 Good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to City Council Chambers. It's May 15th. It's a little after five. We've got a little feedback, I think. Peter, are we okay? Okay. Well, I think it's okay. That's a little annoying. I can hear an echo. Well, we'll roll with it for the moment. Welcome, everybody. This is the Portland City Council. We're meeting in a regular meeting right now. We've got full council chambers, which is really wonderful to see. We've got about 24 people with us on Zoom. So I'm going to call this meeting to order and welcome you to join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag 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. Will the clerk please call the roll? Councillor Fornear is absent. Councillor Rodriguez. Yeah. Councillor Dyon. Here. Councillor Ali. Councillor Zaro. Here. Councillor Chavarro. Here. Councillor Pelletier. Here. Councillor Phillips. Here. Mayor Snider. Here. Are we doing okay with the feedback? Looks like it went away. Okay, great. Okay. Thank you for that. We are going to go right into our public comment period tonight on items that are not on tonight's agenda. So if you're here to address the council on issues that are not on tonight's agenda, please step forward to the mic in chambers or raise your hand on Zoom. And we will toggle back and forth if need be. I don't see anybody in chambers lined up for comment. So we'll go straight to Zoom. We have Tim Bassett with a hand up. Tim, if you wouldn't mind giving us your name and address or organization that you represent or neighborhood that you live in and the clerk will give you three minutes on the clock. Absolutely. Hello, Councillors. I live at Five Seven Brighton Way in Westbrook, Maine, which is part of the Greater Portland area. So I think that makes me eligible. I'm here because I want to submit a comment about the homeless crisis that Portland is facing. I've been receiving complaints and suffering at Whole Foods. The employees are complaining about blood on the walls. The homeless people are stealing food and clothing and changing in the bathrooms. And it's making it very uninhabitable. And it's certainly a push factor for the Portland residents. My recommendation is that we get porta potties, a safe injection site, and regular trash collection in the space behind the Trader Joe's to alleviate the problems that the homeless community is bringing to the area. And we work with them. I don't recommend trying to resolve the homeless issue by getting them into housing or anything like that because frequently these people are too unwell. They'll be taking copper wiring out of public accommodations probably for drug use. So I think it's better to alleviate the worst elements of the symptoms that are produced by their presence and to work with them. That's my comment. Thank you so much. Thank you for your comment. We appreciate it. Anybody in chambers? Seeing none, we'll head back to Zoom. And we have a hand up from George Rowe. George Rowe went over the street. There were a couple of agenda items that were kind of confusing. Orders 223 and 224 were listed on a part of the city's agenda website, but were not listed in the actual agenda document. So I don't know if that was a mistake, which way it went in terms of which was the mistake that didn't get properly noticed, or if they were never meant to be included in the first place. But it would be nice to have some clarification of that. I also wanted to note that the Oxford Street Shelter, the building that was formerly called the Oxford Street Shelter, has been sitting empty now for a few months. And the city has been on notice, at least since the fall when I started asking about it specifically, that the city could have taken the lead on trying to get a state and local and private effort to try and repurpose that shelter in the short term. It was pretty obvious we were going to have a serious camping issue. And here we are months into it. It just seems to be getting worse. And the city is about to make it even worse by basically pushing a whole bunch of people out to basically nowhere good. And so I've just been really disappointed that the city has basically apparently quietly asked for properties. The new owner of that facility once, maybe in the winter. And poor properties declined to engage in any discussions about trying to repurpose that shelter for use again by somebody in the short term. And the thing here that is most disturbing is the city knows how to work hard on something when it wants to do something. And here there was a bunch of protestations that its private property and the city can't force anyone to lease to the city or one of its partners. But that assumes that you didn't really have much interest in doing it in the first place, which is really what I'm complaining about here. This could be a home base for a lot of the social workers that are trying to help all of the campers get into some situations that are better than they are in now. And the city just simply giving up. And most obnoxiously, the city apparently actually is willing to work through its fire department to work with poor properties to use that facility apparently to do some kind of fire training. I don't know if it involves actually destroying that facility in any way, shape, or form, but that's where we are. We're willing to burn it, but we're not willing to use- Thank you for your comment, George. Is there any other comment in chambers? We have a hand up on Zoom of Viviendo Apoyo. You'll have to unmute yourself. Hello, my name is Viviendo Apoyo, 231 State Street. I'm here on behalf of the Tenant Union, March 21st, our new landlord, BJB Realty, notified us that our basement storage numbered by apartment unit would now be optional and that $100 fee would be implemented by May 1st. Search held out for use by the tenant is included in the definition of red linen under the red stabilization ordinance, RSO. We received around annual percentage increase in January. This extra $100 fee for a red linen was obvious violation of the RSO. March 28th, we filed a complaint with the Health and Safety Office, HSO, demanded a signed lease stating we pay for storage. Then when one wasn't provided, the HSO insisted that our complaint was a civil matter involving the lease and refused to investigate further. We explained that the violation was obvious for the evidence before them. The landlord's emails were quite clear about the change of store allocated to storage. We filed our complaint again as a Tenant Union and they still assist on the signed lease and direct violation of section 6-243B. We notified the HSO that section 6-239 ruled out the waiver of our rights under the RSO. The HSO claimed that section 6-239 did not refer to a signed lease. However, the section explicitly mentions the voiding of provisions in rental agreements. When we asked the HSO to make their dutiful investigation under the RSO consistent with the RSO, we were stonewalled. We complained to the city manager on April 4th that the HSO was violating the RSO and the investigational duties. We cited the RSO and our emails with the HSO and that complaint. Our complaint to the city managers that the city charter is being violated. It demands that the duties of administrative officials not be inconsistent with the relevant ordinances. The charter also maintains the duty to see that the laws and ordinances are enforced and grants the power to exercise control over all departments, divisions and agencies and offices to the city manager. However, the city manager's response to the office of the corporation council and ultimately her own words is to assist to the red board is the proper venue for our complaint. Each time we have responded and addressed the fact that the red board has no possible jurisdiction over the administrative officers of the HSO. At this point, the city manager and the corporation council have made the de facto non-feasance manifest on May 10th, the city manager stated. Thank you for reaching out again, but my prior response is my final response on this matter. On May 12th, the corporation council stated, we will not respond to further communications. This is clearly non-feasance given that our complaint remains fundamentally utter dressed in its appropriate venue with the city manager. We would like to suggest that a city arms buttsman like that of our sister city, Portland, Oregon would be helpful to avoid these instances where the city refuses to investigate itself or investigates itself by it's nothing wrong to read contradiction to the obvious evidence at hand. My email is porlynmainreddersbrights at gmail.com and I can be reached there for comments. Thank you. Thank you for your comment. Any additional comments either on Zoom or in chambers, go ahead upstairs. Hi, my name is Jim Prosser. I live at 99 Silver Street. I'm here to encourage the council to postpone any decision on the thirsty pigs request. Thank you for your comment. However, that's on tonight's agenda. So that item is on tonight's agenda. So we'll take public comment on that when we take that order up. Thank you. Any other public comment on items that are not on tonight's agenda? Okay. Thank you. I'll close public comment. We'll come back to the meeting agenda and I'll ask my colleagues if there are any announcements this evening. Councillor Ali. Thank you, Mayor. I think I want to recognize that a former city councillor Justin Costa is here for a visit. Councillor, thank you very much for visiting us. And I also want to recognize as their representative, Deca Delac from South Walla. Thank you both for paying us a visit. Thank you, councillor. Any other announcements this evening? Hello, you too. Thank you for being here. Thank you all for being here. Okay, seeing no other announcements, I'll close announcements and we have got some recognitions this evening. Will the clerk please read the first recognition? Recognizing Chelsea Hoskins and staff for the resettlement program at the City of Portland for receiving Community Partners Award from Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project sponsored by Kate Sender-Mayer. Thank you. I'm looking to see if we've got Chelsea in our midst. So it's my honor to recognize Chelsea Hoskins this evening, the Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project has awarded the Community Partner Award to our city's resettlement team with a special shout out to manager Chelsea Hoskins. The resettlement team housed within RHHS department provides outreach to newly arrived asylum seekers in area hotels, shelters and city warming centers. Their program offers an initial connection to the greater Portland community through triage case management, referrals programming and curated orientations. This small but mighty team has helped connect hundreds of new Americans to immigrant services through I-LAPS, direct legal services and legal education by referral and coordinating information session, informational sessions. Congratulations to Chelsea Hoskins and the whole resettlement team for this honor and recognition for their impressive work. And I just wanna shout out that Chelsea's resettlement team includes Larissa Gahimbari, I hope I said that last name right, Nicole Evers, Guy Mapoyi, Becky Maselli, Amanda Massey, Samuela Shahid and Gladys Gahimbari. Did my best on the last names, they're beautiful and I'm sorry if I didn't say them correctly but thank you again to Chelsea. And will the clerk please read our second recognition tonight. Recognizing Ryan Gournau, social services program manager for receiving the main welfare director of the year award presented by Kate Snyder, mayor. Okay, and our thanks go out. Here is the recognition that I received. Ryan is an incredibly dedicated city employee going above and beyond to deliver services with empathy and expertise every day. I am told he is a true leader who models what it means to be an exemplary public servant in how he treats constituents, clients and coworkers. In addition to administering the general assistance program, the representative payee program, hire and other support programs, Ryan also finds time to provide education to others on the general assistance program and resources that are available. Ryan is always looking for ways to improve how he serves the public and we're so grateful for employees like Ryan who choose to work for the city of Portland and our residents. Thank you again to Ryan Gournau. Okay, moving on, we have the approval of the minutes from our previous meeting. Is there a motion to approve the minutes from our May 1st council meeting? Second. Councillor Ali with a second from Councillor Zahrao. Are there any questions or discussion from the council on those draft minutes? If not, we will vote to approve them. Councillor Rodriguez. Yes. Councillor Dion. Yes. Councillor Ali. Yay. Councillor Zahrao. Yes. Councillor Trevorrow. Yes. Councillor Pilatier. Yes. Councillor Phillips. Yes. Mayor Snider. Yes. I know that the City of those present, I do know that Councillor Fornear is on her way so she'll be joining us shortly. We've got proclamations tonight. Will the clerk please read proclamation 22. Proclamation 22, 22, 23, recognizing National EMS Week sponsored by Keith Snider, Mayor. Look at that. Good evening, Councillor Fornear. Whereas emergency medical services is a vital public service. Emergency medical services teams are ready to provide life-saving care to those in need 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And whereas access to quality emergency care dramatically improves the survival and recovery rate of those who experience sudden illness or injury. And whereas emergency medical services has grown to fill a gap by providing important out-of-hospital care, including preventative medicine, follow-up care and access to telemedicine. And whereas the emergency medical services system consists of first responders, emergency medical technicians, paramedics, emergency medical dispatchers, firefighters, police officers, educators, administrators, pre-hospital nurses, emergency nurses, emergency physicians, trained members of the public and other out-of-hospital medical care providers. And whereas the members of emergency medical services teams, whether career or volunteer, engage in thousands of hours of specialized training and continuing education to enhance their life-saving skills. And whereas we value the emergency medical services professionals who serve on the front line, and we remember and honor those who have lost their lives while protecting ours. Now therefore be it resolved that I, Kate Snyder, mayor of the city of Portland, Maine and members of the Portland City Council do hereby proclaim the week of May 21st through May 27th as emergency medical services week and encourage all residents to honor and celebrate our EMS professionals this week and recognize the contributions they make every day, signed and sealed this 15th day of May, 2023. And will the clerk please read Proclamation 23. Proclamation 23, 22, 23, recognizing National Peace Officers Memorial Day and National Police Week sponsored by Kate Snyder mayor. This is an annual proclamation whereas the Congress and the president of the United States have designated May 15th as National Peace Officers Memorial Day and the week in which May 15th falls as National Police Week. And whereas the members of the Portland Police Department play an essential role in safeguarding the rights and freedoms of our residents. And whereas it is important that all residents know and understand the duties, responsibilities, hazards and sacrifices of their law enforcement agency and that the members of our law enforcement agency recognize their duty to serve the people by safeguarding their life and property, protecting them against violence and disorder and protecting the innocent against deception and the weak against oppression or intimidation. And whereas the Portland, the police department of the city of Portland has grown to be a modern and scientific law enforcement agency which provides a vital public service. Now therefore be it resolved that I Kate Snyder mayor of the city of Portland, Maine, members of the city council do here by proclaim May 14th through May 20th as National Police Week in the city of Portland, Maine and honor police officers past and present who by their faithful and loyal devotion to their responsibilities have rendered a dedicated service to their community and in doing so have established for themselves an enduring reputation for preserving rights for all residents. Councilor Dianne. Thank you, Madam Mayor for taking the floor. I wanna take a moment and just comment on this particular proclamation. Although it addresses this idea of a National Police Week and some of the events that will go on. Memorial Day is particularly important to officers as they all gather in Washington DC. There'll be thousands of officers there. And the purpose of today in our nation's capital is to unveil 95 additional names to the wall of the 22,000 officers who went on that call and never came back. 22,000 officers gave their life in this idea we refer to as devotion to duty. In Maine, if you go to the state capital, there is a space half circle of granite. On those granite slabs are 86 names of officers in this state who answered the final call in service to all of us. They too did not come home from that last dispatch. And it's more over important to me as a former Portland police officer that I wanna acknowledge the five Portland police officers whose names are etched in that granite. As we would say, they too shall never be forgotten. Hans Smith, Charles McIntosh, Michael Conley, Edward O'Connell and Richard Betters. I look at that wall and I knew some of the men that now have their names engraved there. So I felt incumbent on my sense of that duty to acknowledge them this evening and acknowledge the 22,095 other officers who won't be coming home ever again. