The Rockland Report October 31, 2014

OFFICE OF THE ACTING CITY MANAGER/FINANCE DIRECTOR
 Approved Payroll Warrant.
 Approved Accounts Payable Warrant.
 Audit Starts Monday.
 Attended Special Council Meeting.
 Thanks to D&R Paving out of Waterboro Maine, our front walkway has been fixed.They had extra mix from a local job and patched our walkway for no charge.
 Snow Marine Park is now open, last report show acceptable levels of Ecoli.

OFFICE OF THE MUNICIPAL FISH PIER DIRECTOR
 One permit was issued for upper lot storage this week.
 The f/v western sea offloaded 270,000 pounds of herring.
 The f/v western wave offloaded 190,000 pounds of herring.
 Area 1A herring quota has been caught for the season. Herring carriers will
probably head south off New Hampshire and Massachusetts for herring. Our
Transient Herring Carrier, f/v Western Wave, will soon leave for their homeport of Gloucester, Mass.
 Permit applications for calendar year 2015 have been advertised. Current users of the pier have received their applications for submission.
 The price per pound for new shell lobster has dropped from $4.20 a pound to
$3.80.

OFFICE OF THE CITY ASSESSOR
 Processed Real Estate Transfers, updating parcel cards, sales book,
property splits.
 Processed Personal Property accounts, updating ownership, owned items,
depreciation, State BETR’S 801 returns, BETE exemptions.
 Processed 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 property owner’s request.
 Updating Tax Maps and posting to the web site.

OFFICE OF THE HARBORMASTER
 Had our last small cruise ship visit of the summer, an unplanned second visit by the
Pearl Mist. We had an opportunity to talk with the owner of the company and he
said that they were hoping to come to Rockland for two visits next May. It will be a
little early in the season, but I told him we'd be ready whenever they came.
 We hauled out our last Public Landing Floats, and by next week we'll have the
lighthouse and launching ramp floats out too. Also hauled out the harbormaster's
boat, and we'll start the fall maintenance as weather and time permit.
 We had the water turned off in the parks, and winterized the Public Landing
bathrooms for the season. They held the last Farmer's Market in Harbor Park for the summer too.
 Received a USCG update on Ebola preparedness for international maritime
facilities.
 Reminded the last few of our boating stragglers that it is past time for them to haul their boats out before the winter storms roll in.

OFFICE OF THE LIBRARY DIRECTOR
 The six-week workshop on memoir writing, led by local author and illustrator,
Debby Atwell, and which the Library is co-sponsoring, was held on Tuesday. They are half-way through the series, and participants and leaders are thoroughly
enjoying it.
 The weekly Adult drawing class’ theme this week was Hallowe’en pumpkins; the Children’s drawing class theme was “Spooky Halloween with Jack-O-Lanterns, haunted houses, witches, goblins, and more.”
 Judith Andersen has practically become the Library’s regular Wednesday
Storytime reader. This week was all about Hallowe’en, with scary, scary, stories
being read, including a brand new one about a haunted house. Participants
took home tiny pumpkins, and dads and kids decorated paper pumpkins.
 Eric Dube of Casco Bay Engineering and Al Hodson of Resurgence Engineering examined the south chimney, the north wall, and the west facade of the building to look at water infiltration issues in those areas. Eric will prepare a report for us, outlining the issues, suggestions for remedy, as well as an approximation of expected costs. City Manager Luttrell, Mayor Pritchett, and Tony Coyne were also present.
 Patty King attended a meeting of the Minerva Fall Users Council (Minerva being the name given to the shared Integrated Library System, or ILS as it’s known in library jargon).
 Patty and I attended the Listening Session for the City’s Arts & Cultural Plan at Oceanside East.
 Jean Young made the weekly trip to North Haven Community School.
 The Rockland Rhythm Masters were here on Thursday afternoon, a weekly event.
 This Thursday evening’s Arts & Cultural Events program was the much-rehearsed and eagerly anticipated performance by the Rockland Historical Society, of Enter Ghost. The performance, created and performed by members of the Rockland Shakespeare Society, was a collage of vignettes containing various supernatural elements, from nine different plays, contrasting some of the scariest and most dramatic scenes in all of Shakespeare.
 Patty King participated in the monthly radio show, Love My Library, live, from WRFR.
 We put out treats for the littles who came in Halloween costume (and pretty
much anyone else).
 Upcoming events— Camden Conference Discussion: Russia’s Politics, and another reminder about the Friends’ Holiday Inn tour, and Silent Tree Auction fundraiser

OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF POLICE
The officers responded to 180 calls for service. Rockland Police Officers responded to eight motor vehicle crashes. Sixteen (16) traffic stops and traffic violations were conducted. The officers made multiple arrests of individuals for various offenses, including arrest warrants, traffic offenses, OUI, bail and probation violations, and violations of protection form abuse orders.
 Officers coordinated and conducted additional school lock down drills at schools, and officers continue to coordinate with additional schools to conduct drills.
 Deputy Chief Tower participated in the Knox County Sheriff’s Office promotional oral boards.
 Detectives Young and Thompson conducted a joint investigation with the United States Coast Guard concerning an incident that took place at the Coast Guard Base.
 Detective Young assisted the Camden Police Department with a death
investigation.

OFFICE OF THE PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR
 City wide receptacle and building trash pickup for two days.
 Adjusted one sewer manhole frame to grade on Mechanic Street near Pacific
Street.
 Sweeping streets for two days.
 Prepping road cuts and paving for three days.
 Cleaning catch basin sumps and flushing culverts all week.
 Hooking up plow head gear and sanders on trucks all week.
 Picking up extra trash cans and all picnic tables and storing for winter season.
Removed two damaged benches from Mildred Merrill Park.
 Roadside trash pickup for one day.
 Removed last remaining floats and stored in Snow Marine Park for the season.
 Cold patching roads for two days.
 Picked up load of cold patch from All States Asphalt in Windsor.
 Dropped off 2007 John Deere backhoe to Nortrax in Bangor for repairs.
 Repaired sewer manhole on North Main Street near Maverick Street.
 Attended council workshop for road and sidewalk plowing priorities.

OFFICE OF THE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR
 Met with CMCA re: status of their project.
 Met with local developer on status of proposed project and schedule forward.
 Follow up and coordinated with WABI for story on business and economic
development projects in City (in addition to story on CMCA building).
 Met with Downtown property owner to discuss financing options for improvement to his building and expansion of property for commercial space.
 Attended Department of Labor award to SteelPro and second follow up meeting on progress of business including follow up on Maritime (Canada) market as per introduction made by CD Director.
 Attended FMC “valve turning” ceremony.
 Reviewed and continued to update Community Economic Development
Program and projects.
 Helped organize and held regional (Midcoast) meeting to review Rockport’s ultrahigh speed fiber investment and follow up to draft how Rockland may develop same.
 Met with volunteer who completed initial research on sponsorship and naming
rights for outdoor event venue around US to use in support of Harbor Park and
amphitheater.
 Discussed report and plans for investment in Fish Pier with consultant.
 Prepared to attend and followed up on Harbor Trail Committee meeting including review of budgets and status of consultants work on historic markers and Mechanic Street project.
 Prepared and attended two community listening sessions in support of Cultural
Planning Coalition.

OFFICE OF THE CODE ENFORCEMENT OFFICER
 The Code Office received a Site Plan Review Application for the construction of a fabric structure on the property owned by Atlantic Challenge Foundation at 643 Main Street. The proposed structure will be used as boat storage.
 John attended the City Council Meeting on 10/29/14.
 David attended the Comprehensive Planning Committee Meeting on 10/30/14.
 There were three complaints filed this week.
 The following permits were received by the Code Office this week:
o 4 Building permits
o 1 Driveway permit
o 3 Electrical permits
o 2 Sewer Connection permits
o 2 Sign permits
o 2 Street Excavation permits

