The Rockland Report May 2, 2014

OFFICE OF THE FINANCE DIRECTOR/ACTING CITY MANAGER
 Approved Payroll Warrant.
 Month End Reconciliations.
 Budget Workshops on Fire/EMS, Police and Dept. A-G.
 Talked with Citizens on Budget.
 Met with John Holden on TIF Spending Plan.
 Set Agenda for upcoming Council meeting with Mayor, Clerk and Attorney.
 Met with Staff on Main Street Parking spot in front of Breakwater Vineyards.
 Walk about with Mayor on Old County Road storm water issues.

OFFICE OF THE MUNICIPAL FISH PIER DIRECTOR
 No permits were issued this week.
 Submitted permitted user metered electric bills to the Finance Department.
 Met with Bait Dealer to discuss other options that have recently become available.

OFFICE OF THE WASTEWATER TREATMENT FACILITY DIRECTOR
 Continued to prepare for chlorination season.
 Replaced the bottom scraper on No. 1 Belt Filter Press.
 Worked on response to latest DEP proposed Consent Agreement.
 Checked sewer backup at 18 Gay Street, advised homeowner to seal basement drain.
 Met with contractor to estimate sealing the leaking manhole on Cedar Street.
 Continued cleaning and CCTV inspection of collection system on Lawn Avenue and Melrose Circle
 Inspected the sewer lateral at 9 Pine Street for new Habitat for Humanity home. The lateral is broken and needs to be replaced.
 Maine Water installed the meter and turned the water on at the new public restroom. The electrical meter box and plumbing fixtures were also installed.

OFFICE OF THE CITY ASSESSOR
 Processing Real Estate Transfers, updating parcel cards, sales book, property splits.
 Processing Personal Property accounts, updating ownership, owned items, depreciation, State BETR’S 801 returns, BETE exemptions.
 Processing building permits, reviewing, updating property cards and assessments.
 Analyzing qualified sales of all properties and neighborhoods for a fair and equitable assessment.
 Completing State forms and returning for processing.
 Listening and reviewing properties at the owner’s request.
 Updating Tax Maps and posting to the web site.

OFFICE OF THE HARBORMASTER
 Worked on floats - the Snow Park launch ramp floats are ready to go in next week if possible and we started work on the Middle Pier floats.
 Started the process of renewing the Public Landing USCG security status.
 Almost finished updating and revamping the laundry room attached to the
harbormaster's building.
 Welcomed the 2nd vendor in Buoy Park; one may be ready to open next week.
 Ran the water down to the Middle Pier and Buoy Park.

OFFICE OF THE PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR
 Two days picking up city building and receptacle trash. One day roadside trash
pickup.
 Repaired sewer main on Purchase Street and capped drain pipe from roadway
catch basin that entered sewer.
 Repaired catch basin at 12 Gay Street.
 Cold patching potholes citywide for three days. Picked up load of cold patch at
Lanes in Bangor.
 Cleaning up roadway winter sand with mechanical sweeper for two days and
regenerative sweeper for four days. Sidewalk sweeping for one day. Replacing
worn brooms as needed on all machines.
 Sign maintenance for one day.
 Repaired and installed floats at Chickawaukie Lake for Recreation Director.
 Added gravel and graded parking lot at Chickawaukie Lake.
 Working on donated picnic table assembly and painting as well as trash can
holders.
 Stockpiling 100 yards 1” minus gravel and 100 yards 3” minus gravel for various small projects.
 Removed spring road posting signs.
 Graded end of Glen Street at Waldo Avenue.
 Picked up waste oil from Landfill.
 Removed remaining plow headgear from large dump trucks.

OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF POLICE
The officers responded to 210 calls for service. Rockland Police Officers responded to five motor vehicle crashes. Thirty five (35) traffic stops and traffic violations were conducted. The officers made 14 arrests of individuals for various offenses, to include bail Warrants of Arrest, Bail violations, Drug offenses, Trespassing, Theft and OUI.
 Chief Boucher presented the 2014-2015 Police department budget
recommendation to City Council at Rockland City Hall this week.
 Chief Boucher and Deputy Chief Tower met with a member of the Maine State
Police Access Integrity Unit for our required Metro System Audit.
 DC Tower, Sgt. Finnegan, Officer William Smith and Officer Solórzano attend the Hometown Heroes breakfast at Rockland Middle School sponsored by the students.
 Sgt. Finnegan gave a presentation at Oceanside East High School on the subject of “Bullying”.
 CID assisted an outside agency with the location of a non-compliant sex offender living in Rockland.

