The Town Council met on Tuesday, March 7. There were 18 members of the public in attendance. Chairman Pratt, Town Manager Ephrem Paraschak, Town Clerk Laurie Nordfors, Councilors Shepard, Wilder Cross, Phillips, Lavoie, Gagnon and Siegel all attended the meeting. The minutes of the Feb. 7, 2023 Regular Town Council Meeting and the Feb. 21, 2023 Special Town Council Meeting were accepted.
Chairman Darryl Wright reported that The Gorham School Committee has approved the 2023-24 School Calendar. Anyone who would like to view the calendar can go to the district’s website under the “District Info” tab. He also reported that we have used 4 snow days so far this year with one more built into the calendar. If we were to stop having snow today, the last student day would be Thursday, June 15. If we use one more traditional snow day, our last student day would be on June 16. If we need to use more than 5 snow days, we would move those additional days to Remote learning snow days. This ensures that regardless of how many more snow days there may be, the latest our students will be in school will be Friday, June 16, 2023. Additionally, Chairman Wright reported that The Gorham Schools Anti-Racism & Equity Committee hosted a “Listen and Learn” event on March 14 at 5 p.m. at GHS. Those in attendance would get a chance to enjoy some food and learn about the ongoing efforts to enhance equity in all of Gorham’s schools.
Councilor Shepard attended the second Robie Park Steering Committee meeting and noted that the next meeting will be on March 20 . He also reported that the Appointments Committee met on three separate nights and interviewed many candidates for various board and committee openings. Councilor Siegel reminded citizens that a local compost service, Garbage to Garden, will open up their curbside service to Gorham starting April 1. People interested in participating can sign up on their website to participate.
Councilor Wilder Cross announced that the Metro Transit will be offering a deal too good to refuse. Between March 1 and Sept. 30, Metro riders will be offered a discounted bus fare using cash or the DiriGo Pass. All bus fares will be half their regular price during this promotion. For more information, visit www.DirigoGoPass.org. Councilor Wilder Cross gave a huge thank you to our Public Works crew who did a spectacular job over the past week cleaning up many snow events.
Councilor Phillips reported that the Capital Improvements/Economic Development Committee met on Feb. 16 and received an update from Economic Development Director Kevin Jensen on current projects and new plans going forward with the GEDC. Councilor Lavoie reported that the Finance Committee met on Feb. 17 and discussed ARPA (American Rescue Plan and Act) funding details, rental fees and finance reports. He also congratulated the Gorham High School Girls Basketball team for a successful season.
Chairman Pratt reminded citizens that Maine Maple weekend will be March 25 and 26 and encouraged citizens to visit our local sugar houses. As always, Chairman Pratt asked citizens to donate blood if possible. He also warned citizens to be careful on the snowmobile trails and reported that the Town Council Budget workshop will be Saturday, April 8.
Town Clerk Laurie Nordfors reported that during 2022, the Town Clerk’s office processed in the office 13,532 motor vehicle registrations, 284 ATV registrations, 633 boat registrations, 382 snowmobile registrations, sold 357 hunting/fishing licenses, registered 2,950 dogs in the office and 1,392 online, a total of 4,342 registered dogs in Town; processed 2015 certified copies of marriage, birth and death certificates, issued 128 marriage licenses, sold 29 cemetery lots, issued 94 burial permits, scheduled 32 burials, processed 14,606 real estate tax payments, 616 personal property tax payments, conducted two elections, certified 20 petitions containing 3,719 pages and maintained a voter list of 15,680 voters. During this past holiday season, the Clerk’s office oversaw the annual Adopt a Family program and the outpouring of generosity was overwhelming. The program helped 14 Gorham families, consisting of 12 adults and 34 children have a happy holiday. There have also been a number of generous donations to the Town’s fuel fund.
Town Manager Paraschak announced that there are many road postings around town until May 1 or until road conditions improve. He reminded citizens that the Climate Resilience Community Workshop has been rescheduled to March 22 at 7 p.m. and all citizens are welcome to attend and provide feedback. Town Manager Paraschak reported that the town has finally received its DEP permit for the new Industrial Park West which will help facilitate the project to move forward.
After voting on the proposed orders, the meeting was adjourned at 9:20 p.m.