BIDDEFORD — Jessica Muise was sworn in Tuesday night as Biddeford’s new Ward 4 city councilor.
She succeeds Dylan Doughty, who resigned in July after moving out of the ward.
Muise — who is chair of the city’s Public Art Commission — will serve until the current term expires in December 2027.
The City Council unanimously approved Muise’s appointment Tuesday night.
Councilor David Kurtz, reading a statement on behalf of Councilor Abigail Woods, said Woods shares her “enthusiastic support” for Muise’s appointment.
“Jessica has done an exceptional job as the chair of the Public Art Commission and will be a thoughtful and dedicated city councilor,” Woods wrote. “Ward 4 is lucky to have her.”
According to her bio on the city’s website, Muise grew up in Waltham, Massachusetts, graduated from New York University in 2009 and moved to Biddeford in 2021.
OPIOID SETTLEMENT FUND
Also at Tuesday’s meeting, Biddeford discussed what’s next as the city continues to use its cut of national settlement funds from companies accused of supercharging the opioid epidemic.
The council approved a $100,000 plan for the upcoming year, which will continue to support community members in need of substance abuse treatment.
Over the past two years, the city has spent about $206,645 of its Opioid Settlement Fund to provide the fire department with narcotics safes and to pay for opioid recovery and treatment expenses.
General Assistance Administrator Jake Hammer said the funding has mainly been used to help residents seeking treatment pay for costs like rent and transportation.
“Folks needed funding to get into treatment for opioid addiction,” Hammer said. “People needed recovery residence rent.”
Since the beginning of 2026, the Opioid Settlement Fund has helped 74 people, most of them Biddeford residents, Hammer said.
Ryan Paige, co-founder and director of AccessDirect Recovery Network, said the fund helps his recovery organization provide support for people in need of treatment.
When Biddeford residents call AccessDirect Recovery Network for help, Paige is able to provide treatment support regardless of whether the person can afford it.
“Any sticking point that we can remove for people who are in that really small window where they’re ready to get help is very important, and it quite often saves lives,” Paige said.
But helping a person find the resources to get sober is just the first step, Hammer said. What the community needs now is a recovery center: a physical location where people who are in recovery can meet up, join groups and engage in different programming to help sustain sobriety.
“It’s more of a social setting for folks who are in recovery,” Hammer said.
Paige, who is in recovery himself, also advocated for a recovery center. He said a communal space for people in active recovery is something the city is lacking.
“To have one place where people could go to set meetings up, that would continue to strengthen the recovery community here in Biddeford,” he said.
BEACH RESILIENCY
The City Council also voted Tuesday night to allow the city to enter into a memorandum of understanding for engineering services to put a dune system and handicap access at Biddeford Pool and Middle Beach.
The project is in response to the winter storms of January 2024 that wreaked havoc on the city’s beaches, Director of Code Enforcement and Emergency Management Roby Fecteau said.
A manufactured dune system would protect the beaches from future winter storms.
The project is estimated to cost about $296,000, of which Biddeford will be responsible for up to $73,920.
“The dunes are a vital piece of infrastructure that is important to sustain,” Fecteau said.
The University of New England has also pledged to provide $29,663 for the project.
While the relationship between UNE and the city is at a “historic low,” according to UNE assistant professor Will Kochtitzky, he said it was easy for him to get the university on board with the project.
“We know the water level records broken in 2024 will not last long,” Kochtitzky said. “It’s just a matter of time before we see the next record-breaking storm event. We need to be ready for it.”
The city and UNE have been at odds over the past several months amid debate over the university’s proposed pier on the Saco River.