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Thank you, Councillor Dionne. And will the clerk please read Proclamation 24. Proclamation 24, 22, 23, Recognizing National Public Works Week sponsored by Kate Sander, Mayor. Whereas Portland Public Works employees focus on the maintenance upkeep and construction of the public infrastructure of the city of Portland. And whereas Portland Public Works employees deliver core services that are of vital importance to the health, quality of life and well-being of the city of Portland. And whereas these core services and infrastructure improvements could not be provided without the efforts of the Portland Public Works, which includes a workforce of 148 dedicated people assigned to the following divisions, Public Works and Water Resources Administration, Streets and Sidewalks, Solid Waste, Dispatch, Portland Downtown District, Island Operations, Traffic, Fleet Services, Transportation Engineering, Public Works Engineering, Water Resources Sewer and Stormwater Engineering and Water Resources Operations. And whereas it is in the public interest for the people of Portland to gain knowledge of and to maintain an ongoing interest and understanding of the importance of Public Works and Public Works programs in their respective neighborhoods. And whereas the year 2023 marks the 63rd annual National Public Works Week. Now therefore be it resolved that I, Kate Snyder, Mayor of the City of Portland and members of the City Council do hereby designate the week of May 21 to 27, 2023 as Public Works Week. And do hereby further extend our appreciation to the employees of the Public Works Department for the vital core services they perform for the residents and visitors of Portland and their dedication to our city. Signed and sealed this 15th day of May 2023. Oh, there he is. We've got the Director of Public Works here with us today. Mike Murray, thank you so much for being here and we will all celebrate Public Works Week. Thank you for the work you do. Will the clerk please read Proclamation 25. Proclamation 25, 22, 23, Recognizing Jewish American Heritage Month, sponsored by Kate Snyder, Mayor. Okay, got a lot of proclamations tonight, everybody. The United States, whereas the United States has many heritage months that celebrate the various communities that form the mosaic of our country, encouraging us to learn about one another, honor the richness of our diverse nation and strengthen the fabric of our society. And whereas Jewish American Heritage Month originated in 1980 when Congress passed a resolution that authorized and requested the president to issue a proclamation designating April 21 to 28, 1980 as Jewish Heritage Week. And whereas the American Jewish community dates back to 1654 when a group of 23 Jews fleeing persecution at the hands of the Portuguese in position fled Brazil and found refuge in New Amsterdam, now New York. Today, American Jews represent approximately 2% of the total American population. And whereas over the past 369 years, Jewish Americans have given their communities and this nation is loyal and patriotic citizens. Jewish Americans have served in government and the military have won Nobel Prizes, headed universities and corporations, advanced medicine created and performed in enduring works of performing and visual art, written great American novels and become emblems of justice as members of the Supreme Court. And whereas the AJC's State of Antisemitism in America 2022 report revealed that 89% of Jewish respondents believe antisemitism is a problem in the US, four in 10 American Jews have changed their behavior in at least one way out of fear of antisemitism. And whereas the strength of a society can be measured by how it protects its minority populations and celebrates their contributions. Now, therefore be it resolved that I Kate Snyder, mayor of the city of Portland and the members of the Portland City Council do hereby proclaim May 2023 as Jewish American Heritage Month in our great city. We call upon all residents to learn more about the heritage and contributions of Jewish Americans and observe this month with appropriate programs, activities and ceremonies signed this 15th day of May. Thank you. Will the clerk please read Proclamation 26. Proclamation 26, 22, 23, recognizing National Skilled Nursing Care Week sponsored by Kate Snyder, mayor. Proclamation month. Whereas the Barron Center with origins dating back to the late 1800s, cares for Portland's chronically ill, disabled and elderly community. And whereas the Barron Center provides comprehensive healthcare in a fiscally responsible manner. And whereas the Barron Center provides care without regard to age, race, religion, gender, national origin, sexual orientation or financial status. And whereas the Barron Center provides care that recognizes the unique value of each person it serves. And whereas the Barron Center strives to provide a workplace that values the contributions employees make to its residents quality of life. And whereas the Barron Center employees continue to work tirelessly during, well, they have worked tirelessly during the three year pandemic to ensure the safety and good health of its residents. And whereas the Barron Center recognizes that the elderly population is growing and that older residents health is improved with access to strong community assets. Now therefore be it resolved that I Kate Snyder, mayor of the city of Portland and members of the Portland City Council do hereby recognize the week of May 14th through 20th as National Skilled Nursing Care Week and further extend appreciation to our Barron Center employees for the vital services they perform and their exemplary dedication to the senior community signed and sealed this 15th day of May. Our thanks go out to all Barron Center employees. And finally, will the clerk please read Proclamation 27. Proclamation 27, 22, 23, recognizing Asian-American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month sponsored by PiASLE Councilor. Councilor Ali, would you like to read this into the record? Yes, I may or thank you. I also want to recognize two of my former colleagues, Councilor Chon. Where is he? And yeah, he's here. And Councilor Movedeni, thank you all for joining us tonight. Oh, Councilor Batson. We got Costa. Oh, I think I couldn't recognize him. Councilor Watson, thank you for joining us tonight. Proclamation, recognizing Asian-American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Whereas the people of United States and Maine went together each May to pay tribute to the contributions of generations of Asian-Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders who have enriched the history of country and state. Whereas the history of Asian-Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders in the United States and Maine is inextricably tied to the story of our country and state. And whereas the Asian-American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander community is an inherently diverse population composed of more than 45 distinct ethnicities and more than 100 languages and dialects. And whereas, according to the Bureau of the Sensors, the Asian-American population in the United States has been one of the fastest growing over the last decade, doubling between 2000 and 2020. And whereas in Maine, there are over 26,000 residents who identify as Asian and over 1,000 residents who identify as Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander. And whereas the United States government selected the month of May to recognize this community because the first Japanese immigration arrived in the United States on May 7, 1843. And the first transcontinental railroad was completed on May 10, 1869 with substantial contribution from Chinese immigrants. And whereas section 102 of title 36, United States Code officially designate Maine as Asian-American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month and requires the president to issue an annual proclamation calling on the people of the United States to observe the month with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities. And now, therefore, be it resolved that Mayor Kate Snyder of the city of Portland and members of the Portland City Council to hear by recognized Asian-American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Island Heritage Month has an important time to celebrate their significant contribution in the United States. Signed and sold this 15th day of May, 2023, by Kate Snyder, Mayor of the city of Portland. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you very much, Councillor Ali. Oh, Mayor, I think Marfine Chan is here to collect a printed version of this thing. And I have it here. I'm gonna give it to you so that you give it to him. Do we have a printed version? Yes, please. Marfine, would you like to come up to the podium and we can recognize you and offer you the proclamation? The mayor is gonna give it to you, not me. So go over there, please. Not the mayor, okay? Not yet. You're going right to the center, aren't you? Or you don't need her to have 5.3. Okay, thank you for being here, Mr. Marfine Chan, and we're gonna be moving on to the next section of our agenda, which are the appointments. Will the clerk please read Order 203? Order 203, Appointing Sustainability Director, Troy Moon Constable, sponsored by Daniel West, Interim City Manager. I'll look to the city manager for a little context here. This is just allowing Troy to enforce the city code in various ways, and it will be effective until December 31st, 2023, as per the ordinance. Okay. And is there any public comment on Order 203? I see none. I'll close public comment and come back to the council for a motion, please. Second. Councillor Ali with a second from Councillor Zahro. Any council discussion? In this appointment, seeing none, we'll go ahead and vote to approve it. Councillor Bornear? Yes. Councillor Rodriguez? Yes. Councillor Dionne? Yes. Councillor Ali? Yes. Councillor Zahro? Yes. Councillor Trebaro? Yes. Councillor Pelletier? Yes. Councillor Phillips? Yes. Mayor Snider? Yes. Order 203 passes unanimously. On that role. And next, I'll look to the clerk to please read Order 204. Order 204, 2223, appointing Daniel P. West as city manager, sponsored by the UCMD manager subcommittee, search committee, Mayor, case Snider chair. Thank you. And I'll save my comments on this until we have an opportunity as a council to contemplate the order before us. I do wanna remind folks on the council and in the community that on this particular appointment, I will be asking the council to wave the second read and pass it as an emergency so that we can get our city manager in place right away. But at this time, we'll go to public comment. I'll ask if there's any public comment before I look for a motion from the council. Go ahead and step forward to the mic, please. Just give us your name and thanks a lot for being here. Thank you for having me. My name is Belinda Ray. I am in district one represented by Councillor Anna Trevaro. And I am very happy to be here tonight to suggest that you definitely wave your second reading and approve this as an emergency because you have a diamond here with Danielle West. I was fortunate enough to serve on this council for six years, as many of you know, with Danielle in corporation council for four and a half of those and or maybe five. And then interim city manager for the last one. And she is a collaborator. She is a wonderful co-conspirator if you're ever trying to figure something out. She is wonderful inside and outside of City Hall. I'm now over at the Greater Portland Council of Governments and Danielle does such a wonderful job coming to the meetings and speaking for the city of Portland. And she is, as I said, such a collaborator. She really inspires other officials to get involved and she knows her stuff and she knows what she's doing. And I did just want to point out Councilor Mavadonis reminded me, we have a quorum of the old council here. So if you need us, we're here, but I think you've got this. And you have my overwhelming support for this particular appointment. Thank you so much, Ms. City Manager, interim and going on for all of the work that you've done. Thank you. Thank you for being here. We're gonna toggle, Councilor Chong. So you stay right where you are, you're good. And I'm gonna go over to Zoom because we've got a couple of hands up over there. The first one will be Vivienda Apoyo. Hello, it's Vindia Apoyo after they're on State Street. I don't really have remarks prepared for this. I will say that I first saw the word non-thies and it's in the city manager's contract. Now this isn't something I'm familiar with. I don't like to fuss about stuff. I've been learning a lot of things in my search to make the city follow its own ordinances. If the HSO was a federal agency would call on the Accardi Doctrine under the city's receipt of federal funds. I don't, maybe the claim could still be made. Maine is a home rule state and gives its view in this paltry as a high degree of self-governance. And under Article 5 of, sorry, Section 5 of Article 6 of the city charter, you know, the city manager is responsible for making sure the laws and the ordinances are being followed by the city and in general, but they delegate that to the laws to the police. But regardless, they also have the authority to exercise control over all of the city. And so when something's wrong, I asked repeatedly and no one would tell me explicitly I had to go and find this in the city charter myself but the city manager, so you're supposed to be talking to. And unfortunately, you know, Danielle seems like she's a great person and I'm sure that maybe it's the presentation that I gave or we gave in the process of trying to rectify what we consider to be an injustice, but we've just been completely ignored and we find it really unacceptable, you know, it's Article, it's Section 7, Article 6 that says that the administrative duties are not to be inconsistent with the relevant ordinances. You know, they say you can't fight city hall and we don't think that following the expressed rules should be a fight. You know, we came into each interaction, hoping the city would be on our side and that's still our hope. I mean, we voted for these ordinances and we're expecting them to be followed, you know, in favor of the tenants who are the majority of the citizens, right? I mean, who are we, who is the city? It's about people for the people, right? I mean, hang, you know, any way, regardless, I'm convinced that the acting city manager will be appointed. It's gonna be approved and, you know, that's not something that I wouldn't, I don't want anybody's livelihoods to be heard. 30 second warning. Or their careers. What I'm saying is, you know, hey, congratulations to the city manager and we hope that you will fulfill your duties under the city charter and investigate our complaint before you under the city charter. