The Rockland Report February 6, 2015

OFFICE OF THE FINANCE DIRECTOR
 Approved Payroll Warrant.
 Attended Agenda Setting Meeting with Council.
 Spoke with Gartley & Dorsky on Winter Street Project.
 Spoke with Gartley & Dorsky on Old County Road Project.
 Worked on second MPI Grant with the State for second phase of Old County
Road.
 Met with Gartley & Dorsky on Sand/Salt Shed.
 Answered many calls on sidewalk plowing & snow removal.
 Met with PW Director on Snow Dump – filling up fast but we have come up with resolution so we don’t have to enact emergency ordinance amendment to
dispose of snow into the Harbor.

OFFICE OF THE MUNICIPAL FISH PIER DIRECTOR
 No permits were issued this week.
 Collected monthly docking fee.
 Shoveled snow off ramp and public floats.
 Removed snow from around fire hydrant.
 Filed paperwork and organized purchase orders.
OFFICE OF THE HARBORMASTER
 A fairly quiet week, the snow has changed the rhythm of the normal routine.
Processed more mooring permits as they come in, we're a bit over a quarter of the way there.
 Sent out the mooring permit renewals for our larger commercial customers, we use a different format for those, so it takes a little longer.
 Finished the revamping of our older power stanchions that go on the floats during the summer. They are all spiffy and ready to go for next year.
 Visited the public skating rink in Damariscotta to see how they've done it, and to see if it is something that we can replicate here.

OFFICE OF THE LIBRARY DIRECTOR
 Catinka Knoth’s Children’s Art Class drew Valentine’s Day cards and paper cuts; due to the storm, no Adult Art class was held.
 Jean Young held the first of five workshops in a series of Family Place Library
programs. We were worried about the turnout, due to rumors of flu, but Jean had
18 participants. All the participants were new to the program; Linda Gundel,
Friends’ co-President helped out, and took photos.
 I met with Linda Gundel to review progress of the plans for the Open House.
 Staff worked on Open House plans.
 The weekly Rockland Rhythm Masters Drumming Troupe resumed after a couple of weeks hiatus.
 We began the survey of patrons and community members with regard to Adult
programming at the Library.
 I placed an order with Gilman Electric for the materials needed for the first phase of the Library’s interior lighting efficiency upgrade, and contacted the electrician who will be working on this project.
 Patty King made the weekly trip to the North Haven Community School.
 The Thursday Evening Arts & Cultural Event was Introduction to Beekeeping. Peter Lammert, a longtime member of the Knox-Lincoln Beekeepers Association gave an introduction to honey bee keeping. Lammert gave an overview of the
equipment needed to keep honey bees, as well as where to get honey bees, how
to hive them, and take care of them for the year.
 I attended the reception at the LimeRock Inn to meet the incoming City Manager and his family.
 The Maine State Library is publicizing the tax check-off to support Maine Libraries; any Maine income tax filer can donate to the Maine Public Library Fund tax check-off by specifying a contribution amount on Maine income tax form schedule C-P. For more information about the program, visit
www.maine.gov/msl/tax Last year’s income from this went to enhancing the
Maine InfoNet Download Library.
 We are hard-pressed keeping up with the snow here; I recognize that we are
hardly unique. Chris Gaffney has done his best to keep up with shoveling, but in
addition to the sidewalks, and emergency exits, we have paths to the propane
tank, and the wells by the air intake vents to shovel out; we also have a veritable
mountain in the Children’s Garden. Chris is trying to remove that as time permits, from the other snow removal.
 Children’s Librarian Jean Young hosted the weekly Baby Storytime, and Saturday Storytime.
 Upcoming: Art & Culture Talk: Holy Russia and the Icon---For most people, an icon is something on a computer screen, but in art history and Christian communities, icons are a particular type of painting. Join Ben Cooke to learn about religious icons; he’ll share how they are made, and their connection to Russia, and the Second Annual Library Open House, a valentine to the Community—yummy food, fun events, prizes, and more! Mark your calendars for Friday, February 13th, and please plan to attend. (yes, I’ll be relentless in reminding you again)

