The Rockland Report September 26, 2014

OFFICE OF THE ACTING CITY MANAGER/FINANCE DIRECTOR
 Approved Payroll Warrant.
 Preparing for Year End – audit work.
 Attended monthly downtown walk with Rockland Maine Street Director Gordon Page and Mayor Pritchett.
 Met with Tom Gorrill of Gorrill-Palmer and Andrew Hedrich with Gartley & Dorsky on the Camden Street RFP. Gorrill-Palmer is interested in bidding on the project.
 Public Works Director and I spoke on the possibility of creating a temporary island in the Oak Street parking lot.
 Working on an educational piece for the referendum question on borrowing
monies for Old County Road Reconstruction Project.

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 MUNICIPAL FISH PIER DIRECTOR
 The first ever Sea Cucumber vessel permit was issued this week. The season runs from September 1, 2014 thru June 1, 2015.
 The f/v western sea has offloaded 370,000 pounds of herring.
 The f/v western wave has moved on down east to catch herring and offload the
same.
 The price per pound for new shell lobster is $4.05.

OFFICE OF THE HARBORMASTER
 We took our first cruise ship booking for 2016 – The Silver Whisper, 610 feet, 382 passengers, October 6th, 2016.
 Still stuff going on at the Public Landing, boats preparing for their winter haul-outs, and others getting ready to head south. There's a slow diminution of the number of boats in the harbor.
 We were awarded a planning grant to help design a replacement Public
Landing, and there's a group of U Maine engineering students that would like to
use it as a school project.
 I tried to take Rosh Hashanah off on Thursday, but we were too busy.

OFFICE OF THE LIBRARY DIRECTOR
 The staff and I were very pleased to have Patty King assume the role of Deputy Library Director on Monday.
 Catinka Knoth’s Adult Drawing Class worked on the theme of “a classic Maine farmhouse,” while the Children’s drawing class theme was “visits to the apple orchard, and apple-picking.”
 I met with another potential volunteer, who began training on Thursday.
 The Personnel Board met to interview candidates for the Reference Library
Technician position, and I sat in on these.
 Jean Young presented stories and information about turtles, and featured Mossy, by Jan Brett, with accompanying cutouts for children to create a garden on Mossy’s shell, in the crafts portion of Storytime.
 Jean Young held the final Wednesday morning library skills class. Eight-year-old Julia Towers received a certificate of graduation, having completed all four of the classes.
 I met with fellow panelists to prepare for the Community Cultural and Arts
Leadership Forum, which will be held at the Farnsworth next week.
 This Thursday evening’s Arts & Cultural Events program was the film: Murder at the Gallop; Margaret Rutherford starred as the grey-haired, wily sleuth, Miss Marple, who will not give up until all the pieces of a puzzle have been neatly put in place.
 Patty King represented the Library at the last-Friday-of-the month Love My Library radio show aired on WRFR, which features upcoming events at area libraries.
 Huge thank you to Public Works, and especially to David Larrabee, for replacing some exterior and interior lights. Patrons, staff, and volunteers are most grateful.
 After planned participants were unable to be present, Children’s Librarian Jean Young put on the persona of Farmer Brown, for Farm Day at the Library. There were chickens, and a rabbit, fresh local produce, and baby pumpkins to
decorate. Children were sent home with a rooted citronella plant, and Persian
cucumbers, along with a recipe or two. Food, music, and silliness were the order
of the day.
 Upcoming events— Talk Like a Pirate Party; the previously mentioned knitting class will not be happening, in the near future. Instead, we’ll be offering a four-part series of fabric-themed workshops.