OFFICE OF THE CODE ENFORCEMENT OFFICER
 A permit was submitted for a Change of Use with minor alterations to the building at 428 Main Street (formerly Kenniston Realty). The proposed change is from office space to a retail fabric and craft supply store.
 Work is ongoing and inspections have been done for the project at 557 Old County Road, soon to be Hazel’s Take Out.
 Dave Kalloch attended the Midcoast Code Enforcement Officers Assoc. meeting in Camden on 4/30.
 John Root attended a seminar in Augusta that discussed hoarding.
 John also attended a GIS Tech Workshop in Portland on 5/1/14.
 License inspections were done with the Fire Dept. at Rock City Café.
 There were two complaints filed this week.
 The following permits were received by the Code Office this week:
o 6 Building permits
o 3 Electrical permits
o 1 Plumbing permit

OFFICE OF THE LIBRARY DIRECTOR
 I met with the Food Service Director for RSU 13, Charles Butler, regarding the Library serving as a community partner for the summer food program.
 Kids and families were treated to a lovely spring concert in the Children’s Room, by father and daughter duo Bob Stuart and Megan Roberts, who comprise “Old Town Road.; this event is part of The Arts...series.
 Catinka Knoth’s Adult classes drew spring flowers while the Children’s Drawing classes drew peepers, bird nests, and spring flowers, these week.
 I met with members of the Library Advisory Committee, to discuss some policy items and the proposed City Budget, which includes keeping the currently vacant reference librarian position unfilled for FY 15.
 The Arts...for Kids & their Families at the Rockland Public Library continued, with Jess Day’s JAMMM (Jess' Art Music Movement & Mindfulness) babies’ class for families with babies, newborn through 8 months. The class includes music, movement and stories; Dena Davis’ Family stories—families writing together, also continues, incorporating artifacts, photographs, childhood neighborhood maps and letters.
 Wednesday storytime was, and will continue to be supplanted (for five weeks) by the latest series of Family Place™ workshops, starting this week, and continuing through the end of May. The Play with Me Program is designed for children ages 0
to 3 years old and parents or caregivers. Children get a chance to play with other children and parents get a chance to share experiences and concerns.
 There was a very nice article on Village Soup about the planned granite sign for the Library, though the headline falsely credited the Library with commissioning the sign, rather than the support groups, which are also paying for it to be made.
 Thursday evening Arts & Cultural Event featured the gorgeous guitar sounds of Ken Bonfield. The very personable artist also talked about the four different guitars he played, including a harp guitar, and an amazing—sounding baritone guitar.
 We were visited Friday by a gaggle of kids from Head Start; it’s always lovely to see them wandering in, holding onto the rope holds.
 A final event from The Arts... series for the week, was the movie matinee of Secondhand Lions, hosted by Erika Pfander.
 Upcoming events of note—Greg Marley’s talk on mushrooms—always a crowd-pleaser, and a special Garden Storytime with Miss Jean.
 Did you know? We have a lovely little film linked on the Library’s website, about the joint project to conserve the work of Bernard Langlais. You should check it out.

OFFICE OF THE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR
 Continued outreach on plans to prepare Rockland Cultural Plan including attendance at Maine Arts Commission Strategic Planning forum.
 Completed site search and delivery of package to encourage expansion of state-wide retail company to the City.
 Follow up with Rockland Main Street and Chamber to coordinate on various new business openings and “Welcome to Rockland”.
 Meeting with State and Rockland Career Center staff to review current and new programs for workforce development.
 Meeting with developer interested in project in Rockland with particular interest in Tillson Avenue area.
 Present update message at request of WABI TV Channel 5 from Bangor on new building projects in the City.
 Prepare and hold CDBG Loan Committee meeting to address three housing projects or loan requests.
 Attend Penobscot Bay Chamber Tourism Summit.
 Prepare memo’s to summarize proposed 2015 Department budget.
 Meeting with business and Midcoast Economic Development District to plan for potential initiative to assist and encourage expansion and formation of budding information technology, new media, and young entrepreneur network in City and region.
 Review three applications from existing businesses for funds from the Knox County Regional Micro Loan Program.
 Attend and “pitch” Rockland Cultural Plan to potential foundation that may fund portion of the work.
 Attend the Rockland Coast Guard City Committee Annual Appreciation Dinner.

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:
 Chief Jordan and A/C Miceli presented the FY15 Fire and EMS budgets to the City Council.
 The Department provided several days of confined space entry coverage for FMC.
 C-shift performed spring cleaning on the storage sheds.
 The Department conducted one Life Safety Code inspection.
 Lt. Camber repaired both ITX 4-gas meters.
 Monthly EMS training was conducted in the category of General Topics with a Jeopardy format. Much was learned and fun was had by all.
 At 4 PM this afternoon, I will transfer command of the Department to Assistant Chief Adam Miceli, who will, at that time, become the Acting Fire Chief for the City of Rockland. The City will be well-served by Adam, as he has been a trusted colleague and sounding board during my tenure. I hope to see you all around town. Thanks for everything.