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you for your comment and we'll head back here to Chambers. Good evening. My name is Taichung and I live at 98 and Winingway and Councillor Phillips is my representative. And I just want to say that this is a historic moment. We will have the first women city manager. We already have the first women mayor elected by the public. And all we have to do is look at the dais and the city is run by powerful women and strong women, including the city clerk and also Michael Goldman. But I just want to say that Danielle is a brilliant legal mind. She's one of the best corporation counselors that we've had. And when I had the pleasure of working with her when she was in corporation council, she kept the city safe as well as this state because we had some of the most progressive COVID restrictions and she was able to help us go through that whole process. And that was just the legal mind she had but she's also an amazing manager in that she elevates all those people that she's coached. And all you have to do is look at the city staff. When we have a vacancy of almost 300 people, she's able to keep the people we have because she cares about her staff. She's done so many things to elevate people but also give people the resources that they need and whatever money we had, we were able to give people bonuses but she also reached out and made sure she met with all the department heads and make sure that people try to keep their positive attitude that she had for everyone. And that's just the sign of a great city manager. But also you just have to look at the facts and the actual accomplishments that she's done in the last 18 months. Since she's been interim manager, we've had some of the most difficult financial situations where this year was almost $20 million budget shortfall and she was able to bring it down to a reasonable 6%. And that's with almost a 300 vacancy rate for as far as employees. And she was able to still make Portland one of the top 10 most livable places according to U.S. News and she was able to carry forward the equity work where an independent third-party organization said Portland was the highest ranking city that had the highest equity ranking by a third-party organization and it scored almost a perfect 97 score out of 100. And she was able to do that as an interim director, an interim manager, imagine what she can do when she's able to really come up with a vision and be able to lead fully. And I believe that she's the perfect choice for our city at this time. I hope that people recognize that this is historic and we need to celebrate that. And that's because Danielle is such an amazing, extraordinary leader and human being. So I fully hope that you will confirm her tonight. Thank you. Thank you for being here. And next we go to George Rowe on Zoom. George Rowe, Hanover Street. I am not in favor of this appointment. It is what it is. Obviously there's no real plan B here, but the resume of the candidate before you makes it clear that prior to stepping in as interim manager, her management experience was limited to supervising a staff of six. And we have been extraordinarily, I think, hands off on a lot of accountability during the pandemic for a lot of organizations, but especially the city because we know, of course, how difficult things are. But I'm scratching my head a little bit because the contract that they are about to approve, it has a $7,500 signing bonus. It has a, I think a four week, I think it's four weeks, sabbatical that starts this summer. So basically you approve the candidate and then they get an extended vacation for the summer when the city is busy doing a lot of different things. But for a candidate that does not actually have a deep amount of experience managing a large organization. And the fact that there are a lot of ex-counselors coming forward tonight, I think buttresses my concern, which is the interim city manager, in effect, was one of the biggest enablers of the former city manager, John Jennings. And I think that this is basically a continuation of effectively a John Jennings administration on many levels. And that concerns me. I don't get a sense that there's gonna be a lot of change, fundamental change. There might be some better public relations or might be some better spin, but I don't see a lot of things changing fundamentally on how we do business in the city. And I'm certainly, like most of the rest of Portland, I'm gonna have to sort of wait and see what happens here. Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised and maybe I'll be even impressed. But I don't think that this was a great search because it was pretty obvious we were gonna wind up where we are today at the beginning of this. And I'm very disappointed that are the quote unquote most progressive city council in the history of the city has basically endorsed the status quo that we've all been struggling against for the last few years that hasn't produced a lot for our city. So good luck. Thank you for your comment and we're back to chambers. Good evening, counselors. Justin Costa from Elizabeth Road. Obviously I know almost all of you. I was on the council for six years and like everyone else, I think the world of Danielle, I had the privilege of working with her for six years and representing her both on the council and on the school board for even longer than that. But it's pretty straightforward. Danielle is smart, she's hardworking, she's honest and she knows how to work with people. Those are the core competencies of any good city manager. And at this time, I think more than most it is so important to have someone who has a background that's grounded in city government that can step in immediately and knows the programs, knows all the major players, knows all of the department heads and has been working for them and advising them for years. You cannot overstate the importance of that at this time amongst all others. And I will just say, I think it needs to be noted too that Danielle has always been a team player. It is not an easy jump to go from corporation council to being the city manager. But when you look at the situation that all of you were in a few years ago when you had to make this appointment, the chief of police was on his way out, there were no assistants in place that could easily step into the role. And it would be very easy for someone like Danielle to say, hey, I'm the attorney, that's all that I do. But that's not who Danielle is. She's always been willing to step forward, take on challenges. And I think the fact that so many folks know her and have worked with her and are willing to speak up on her behalf really is just a demonstration of again her character and her willingness and ability to work with everyone. So I certainly urge you to appoint her this evening. Thank you. Thank you for your comment. We have no hands up on Zoom, so we'll stick to the Chamber line. Good evening, Madam Mayor and city councillors. My name is Mary Costigan, 86 Chennery Street. I used to work at corporation council with Danielle was here on her first day. I've had the honor and privilege of working with her in corporation council office. And I've also in my practice now come across Danielle on her job as interim city manager. And I'm just here to exercise my full enthusiastic support for her appointment as city manager. She is a consummate professional. She is extremely hardworking. She's extremely knowledgeable. You're not going to find anyone else with the institutional knowledge that Danielle has except for maybe Mike Murray, sorry, Mike. And I don't even know another person who's better for the job. And she is the right person and the right woman. For the job and I'm very happy to see her name up today. So thank you so much. Thank you for being here. No more hands up on Zoom. For the moment, I'll keep an eye out. Councilor Ali. Nope. I can't talk for that long. Wow, so great to see everyone. You'll have to forgive me. It's been since 2019 since I've been in this room. So I seem a little shell shocked. That's it. I definitely didn't carve my name in that desk anywhere. So there's no need to look for it. It's fine. Yeah, I'm just, thank you so much. My name is Brian Batson. I live on Capisic Street in Portland and I used to sit over there way back in the day. I'm just really excited to be here to support Interim City Manager West. I've known her for several years which it's like flirting with a quarter of my life which is bananas. But she just completely embodies the characteristics that I feel we really need in the city manager to lead a city of this size, the largest in the state with the most complex issues in the state. She's shown, just has been absolutely tremendous as corporation council. And I'm so grateful that she got to service corporation council when I was here and as interim city manager. So it's so great to see you step into this role. I think you're absolutely gonna shine in it. Diamond Danielle, I don't know if that's gonna stick but there's a ring to it. And I just, I really appreciate you being willing to step forward and serve in this role. And I don't know if I have a whole lot else to say except I think you are absolutely the person for the job and I know it's gonna take up a lot more of your life but I hope you get to still get some surfing in there every once in a while. But thank you all and thank you soon to be hopefully city manager West for your work. Thanks for being here, right here in chambers. Good evening. Let me just say it's great to be back. Spencer Tibido formerly of Bracket Street here in my personal capacity. And if I could just take a personal point of privilege to just look you all in the eye and say thank you very much for your service. I don't think it's said enough. And I should know cause I do still listen to some of these meetings while I'm cooking in my kitchen but I think more people should show up here and just remind you why you all are here and just to say a huge thank you. I'm proof that they let anyone back into city hall and I walked right through security, it was great. So thank you for letting me in but I just wanted to show up here in person to speak highly of my good friend interim city manager hopefully future city manager West. I would not miss this historic moment for anything. I think as you're considering all of the good traits of a city manager, I think the one that always comes back to score one for me is that regardless of the issue how big or little it seemed that didn't matter whenever I would reach out to Danielle. And I think that is exactly the type of city manager Portland deserves whether it's a small sidewalk or you're gonna draft an ordinance. She's the person that you're gonna have to go through and you're gonna have to live with. And for me as somebody who endeavors to return to my hometown of Portland, that's who I'd hope to see as I was looking across the country to say where do I wanna end up? It's the reason why I think a lot of people look to Portland to say where I wanna end up here because of the work that you all do. And that I think Danielle will do as your city manager. And so with that, I wish you nothing but the best of luck. You look like you're having a bunch of fun here. So it's gonna be back. And I too have not been back in these chambers with people in chairs since was that February of 2020. And so we've been through a lot. Some people have come and gone but the one constant really has been Danielle. I miss you all. Thank you so much for being here. Good afternoon everyone. My name is Nick Mavadonis. I live at 79 Chennery Street here in Portland. I'm here to speak in favor of Danielle as being appointed as city manager and the contract that you've negotiated. I'll just a couple of things up front. One, I wanna thank all of you for your work in this process. I've had a little experience hiring city managers and some school superintendents. Some of you have as well prior to this. You have to read through a lot. You have to listen. You have to balance. You have to deliberate and it's challenging and trying to get the right person. And I believe you've gotten the right person. And I know you had a thorough process. I didn't follow it all that closely until you got to the finalist to be quite honest with you. But I wanna thank all of you for doing that. In terms of the contract, I did read it. Spencer and I were talking about it. I don't know if he's read it, but I'll only mention it because one of the speakers mentioned the contract. I think it's fair to the city and the taxpayers. I think it's fair to Danielle. And I think that's what's most important. If I or any other former counselors were sitting in your seats, I think we would look through that lens. So we all may have in the city different opinions on what a contract should look like. But I think it's a good contract for Danielle and a good contract for the taxpayers of Portland. So thank you for being mindful of that on both sides of that negotiation. It's hard to top what my former council colleagues have said. I've probably worked with Danielle the longest. There were some others here. Gary Woods behind me. And didn't work with her as much when she was associate corporation council. I was part of the council that hired her to be corporation council. She was great to work with. Very pleased with her in that capacity. I didn't get to work with her for very long when John Jennings left. So you guys have a far better view into her abilities. And obviously you've selected her based on your experience and based on what you know about her. But she's always been at least as corporation council and I'm sure as acting manager, she's been involved in just about every issue the city has dealt with in the last, well, close to 15 years. I know some of the time you were associate corporation council. And there was also a comment about- 30 second warning. Oh, I'm sorry. There's a comment about the being the lawyer, but lawyers and managers, there's attention there. I'm sure many of you have seen that. So I'll wrap up quickly and say that Danielle's the right person for this job. She is intelligent, she's compassionate, she understands process, she understands the issues in Portland. She seeks to find consensus where it's possible. I don't think you could do any better no matter how far you looked in search. She's the right person for the job. She's been living in Portland for over two decades. She not only lives here, she understands Portland. She has kids in the school system. She's part of this community. And I encourage you to vote yes unanimously to appoint her as the city manager. Sorry, I couldn't say more, I talked too much. Thanks for being here. Mayor Snider, members of the city council, my name is Gary Wood, 104 Vanna Avenue. My prior life, I was the city attorney from 1991 to 2012. And I wanna start by reiterating what your former colleague Spencer said. Thank you. It's only when you sit where you sit or up at that podium that you have any idea how hard the counselors and your administrators work to run this city. I can imagine, and I bet I know the answer as to how many of you are thanked every week when you're in the grocery line for the great job you're doing. It doesn't happen, right? But thank you for all the work you do because I certainly have a good sense of the hours and hours you have to put in to do these jobs well. And they're very important. And almost no one knows what you have to do and how well you do it. And you've done it very well here tonight with your nomination of Danielle. I had the privilege and good fortune actually of hiring Danielle in 2008 as an assistant city attorney. It was fortunate for me, the staff and the city, she came ready to work, you know, like you buy something and you open the box and it works. That was Danielle. And she's always been that way. She perseveres through thick and thin, you know, and I was thinking, what's the difference between being stubborn and persevering? Can we mention the sliver incident in which Danielle limped around for three or four weeks after going on vacation with her mom who's right here and has probably had to deal with this her whole life. And no one could figure out what was going on. Her running at 430 and five o'clock in the morning, it was hurting. So finally under staff duress, she had somebody look at her foot and the doctor extracted, was it three inches of four inches, the sliver? You still have it? Which she had picked up in Florida, but hey, you know, you got to persevere, keep on going. So you've made a great choice. Just make sure she, you know, gets some rest and eats a good diet. So she doesn't, you know, collapse on you, which is never going to happen. That doesn't happen to Marathoners. How many? 25. You've run 25 Marathas? Those are, that's a long way, 26 miles, 385 yards. And you have to have the right stuff to take that on, get through it. And I'm sure it will come as a surprise to all of you that you didn't really have a comprehensive process here in selecting Danielle, holy moly rock and rolly. I've never seen such a process. And so you put a great process together. You got a great result and I applaud you. I applaud Danielle. She's going to continue to do the