OFFICE OF THE WASTEWATER TREATMENT FACILITY DIRECTOR
 Responded to a sewer backup at 29 Chestnut Street. The blockage was in their
sewer lateral, we referred them to Interstate Septic to have it cleared
 Camera inspection of the sewer main on Beech Street from Shaw Avenue to the first M.H. east of Broadway.
 Marked the sewer main and laterals on Tillson Avenue from the pump station to the Coast Guard Base for a project at Journey’s End Marina
 Had J.B.I. dig to investigate a sink hole on Tea Street that was discovered by
Maine Water while replacing their water main.
 Checked progress of a sewer lateral repair at 45 Mechanic Street being done by Rhino Services.
 Looked at a sewer lateral repair for T.J. Benner Excavating at Spruce and
Maverick Street intersection, may require a new connection to the sewer main on
Spruce Street.
 J.B.I. installed a new sewer manhole on Broadway near Holmes Street.
 Continued to investigate high temperature shutdowns on one of the Glenwood
Avenue pumps.
 Changed the oil in No. 1 vortex pump.
 Sent a copy of FMC’s new draft pretreatment permit to FMC for comment.
 Continue work on collection system and plant operating manuals, and five and
ten year plans.

OFFICE OF THE RECREATION DIRECTOR
 I met with Alexis this week to discuss the future of the walk-in art studio that meets
on Saturdays and also the programs that would be coming up over the winter
months. She has received another donation from Arts in Rockland and is working
on a grant. She is doing an amazing job helping us develop art as a viable
program here at the Recreation Department.
 There were three water samples taken from around the grass area in Snow Marine Park this week. The samples have been sent to the lab and the results are looking good for low counts. The park should be open again very soon.
 Soccer season has just about come to a close. We have two games on Saturday
that are make-up games for the 1st and 2nd grade league. This will bring the 2014
season to a close.
 I have been working very hard to stop new leaks in the building. They appear to be caused by damage to the east side roof. They have been patched and no
new water is getting in. I am also working to get three prices on replacing this roof as the leaks have caused damage to the insulation.

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:
 A bit of time was spent this week ensuring we are prepared in the highly unlikely event that we are called to deal with a patient somehow suspected of having Ebola. Fortunately most of our personnel have been haz-mat technicians and are very familiar with the protective equipment used to prevent exposure to Ebola. If when this is all over we’ve never been close to dealing with a single case we will at least have had a very comprehensive review of infection control practices and proper measure to minimize the risk of exposure to anything that might be out there as we care for those who are sick or injured.
 On Friday morning Tower 3 assisted the Courthouse staff with fixing their American Flag which was tied up due to heavy winds.
 Monday morning B-Shift conducted the final department tour of Back Cove
Yachts. The tour was very informative from a response perspective due to the
sheer size and openness of the building coupled with the number of employees
working during the day.
 Monday’s EMS training was on infection control and was conducted in
conjunction with a representative of PBMC’s Emergency Department, and of
course, included a significant Ebola discussion.
 I attended FMC’s Valve Turning Ceremony on Wednesday, commemorating their significant achievement of switching from #6 fuel oil to much cleaner burning Natural Gas.
 On Thursday I conducted an apartment inspection for the City’s assistance
program, ensuring the tenants will be getting a safe, Code compliant living space.

OFFICE OF THE SOLID WASTE DIRECTOR
 Attended the MRRA fall conference. I was voted in for another term on the Board of Directors during the conference.
 Scheduled the Western Star road tractor to be transported to O’Connor GMC to have the transmission replaced. The transmission locked up and was no longer
operational. Scheduled Gordon Libby to haul waste while the Western Star is
being repaired.
 Met with Bolduc Correctional facility about a volunteer worker for the upcoming winter months.
 Continued work on compost permit modification changing the permit from a 1A facility to a 1B.
 Conducted waste water sampling.
 Continued work on replacing the ram wheels on the MSW compactors, this will continue into next week.
 The transfer station attendant has been checking each vehicle for recyclables
and setting aside cardboard in the transfer station.
 Visited the University of Maine, Orono in-vessel composting operation.
 Visited New England Recycling Corporation operation.
 Began to lay down demo road base to develop landfill road to north end