The Rockland Report 10-25-13

OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER
 Attended the opening of the newly constructed Ferry Terminal Park.
 Attended the informational gathering for the CMCA on Winter Street.
 Coordinated invoices with RMS for decorations and displays for the upcoming Festival of Lights celebration.
 Held informal discussions with MDOT regarding the urban compact status in the City of Rockland and will follow up with a meeting next week to review options and recommendations for determining compact zone lines.
 Followed up with citizen concerns.
 Continued discussions with property owners for PenBay Drainage Project.
 Continued discussions with property owners for a sewer easement on Summer Street.
OFFICE OF THE FINANCE DIRECTOR
 Approved Payroll Warrant
 Approved Accounts Payable Warrant
 EMS Reconciliation
 Met with Landfill Director on CIP Plan
OFFICE OF THE HARBORMASTER
 Worked with Henry's Crane Service and hauled out the Middle Pier floats for the winter. We still have two floats there, and also the floats in at Snow Park.
 Met with John Holden and Dan Stewart from MDOT to discuss our SHIP grant proposals and the upcoming changes to the program.
 Wrote reminder letters to sailboat owners who still have their boats in the water.
 Hauled out the harbormaster's boat and started the fall maintenance.
 Met with Maine Marine Patrol officer Matt Talbot to start the discussion on visiting cruise ships and lobster fishing gear. We'll continue the discussion this winter, probably working from the top down, starting at the state level before continuing to engage locally.
OFFICE OF THE CITY ASSESSOR
 A report from the Maine Listing Service reported that State wide sales rose 24.59% (Sept. 2013 compare to Sept. 2012) and the median sales price rose 1.76% ($173,000).
 Knox County had an increase of 37.96% in units sold and a median selling price of $200,000 (16.28% increases). This was the period of 7/1/2013-9/30/2013 vs. 7/1/2012-9/30/2012.
 Processing deeds, transfers, reviewing permits and analyzing sales.
 Creating property cards for the “Summer and Maine” condos.
OFFICE OF THE POLICE CHIEF The officers responded to 197 calls for service. Rockland Police Officers responded to three motor vehicle crashes. Fifty (50) traffic stops and traffic violations were conducted. The officers made multiple arrests of individuals for various offenses, to include bail violations, probation violations, OUIs, disorderly conduct, arrest warrants, thefts and disorderly conduct.
 D/C Tower, Det. Sgt. Young and Sgt. Smith worked with the Rockland District Middle School in conducting lock down drills for the students and staff.
 Sgt. Lindahl assisted at the Farnsworth Museum’s Children’s Halloween event.
 Chief Boucher presented a Realtor Safety Briefing at the Mid Coast Realtors meeting on Tuesday of this week.
 Parking Enforcement Officer Troy Peasley has been selected as the Maine representative for the Final Leg of the Special Olympics Torch Run at the USA Summer Games, June 10- 17th, 2014 in New Jersey.
 Officers are preparing for the October 26th Prescription Drug Take Back event at Rockland City hall, Saturday between the hours of 10 AM and 2 PM.
OFFICE OF THE CODE ENFORCEMENT OFFICER
 Inspection for a Certificate of Occupancy was done at 82 Camden Street for a new nail spa.
 A change of use permit was submitted for 65 Park Street, changing from a pizza parlor to a tattoo studio.
 The following permits were received by the Code Office this week:
o 4 Building permits
o 7 Electrical permits
o 1 Floodplain permit
o 7 Plumbing permits
o 2 Sewer Connect permits
o 1 Sign permit
o 3 Street Excavation permits
OFFICE OF THE FISH PIER DIRECTOR
 Submitted to the City Manager for signature, the advertisement to solicit interested applicants who would like to apply for a permit to use the Municipal Fish pier, for calendar year 2014.
 Turned off fresh water on pier and drained all lines.
 Removed all salt water hoses and gator pumps from the pier for winter storage.
 Lobster price is around $3.65 a pound.
 Lobstermen are taking in their gear.
OFFICE OF THE FIRE CHIEF
In addition to responding to the normal flow of fire and EMS calls, apparatus checks, cleaning, repairs and maintenance to the fleet and cleaning and maintenance of the quarters, the following occurred:
 The Department continued to work on employee evaluations.
 The Fire Chief met with the Knox EMA Director regarding the upcoming Vigilant Guard exercise.
 The Fire Chief met with the committee organizing the local portion of Wreaths Across America.
 The Department continued annual hose testing.
 The Department made its final presentations and conducted its final tours in support of the annual fire prevention effort.
 A/C Miceli made an inspection of an apartment building for compliance with the Life Safety Code.
OFFICE OF THE SOLID WASTE DIRECTOR
 Attended a Midcoast Economic Development District meeting. Audra Caler Bell has been working on drafting a comprehensive solid waste regionalization report with the help of the steering committee. Once finalized Audra offered to present the findings of the report if requested.
 Conducted monitoring well data collection.
