OLD ORCHARD BEACH — The town is considering charging a fee to those who use the public bathrooms this summer, in an effort to fund bathroom attendants and help deter crime, but the council must first work out some details in a contract with a cleaning company that would staff the bathroom.

At a Town Council meeting Tuesday, Town Manager Jack Turcotte said that in the past two years, there has been $50,000 worth of vandalism to the town’s public bathrooms. In previous budget discussions, there has been some talk of hiring bathroom attendants and charging bathroom users a fee to cover the cost of having attendants staff the bathrooms.

Tuesday night, Turcotte proposed a user fee of 25 cents for the town’s public bathrooms. The money collected from the bathrooms would go to Extreme Clean, the company that currently cleans the bathrooms. Extreme Clean would use the money to staff the bathrooms, and the town would not be involved in hiring or paying the attendants, said Turcotte.

Using data from past years when the town charged bathroom users, Turcotte said on a good summer, the bathroom could generate $25,000 to $34,000.

Deputy Police Chief Keith Babin said in a phone interview Wednesday that vandalism in the town’s public bathrooms is a problem, and has included the destruction of urinals and sinks. He said Tuesday night, a paper towel dispenser at the Memorial Park bathroom was smashed. Babin said in the past, there was an attendant in the bathrooms, which he said “definitely helps” deter crime.

Turcotte also brought to the table another proposal involving Extreme Clean. The company would add a “constant rolling trash program” to its services, and would haul away trash downtown on a constant basis, instead of storing the trash downtown and picking it up later.

A proposed contract would add $15,000 to Extreme Clean’s contract for this service, and would extend its contract, which runs out this year, for an additional two years. Turcotte said he did not think a two-year contract for the company was unreasonable, given the investment the company would need to make for this new service.

The proposal to extend the company’s contract and have it provide the rolling trash service was on the table for a council vote, and Turcotte said the council may want to vote on the bathroom attendant at a later date.

Councilor Michael Tousignant said he believes the council wanted an attendant at the bathrooms.

“I believe the people who are using it should pay for that, not the taxpayers of Old Orchard Beach,” said Tousignant.

Tousignant suggested doubling the proposed fee to 50 cents, and the revenue would cover the cost of staffing the bathrooms and the rolling trash pick-up, and would extend the season from May 1 through Oct. 31. Tousignant said he thought 50 cents was reasonable, and if people go to fairs they often have to pay more than 50 cents. The privately-owned restrooms at The Pier currently charge 50 cents.

Currently, the bathrooms are open two weekends in May before Memorial Day, and then are open from Memorial Day to Labor Day from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m., and 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. from Labor Day to Columbus Day.

Councilor Shawn O’Neill said he thought Extreme Clean did “an exemplary job,” but thought the town should have to go out to bid, as town practice required this be done for services of more than $5,000. He said the Town Council was now in an “awkward situation” because the numbers were already on the table.  

Turcotte said it did not have to go out to bid because the proposal was an extension of services already provided.

However, Councilor Robin Dayton said the proposal was “a change of scope” from the services currently provided. She said she was not opposed to the bathroom attendant concept but agreed with O’Neill that the contract for the new services should have been rebid. In addition, she said she did not support extending the contract beyond one year.

Dayton said councilors had brought some recommendations to the table, but the contract should not be negotiated at the Town Council meeting, and she moved to table it with the hope of getting the issue resolved by the next council meeting. The motion to table the issue passed 3-2, with councilors O’Neill, Dayton and Chairman Robert Quinn voting in favor.

— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 325 or egotthelf@journaltribune.com.