Lessard: ‘I am not so ready to hold hands and sing Kumbaya’

Finance Committee takes a closer look at how a downtown parking plan was funded

By RANDY SEAVER, Editor

A controversial and temporary downtown parking program will be reviewed by the Biddeford City Council at its next meeting, Feb. 3.

As first reported in the Biddeford Gazette earlier this week, Mayor Liam LaFountain and members of the city council were unaware that nearly $20,000 was being spent to offset parking costs for business owners and their employees during a seven-month long sewer upgrade project in the downtown area.

RELATED: City investigating use of taxpayer funds for parking plan launched  by former mayor

The parking plan was never reviewed or discussed by the city council or Finance Committee before it was launched last year, but the subject dominated Tuesday’s Finance Committee meeting, which raised new questions and drew a sharp rebuke from City Councilor Marc Lessard.

Subsequent to the Jan. 19 story, the Biddeford Gazette conducted additional interviews and filed a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request for more information, much of which was discussed during Tuesday’s meeting.

City Attorney Harry Center told the Finance Committee that he was “troubled” by how the plan was implemented.

“I’m not a CPA. I’m not an auditor, but it troubles me as a lawyer regarding how the [invoices] were characterized as professional/consulting services,” Center said.

City Manager Truc Dever told committee members that the plan was envisioned to be “net neutral” and would not add additional spending beyond the ongoing subsidy payments that the city gives to the city’s parking garage operators, Premium Parking.

According to Dever, the city makes two payments each year to the parking garage owners so that they are guaranteed a profit — an agreement the city made years ago to entice developers to build the parking garage on city-owned land.

The most recent payment to Premium Parking was $146,570 to cover the period from July 1 to Dec. 31, 2025.

Brad Favreau, the city economic development coordinator, said that Brian Phinney – then the acting city manager – assured him that the program would be revenue neutral. He said it was Phinney who decided which account would be used to make the payments.

Phinney retired from the city earlier this month.

Favreau told the committee that former mayor Marty Grohman approved the project after some discussion between Grohman, Phinney, Favreau and Delilah Poupore, executive director of the Heart of Biddeford, a private downtown booster organization.

Favreau said only 43 downtown employees took advantage of the program.

Dever — who began her job weeks after the parking program was launched –described the program as “well-intentioned” and said no one tried to keep it a secret.

Dever said flyers about the program were made and distributed and it was posted on the city’s website and discussed during a May 28 meeting of the Downtown Development Commission (DDC).

Poupore told the Gazette that her organization was aggressive in raising awareness about the program and that she and Favreau both handed out flyers to merchants throughout the downtown area.

Former city councilor Neva (Gross) Lance served as the city council’s liaison on the DDC. She told the Gazette on Wednesday that she recalled “some vague discussion” but no official decision or approval was made at that May 28 meeting.

Councilor Lessard – a member of the Finance Committee – said it does not matter if the program was well intentioned.

“The fact that this was done during the city’s election cycle makes me raise my eyebrows,” Lessard said. “If this program was so good, it would have been brought to the council.

“Instead, it was buried in an innocuous budget line. Call me a little bit crazy, but I’m not so ready to say that there is nothing wrong with this. I’m not ready to hold hands and sing Kumbaya,” Lessard said.

Councilor Dylan Doughty said he was concerned that the program was being funded by TIF (Tax Increment Finance) funds, which are strictly regulated.

“As a whole, we have committed ourselves to accountability and transparency,” Doughty said, adding that he thinks the city should take a closer look at how all TIF funds are being used to ensure that the city doesn’t end up in a “questionable position.”

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“The fact that this was done during the city’s election cycle

makes me raise my eyebrows.”

— Councilor Marc Lessard

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Mayor LaFountain told the committee he shares their concerns about how the program was launched and operated.

“My concern is not the intentions of the program,” LaFountain said. “We’re just coming off the review of a FY 23 audit that was quite scathing. When we go down this route, we lose public confidence.”

LaFountain told the city manager he would like to see plans and policies put in place to prevent another similar event. “It doesn’t matter who is sitting in these seats,” the mayor said. “We have process failures that we need to correct.”

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Randy Seaver is the editor and founder of the Biddeford Gazette. He may be reached by email: randy@randyseaver.com

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