OFFICE OF THE FIRE CHIEF
In addition to the general response to fire and EMS calls, conducting apparatus
checks, daily cleaning, routine repairs and maintenance to the fleet and of the
quarters, the following occurred:
 After much discussion with Ford Customer Care, we removed our newest
ambulance from service and sent it to Brunswick Ford this week to address the
intermittent issue with it going into “limp” mode. Due to the questions about what is causing it to “de-rate” and when it may happen, Ford could not extend us any confidence that it wasn’t going to happen at a critical moment and therefore
agreed it should not be in service. They have a few known issues they’ll be
addressing, but at this point they’re uncertain the real problem with this particular unit. Thankfully this chassis is under warranty and should not incur a service or parts bill.
 The two new call division members that need to go to the regional fire academy both passed the entrance agility test with flying colors. This had them dressed in full gear and an SCBA dragging a rescue mannequin, advancing hoses, climbing a fire escape and hoisting hose among other things all for time. To their further credit, this was the first time either had had on firefighters gear and they still easily posted great times. I believe they will be great students in the program and be assets to our department.
 Our members conducted an extrication drill Wednesday evening. One evolution
had firefighters utilizing our air bags to lift a vehicle to remove a simulated victim and the second had them stabilize a vehicle on its side then remove the roof to extricate “victims” from the passenger compartment. Personnel also got to practice removing car doors once the vehicles were righted. A big thanks to
Shorty’s Towing for donating these vehicles so we may keep our skills sharp!
 This week we finalized reviewing the proposals for the Cardiac Monitor/Defibrillator replacements and awarded the bid to Zoll. Our personnel are convinced these units are best suited to carry us into the future with the broadest range of features that can have a direct positive impact on critical patient outcomes. We are in hopes these units will be in service around the first of next year.
 I’ve continued to work with CEO Root and the design team for the 250 Main St. Hotel project to review their plans to ensure compliance with the Life Safety Code.
 I also received and reviewed plans for O’Hara’s new industrial building at the end of Tillson Avenue.
 As a footnote to the ambulance issues, I’d add that we’re certainly not alone in
this. The common thread that seems to be plaguing newer emergency vehicles
are the new emissions standards and the equipment designed to meet them. Like
every other vehicle today, the new technology relies heavily on sensors that seem
to not “sense” properly and therefore cause issues. While a movement to exclude
emergency vehicles from these standards was mounted, in the end the
emergency vehicle market is far too small to force manufacturers to build
separate motors for our application. It appears the other prevailing thought is that
maintenance is going to become more expensive and time consuming while they
work through these changes, as the standards change just about the time they
figure out previous issues.

OFFICE OF THE PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR
 City wide trash receptacle and building trash pickup for two days.
 Ditching, shouldering, and culvert installation work on Old County Road from
Route 17 to Rankin Street both sides of road. Work includes ditch matting, culvert headers, seeding, and haying. A crew all week including flaggers.
 Roadside mowing for ½ a day.
 Cleaning catch basins for 2 ½ days. Vactor broke down several times which
included the rear engine shutting down (replaced relay) and had to reline 10”
suction pipe on top of debris body because of water leaks.
 Truck driver hauled trash truck for past two weeks for Transfer Station.
 Sweeping streets for a day.
 Replacing numerous light bulbs for Library.
 Picked up brush off of White Street by church and 6-8 tree trunks from South Street.

OFFICE OF THE RECREATION DIRECTOR
 The buoy line and the swim float have been taken in at the lake and the boat
docks are set to be removed in the beginning of October. The tables for the
summer day camp program have been stacked up and the awning has been
removed for winter.
 All soccer teams started last week and they are going well. The weekend should be great weather for our next round of games.
 The new scoreboard donated by Rockland Savings Bank has been installed and wired and is now ready to use.
 Ferry Terminal Park was weeded again this week as I have noticed many people
still using it. I have also been contacted by Jay Sawyer to look at a piece of art to
be displayed in the park.

OFFICE OF THE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR
 Review of preliminary costs to support infrastructure improvements to support
expansion of two existing companies.
 Review of preliminary site assessment for expansion of existing company in
Industrial Park and development of city owned property in the Park.
 Meeting with Maine DOT in regards to improvements to Fish Pier.
 Follow up on preliminary site requests for six business interests considering Rockland (1manufacturing, 1 IT, 4 retail/restaurant).
 Follow up and continued input and development in support of City Cultural Plan and grant to Maine Arts Commission to support that Plan.
 Meeting with Midcoast Magnet to consider City role in support of Juice 4.0
conference.
 Meeting with Midcoast Economic Development District to explore ways to
improve submissions of projects for potential future funding requests.
 Attendance at Envision Maine conference.
 Meeting with DECD regarding status report and update on Community for
Maine’s Future (Thorndike Parking Lot) project.

