I finished the analysis of a composting program for the Transfer Station. I hope to have a public workshop to go over that analysis and other programs that we have been looking at to provide efficiencies.
I spent a great deal of time the last few weeks on the Director of Public Services search. I believe I am ready to have the Personnel Board certify some
candidates.
For the last few weeks the State of Maine Department of Labor Compliance
Division has been inspecting the City departments. The City hasn’t been formally inspected since 2002 and this inspection went a little rough. I had the exit interview with the inspector on Wednesday. City Departments have been
instructed to correct pending issues within the next couple of weeks. It usually
takes a few weeks for DOL to generate a report.
I participated in the VSTV segment on transient housing. I think it was productive because it brought light to the fact that transient housing is currently NOT legal according to Rockland Code. The local press has had a hard encapsulating that.
Tuesday was nearly dedicated to HR related updating. I got a solid start on job
description updating, employee handbook, and outlining available services to
the Department Heads. A few more months like this will make a real difference.
OFFICE OF THE CITY ASSESSOR
Processed Real Estate Transfers, updating parcel cards, sales book, and
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.
Updating GIS with the new splits and merging parcels.
Listening and reviewing properties at the property owner’s request.
Updating Tax Maps and posting to the web site.
OFFICE OF THE MUNICIPAL FISH PIER DIRECTOR
Two six months upper lot storage permits were issued this week.
The f/v Western Sea offloaded 720,000 lbs. of herring
The f/v Western Wave offloaded 300,000 lbs. of herring.
Attended City Council agenda setting meeting,
Attended City Manager’s director meeting.
Made preparations for Blues Festival by closing upper lot storage gate to secure access into lot for parking and camping.
General clean-up of pier for visitors from Blues Festival.
OFFICE OF THE PUBLIC SERVICES DIRECTOR
Swept City streets.
Trash pick-up.
Finished ditching Lake View Terrace.
Fixed sink hole on Mountain View Extension.
Cold patched roads.
Repaired basin on Limerock Street.
Road painting and crosswalks, harbor trail.
Guard rails on Route 1 and Thomaston Street.
Backfilled hot top.
Built barricades for events.
Ditching and shouldering on Autumn Street.
Put out barricades and cones for Blues Festival.
OFFICE OF THE LIBRARY DIRECTOR
Another busy, summer week.
The Summer Breakfast and Lunch programs continue, and have been highly
successful.
I attended the Council’s Agenda Setting Meeting, as well as the Managers
Meeting; the latter included an introduction to Laurie Bouchard, the consultant for Human Resources.
Keith Drago hosted the Monday evening Drop-in Tech Help.
Also on Monday evening, the Library hosted My Money Works, co-sponsored with Women, Work & Community
Andrey Karachev, from ABM Mechanical checked out a problem where the
chillers for the AC have been giving a “freeze stat” alarm, and shutting off.
Catinka Knoth’s Children’s art class this week drew favorite Maine cats and dogs; no Adult class was held this week.
Tammy Gross from the Department of Labor paid a site visit to the Library, and advised us of a few violations.
The Polliwog Pages writing class continued this week; it’s part of The Arts...series.
The Memoir Writing Workshop was held on Tuesday. This group meets weekly, and is open to anyone who wants to write, share, or just listen.
Judith Andersen returned as guest Storytime presenter. Children’s Librarian Jean Young reported that Miss Judy had a large audience with many grandparents, moms and dads, children of all ages. The theme was Super Hero Day! And books read included: Supertruck, by Stephen Savage, Superworm, by Julia Donaldson, and Dogs on Duty: Soldiers’ Best Friends on the Battlefield, by Dorothy Patent. The craft portion was coloring a banner which says “Every Hero Has a Story” and the Storytime ended with dress up clothes; policeman, doctor, nurse, chef, etc. borrowed from the Family Place collection.
I attended a meeting of the PLEA Board of Directors.