OFFICE OF THE WASTEWATER TREATMENT FACILITY DIRECTOR
 The Treatment Plant is currently running well, flows are normal and there have been no CSO events in the past week.
 Snow plowing and snow removal at the WWTP and pump stations on a daily basis.
 The new Allen – Bradley variable frequency drive for the R.A.S. pump was installed and tested.
 Work continues on the upgrade to the emergency eyewash/shower stations.
O.S.H.A. now requires the water temperature to remain between 60 & 100 deg. F, this requires water heaters and tempering valves installed at each location.
 Scheduled K.I.S.C. to look at seal leaks in the headworks building. They appear to be from the influent flow channel and possibly the exterior walls.
 Contacted Bob Sivinsky of SOMATEX to schedule the annual hoist and crane
inspections at the WWTP.
 Met with FMC to assist with a plan for them to monitor the readings taken at the treatment plant of the flow from FMC. This would allow them to compare this with their readings of flow as it leaves their facility and enable better monitoring for possible leaks or breaks in the wastewater discharge line.
 Reviewed submittals from the contractor for pipe bedding and structural fill
materials for the Thorndike Parking Lot project.
 Responded to questions from two contractors regarding the Summer Street Sewer Replacement Project that is currently out for bid.
 Began EPCRA chemical inventory report.
 Lab did North Haven BOD & TSS testing.
 Vinalhaven BOD testing.

OFFICE OF THE PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR
 Friday the 30th into Saturday 9” snowstorm (started as rain). Plowing/sanding roads and priority sidewalks.
 Monday the 2nd, 14” snowstorm. Plowing/sanding roads and priority sidewalks.
 Thursday the 5th - 7” snowstorm. Plowing/sanding roads and priority sidewalks. Other sidewalks being completed as time allows. Many sidewalks cannot be done with sidewalk machines because of the large amounts of snow. We will be bucketing and hauling off snow as soon as possible.
 Two sanding call-ins on Sunday.
 Snow removal crew working nights in downtown areas on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday nights. Hired six triaxle trucks on both Tuesday and Friday nights and worked until noon time the next day.
 Public works trucks hauling snow between snowstorms during daytime hours from parking lots, roadside intersections, and sidewalks.
 Continuously working on equipment/truck breakdowns. Major breakdowns have included loader mounted 2005 Tenco snow blower auger bearing, 2012
International dump truck head gasket (had it towed to Portland North, Falmouth),
2001 John Deere grader wheel seal and relay (took it to Hammond Tractor two
times), one plow wing cable, replacing plow cutting edges as needed, hydraulic
leak 2001 GMC dump truck, and two instances that backhoe plow scoop
attachment needed welding work.
 Receptacle and building trash pickup for a day and half.
 Bulldozer working steady piling snow at Transfer Station during snow hauling
operations.
 Preparing for a predicted Sunday through Monday 12” snow storm.
 Reviewed demonstration of Trackless type sidewalk snow blowing machine here in Rockland.

OFFICE OF THE CODE ENFORCEMENT OFFICER
 John attended a GIS Meeting in Augusta on 2/4/15.
 John also attended the City Council Meeting 2/4/15.
 License inspections were done at Chen’s China Coast, Clan MacLaren’s,
3 Crow Restaurant and Rustica.
 There were two complaints filed this week.
 The following permits were received by the Code Office this week:
o 3 Building permits
o 2 Electrical permits
OFFICE OF THE RECREATION DIRECTOR
 The play-off games from last weekend have been made up finally, it only took
four reschedules. The semi-finals are here at the Recreation Building this weekend. The Championship game is Wednesday night also here at the Recreation Building. Girls play at 5:30 and the Boys at 7:00 - should be a fun night.
 Travel team tryouts are here Saturday: girls at 3 pm and boys at 4:30 PM.
 Sorry for the short report but the other thing that we have been doing is moving a lot of snow.

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.

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