonah Bradenday joined the PIC. TREASURER’S REPORT Somers said the only change was the purchase of additional needs-based tickets, but Bill Patnaude was not present, so the Treasurer’s Report was not available. PUBLIC COMMENT (beginning of meeting) No public comment. COMMITTEE REPORTS & UPDATES • Executive Committee – Glendening said the Maine Island Coalition has a meeting in Augusta at the end of January or beginning of February. Current Peaks Island representative is Ellen Mahoney, appointed by the council. Karsten Rees said he would like to go to the meeting to also represent Peaks Island. • Environmental and Sustainability Glendening attended the meeting on December 15th for the working group on Climate Change and Sustainability actions associated with the Peaks Island Assessment. Detailed information about what was discussed at that meeting are available on the PIC Google drive: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1QmS0Rv2hC_6LCYOvBtIauTVxup6t1yjf PIC December 17, 2025 Meeting Minutes, DRAFT. Page 1  Glendening also showed sea level rise maps for various weather scenarios that were included in the Peaks Island Assessment. Glendening said that Seashore Avenue will be rebuilt as it was before the January 2024 storms because of FEMA requirements, but there are grants for alternative analysis of what changes can be made to improve the long-term sustainability of Seashore Ave. • Parks and Rec Committee Sarah Michniewicz said she spoke to the neighborhood prosecutor regarding the boat on ferry beach, and the agreed upon date of removal is June 1st. The boat owner is planning to remove the boat before that. After June 1st, fines would begin to accrue. Glendening said that there are 20 miles of working waterfront remaining in Maine and 16 miles are dedicated to commercial fishing out of 3478 miles of coastline in Maine. Glendening said that PIC should be aware of supporting commercial fishing on the island. Rees said that the zoning ordinance does not allow commercial vessels to be parked on city owned land in a recreational and shoreline zone. Ferry Beach is city owned land in a recreational and shoreline zone. • Ferry Service Rees said that the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) did an informal investigation of the car ferry rate change and will not open a formal investigation at this time. But they directed CBL to look at the effect “rate shock” has on lower income riders. The PUC Order can be accessed on the PUC webpage for this case, which contains all the filings and public comments for the case: https://mpuc- cms.maine.gov/CQM.Public.WebUI/Common/CaseMaster.aspx?CaseNumber=2025-00160 • Housing and Zoning Committee – ReCode Zoning survey Rees said the Housing and Zoning committee filed the application to get a hearing before the Planning Board. The Planning Department is evaluating the application for the Land Use code amendments. Rees said that eventually there will be a hearing at the planning board, the planning board will then make a recommendation to the city council. • Safety Committee – Glendening said this new committee has not met yet. Glendening got in touch with Caity Hager about the alert systems. Information about signing up for community alerts is in the PIC Google drive: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1QmS0Rv2hC_6LCYOvBtIauTVxup6t1yjf Proulx asked if the Safety Committee will consider installing a four-way stop at the corner of Island Avenue and Welch Street. Glendening said the committee is still developing what issues they want to take up. • Paper Roads Norm Proulx said the committee has developed a list of criteria for developing a map of paper roads on Peaks Island. Proulx said the map will show which paper roads are continued and which are vacated. The map will be available on PIC website. Next step is to get a quote from a map maker. Glendening asked Proulx if he has been working with John Giles from Public Works. Proulx said the committee has not been in contact with John Giles. Glendening will give Proulx John Giles’ contact information. PIC December 17, 2025 Meeting Minutes, DRAFT. Page 2 • Parking Reiser said that the island police approved the wording of the island parking guidelines. It has been posted on NextDoor. Hard copy notices will be posted at the library and PIC kiosk. It was also sent out in PIC newsletter. Reiser is trying to set up meeting with CBL garage representative but has had a hard time getting in touch with them. Reiser suggested that the new chair of the PIC Parking Committee should also attend that meeting with CBL garage representatives. • Golf cart No update. • Election Committee No update. OLD BUSINESS - none NEW BUSINESS • Election of 2026 officers Sylvester nominated Karsten Rees for Chair, Proulx seconded. Rees said he is excited and honored to do it. Unanimous approval. Rees nominated Jerzy Sylvester for Vice Chair. Glendening seconded. Sylvester said he would be willing to do it. Unanimous approval. Proulx nominated Laura Glendening for Secretary. Somers seconded. Glendening said she would be happy to do it. Unanimous