ORONO, Maine — The Town Council used Monday evening’s special council meeting to figure out what steps to take on a potpourri of issues from fireworks ordinances to skate parks to wheelchair accessibility.
To open the meeting, Parks and Recreation Director Norm Poirier discussed the need to replace the wheelchair lift at the Keith Anderson Community House, which was deemed unsafe and shut down by inspectors in July.
“It needed a part that would keep it from coming off the track when in use — a pretty important part,” Poirier said.
The lift needs to be replaced sooner rather than later, according to Poirier, because the community center technically is in violation of Americans with Disabilities Act requirements.
Repairing the lift would cost more than $6,000 and wouldn’t carry a warranty.
The town sought estimates for a project to replace the current lift, which runs up the stairs, with a vertical lift that would be built in a newly constructed shaft that would lead up to the second-floor auditorium.
The construction, licensing, lift and installation were quoted to cost the town a total of $32,000.
Town Manager Sophie Wilson said the money would come from the town’s “undesignated fund balance,” which contains about $3.35 million.
Councilors asked Poirier to make sure the lift’s capacity and size wouldn’t come up short and restrict access or safety.
The project will go before the council for approval at a September or October meeting.
With the legalization of fireworks in Maine just four months away, Orono is one of several cities in the area considering their own fireworks ordinances.
The new state law allows municipalities to prohibit or restrict the sale and use of consumer fireworks as they see fit.
Councilors expressed concern at the potential for excess noise and fire hazards in a university town.
Orono police Chief Gary Duquette said restricting fireworks might not do much to keep them out of the air. Enforcement is difficult, he said. By the time his officers responded to reports of the fireworks, whoever was lighting them off would have left the scene.
“I guess I’m just not overly worried about the whole fireworks thing anyway,” Duquette said, adding that his department responds to “maybe a couple” of fireworks complaints per year. “I don’t think it’s going to be the Fourth of July here every day.”
For now, councilors asked town staff to draft a proposed ordinance to ban the sale and use of consumer fireworks in town.
The council will host a public hearing on the ordinance after it’s drafted.
Councilors said they didn’t necessarily think an outright ban was what they wanted, but it would be a way of starting a conversation and gauging residents’ thoughts on the issue.
The council also voted 4-2 to give the town the OK to continue discussions with the University of Maine about a potential skate park on campus.
For years, the town has been sitting on a $10,000 donation, which was given with the caveat that it be used to build skate park in town.
The town, however, hasn’t been able to set aside the extra funds needed to build the park. It also has had trouble finding room for the project.
Wilson said she would only give the donation to the university if Orono residents were promised to have free, full access to the facility.
Councilor Mark Haggerty said he would rather see if the town could redesignate the donation for a different project, and asked Wilson to see if the town could legally use the $10,000 for something else.
“I see tennis as being a higher priority for this community,” Haggerty said. “I even see some trail systems as a higher priority.”
The four councilors who voted in favor of going ahead with the project questioned whether Haggerty’s suggestion would be legal or ethical.
Planning for the skate park will continue with the council’s approval.