great job she's already done for 18 months. It's not going to get, it's not going downhill at all. As someone else said, it's going to go uphill because now she can make some decisions that need to be made, get things moving along with all of you. And I know that her common sense, sense of humor and stick-to-edness will be well worth your decision here tonight to make her the next city manager. Thank you. Thank you for your comment. Any other commenters in chambers? Seeing none, thank you all for being here. And on Zoom too, and I will close public comment on order 204. I have to say before we move on, holy moly rock and rolly. That is new to me, but thank you. Thank you for that. So again, we've got an order before us. We're going to have the opportunity to talk to this order. But what I'd first like to do is ask the council to consider waiving our second read. So I'll offer a motion to waive our second read. Councillor Ali with the second. And so we have to vote on that in order to waive the second read. Councillor Fornir. Yes. Rodvigas. Yes. Councillor Dyon. Yes. Councillor Ali. Yes. Councillor Zaro. Yes. Councillor Trevorrow. Yes. Councillor Pilatier. Yes. Councillor Phillips. Yes. Mayor Snyder. Yes. The second read has been waived. And I'd like to offer a motion to pass this as an emergency. Do I have a second? Second. Councillor Zaro with a second. We have a motion and a second before us. And I open up the floor to council discussion. Councillor Zaro. Thank you, Madam Mayor. So I know we've changed our rules so that we can sit after we raise our hand, but I'm going to stay standing because I know Councillor Thibodeau has a bit of a pet peeve when it comes to that. First, I just want to say, wow. I feel like I'm watching an episode of All Stars with all of the former electeds in this room. Really nice to see everyone. And thank you for sharing all of that. I just want to say that I'm really pleased to confirm the appointment of Daniel West as our city manager tonight. Daniel, as many of you have outlined already, has demonstrated her dedication to this city for the past 18 months as the interim city manager and throughout the past 15 years, which is remarkable. For those of you who are acknowledged how hard it is to work in municipal government, that doesn't happen very often anymore. So thank you. In my experience, Daniel starts with yes. Daniel and I have a pretty strong working relationship. And from the moment I won my election, Daniel was there by my side to help me succeed, not for myself, but for my constituents in District 4 and over the city at large. Over the past few years, I've witnessed Daniel's hard work and commitment to city services, ensuring that the needs of Portlanders are put first. I mean, a couple of you touched on it, but let's just name it. Daniel is simply brilliant. You are truly one of the smartest people I've ever met in my entire life. Your experience and your expertise in municipal law have been invaluable to the city. And we really are very lucky to have you and to have you consider this role. One of my favorite things about working with you is you lead with vulnerability. You are fiercely courageous. You never back down. You are an Aries, which for those of you who know, you don't want to get the horns. We don't agree on everything, and we don't agree every time, and that's OK, but we trust one another, and that allows us to make good decisions that are rooted in a diversity of perspective and good governance. So with the challenges that Portland's facing today, it is crucial that we have the stability and continuity of our leadership, and that starts at the top. I think your confirmation will provide us with the stability that we need as we navigate the complex issues that are facing our city today. I'm fully confident that you're going to be able to serve our city with distinction and lead us into a brighter future. And with this appointment, I look forward to seeing what is next to come for us. So my advice for you, my ask, is that we step forward with bold decisions that will better the people of Portland, uphold our commitment to support city staff. I know a couple of former counselors mentioned that, and to reaffirm our strength as a municipality as the biggest city in the state of Maine. And, Daniel, the last thing I'll say is remember to take care of yourself, just as you take care of our city. I believe our best days are ahead of us, and I'm so excited for you. So congratulations, friend. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you so much, Counselor Zaro. Any other counselors would like to speak to this order? Counselor Phillips. Well, thank you, Counselor Dianne. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I was lucky enough to be able to work with Danielle. Thank you, Gary, for reminding me. She started here in 2008. I started working for the city in 1997. And I worked in the Health and Human Services Department. I ran the refugee services program, and I also ran the city's homeless family shelter. So I was here when Daniel got here and was hired here. And so I remember working with her as a colleague, and there would be times that I'd have to go to Corporation Council, not that I did anything wrong, but there were just times that we needed to have some consulting from Corporation Council. And I can't, I mean, it's just like everybody else has said, she's brilliant, she's patient, she's kind, she's honest, she's an excellent communicator. And I was able to see that in her when she was my colleague. And so I was excited to see that she was asked and accepted to be the interim city manager. I was very grateful for that because again, she had been a great colleague of mine. Now that I sit here on the other side, there's again, not much I can say other than what everybody else has said. She opened her arms up to me and when I was inaugurated, we have really great, open, honest, authentic conversations. And as folks know me, that's how I roll. So it's really good and refreshing to have those conversations. And like my, like Councillor Zahero said, we don't always have to agree. We're not all supposed to agree. That's not how the world works and that's okay. And I don't believe that we will agree on certain things when we go, as we go forward. And so I am grateful for your service. I think that you are going to be an amazing city manager. I have no doubts. I look forward to working with you. And I have the, I must respect for you. And I don't know if it's in closing, but first of all, happy Mother's Day. Mother's Day was yesterday, right? I'm looking around the room and I'm seeing all the women in the room. And happy Mother's Day. And just like Councillor Chang said, we had some powerful women in this room. And so I first of all want to say happy Mother's Day or a belated Mother's Day. But yesterday, everybody knows I'm not a morning person. So yesterday as I ruled out a bit around 8.30, before all of the text messages came in from family, it's wishing everybody a happy Mother's Day. I literally took my phone off of the charger and there was a message from Danielle that said happy Mother's Day. And I was like, she had time to think about me on Mother's Day. Like seriously? Like it was one of the first messages I got. And what happened was it encouraged me to reach out to my fellow councillors who were moms. And so it started this rolling thing of me going, okay, gotta reach out. Make sure I reach out to Councillor Fornir and make sure I acknowledge her as the wonderful mom she is. Make sure I reach out to councillor, oh, councillor. Woo, I just demoted you. Make sure I reached out to the mayor and acknowledge what a wonderful mom she was. And then of course respond to Danielle and let her know what an amazing mom and leader that she was. And that's her, that's her, that's our new city manager. So I enthusiastically making up words as I go on, I enthusiastically support this and I will be voting yes. Thank you, councillor. Over to you, councillor Diane and then Fornir. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I'm not sure I can follow such oratory as we've heard from Councillor Phillips. I'm a little lost as to what my role is as a father under those circumstances. You'll find out on Father's Day. Less than supporting actor from the narrative I've heard expressed tonight. But to be serious for a moment, congratulations, Danielle. I think the appointment that we'll vote on is well deserving of the candidate it selected and that's you. I've appreciated your 18 months trying to be a leader when you had no official ground to stand on. It's probably the worst, hardest thing to do and you did it well. And as I told some of the community, I was most impressed that you spent so much time trying to rebuild and reinvigorate a collaborative environment with all our community partners. That's a sign of true leadership. You weren't me focused, you were they focused and that kind of work is quiet. It's behind the scenes. There are no news stories about it. The curtain's drawn, but it's absolutely essential to the success of our city and this council and the work of our staff. So that's when you got me, right? That's when I decided you were a manager that I wanted to work with. Now I'm gonna close, I won't speak too long tonight. I promise myself that, but here's a point I think is so essential. When we appoint Danielle as city manager, we are sending strong message to future staff members. All right, that you can join an organization and you can give it your passion, your commitment, your loyalty, your devotion, your respect and create relationships in a pathway. So one day you could sit in that chair. I wanna be able to tell a new employee that that narrative rings true, that it's possible and they can accomplish it. I think that's what we need to tell our staff. We're not searching for staff to model what other cities are doing. We are searching staff that are courageous enough, empowered enough, led enough that they see an opportunity to create the very best here among ourselves and her appointment signals that all is possible. And that's why I have a few chills this evening. Hopefully in a few more minutes, I will gladly yield to two leaders that I dearly respect who just happen to be women. All right, and that's important too. Thank you very much, Madam Mayor. Thank you, Councillor Dianne, Councillor Fornir. Thank you. Hi. I just wanted to say thank you for showing up every day for the last 18 months. This is a very, very hard job. And I know that we have had some tears together and some laughs together. And what I appreciate most is that we're honest with each other and we have an incredible amount of trust and respect for each other. And when I look at someone who's going to run the city, take care of the staff, lead us in conversation and be partners with us, that's really what is most important to me. And as others have said, we don't have to always agree. Definitely, sometimes we don't. But I think in that disagreement, we try and find a path forward together. And that's collaboration. And that is born out of that trust and respect. And so I'm so very glad to have you on our team to do this very hard work that we still have in front of us. And thank you so much again for stepping up to do that. Thank you, counselor. Counselor Rodriguez. Thank you, Mayor. I'm gonna sit just so that I can be a little bit more thoughtful in my words. I think that my colleagues have spoken very positively about Danielle. And I don't wanna repeat it, although I think it'd be certainly appropriate as I agree with all the great things that have been said about her. I did want to speak a little bit about process, if I may. I wanted to first of all thank the hiring committee for the process that they took on. This process took on a very long time. I actually remember sitting in some of those meetings before I was even on the council. And then I was never a member of the committee, but I did get a chance to join quite frequently. And so I got a chance to see the process somewhat closely and just appreciate the work that went in there and all the time that the members of that committee put in. Second, I view very much, I'm very keenly aware of the role that the council plays here where we are the boss. We are the employer and Danielle's our employee. And much like I think of my own business, I always think that I wanna create an environment that is conducive to my employee's success. And so I wanna speak to the processes because this is a three-year contract and giving that those of us sitting at this part of the dais are in three-year terms, none of us are guaranteed to be here through the duration of this contract. And I very much believe that it's impossible to manage people, but we certainly can manage processes. And so one of the things that came out of this process that I'm very eager to put in place and to work with my colleagues because I think it's what's going to help the city manager be successful or us create an environment that's conducive to her success is work on a really thorough and comprehensive evaluation process so that we as a council can work collaboratively with our employee, set clear measurable goals that we can then use to gauge her performance and therefore our performance as elected officials who have this great responsibility of directing the manager of this great city. So working in that process with my colleagues over the next few months, I believe is what's going to create the environment that I hope is conducive to your success. And that is what I want to offer as my part, my one ninth of the equation that I hope equals to your success. And I'm very much looking forward to that work and to do it alongside with you. And so in a few moments I'll also enthusiastically approve this motion or this order and right away I guess started with my colleagues on that work that I just spoke about. Thank you. Thank you, counselor. Next we go to counselor Travaro. Thank you, mayor. And I appreciate and echo the sentiments of everybody that spoke tonight, people who have worked with Danielle for longer than I have but in the two years that I have had the privilege of working with you, I've really enjoyed the experience. And I think that the job description is for a superhuman and I think we've expressed that to you multiple times that I think a common thing that happens when we have our one-on-ones is I hear Danielle say to me, I don't know how you do it, counselor. And I say, I don't know how you do it. And so we just resolve that, okay, we're in the right roles then. But I think there's a part of us that just is grateful that anybody wants to do this job but in this case, we're privileged that you or the individual that wants to do this job and I think you actually do want to do this job. So the two things that I've noticed in my term in working with you that really speak to your credibility are your level of step-up ability. We have, you know, we're constantly in a status of reacting to crises and you have managed to creatively find solution after solution after solution to really big complex issues. So I've appreciated that. And then the other thing is I think you're pretty much a pro at navigating multiple constituencies. I've appreciated the way that you've worked with my constituents to help bring people on board and navigate solutions to people with opposing viewpoints and the way that you've worked with this council which is a body of nine people with nine different policy initiatives and managed to help us be able to move our ideas forward and as Councilor Fornir said, even when we don't agree on a particular issue you still have a path forward. So that's, it's extremely important and probably the single most important credential for this role. So I will be enthusiastically also supporting this nomination and I feel very lucky that we have you with us and look forward to working with you as a team in the future. Thank you. Thank you, Councilor. Any other Council comments? Councilor Pelletier. Thank you. Yeah, I don't know that I have a lot that hasn't already been said. Also nice to see the veteran council squad here. I was thinking like after we do this we do like a switch, you come take your desk back and we go to dinner. I'm just saying it's open if you want to have like a freaky Friday moment. I'm a big person with history so I do really want to acknowledge the fact that this is going to be such a historical moment and the fact that the city of Portland will be led by a woman for the first time ever. And we are women led in this environment as well and the most racially and ethnically diverse I think we've ever been. So I think that there is a lot of really great important