approval. • Set 2026 meeting schedule Rees moved to adopt the meeting schedule of 4th Wednesday every month except November 18th and December 16th. Sylvester seconded. Unanimous approval. • Golf cart regulatory changes Sarah Michniewicz spoke about the golf cart ordinance amendment to lift the cap on the number of golf cart operators on the island. Michniewicz said the golf cart ordinance amendment does not change the number of rental golf carts on the island. Michniewicz said the city’s Sustainability and Transportation Committee passed the amendment unanimously so that it came before the full council, however, the full city council voted to postpone approval of the golf cart ordinance amendment. Michniewicz proposed an amendment to the amendment to include several changes clarifying language. City council voted to postpone approval. During this delay, Michniewicz is now asking PIC for their input on the amendment to lift the cap on the number of golf cart operators. Rees pointed out that some cap would be necessary because if homeowners wanted to rent out their golf carts, the number of golf cart operators could potentially be equal to the number of people who own golf carts. PIC December 17, 2025 Meeting Minutes, DRAFT. Page 3  Reiser said that some golf carts are rented out as part of the vacation house rental. Michniewicz said the amendment didn’t speak to that situation. Sarah said she asked if a golf cart could come with a wedding package at Jones Landing, and the City Manager said that wouldn’t be allowable. Reiser said that the two current golf cart operators have invested significant time understanding and addressing community concerns about their business. Proulx said he doesn’t see the advantage of raising the number of operators. Somers said that the ordinance stipulates competitive bidding if one of the current golf cart rental operators stops running, but the city finds that mechanism difficult to administer. Burton said that in May 2025 PIC voted to cap the number of golf carts at 45 rental carts, and at that time the city was planning to use a wait list to award a rental golf cart license if one of the current rental businesses stopped operating. Rees said that PIC was also opposed to increasing the number of operators but didn’t make a motion at that time. Note – from May 2025 PIC meeting minutes: Somers moved that PIC convey to the city council that we are opposed to increasing the cap on the number of golf carts from 45. Mohler seconded the motion. Motion passes unanimously. AM said the City Manager has full authority to increase the cap from 45 carts to 50 carts but asked PIC for their preference. A second issue was how the license to operate a rental golf cart is awarded, and the amendment proposed creating a waiting list of people who want to operate a golf cart rental business, and if the city increased the cap on the number of golf carts, the new golf carts would go to the person on the wait list. Michniewicz said the ordinance is going back to the city council for a vote in January, but it seems that more conversation needs to happen before a vote proceeds but an indefinite postponement would mean the issue couldn’t be voted on by the council in this year. Michniewicz is going to talk to city staff to determine the best way forward. ● Rees made a motion for PIC to authorize the Housing and Zoning Committee to spend up to $500 to post two notices about the upcoming Planning Board hearing regarding Land Use Code Amendments. Glendening seconded. Burton proposed increasing the amount up to $565. Proulx seconded the amendment. Motion to amend carries unanimously. Amended motion passes unanimously. ● Snow ban parking – postpone discussion to January • Zoom subscription Glendening said that a current councilor needs to take over the Zoom subscription, maintain the Zoom account, assume payment for the Mailchimp account. A willing councilor can sign in to the PIC Mailchimp account and update the payment method with their credit card information. Glendening said the city recommends moving to Google Meets instead of Zoom. Rees said he would be willing to migrate PIC from Zoom to Google Meets and he will follow up with Peter McLaughlin about his outstanding credit card charges for Zoom. • Committee Chairs PIC December 17, 2025 Meeting Minutes, DRAFT. Page 4  PIC determined committee chairs as follows: Ferry – Fred Somers and Rees Karsten co-chair Housing and Zoning – Rees Karsten Paper Roads – Norm Proulx Environmental and Sustainability – Laura Glendening and Jess Burton co-chair Parks and Rec – Jonah Bradenday Safety – Jerzy Sylvester Parking – no chair, but Shelagh Reiser and Mike Richards are on the committee Glendening asked chairs to send her meeting dates so that it can be published in the PIC newsletter. PUBLIC COMMENT No public comment. Sylvester made a motion to adjourn. Burton seconded. Motion passed unanimously. ANNOUNCEMENTS/UPDATES Next PIC Meeting: Wednesday, January 28, 2025, at 6:15 pm in the community room and on Zoom. Meeting Adjournment: 7:46 p.m. PIC December 17, 2025 Meeting Minutes, DRAFT. Page 5