Jean was thrilled to report that two authors separately stopped in the children’s
room; first found their book on our shelves, then introduced themselves and
exclaimed how happy they were with our book selections, our library, and of
course that we had their own book included in the collection. Two authors in one
day!, Natasha Lowe, who donated her next in a series, The Courage of Cat
Campbell, and Barbara Lehn who wrote, What is a Scientist?
Rachel Nixon, Founder & Director of The Dancing Elephant, lead a Children’s Yoga class, for kids and parents; this will continue on Thursdays through the end of August. Also part of The Arts... programming, we had more than 35 in the initial class.
Beginning Ukulele Class for Everyone continued this week; it’s part of The Arts for Kids & their Families at the Rockland Public Library series.
Storytime at the Rockland Farmers’ Market was hosted this week by Patty King and Friends’ Board member Jeanie Schaden.
Our local heroes want children to stay safe on the roads. Rockland Police Officer John Bagley presented a Bike Safety Talk, covering safe cycling practices and a review of bicycle laws, including recent helmet regulations.
In keeping with the month-long art theme, the Thursday Evening Arts and Cultural Event was an Artist Talk: O’Chang Comics. In 2012, Andy O’Brien and Hanji Chang created Temp Tales, a series of web comics about everyday life living and working in Maine. Temp Tales relates to the working class aesthetic and the regional sense of humor unique to northern New England, and the two presented a slide show about how living in Maine has inspired their various animation projects.
Upcoming: We’ll be inviting people to bring a picnic to the front lawn, while
enjoying Master African drummer, Jordan Benissan, native of Togo, who teaches
at Colby College; also, a slide-talk on Maine’s best seashore and nature sites.
OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF POLICE
D/C Young –
Completed the FOAA request regarding department policies.
Started the processes of implementing 13 department policies that have been
updated. These policies are being distributed to personnel, reviewed, and are
being placed in their policy manuals.
Coordinated the completion of the job description surveys requested by City Hall.
Conducted a site review of the police station with the Department of Corrections.
This is a mandatory review and concerns placement of juvenile offenders brought to the station. We are in compliance with their guidelines.
Continued working on the changes required by the Department of Labor to
ensure that we are in compliance with their regulations.
C.I.D. –
Coordinated with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service regarding the
upcoming visit of the Navy Ship Tortuga.
Det/Sgt. Thompson and Det. Neal attended training on Identity Theft
Investigations.
Patrol Division –
Off. Bagley taught a bicycle safety seminar at the Library.
Bicycle, motorcycle and foot patrols are being deployed as staffing allows.
Off. Solorzano was cleared by his doctor and is back to full duty.
Conducted radar enforcement details in various areas of the city.
Sgt. Smith installed all of the new radar units in the cruisers.
Officers handled 214 complaints to include 29 traffic stops. As a result of these complaints 13 people were either summonsed or arrested for various offenses.
OFFICE OF THE FIRE CHIEF
Over the past week, in addition to the general response to 55 Fire and EMS calls,
conducting apparatus checks, daily cleaning, routine repairs and maintenance to
the fleet and of the quarters, the following occurred:
Training: Chief Boucher and I helped facilitate the Maine Lobster Festival Table Top Exercise at the EMA Office. Numerous entities were represented and assisted in our review of the Emergency Operations Plan for the Festival. Other City staff, including City Manager Chaousis, Deputy Police Chief Young, Harbormaster Glaser, and Fire Lieutenant Camber, also participated in this drill. As always we found some “tweaks” to help improve the plan on the part of both the MLF and Public Safety.
Notable: Rescue 3 once again experienced a “reduction of power” issue and
returned to Rockland Ford. Once again, the onboard computer and accessory
data collection did not ‘capture” the necessary information to identify the issue.
At this time Ford has determined that they will send a Technical Services Engineer to Maine to go over the truck with the local service personnel.
OFFICE OF THE WASTEWATER TREATMENT FACILITY DIRECTOR
Pollution Control Facility
The treatment plant has been running good this week.
Plant flows were low this week averaging about 1.5 M.G.D.
The lab did B.O.D. and T.S.S. testing for Vinalhaven.