historical moments that I appreciate. And I think with Danielle and with myself I think we're finding our way and I think that that is a lot of conversations that are difficult. But I think in this environment that's what it is. I've had difficult conversations with everyone in this environment. And I think the thing that I really actually appreciated that you did that stuck with me was to budget for our DEI work because now we have a hire. We have Umaro in here and we have a DEI department and I think that was a really big first step that started with a lot of conversations and you specifically made a point to budget for that. And I think that for me was a step forward and saying like we are going to take DEI seriously we're going to actually budget for it and we're going to have a plan to make sure that we are addressing a lot of issues in terms of what this governmental body represents. So I really appreciated that. And I think that I'm excited to see where we can go from here. And again, I know that that will be I'm sure many more conversations, some great some not so great, but I am very much appreciative of history. And I do think that this is a very historic moment. And I yeah, I'm of course going to support this. And I think it's also nice that you have your family here as well. You had a lot of great former counselors and former community leaders speaking as well as this current council. So I just wanted to say I appreciate you. And also this job is super hard. A lot of fun, but also not. But I think that I appreciate just from a sense of being in a difficult environment and trying to do your best work. And I think that even if we see things differently I actually I actually am pretty confident that you are doing the work that you think is the best. And moving forward, I think in the best way that you know how. So I'm excited I think for us to do more of that together. And yeah, I'm appreciative of it. So that's all I got. Thank you. Thank you, counselor. Counselor Ali. Thank you, Mayor. I am also going to seat. Okay, with me. Old folks do that sometimes. Thank you, Mayor, for the opportunity to speak. Danielle, I think there's nothing much to add in addition to everything that my former colleagues, I think I would call today a throwback Monday where my former colleague would take a picture and tag it as such. There is a saying that I learned somewhere I don't know where that great leaders are not afraid of being vulnerable. And I don't want to add to what everyone else have said. I just want to say that to you that whether it is on one-on-one or when meeting with us as a group, you've always shown your vulnerability. And when needed or when it demands then vulnerability does not necessarily showing your weakness or showing your compassion. It's also showing that this is where I stand. This is what I believe is the right thing to do. And it doesn't matter what that is what I would do after you've considered all said and I've seen you do both. This is the only process since I served on the school board and the city council that I've traveled to five countries and still work while I was there and then continue to do it. So I'm glad that at the end of the day you are the one that we select and then we're going to work with you. I'm looking forward to working with you. Thank you. It takes someone like you to get a lot of veteran counselors to show up to council meeting because normally when people live here they really, really don't want to come back. But today you got about all of them to show up and that is great. And I think counselor Justin is here. Thank you, counselor, senator, mayor. Thank you for joining us tonight. Thank you. Thank you, counselor Ali. I was gonna say, we've got a senator in the house. So I'll take this opportunity to address the room. Thank you all for your comments. Thank you again to everyone who has shown up tonight. It's incredible really to look around the room and see former council colleagues, folks I served with people I didn't serve with and city staff showing up. And I think this is really a testament to Danielle. You have filled the room tonight with colleagues whether they're your elected colleagues or your colleagues on city staff. And what we need so much is stability. And this shows me tonight that we are making the right decision because we've got directors showing up here present in person for this action tonight. We've got past elected officials stepping forward and saying you guys have a good one. So thank you. I've got some written remarks and I'll look at them sort of, but I wanna flip it because the fact that Danielle's mom is in the room and her daughter Abby and her son Jacob, that's Danielle. I mean, having your family here is, it's so wonderful. And it too is an equal testament to elected officials and staff showing up. So I just wanted to, I was gonna recognize you at the end but happy Mother's Day. You did a great job. And to have your kids come to council chambers it must be a big deal. So thanks for being here you guys. So here are some things I wrote as I thought about this action tonight. As we contemplate the appointment of a new city manager I look back over the last three and a half years and I marvel at the challenges and the changes and the new and the ever changing normal that gets referenced as if we're able to quantify normal. It seems like that's constantly changing. We happen to have a leader who is willing to change and willing to be challenged. As mayor, I have worked to navigate the challenges and the changes and the normal and the not so normal. And I've seen significant council turnover each year that I've been here and I've seen staff turnover too and through the changes and through the challenges I've been buoyed and helped and encouraged consistently by either corporation council or interim city manager, Danielle West. As I contemplated today's action in the road that we have taken to get here, it's been long. It has been really long. It's not been easy. I gave a lot of thought to what I would say about Danielle as I tee up my comments and my intent to vote yes. And what's most important about this candidate this person who's teed up to be Portland's next city manager. Is it that Danielle has been with the city for 15 years? Is it that she has experienced as corporation council? Is it that she went to UMaine Law School and has been living and working in Portland and raising kids who go to Portland public schools for a couple of decades? Is it that she's smart or capable? Is it that she's a woman? But the thing I wanna highlight and feature as the most important reason that I will vote yes tonight and that I enthusiastically support this appointment is that Danielle is thoughtful and creative and she truly is a persistent problem solver. At every turn I've been genuinely impressed by her willingness and even eagerness to understand the issue and consider options. She doesn't rush to know and for all of us who know her she does not rush to yes. She explores and dives in and she helps. If anyone questions a public servant's willingness to help you haven't gotten to know Danielle. Maybe it's her lawyer training that requires all of the rock turning over that she does but she really does it. She turns over the rocks and she does that for herself and she does it for the city and she does it for all of us around the dais when we wanna figure something out. She'll work with you on ideas that are yours, not hers. And I think as a city manager that is so important. An idea maker great, but if it's your idea she's gonna help you with it. I've felt that so clearly every step of the way. She doesn't always like my ideas but she always says I'll help you try to figure it out. She's always willing to support the work. She's always willing to look under the rocks and she does these things both so that you're well prepared and that the city is well served. Danielle, I know you're the right person for the job. You know Portland and its history. You care so deeply. You move outside of your comfort zone because you know that the job demands that you do it and you do it really willingly and it's impressive every single day. You know how to work in Portland, you know how to work in Maine and you know how to work in DC for the sake of our small city. But I wanna thank you for raising your hand and I want to get to this vote. So if there is nothing further I will ask my colleagues to join me in approving order 204. I think we're ready to go ahead and vote. Councilor Fornner? Yes. Councilor Rodriguez? Yes. Councilor Dionne? Yes. Councilor Ali? Yes. Councilor Zauro? Yes. Councilor Chabarro? Yes. Councilor Pelletier? Yes. Councilor Phillips? Yes. Mayor Seder? Yes. Order 204 is unanimously approved. Congratulations and thank you so much. We've got a lot of jobs in the office. Like those guys on there. Thank you. I'm going to help you. Thank you. I don't know how to follow all of that up. I want to first say thank you so much. All of, I mean, to see all of my colleagues that I've worked with out there in the crowd, it's pretty amazing. I'm gonna try to compose myself that vulnerability piece. Sometimes wear it right in my sleeve. The gravity of this moment is not lost on me. To be the first female in this role, to be the first at anything is pretty amazing. I was actually the first female city attorney and I recognize that that's very, very significant. And I think the biggest thing for me is I don't wanna be the last. So I want, I see my daughter sitting right there. I want her to be next at whatever she wants to do and be first at. So I'm very focused on that. And I just really want to do a good job and I'm very humbled and honored by your appointment and by your trust in me and by your support. I couldn't have gotten here right now without all of you around this dais and everyone in this room. I've worked with a lot of people in here and I'm very thankful for that. And I know that I can do this because of all of you. And that is what, that's what's so great about Portland. The mayor mentioned that I've lived here longer than I've lived anywhere. This is my home. My kids, Jacob and Abby, they go to school at Portland Public Schools. We've lived here a long time and I want to do great things for the city. I wanna see it succeed. I know we have great problems and great challenges that we have to face, but I know that we can do it if we put those problem solving caps on and try to figure it out. Piece by piece, it's probably not gonna happen at the pace everybody wants, but I mean, I do turn over a lot of rocks and sometimes it takes me maybe a little bit longer to get there, but I really, really, really wanna do it and I'm very focused on that. I wanna thank the mayor and council for the process that you've put me through and put all of the candidates through. I think it's been very, very extensive and it was difficult, it was great, but I think it's really produced a great result. And I also really wanna thank your support over the last 18 months. So it's been tough. It's been tough with the issues we've been facing, but also just being an interim is really difficult. I was, at the beginnings, sort of tried to still do some of my work in the legal office and make sure it's all running, but I've been lucky enough to have a great support system and that's the second group I wanna thank and that is the department directors and the city staff. Amazing. They do amazing things every day. I couldn't do this without them. I think we have a lot of challenge, or you talked about Councillor Phillips not agreeing on everything. I would say everybody at the city, department directors and city staff, we don't always agree on everything either, but we're very focused on trying to find what's the best solution for the city of Portland and to continue to deliver those top-notch services that the residents and the visitors and the businesses in the city have come to know, that's what we're all focused on. And I just thank you guys so, so much for all of your support over the last 18 months and look forward to continuing to work with everybody as we move ahead. Lastly, I wanna thank my friends and family and my municipal colleagues that are in the room, former colleagues as well. I wouldn't be here without all of you and I recognize that. I do, I know some of you know that I do have a tendency to talk quite a bit and some of you have been able to I guess reap the benefits of that because I will call you in sort of event and I've appreciated everything that, all the advice, all the listening in everything that everyone in this chamber has done for me. And so thank you so very much for being here and thank you for all of that support. Thank you to Jacob and Abby, my kids. I know there's a lot of sacrifices that come with a career like this and they truly, they're amazing and they step up and they're the reason I'm here, you know? I mean, it's tough, but I thank you guys so much and I thank you for being here tonight because I know this isn't where you wanna be. Lastly, due to Mother's Day, my mom's sitting right there in front of me. Thank you so much for being here. My father is actually on Zoom as well. He couldn't be here, but I look back and I think, you know, I was like, how did I get here? And I think back to public service. My mother was a teacher. My father was the supervisor of my small town. My grandfather was on the volunteer fire department and also was the mayor. There's public service in my blood. My uncle was the mayor. It's just coursing through my veins and you taught me what it means to be a public servant, how to build community, how important that is, how important it is to help people and really listen to them. I saw that on a regular basis, whether it was teaching at a school or helping the residents of my small town where honestly the cows outnumbered the people. So I think, I just thank you mom so much and I appreciate you more than you know. So thank you for being here. And I just want you all to know that I will do my best. I know we're not always gonna agree, but I'll do my best and I'll continue to work hard and try to make you guys very proud and confident of your decision and look forward to the days ahead as we continue to try to navigate all the various things that lay ahead. But thank you so much for this honor. I appreciate it. Thank you for speaking Danielle. I suspect you might wanna give a hug or two. And so I'm gonna suggest we take a 10 minute break and reconvene so you can say hello and thank you to some folks that are out there and we'll come back at it. Let's say at about 6.55. Say hello. Nice to meet you. We are overdue. I'm looking around the room. I'm boring holes into, there's counselor Ali, counselor. There's my corporation council. Mr. Dianne, who knows where he is? Where's our city manager? Hello. All right. Thank you so much, counselor Ali. Counselor Dianne, good to see you. City manager, wonderful to see you. Thank you. Okey dokey. Okay, so we are back. Thank you for your patience, everybody. Thanks to the folks on Zoom who hung in there with us. We are at the consent items portion of our agenda. So we're gonna dive right into it. Will the clerk please read order 205. Order 205, 22, 23, declaring June 17th, 2023, the Pride Portland Parade and Festival, sponsored by Daniel West, official city manager. Any comment on order 205? Okay, self-explanatory. Any public comment on order 205? Declaring the Pride Parade, June 17th. I don't see any, so I'll close public comment. Come back to the council for a motion, please. So moved. Second. Counselor Ali with a second from counselor Rodriguez. Is there any council discussion? Seeing none, we will vote to approve order 205. Councilor Fornir. Yes. Councilor Rodriguez. Yes. Councilor Dianne. Yes. Councilor Trevorrow. Yes. Councilor Pelleteer. Yes. Councilor Phillips. Yes. Mayor Snider. Yes, that passes unanimously. We're on to licenses. Will the clerk please read order 206. Order 206, 22, 23, granting municipal officers approval of the thirsty pig. Applications for a class one food surface establishment with outdoor dining on private property and combined entertainment located at 37 Exchange Street sponsored by Daniel West, city manager. Thank you. And counselor Trevorrow. Thank you, mayor. I wanted to move to postpone this. Item to our June, I think it's our second meeting in June. 21st, yes. Motion to postpone till June 21st. Second. Oh, I think it was councilor Rodriguez with the second. Councilor Trevorrow moves postponement to the 22nd with a second from councilor Rodriguez. Are there any questions on the motion to postpone? Any discussion seeing none, we can go ahead and vote to postpone this item. Councilor Forner. Yes. Councilor Rodriguez. Yes. Councilor Dion. Yes. Councilor Ali. Yes. Councilor Zahro. Yes. Councilor Trevorrow. Yes. Sorry, mayor. I did note that somebody in the audience did raise their hand for public comment. I don't know if you, if we, if we takes public comment today, we won't take it next time. So I figure we have more opportunity. If, if we're gathering more information, we'll have that opportunity next time. If that's okay with you, councilor. Okay. That's fine. Just a clarification of the process. Thank you. Thank you. And I do believe that we wanted to postpone in order to get more information. Great. Thank you. Middle of the vote. And councilor Trevorrow. Yes. Councilor Pellett's here. Yes. Councilor Phillips. Yes. Mayor Snyder. Yes. Order 206 is postponed. Well, thank you for your patience on that. We just want to gather some more information. Will the clerk please read order 207. 