OFFICE OF THE WASTEWATER TREATMENT FACILITY DIRECTOR
 Replaced corroded springs on the wet weather pump check valves.
 Replaced the grit vortex separator mixer and mixer motor. We’ll see if we can
repair the replaced mixer, if so we’ll have a spare for future use.
 Repaired the No. 3 Belt Press Polymer Pump.
 Completed collection system inspection on Tillson Avenue east of the PCF. Found significant seawater intrusion from the USCG lateral. A letter has been sent to the Coast Guard requesting repair of their lateral. Also found some moderate intrusion from two O’Hara laterals and have requested they repair the laterals.
 Cleaned the cross country sewer main through Landings Restaurant parking lot.
 Reviewed the smoke testing results with Don Savage from Wright Pierce and
retested some areas of concern.
 Smoke tested the storm basin in Snow Marine Park to determine if the 6 inch pipe into the basin is active, found it is not active.
 Met with Sarah Ruddy from the Strand Theater to investigate an issue with the new
sewer/drain line connected to Winter Street.

OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF POLICE
The officers responded to 222 calls for service. Rockland Police Officers responded to
9 motor vehicle crashes and 4 Animal complaints. Forty-two (42) traffic stops and traffic violations were conducted. The officers made 21 arrests of individuals for various offenses, to include Bail violations, Tobacco offenses, Theft offenses, Alcohol offenses, Warrants of Arrest, Drug offenses and OUI.
 I attended the quarterly executive board meeting of Sexual Assault Support
Services of Mid-coast Maine (SASSMM).
 I met with a representative with the Restorative Justice Project of Midcoast
concerning LE direct referral concerning juvenile offenders in Rockland.
 I attended the Rockland Metro Clinic quarterly community stakeholders meeting.
 At the request of the District Attorney’s Office, C.I.D. investigated a suspect for Violation of Conditions of Release. The suspect was arrested in July for Domestic Assault and has been incarcerated at the Knox County Jail since then. They had conditions of release that they have no contact with the victim of the assault. During the investigation it was determined that they violated conditions of release at least four times by talking with the victim on the telephone. The suspect has been charged with four felony counts of Violation of Conditions of Release.
 C.I.D. assisted the Maine State Police, Thomaston Police Department and Maine Drug Enforcement Agency with a missing person investigation that occurred in Thomaston. After an extensive investigation, on 09/23/14 it was determined that person boarded a bus in Rockland heading to South Station in Boston.
 Officers assisted Probation and Parole with conducting compliance checks on
probationers in Rockland. The probationers that were checked were in
compliance with their probation.

OFFICE OF THE CODE ENFORCEMENT OFFICER
 John attended the Planning Board Meeting on 9/23/14. The Board approved the Site Plan Review Application for Verizon Wireless to place wireless
telecommunication antennas on the existing structure at 91 Camden Street.
(Breakwater Marketplace).
 John also attended an Orthoimagery Subcommittee Meeting in Augusta on
9/25/14.
 There were five complaints filed this week.
 The following permits were received by the Code Office this week:
o 3 Building permits
o 3 Electrical permits
o 2 Plumbing permits
o 2 Sign permits

OFFICE OF THE SOLID WASTE DIRECTOR
 Repainted recycling bins yellow.
 Cleaned out the demo header area and removed the old shack by demo
header.
 Replaced ash barrels with a new painted yellow ash dumpster.
 Dug out and created new cell at the southernmost end of the landfill to work
while the gas collection system is being installed.
 Coordinated the landfill gas pipe installation to begin on October 6.
 Sent out Waste Water samples for analytical tests.
 Ordered the new flare for the new section of gas collection.
 Attended an MRRA board of directors meeting in Augusta.
 Began landfill and monitoring well annual survey and scheduled to have survey include gas collection pipe installation.
 Leveled off and graded the location of the new flare.
 Repaired the MSW trash compactor in the basement - one of the hydraulic pipes needed to be replaced.