Completed the D.M.R. QA study for the state.
Did the monthly D.M.R.
Wrapped up final meeting with Green Mountain Technologies Inc. Green
Mountain has prepared an evaluation for the City of an aerated static pile indoor
composting operation (ASP).
Began working on the corrective action list of deficiencies found by the
Department of Labor audit.
Continued with grounds work and planted and seeded on the east side along the chain link fence.
Began work on the wastewater agreement between the City of Rockland and the Town of Rockport.
Prepared for DEP pretreatment compliance inspection.
Worked on reprograming plant alarms to be more responsive to equipment
failure.
Fabricated and installed new piping to be used in the transfer of chemicals and
filling the bulk tanks.
Applied global harmonization placards on the bulk chemical tanks.
Reviewed a Lindsey Brook complaint and inspected with the Dept. of Public
Services to institute a corrective action scheduled for next week.
Sent out one of the ABS dry weather pumps for rebuild.
Requested a quote for three new comminutors.
Wrapped up yearend invoicing and PO’s and set up files for the new fiscal year.
Environmental Services
Gathered samples from Lindsey Brook for the monthly lab analysis.
Cleaned and changed the batteries in the instruments being used for the
collection system flow monitoring study.
Had one day of G.I.S. training with Wright-Pierce engineering.
Completed G.P.S. locating of sewer manholes in the south end and began to
make corrections in the G.I.S.
Other Projects
Broadway Sewer Main Extension
George Hall & Sons completed the new sewer force main on Broadway north of Holmes Street. Winter Street
J.B.I. excavated to remove and replace an old brick manhole that was
discovered buried under Winter Street during installation of the new storm drain
pipe.
Winter Street has now been reopened to traffic with one lane only past the CMCA building project. Rockland Harbor Trail
The Omni Rail-Guard strips for the railroad crossing have not arrived yet and the paving cannot be completed.
The contractor installing guardrails at the east end along the inside of the trail hit ledge preventing them from installing the last 40 ft. of guard rail. This will require additional equipment and possible additional cost. These guardrails are necessary for pedestrian safety due to the embankment in this area.
OFFICE OF THE RECREATION DIRECTOR
Someone unhooked the swim float Sunday. I was able to get it tied up and
Monday we put it back in place and secured it with two padlocks.
We took a volunteer and a representative from the DEP out on the lake
Wednesday to take many different samples to help determine the health of the
lake as a whole.
The summer Day Camp is in the 3rd week and busy as ever - we are full for the remainder of the summer.
OFFICE OF THE CODE ENFORCEMENT OFFICER
John attended the City Council Agenda Setting meeting on 7/6 and the Dept.
Head meeting 7/7. John was out of the office on 7/9 so Dave attended the
mandatory Dept. Head meeting that morning in his absence.
Final inspections were done for Certificates of Occupancy for the Main Street
Market at 435 Main Street, which opened on 7/8 and the new Dollar Tree Store in the Ocean State Job Lot building at 265 Camden St.
John and Dave attended a meeting at the Rockport Town Office to discuss the
process of adopting the Maine Uniform Building & Energy Code which the town of Rockport is considering.
License inspection was done at Hazel’s Take Out.
There were four complaints filed this week.
The following permits were received by the Code Office this week:
o 5 Building permits
o 4 Electrical permits
o 3 Plumbing permits
o 1 Sign Permit
o 1 Street/Sidewalk Encumbrance permit
OFFICE OF THE HARBORMASTER
Blues Festival – the hectic part of the season has descended. Lots of boats at the dock, lots of activity.
Dealing with some of the safety issues that the Department of Labor inspection identified. A few outlet covers, an old fire extinguisher. We're glad they came by, it is a good reminder to keep up with the safety rules.
Repaired a small section of railing at the Middle Pier.
Attended a joint emergency preparedness training session for the Lobster Festival. Once again we were all impressed with the knowledge and the skill that both our Police Department and our Fire Department bring to the table.
Removed passengers from a lobster tour boat that had picked up a mooring
pennant on his propeller.
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