2223 granting municipal officers approval of the Henry application is for class a restaurant lounge located at 375 four street sponsored by Daniel West city manager. Thank you. Is there any public comment on order 207? I have a hand up on zoom from George row. George row and over street. Just wanted to give a shout out to Josh. Solely he's I think in his early nineties and he's a 50% owner in this establishment. So he's still trucking right along, which is impressive. I also wanted to note it's always a little strange when we're about ready to evict a whole bunch of people on the other side of the hill. A lot of whom are dealing with substance abuse including alcoholism that were reviewing liquor licenses on the other side of the hill. But I actually had a question in the packet. There is a question on every form for these kinds of applications about prior convictions. And the detail was a little vague. I think there was the applicant just wrote trafficking from an incident that occurred apparently in or a conviction that occurred in 2000 which was admittedly a long time ago. But the question is asked. And so I think that there should be enough detail for the public to understand what the matter involves. Obviously there's a lot of statutes that forbid trafficking of all kinds of different things humans and drugs and exotic birds and all kinds of things. So it would be nice to have that just be clarified. And again, it doesn't appear that this previous conviction is anything that the Portland Police Department or anybody else in the city is too concerned with based on current activity of the applicant. So hopefully that will continue to be the case. But I do think that it's important if these questions are being asked on these forms about prior convictions and prior criminal activity that it be the applicant be as forthcoming as possible about what's going on here. Obviously there are a lot of people in our society who these kinds of past transgressions are an impediment for them to be able to get the privilege to do some of the things they wanna do, whether or not they've been quote unquote rehabilitated. So I think it's just important that maybe the licensing department make sure that these applications are thoroughly filled out early in the process. So we don't have to ask these kinds of questions at the very end of the process. Thank you. Thank you for your comment. Is there any additional public comment on order 207? I see none. I will close public comment and I'll come back to the council for a motion please. Move passage. Councillor Zahra with a second from Councillor Ali. Any questions or comments on this license application? Okay, I see none. We'll go ahead and vote. Councillor Fornir. Yes. Councillor Rodriguez. Yes. Councillor Dionne stepped out. Councillor Ali. Yeah. Councillor Zahra. Yes. Councillor Chabarro. Yes. Councillor Pelletier. Yes. Councillor Phillips. Yes. Mayor Snider. Yes. Order 207 passes unanimously. And if the owners of the Henry are here with us in person or on Zoom, I want to say thank you for doing business in the city of Portland. Thank you for being here. Will the clerk please read order 208. Order 208 2223 granting municipal officers approval of Poppy Portland. Application is for a parklet outdoor dining located at 18 Exchange Street sponsored by Daniel West City Manager. Thank you. Is there any public comment on order 208? I see none and I will close public comment. Come back to the council for a motion. Move passage. Second. Councillor Fornir with a second from Councillor Rodriguez. Questions or comments from the council? Councillor Rodriguez. Thank you, Mayor. Would it be okay if I ask a very brief question to the applicant? It is okay. Thank you. And this is just my way of stealing a couple of minutes in this process. I plan to support this application. I'm very excited. I have a question about, and perhaps Mr. Miranda, you cannot answer it. Are you guys making your own sofrito in hand or are you getting it somewhere else? Ah, that's too bad. Perhaps some other time I'll find out. But since I have a moment on the mic, I'd like to wish you nothing but success and thank you for doing business in the city of Portland. You want to take over that part. We could just, I'll do this part. I'll do the first part. You do the last part. Councillor Phillips. I just, I know the owner. He's close to my son and my daughter. And I just really want to congratulate Josh, not only Josh, but Ronnie, the cook and Liana who runs the establishment. They've done an amazing job at this restaurant. The inside is just so creatively and fabulously done and put together. My family had a chance to go there. Thanks to the owner, Josh, for the opening and it's an amazing restaurant. And I think we're very, very lucky in the city of Portland to have our first Puerto Rican restaurant. And so I once again enthusiastically support this license. Thank you, Josh. Thank you, Councillor. Back to you, Councillor Rodriguez. I'm sorry, I kind of stepped out before it was too quick. Thank you, Councillor Phillips, for reminding me. There was something that I was thinking of saying instead of that silly joke that I said a moment ago. When I moved to Maine back in 2011, when I was starting my first job, which was in a skilled nursing facility, as part of the orientation, as often when you have new staff, we were doing some sort of like meet and greet and getting to know each other. And I remember the HR person had one of these ice breakers and she asked, what's your favorite food? And mind you that I was born in Puerto Rico. I lived in Mexico when I was a kid and then the rest of my life in Miami, Florida. So naturally my favorite food is Latin food. And when I said that, she looked at me and she said, oh, that sounds great. What is Latin food? And it was like this moment of like, oh, that's right. Like I'm in Maine, like I'm like something, I mean, not everyone in Maine, obviously it's not gonna need to be explained what Latin food is, but it struck me that I'm in a place where that's not very common. And then I love to cook and I'm very aware that I wasn't gonna be able to find a lot of the meals that I grew up really enjoying when I moved here. But since then, a lot of different Latin food establishments have popped up. Some that are incredibly great, very authentic meals. And I've been able to go to Papio already. I've enjoyed their food as well. So to me, it is indicative of the progress and the changes that we've seen in a very short period of time and the different cultural acknowledgments that we've made. And y'all have done a great job at really speaking really loudly as Puerto Ricans tend to do about Puerto Rico. And you're right, the establishment is gorgeous. They have so many great historical references on the wall, some of the many Puerto Ricans that have been important historical figures. And so I know that I personally, incredibly proud to live in a city that has a very well-known and popular Puerto Rican restaurant. And can I say that almost everyone asked me if it's worth going, right? Because they're like, oh, you're Puerto Rican, like, should I go there? And I tell them, you know what? I don't even drink. Just go there and hang out, you're gonna love it. So I just wanna again thank y'all for doing business in the city of Portland. Thank you, counselor. Any other comments on, this license is getting a lot of action, I like it. Okay, I don't see any additional comments. So we'll go ahead to vote to approve order 208. Councilor Fornir? Yes. Councilor Bradviggas? Yes. Councilor Dionne? Yes. Councilor Ali? Yes. Councilor Zaro? Yes. Councilor Chavaro? Yes. Councilor Pillich here? Yes. Councilor Phillips? Yes. And for doing business in the city of Portland. Okay, we are onto budget items. So we've got a number of first reads tonight. This is the municipal budget. So we're gonna walk our way through all of the orders. Some of the orders will need to have action tonight. So as we've done in the past, there are orders that I will call out that we'll need a motion and a second to postpone to June 5th so that we can take all of the orders up together. So for my colleagues and for people in the public, just so you understand, we're gonna look at order 211, 212, 214, 215, 216. And those are the municipal budget items that we will take action on to postpone. All of the other items are standalone first reads, but in any event, they'll all be read into the record. We will take public comment and then we'll move on. So that's what we're doing here tonight in terms of the municipal budget. Will the clerk please read us through this series of orders that constitutes the municipal budget. All right, order 209, 22, 23, approving fiscal year 2024 administrative fees for city parking garages in the parks, recreation and the facilities department sponsored by Daniel West city manager. Order 210, 22, 23, authorizing the city manager to enter into certain agreements to implement the fiscal year 2024 human resources and certain fringe benefits budgets sponsored by Daniel West, sorry, city manager. Order 211, 22, 23, approving the fiscal year 2024 self-insured liability program sponsored by Daniel West city manager. Order 212, 22, 23, authorizing the director of parks, recreation and facilities to set fees and enter into rental agreements for city facilities sponsored by Daniel West city manager. Order 213, 22, 23, authorizing the same manager to enter into certain agreements to implement fiscal year 2024 health and human services budget sponsored by Daniel West city manager. Order 214, 22, 23, authorizing the city manager to accept scholarship and trust donation and bequest the and enter into trust agreements sponsored by Daniel West city manager. Order 215, 22, 23, authorizing the director of parks, recreation and facilities to accept donations up to $10,000 for parks, recreation and facilities department programs and city funds. Order 216, 22, 23, authorizing corporation council to undertake civil actions to collect delinquent personal property taxes sponsored by Daniel West city manager. Order 217, 22, 23, authorizing non-union wage adjustments sponsored by Daniel West city manager. And then order 218, 22, 23, designating fiscal year 24 funds for specific island services sponsored by Daniel West city manager. Order 219, 22, 23, appropriating $3,611, 3,611, 334 in fund balance sponsored by Daniel West interim city manager. Order 220, 22, 23, appropriating 276,000 from excess funds from Casco Bay Island Transit District sponsored by Daniel West city manager. Order 221, 22, 23, amendment to Portland city code chapters 24 and 28 regarding various fee increases for fiscal year 2024 sponsored by Daniel West city manager. Order 22, 22, 22, 23, fiscal year 2023, 2024 appropriation resolve sponsored by Daniel West city manager. I think that's it. Yes. You did it. Okay. That is indeed it. So I'm gonna just look over here the corporation council. So I think our next move is that we're gonna have public hearing and then we're gonna take our actions to postpone. Thank you. So we will now open the municipal budget up for its first public hearing. We will also do a public hearing on June 5th when the council takes action. So tonight's the first opportunity for public comment. Please step forward to the mic. If you're here in chambers and you'd like to address the council, you can go ahead and raise your hand on zoom and we'll go first to our speaker here in chambers. Thanks for being here. Thank you. Good evening and thanks for having me. My name is Dr. Heidi Weirman. I'm a resident of Portland and a geriatrician at Maine Medical Center. And I would like first to take this opportunity to thank you for your leadership and your continued support for Portland's various social service programs and continuing to support initiatives that help vulnerable people in our city and state. Portland is experiencing a number of crises from housing to social services and homelessness to the opioid epidemic that is ravaging so many people and I do not envy your jobs. In my role at Maine Medical Center I spend a great deal of time working with patients and their families to identify those options that will allow patients to leave their best quality of lives. For patients who can no longer live safely on their own that can mean a referral to a nursing home. As you may know, the Baron Center has been operating at just 40% capacity for over a year. The Baron Center has 219 licensed beds and as of February 15th, just 89 patients or residents. There are currently completely empty units and floors in this long-term care facility. We're unclear about the reasons for the situation but when representatives from Maine Health met with staff this last year, they were told that a deliberate decision had been made not to hire contract staff to support access to care. What I do know is that the decision not to accept new patients and maintain a reduced census has significant consequences to the individuals who need nursing level of care and are now stuck in the most restrictive settings, hospitals because there is insufficient access to nursing facilities. On May 10th at Maine Medical Center alone that represented 28 patients. This lack of access also impacts residents of Portland who may need transition to a nursing home for a variety of reasons and in my role on inpatient consults and our outpatient geriatric center, I see individuals who have family caregivers that are no longer able to provide the support needed due to their own health, death, or need to support their family by working multiple jobs. Our care teams work diligently to try to assist with patients being able to transition to nursing homes but reduced number of staff beds has led to a crisis and then actually hospitalization for some. The Baron Center has been a well-respected and convenient option for residents of Portland to still be close to their families and supports even as they require a level of care that can no longer be supported at home. In fact, due to the lack of long-term nursing home beds Maine Medical Center has been forced to set up a transitions of care unit that cohorts patients awaiting a nursing home bed and provides them with a few of the activities such as rehabilitation that they, so they do not decompensate while stuck in the wrong care setting. But living in the hospital is not a good involved way. Nursing homes like the Baron Center provide a much needed community for individuals requiring significant physical assistance to live. I'm testifying today to ask the city council to allocate sufficient funding to the Baron Center to hire and staff this vital facility to its intended capacity. Maine Medical Center as Maine's only level one trauma center cares for the most acute and complex patients across the region and we are near or at capacity nearly every day having patients who cannot transition to the appropriate level of care creates significant stress on the system. We're currently facing a crisis caused by the effective lack of long-term care beds in greater Portland area and the state. In fact, there have been times when we've been forced to cancel non-emergent surgeries, board patients, open disaster hallways and increased already increasing workloads on social workers and care managers. Thank you for your comment. I'll just ask you to wrap it up. On my way, thank you. As the state with the highest medium age in the country, we need to work together, communicate and collaborate to ensure that we prioritize full number of individuals. Maine Medical Center provides critically important medical care to all in need regardless of ability to pay, but we are challenged in our ability to maintain access to needed inpatient services as we cannot discharge those who no longer need that level of care. I hope you will support a budget and policy that ensures the Baron Center rebuilds the vital role that it once played in the greater Portland healthcare ecosystem. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your comment. And we'll head over to Zoom. We have a hand up just a reminder that we're asking folks both on the school budget and then on the city budget if you speak today, not to speak on June 5th. So if you wanna speak today, that's great. And we appreciate you being here. Just give us your name and your organization or neighborhood or address and we'll give you three minutes on the clock. The clerk will give you a 30 second warning. So we'll go to Phillip who's on Zoom. Good evening. My name is Phillip Matthew. I'm a resident of 20 Crosby Street and I have the honor of serving on the Portland rent board representing district five. I should just be clear that I'm speaking on my own behalf, not on behalf of the whole board. I wanna speak in support of one particular part of the budget, specifically the additional of staff to the housing safety office. As director Hans Jones stated in her presentation to the finance committee last week, staffing limitations have limited the ability of HSO to act proactively in response to rental registrations that appear to be incomplete or perhaps even out of compliance with the ordinance. That kind of proactive monitoring enforcement is critical to ensuring that the ordinance is implemented fairly and with its intended effect and that requires more staffing. There's one other aspect of the ordinance that I wanna bring to your attention. The November 2022 revisions to the ordinance granted the rent board the ability to initiate changes to the rent ordinance. I know that this council has talked at times about the challenges of implementing an ordinance that was done entirely by referendum. This creates an opportunity for us to have a transparent revision process that could incorporate recommendations from staff, the board and members of the public. However, such revisions have to be driven by good data and a good understanding of what parts of the ordinance are currently working or not working. So my assertion is that if the council is interested in changing or improving the rent ordinance in the future, this is a great first step making sure that we meet the immediate staffing needs of HSO and laying that foundation on which we can build effective revisions to the ordinance down the line. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your comment. Any additional public comment on the city budget? I clearly need to get the split lenses. They're on, they're off. I see no other public comments and so I will close public comment. Thank you very much to the two speakers. And again, if you would like to speak to the city budget we will be taking action and holding a public hearing on June 5th. So at this time, I'd like to ask my colleagues to consider postponement of those orders that were stated, that were highlighted earlier so that we can take action on those on June 5th along with all of the other budget orders. So I moved to postpone to June 6th, order 211 and I look for a second. Councillor Ali with a second. Any questions on the motion to postpone? Sorry, I'm reading it wrong. I don't think 210, just 211. We'll start with 211. Any discussion on the motion to postpone? Seeing none, we'll go ahead and vote. Councillor Fornir. Yes. Councillor Rodriguez. Yes. Councillor Dionne. Yes. Councillor Ali. Yes. Councillor Zauro. Yes. Councillor Trevorrow. Yes. Councillor Palatier. Yes. Councillor Fornir. Philips. Yes. Mayor Snider. Yes. I offer a motion to postpone until June 5th and I offer a motion to postpone to June 5th, order 212. Second. Councillor Fornir with a second. Any questions from the council? I see none. We'll go ahead and vote. Councillor Fornir. Yes. Councillor Rodriguez. Yes. Councillor Dionne. Yes. Councillor Ali. Yes. Councillor Zauro. Yes. Councillor Trevorrow. Yes. Councillor Palatier. Yes. Councillor Phillips. Yes. Mayor Snider. Yes. Order 214. Councillor Ali with a second. Any questions, comments? We'll go ahead and vote. Councillor Fornir. Yes. Councillor Rodriguez. Yes. Councillor Dionne. Yes. Councillor Ali. Yes. Councillor Zauro. Yes. Councillor Trevorrow. Yes. Councillor Palatier. Yes. Councillor Phillips. Yes. Yes. Councillor Rodriguez with a second. Any questions or comments from the council? Seeing none, we'll go ahead and vote. Councillor Fornir. Yes. Councillor Rodriguez. Yes. Councillor Dionne. Yes. Councillor Ali. Yes. Councillor Zauro. Yes. Councillor Trevorrow. Yes. Councillor Palatier. Yes. Councillor Phillips. Yes. Mayor Snider. Yes. Order 215 is postponed to June 5th. And I offer finally a motion to postpone order 216 to June 5th. Second. Yes. Councillor Dionne. Yes. Councillor Ali. Yes. Councillor Zauro. Yes. Councillor Trevorrow. Yes. Councillor Palatier. Yes. Councillor Phillips. Yes. Mayor Snider. Yes. Order 216 is postponed to June 5th. So we'll take up all those budget orders together again on June 5th at our next council meeting. Thank you, everybody. And we're moving on through our agenda. So the city council held a first read on the fiscal year and we accepted public comment, which we will do again tonight. So tonight we will have a second read, which is council action on the school budget. And we will have public comment. The comment will be taken on all orders together. So just a reminder that the referendum on the school budget will be on June 13th. So anybody in the community who's. Watching here in chambers reading the newspaper tomorrow, just a reminder that the school budget vote is on June 13th. And so. Here's what we're going to do. We're going to. I'm just making sure I've got the sequencing, right? We're going to ask the clerk to read all the orders into the record. We're going to hold our second public hearing and then we're going to take them one at a time. All right. Order 195, 22, 23, approving state local EPS funding allocation for public education from kindergarten to grade 12. For Portland public schools for fiscal year 2024 sponsored by the finance committee. Order 196, 22, 23 approving non-state funded school construction debt service for Portland schools for fiscal year 2024 sponsored by the finance committee. Order 197, 22, 23, order raising appropriating additional local funds for Portland schools for fiscal year 2024 sponsored by the finance committee. Order 198, 22, 23, approving total school operating budget for Portland schools for fiscal year 2024 sponsored by the finance committee. And order 199, 22, 23, appropriating and raising funds for adult education for fiscal year 2024 as required by the main revised statutes titled 20A subsection 8603-A1 sponsored by the finance committee. You got them all. Thank you. Did you get 201? Oh, it says 195 through 99. 195. 196, 97, 98. 99, 200, 201. Oh, sorry. I was reading this. It just says three through 199. Got it. Okay. And then order 223 raised and appropriate local funds for food service in Portland public schools for fiscal year 2024 sponsored by the finance committee. Order 201, 22, 23, or authorizing the disposition of any additional state subsidy received for Portland schools in fiscal year 2024 sponsored by the finance committee. Thank you, Stephen. Great. I was, I was, I was reading, not listening. You shouldn't do that. I guess. Thank you to the city clerk for reading those into the record. And we'll open this up for public comment at this time. So anybody, again, anybody who would like to address the council tonight in chambers, go ahead and step forward to the mic. If you're on zoom and you'd like to speak to the proposed school budget. Go ahead and raise your hand. But. We have a speaker here in chamber. So go right ahead. Thank you. My name is Ryan McMahon. Easteering. I wanted to speak today in support of councilor Dion's amendment. It's order 201. That would direct additional state funds to be used for taxpayer relief. Counselor, I'm sorry. I'm sorry to interrupt you, but I believe that has been pulled from the packet. Councilor Dion. Can you confirm that for me, please? I apologize. The language doesn't reflect what he's about to say, but. I think the witness could continue. Okay. Okay. I just wanted to be clear about what's in our packet. I'm sorry. I didn't want to do. I just want to make sure we're all on the same page, but you're starting over and go ahead. What I will speak to then is, is that these funds be additional state funds then be used for taxpayer relief. I'm sorry to interrupt you. I'm sorry to interrupt you. I just want to make sure we're all on the same page, but you're starting over and go ahead. I'm sorry to interrupt you. I just want to remind you that the additional state funds then be used for taxpayer relief. I just wanted to remind you all that. Portland residents are being squeezed in every which way and these inflationary times from the grocery store to the gas pump, CMP sent an additional 10,000 disconnect notices than they normally do this past month. To people around the state. Last year's tax increase. This is a personal anecdote forced a friend of mine. She was renting a house that was renting a house in the Bayside neighborhood to have to move the landlord. She was renting a house. The landlord simply told her it was no longer feasible for him to rent this house, given recent tax increases. And he was forced to put the house on the market. She's now living in the Bangor area. I welcome additional state funds to be used. It's directed towards taxpayers. And I, while I do understand the school board has used for them, I also think the residents of Portland do as well. So I, I guess I'm not speaking to that amendment, but I am for taxpayer relief. Thank you. Appreciate your comment. Thank you. And I'm sorry to add to any confusion. I just didn't see an amendment. May I respond? Please do, counselor. You're not wrong, sir. There was an amendment with my name attached to it. And I would have directed the school board should they enjoy a windfall. From the state that they would apply that windfall to lower the tax levy. As a consequence of having an idea. And I've discussed it with others around this council. I also conferred with corporation council and there was some question as to whether or not we'd be trespassing into the authority of the school board to make their own agreement on the recommendation of money. So therefore that's how we ended up back with this particular language and not directly commandeer the budget process. That is within the jurisdiction and the board of education. Now in light of your concern in mind about property tax relief, the board of education, the board of education, the board of education, the board of education, the board of education as well. And whether or not they open to talk about it this evening at the mic. One of the areas where they would address should they enjoy a windfall is the idea of tax reduction as far as the levees concerned. So though you don't see it in the amendment. The board of education, the credit has recognized they've read the room. And they understand that the cost of schools. And so I appreciate their efforts in that line. As I would ask you to as well. Thank you. Madam mayor. Thank you, councilor dion. Appreciate that clarity. And we are in public comment period. So I will go to zoom where I've got a hand up from George row. George row West Bayside. Just wanted to point out, I wanted to thank the school department. I had asked a question about. In written public comment about where the debt service number in one of your orders was arrived at, and they provided some very helpful additional information. I have to say, I still am not entirely clear. And I'm not sure the nine of you necessarily could articulate it either exactly where that number comes from. And why you have to focus on that particular. Dollar amount. Out of, you know, literally millions of debt service that have to be applied here, but I also just, you know, the school budget. Was a matter was one of the charter referendum issues last year. And that did not pass, but I have to say, I, you know, The tremendous amount of energy that has been spent this year. The interplay between the school board and the various finance committees of the school board in the city. And ultimately this exercise tonight. You know, I don't, I don't see a lot of value at it. I think hopefully the nine of you are somewhat more educated about. The ins and outs of the school budget, but in the deliberations and the finance committee, I didn't see a lot of pointed questions about details. This is all extremely high level. And, you know, it just is really questions why we expend all this energy, which could be better spent actually on the children in the education. Of those children. Then all of this back and forth amongst the politicians so that they can announce that the budget is blessed. When that, that blessing seems to be literally just sort of alchemy and not really based on any deep understanding of the numbers. You know, there continues to be a lot of equity issues in this, in the school budget. If you are a student on Cliff Island. On a per pupil basis, you are getting a windfall. You are literally getting. A huge subsidy for your education that other students and other less politically connected districts are getting. And that always is never, that has never sat well with me. Mostly because you have to be a well, very well off person now to afford to even live on Cliff Island. Never mind the, the, the fairy fees, but just to own property there and to be able to make your living there. And have your family there. But, and then the foundation for Portland public schools, which seems to be a little bit of a make work exercise. It was certainly a make work exercise. When it was created. It was a great launching pad for our mayor. But it's those kinds of things that continue to bother me about this budget. But it is better than it might have been under different leadership. Thank you. Thank you for your comment. And we've got somebody here in chambers to go ahead and address the council. Thanks for coming. Thank you, mayor Snyder counselors. Good evening. My name is Tim Atkinson. And I live on. My name is Tim Atkinson. And I live on Hartley street here in Portland. I have two students in Portland public schools. And a few years ago, I had the privilege of serving with a few of you on the, on the school board from district four. I'm here. Thank you all for your service and speaking in support of the budget before you. And I urge you to pass it along to the voters in, in June. Portland public schools is undergoing a transformation. And I have two students here in Portland. And I have two teachers in, in June. Portland public schools is undergoing a transformation right now. It's becoming more equitable. Meaning that more students are getting the support that they need to thrive. Excuse me. It's been a little while since I've been standing up in, in this room. And this work is underway. And, and of course I'm proud of the small contributions that I made to that effort as a member of the board. And I'm proud to say that this work to build a more equitable district is, is far from over. And our schools need our support, your support to continue to see this essential work through. So I ask you all to please support the budget tonight to ensure that Portland schools have the resources they need to support all students to show our next superintendent that this community is behind them. And to build a brighter future for our community. Thanks for being here, Tim. Any other public comment. On the school budget orders before us tonight, I see nobody standing up in chambers, hands, no hands on zoom. So I'm going to close public comment. We'll come back to the council, please. So we've got these orders one at a time that will take up. I look for a motion to approve order 195. So moved. Second. Councilor Dionne with a second from council Rodriguez. Are there any questions or comments from the council? Seeing none, we'll go ahead and vote to approve this order. Councilor Fornier. Yes. Councilor Rodriguez. Yes. Councilor Dionne. Yes. Councilor Ali. Yes. Zorro. Yes. Mr. Trevorrow. Yes. Councilor Pelletier. Yes. Councilor Phillips. Yes. Mayor Steiner. Yes. Order 195 passes unanimously. Do I have an order to approve a motion to approve order 196. So moved. Second. Councilor Trevorrow with a second from Councilor Rodriguez. Questions, discussion from the council. Seeing none, we'll go ahead and vote to approve. Councilor Fornier. Yes. Councilor Rodriguez. Yes. Councilor Dionne. Yes. Councilor Ali. Yes. Councilor Zorro. Yes. Councilor Trevorrow. Yes. Councilor Pelletier. Yes. Councilor