Brewer may extend city manager’s contract

BREWER – Steve Bost’s contract as city manager doesn’t run out for several months, but councilors will vote this evening on extending his contract for three more years, until May 2005.

The council meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall.

It wasn’t planned this way, but Bost won’t be present when the vote is taken. The city manager had made his vacation plans around council meetings, but since then, the council has moved some of its meetings, explained Michael MacDonald, assistant to the city manager.

Bost has been city manager since early 1999, taking the interim position after James Kotredes resigned. The agreement was that Bost would not apply for the permanent job, but councilors approached him about the position before the six months were up.

Under the contract to take effect in May 2002, Bost would be paid a gross salary of $1,504.21 a week, or $78,218 a year. The six-page document also contains a clause pertaining to incentive bonuses for meeting “benchmarks” set by the council.

Also on today’s agenda is a measure that would move ahead the city’s plans for the Wilson Street impact fee district, a district approved recently by the council so that developers will share in the costs of infrastructure improvements caused by their projects.

The measure up for vote would authorize the city to have Surry Engineering develop conceptual designs, cost estimates and funding formulas for improvements that would take place in the Wilson Street area. Up to $45,000 would be authorized for the engineering work.

It’s important to get this work under way, MacDonald explained, so the city can let developers “know up front what it’s going to cost them. I think people will appreciate the fact that we looked ahead.”

In other business, the council will take up:

. A contract for engineering services for a new public works facility. The consultant selection committee recommends that the contract go to Plymouth Engineering Inc., at a cost not to exceed $40,600.

. Several revisions to the purchasing ordinance, which has not been revised in some years. In one of the changes, council approval would be required for purchases exceeding $10,000, rather than the previous limit of $4,000. For purchases between $5,000 and $10,000, the city manager would be required “to poll all members of the City Council for an approval by consensus.”

. An order rescinding a previous council decision to credit ice time payments against taxes owed on the T.J. Ryan Ice Arena property at 90 Acme Road. The order is based on the fact that the planned refinancing of the arena did not go through.

. An agreement with Hilltop Inc. to allow the Brewer Fire Department to do fire training in taking down the former Tamarack Motel at 807 Wilson St. this fall. The city has a letter from Hilltop representative Thomas Valley agreeing to allow the city to do the fire training.

. A resolve commending Brewer High student Ian Robinson for winning the 2000-2001 state boys’ singles tennis championship in Portland. Robinson will be a junior this year at Brewer High.

. A resolution of respect for the late Kenneth L. Ward, a Brewer resident who was a columnist and editor for the Bangor Daily News, U.S. Navy veteran of World War II, Sunday school teacher and superintendent, Shriner, husband and father.