 Loaded and sent out 10.08 tons of #2 plastic & 17.15 tons of cardboard to be recycled.
 All facility staff attended required site specific training on 10/21/13.
 Developed and provided Finance with building and equipment replacement costs.
 Sullivan & Associated replaced the failed south pump totalizer.
OFFICE OF THE LIBRARY DIRECTOR
 Attended the joint New England Library Association/Maine Library Association Conference in Portland.
 The Adult Art class by Catinka Knoth welcomed students, as did the Children’s Drawing class which continues each Tuesday afternoon.
 Dan offered a “drop-in” e-Book help class.
 The second series of Family Place Libraries™ workshops concluded this week.
 The Children’s Writing Club held a meeting this week.
 New Hope for Women arranged their annual “Empty Place at the Table” display which honors victims of domestic violence homicide in observance of October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
 Jean Young spent Thursday on North Haven, as per our agreement with the Community School.
 Thursday evening Arts & Cultural series featured the readings of four mid-coast authors reading Halloween-appropriate stories.
 There a still a few tickets left for the Friends of Rockland Public Library iPad raffle! Only 200 tickets will be sold and the winner will receive a brand new iPad.
 Upcoming events of note: Camden Conference Event—Feeding the World in the Face of Climate Change and a special Story-time and poster project for World Kindness Week.
 Did you know—if you want a downloadable eBook or audiobook, you should place a hold on it. Enough holds trigger the purchase of an additional “copy”?
OFFICE OF THE RECREATION DIRECTOR
 Cleaned, mowed, and pruned the Ferry Terminal Park in preparation for the opening ceremony.
 The Soccer program is all but over, just our 1st & 2nd graders have games this weekend and that will be the end of another successful soccer season.
 We are adding St. George and Thomaston to our basketball league this season. This will make the program bigger and better than the past few years. We are working with these towns to fine tune the details.
 The mowing season is coming to an end and I will be polling all the Department Heads about improvements for next summer.
OFFICE OF THE GENERAL ASSISTANCE ADMINISTRATOR
 Scheduled appointments for clients.
 Met with clients who had scheduled appointments.
 Handled General Assistance inquiries.
 Updated General Assistance Paperwork and client files.
OFFICE OF THE PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR
 Picked up trash including roadside.
 Swept leaves from city streets all week.
 Prepping and paving work for sidewalk on Claremont Street. Also, backfilling with loam.
 Tree/bush limbs trimmed along right-of-ways.
 Cold patched city streets for three days.
 Sign maintenance.
 Electrician repaired/replaced several outside lights on Public Works building.
 Mechanics adjusted brakes on 2002 GMC dump truck, repaired treatment plant boom truck hydraulic hose, starting issue repaired for 2005 GMC pickup, preparing two leaf blowers and two containment boxes for leaf pickup which is scheduled to begin November 4th.
 Lanes Construction now planning next week for punch list work on Union Street/Main Street which was initially planned for this week but they had asphalt plant issues.
 Next week plan to replace a deteriorated 30” culvert on Glen Street near Waldo Avenue, assist library with various projects, pick up and store picnic tables and several trash receptacles, and Pen Bay Acres drainage project construction work planned to begin around middle of week.
OFFICE OF THE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR
 Had follow up meetings with parties that may be interested in investing in City’s downtown as well as potential investors or contacts in the IT Sector.
 Reviewed and finalized close out documents for Downtown Revitalization Grant, final Façade project as part of Community Enterprise Grant, and prepared documents for close out of Multifamily Housing Grant.
 Advised and prepared for opening of Ferry Terminal Park
 Reviewed, revised, draft of amendment to Downtown TIF District Development Program based on Council input from September workshop.
 Began to package for submission to DECD approved Amendment to Fisher Engineering TIF Development Program.
 Attended Economic Development Advisory Committee with focus on update to City Brownfield Program.
 Met with two existing companies exploring new initiatives and projects, to review state and other programs that may be of assistance to their endeavors.
OFFICE OF THE WASTEWATER TREATMENT FACILITY DIRECTOR
 Investigated an unknown 12” pipe dug up on Rankin Street by a contractor while replacing the water main for Maine Water.
 Met with JBI to discuss the possibility of extending the sewer main on Broadway from Holmes to Prescott Street.
 Dropped the vacuum truck at Rockport Steel to finish fabrication of new vacuum piping and fittings.
 Inspected new sewer pump station at 341 Park Street for contractor.
 Dig Safe 20 sites around the City for Maine Water, CMP and Verizon.
 Worked with EII on the controls upgrade at Park Street pump station.
 Demo and training with a Trimble GPS carried out by Maine Technical Source. Our GPS unit should be delivered within a week.
 Replaced No. 1 Belt Press hydraulic pump motor.
 An operator and a mechanic attended a one day class on pumps and mechanical seals. 18 hours of training every two years is required to maintain wastewater operator certification.
 Nineteen foreclosure notices, totaling $5534.82 where sent out this week. These liens will expire on 12/12/13.