Phillips. Yes. Mayor Steiner. Yes. Order 196 passes unanimously and we move on. I look for a motion, please to approve order 197. So moved. Second. Councilor Rodriguez with a second from Councilor Zorro. Council discussion. Seeing none, we can vote to approve. Councilor Fornier. Yes. Councilor Rodriguez. Yes. Councilor Dionne. Yes. Councilor Ali. Yes. Councilor Zorro. Yes. Councilor Trevorrow. Yes. Councilor Pelletier. Yes. Councilor Phillips. Mayor Steiner. Yes. Order 197 passes unanimously and I look for a motion to approve order 198. So moved. Second. Councilor Dionne with a second from Councilor Zorro. Any council discussion. Seeing none, we'll go ahead and vote to approve. Councilor Fornier. Yes. Councilor Rodriguez. Yes. Councilor Dionne. Yes. Councilor Ali. Yes. Councilor Zorro. Yes. Councilor Trevorrow. Yes. Councilor Pelletier. Yes. Councilor Phillips. Yes. Mayor Steiner. Yes. Order 198 passes unanimously. Is there a motion to approve order 199? So moved. Second. Councilor Dionne with a second from Councilor Zorro. Any council discussion. Seeing none, we move. We go ahead and vote. Councilor Fornier. Yes. Councilor Rodriguez. Yes. Councilor Dionne. Yes. Councilor Fornier. Yes. Councilor Rodriguez. Yes. Councilor Dionne. Yes. Councilor Ali. Yes. Councilor Zorro. Yes. Councilor Trevorrow. Yes. Councilor Pelletier. Yes. Councilor Phillips. Yes. Mayor Steiner. Yes. Order 199 passes unanimously. I'm looking for a motion to approve order 200. So moved. Second. Councilor Rodriguez with a second from Councilor Ali. Any discussion. Seeing none, we'll go ahead and vote. Councilor Fornier. Yes. Councilor Rodriguez. Yes. Councilor Dionne. Yes. Councilor Ali. Yes. Councilor Zorro. Yes. Councilor Trevorrow. Yes. Councilor Pelletier. Yes. Councilor Phillips. Yes. Mayor Steiner. Yes. Order 200 passes unanimously. And I look for a motion to approve order 201. Move Passage. Second. Councilor Ali with a second from Councilor Rodriguez. Discussion from the council. Councilor Fornier. Thank you. Just a brief question. Is this an order that we normally have for this one or does this change the current process? I'm unclear about that. No, it doesn't change the current process. My original order might have done that, but this one does. Thank you. I'm good. And yes, this is a recurring order that I looked into that too. Thank you, councilor. So I just want to take this minute to thank the folks from the school department for being here with us today. Thank you for your hard work. Thank you for the collaboration over the last several months. I think we did get into a lot of detailed questions. I remember nights at home and my little makeshift off, makeshift office asking questions and getting, getting the kind of detail about federal funding that I, I didn't have the answers to. So I appreciate all of the back and forth and the work that we've done together and the communication and, and all of it all, all along. So to the finance committees. Thank you, councilor Diane for your leadership. Thank you. Board member Briden for your leadership and Sarah. It's always a pleasure to work with you. And so thank you to the school board. Thank you to school leadership. Thank you to my colleagues on the council and also city leadership for, for this work. I mean, these are separate budgets, but we, we do have work that we do together. And I appreciate that. You know, we don't always dive into the level of detail that everybody would want. But it's a very open process and I know people can get to you in their own way. We've had a lot of emails in our inboxes in support of the work that you're doing. We've had concerns too about the amount of expenses associated with public school and what that means to homeowners and taxpayers. And our job is to hopefully deliver a school budget that supports kids and adults. And gets it right for our taxpayers. And we will have that hard task ahead of us on June 5th on the city side. So again, thank you all for being here. And I guess, unless anybody else has a comment, they'd like to make it this time, we can go ahead and vote to approve this final order. 201. Okay. Councilor Fornir. Yes. Councilor Rodriguez. Yes. Councilor Dion. Yes. Councilor Ali. Yeah. Councilor Zahru. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Order 201 passes unanimously. Thank you all again for being here. Have a good night. It's only 741. Feels early. I have a question. Councilor Ali. Is there going to be an early voting? Since the public is going to vote on this, maybe some people might be traveling and they want to know if they can vote early. I'm just going to say that the school budget is officially approved. Tomorrow we'll start in person absentee voting at the state of Maine, room at 830 in the morning. So it's already set up and ready to go. And those that have requested an absentee ballot will go out in the mail tomorrow. All right. Thank you. All right, everybody. Yeah. Thank you so much. Okay. The next item of business. We have, we have just a few things left on our agenda. So we have a communication. Will the clerk please read communication 33 communication, 33, 22, 23 regarding encampment, removal and remediation communications by Daniel West, city manager. Thank you. This is just an update. As you all know, we were in front of the health and human services committee on May 9th. And this is just a follow up that to, to keep you all updated as well as the public on how we are going to proceed forward based on the guidance we received that evening, and we'll be doing the, the Bayside trial remediation based on the outline in here. And also just wanted to keep you guys in the loop on the continued work that we're doing to find short and long-term solutions. We are going to be working with HUD to provide technical assistance specifically for staff and working to develop the task force. And we're going to be working with HUD to make sure to keep everybody here as well as the committee posted on those next steps and the continued work of staff on this issue. Thank you for this communication. Are there any questions? It doesn't require any council action tonight, but certainly open to questions or discussion. Councilor for near. Thank you so much. I just wanted to say, thank you to the city manager and staff for being very responsive and really to my colleagues on the council to address the issue of the emergency meeting on the second and then again the following Tuesday on the ninth. If you look at the timeline here, we know that tomorrow is the beginning of the removal. And as we said in committee, and I think all of us have expressed this doesn't feel good. This is not the choice that we wanted to have, but we have to weigh public health and safety with getting people sheltered. And so I think what this also does for us and as we've said to our county partners to our neighbouring municipalities and to our state partners is we need help. And that's in the form of housing. That's in the form of resources. That's in the form of treatment beds. We have so many community providers that are in these encampments on a daily basis, begging for resources and supplies and services to be able to help our community members find permanent shelter, which is really what we're striving for, not just to survive the outside, but really to be able to have a roof over their head. And they deserve the dignity of home. And so I'm really just hopeful that people will see this process and jump in and help however they can. I'm looking forward to the HUD visit and hopefully they'll have some additional resources. But I just want to acknowledge this was an incredibly hard decision. And I know many of us will be thinking of everybody as we go to bed tonight in our homes where we have a place to sleep and trying to find continued resources to work on from tomorrow going forward. So I just wanted to make sure we acknowledge that. Thank you. Thank you, councillor. Any other questions or comments on this communication? Okay. Seeing none. We've. Two more items on our agenda. The first is action. The second is a first read. Will the clerk please read order 223 order 223 2223 approving the agreement between top trumps USA Inc. And the city of Portland for a Portland Monopoly game. Sponsored by Daniel West city manager. Thank you. And we'll look to the city manager for some information here. Certainly this has to do with the monopoly, the Portland monopoly game that was put forward by the, the chamber. We were approached by. The company to have some images that would be on the board itself. And you'll see that there's an agreement in the backup that probably corporation council could speak to in more detail, but specifically. We were allowing them to use the, the Merrill auditorium. And the Riverside golf course and the eastern prominent. Depictions on the board. And so the agreement. In the backup allows that. And I believe the term is for five years. It's, it's three years. Three years, a three year period of. Of creating the game. And then they'll be able to sell it, but. Yeah. So it's a, it's a license agreement to use the names and images of those three city properties. It's Merrill auditorium and. Riverside golf course and the eastern prom. Thank you. So we will see if there's any public comment on order 223. I'm back to my zoom. Steven Shaw from Brackett street. My first question. Well, I guess I support this. It's really a. It's a perfunctory sort of thing. But I'm curious as to if the city is going to be paid anything for the licenses to use our likenesses and images. We have sports. High school and college sports players. It means the dollars for name, likeness and image. Or is there a way to do that? I'm curious as to. If the city is going to be paid anything for the licenses to use our likenesses and images. We have sports. High school and college sports players. High school, college sports players. High school and college sports players. We have sports. High school, college sports players. High school, college sports players. We have a lot of knowledge or name, likeness and image. Or name, image and like this, I guess. We should be cashing in on that. And I hope we are we're doing that. But. Just, I saw no reference to that in the backup. The material or in the, I couldn't figure out from the agreement, I think City Hall would have been the first place they would have put on their map. Not in the Mayoral Auditorium per se, but I mean, this is the center of Portland, and you're going to emphasize Portland City Hall is it. So, thanks. Thanks, Stephen. Seeing no further public comment, I will close public comment on order 223 and come back to the council for a motion. Move passage. Councilor Zahro, do I have a second? Councilor Ali, second with Councilor Ali. Any questions? Discussion from the council. This isn't something we see every day. Councilor Fornir. Thank you. Actually, Mr. Sharp had the same question that I had, is do we get any sort of benefit from doing this? I know we've had contract discussions and it relates to the sea dogs. And do we get anything from concessions and all of that? So we're letting them use our like, yes, I'd like to know, are we getting money? The agreement does not provide for any payment to the city. Can we renegotiate that? So it does. I mean, it's your contract to approve or deny. So their typical practice, this is more of a promotion. I would defer to others in terms of, I know there were some city folks who were at a meeting with the group when they came to town to pitch it with some, you know, a tourism benefit to including the names of the properties on the game. But their practice is not to pay the municipalities for use of the names. Interesting. Thank you. Kind of like advertising. Thank you, Councilor Fornir. I'm going to go. Not always. They also made the pitch that we don't have to pay them to, I mean, for what it's worth to have the names on the game. But there was, yeah, I'm just sharing that information because it was part of the discussion. Other questions, discussion. No, right. Councilor Phillips. I appreciate it's stuff are coming forward. Is it an option to ask them about using a picture of City Hall or is that like a done deal? And we just need to say yes. The we don't have to say we don't have we certainly don't have to say yes. The I'm not sure what the process was. I wasn't involved in the process of identifying the properties that are included in the agreement. I'm and but if the council is not happy with it, we can certainly go back. And but my understanding from and maybe Danielle, I don't know if you have additional information, but my understanding is it's fairly time sensitive that they're going to they're going to print very soon. Yeah, it's time sensitive. So if we we decline on this, then we it will just be proceeding forward and they will find other other options. Thank you. Thanks, counselor. Counselor Zaro. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I'm I'm just going to say that I'm not going to get in the way of this contract negotiation, although it is interesting. I'm just going to ask that they consider City Hall and then they gift a board game for us. If we're allowed to Corporation Council for a lot to accept that gift, and then I will happily support this. Thank you for whoever's listening from Trump's USA Incorporated Councilor Pelletier. Can you thank you. Can you list out the three locations again? I'm sorry. Yeah, it's Merrill Auditorium. Wait a minute. Sorry. Merrill Auditorium, Eastern Prom, and oh, and Riverside Golf Course. Merrill Auditorium is going to be light blue. Riverside is yellow and Eastern Prom is dark blue. And the Western Prom is not. Sorry. No Western Prom. Just checking. No Western Prom. No Western Prom. Western Prom did not make the cut. OK, just, you know, fine. Thank you. Councillor Ali, is this amendable? Can we offer an amendment? If I think as as City Manager West said, if we if we if you do amend it, it'll require going back to the company to renegotiate the terms. This is this is the the agreement that was worked on with staff and the company. And so it would again, because it's time sensitive, it they may end up they may end up moving on to another town. I know they want to print it soon. So, um, Councillor, I still have the floor. So for future sake, I think I have a question. Me and Councillor Rodriguez have been thinking of creating a sneaker for the city of Portland. Of what? Sneakers. Yeah, a do we have to come to the city to ask for permission? Do you have to come to the council or we can just go ahead and say, yeah. Do you come to the to the council in order to do a city of Portland sneaker? Yeah, I would if in this situation, you have another company that is going to be printing and marketing this. And so I would imagine if I would imagine it would be treated similarly, OK, but with some advance notice, we could, you know, and negotiate different terms. OK, thank you. I wish we can amend these because I would love to add something that I'm not going to say to create another controversy, but so I will just let it go. Thank you, Councillor Ali. Councilor Dion, you may have the floor. I've been shut down. I'm emotionally traumatized. I can't move forward. I'm trying to keep that on the down low. I want to thank Mr. Sharp for even bringing this topic up. Thank you, sir. OK, everybody. Thank you for your comments. It is not. It is not the standard thing on our agenda. It's it's exciting to have a Portland main monopoly game. So I'll vote in support of it tonight and I'll see where we go on this. Let's go ahead and take a vote on order two, twenty three. Councilor Fornir. Yes. Councilor Rodriguez. Yes. Councilor Dion. Yes. Councilor Adley. Yay. Councilor Zahro. Yes. Councilor Travaro. Yes. Councilor Pellettier. Yes. Councilor Phillips. Yes. Mayor Snyder. Yes. Order two, twenty three passes unanimously. Thank you, everybody. I do like the idea of making sure we get a board. Right. We'll put it right here in council chambers. And finally, will the clerk please read order two, twenty four. It's a first street. Order two, twenty four, twenty two, twenty three. Authorizing amendment to downtown transit oriented development and ominous tax increment financing district to increase funding for creative Portland. Thank you. That will be on our agenda on June 5th for action. Is there a motion to adjourn? Move passage. Second. Councilor Zahro with a second from Councilor Fornir. We'll go ahead and vote on the motion to adjourn. Councilor Fornir. Yes. Councilor Rodriguez. Yes. Councilor Dion. Yes. Councilor Ali. Yes. Councilor Zahro. Yes. Councilor Javarro. Yes. Councilor Pelletier. Yes. Councilor Phillips. Yes. Mayor Snyder. Yes, we are adjourned. Thank you, everybody.