Conducted a hearing on a Firefighters grievance regarding administrative affairs. After the hearing I spoke to the union president about a possible resolution. I think we’re on to something that both parties appreciate.
Met with Knox County administrator about possibly working together to submit a grant application to the State of Maine DAFS under the Efficient Delivery of Local and Regional Services. http://www.maine.gov/dafs/Fund/
I met with some regional Town Managers regarding a regional paving bid in the future. Considering that paving tonnages are the main driver to costs it may be beneficial to bid regionally. This also works well with some of the preliminary plans regarding the FY17 budget.
Worked with the Finance Director and Assistant City Manager on the budget
timeline. We developed the budget creation timeline and an abstract of the
budget review timeline. I have included the schedule with this report. The largest
challenge is presenting a CIP budget within the charter’s mandate. Although it is
my understanding that the City has never met this deadline, we will this year. We
may present a framework CIP and follow it up with a more sophisticated
CIP/Operating budget. I will deliver the operating budget on April 20th, 2016
unless there are delays. This is about a month before the charter deadline. Please
note the reference to the budget working group. We will create a budget
working group consisting of the Police Chief, Fire Chief, Public Services Director, Librarian, Finance Director, and myself. They will review all budgets, analyze, and strategize as a group. This will create a more discreet environment for challenging the assumptions of department budget, create a better organizational understanding of the challenges, and create support for the final budget amongst the department leaders. I am excited about this opportunity to change the dialogue about the budget process.
Attended the Harbor Management Commission meeting. I discussed the City
Council’s interest in having the HMC analyze the merits of the administrative
structure of the Harbor Master. Ultimately, they decided that the discussion will
take some time and the best intervention is to have input into the job description.
At the will of HMC, I will work with the Chairwoman to create and advertise a job description. I plan to ask the Chairwoman to participate in the hiring process as well.
I met with Jeffery Nevins, Fairpoint, regarding the broadband network available to the City. Fairpoint’s network in Rockland is large but it is copper wire based. It was an interesting conversation considering the City will develop policy considerations regarding broadband in the future. Mr. Nevins stated that he would like to present to the committee that is assigned the work on broadband
policy.
I wanted to thank and congratulate the City Council on the Policy Starter Session regarding MSW, Recycling, Landfill and Composting. It was by far the best policy discussion we have had as a team since my arrival. Starting these discussions on a sound foundation is the only way to produce a quality policy directive that the residents can understand. I have included the powerpoint presentation in this report. As you start to have community discussions on these topics, these will be an important point of reference.
As I have reported in the past, the City has been engaged HEAVILY in a
Department of Labor compliance inspection. I have attached the original DOL
letter, from July, for Councilor Jillson. Although the letter states that the
compliance inspection started on June 16th, many will remember, that it was a six week inspection. We didn’t do very well in this inspection and I was very
unprepared to mitigate the concerns of the compliance inspector. My
appointment was a mere month old. I am proud to boast, with relief, that the City
has avoided the citation penalties by quickly complying. The original citations
penalty was $5,950. The mitigated penalty is $250. Steve Greeley, DOL Director, was very impressed with our effort but more impressed with some of the safety concepts we will implement. I described the future Safety Committee, reporting programs, personnel policy, and loss control provisions. I have committed us to a renewed safety environment in Rockland.
Attended the MMA Executive Board meeting. Some of the items considered were the $12M budget, recapitalizing reserve funds, and tweaking the investment
policy. The budget was completely constructed by the Strategic and Finance
Committee and passed without adjustments. I am always watching other
organizations processes for consideration in Rockland. I look forward to the future when we are operating at the extremely efficient model. I know we will.
I attended the ribbon cutting for two new businesses and the official opening of the Museum and Elms’ Street sidewalks. Hopefully this gets good press because it is a great story. The Farnsworth’s $65,000 was the catalyst of a project that was multiple thousands of dollars. The project was also very difficult, as we ran into challenges every step of the way. The Farnsworth was instrumental in helping us work around the challenges. In the end we both have two new beautiful sidewalks. The storm water improvements below ground are a large portion of the storm water that we need to address. I have attached the storm water analysis we conducted to measure our progress.
I met with Annette Naegel, Georges River Land Trust, about a partnership
regarding water monitoring. It may be possible to provide “in kind” laboratory
services to GRLT to continue their ongoing water monitoring program. If not, we
still agreed to partner because of the public value of the information they
provide. I have attached some of the supporting information with this report.
As I stated Wednesday, the City has hired Bill Butler to be the Assistance Code Enforcement Officer. Bill is a 25 year employee of DEP and has been the landfill inspector. His experience in landfills will be valuable to the City but his
enforcement knowledge is extensive. He has been working at the Town of
Chelsea as the part-time Code Enforcement Officer and may continue those
duties. He was also one of the first people to pass through the Code Enforcement
training program in the late 80’s. Although no one can replace Dave we have
really added to the team.
I am planning and preparing a customer service and engagement training session starting next month. It will be 12 hours spread across four days in January and February. This session will be mandatory for all staff based out of City Hall. There may be minor impact on service hours but we’ll figure that out.
OFFICE OF THE LIBRARY DIRECTOR
The ukulele Club for all ages and skills, was led by Celia Jones... this drop in
program is part of the Arts...series.
Don Fowles installed a couple of the public computers for which the Friends of the Library will be donating funds.
Keith Drago offered Drop-in Tech Help—this is available on Monday evenings; patrons may also make appointments for individual assistance.
Catinka Knoth’s Children’s and Adult Art Classes drew Christmas Holiday cards.
This was a LEGO™ week! This week’s theme was.
The Maine School Library Network router was replaced by one which will handle
the new fiber connection. Also this week, cable was run from the existing D-mark in the basement; once it is terminated, the Library will see a substantial increase in bandwidth. All the costs for this upgrade are borne by Network Maine, who had hoped to have 73 sites upgraded by this past July.
Wednesday Storytime was led by guest presenter Judith Andersen; Steve Seekins and therapy dog Leeloo participated as well.
As did a number of homes, businesses, and other facilities in Rockland to Owls Head, the Library experienced a power outage on Wednesday afternoon, for about an hour. We closed down during that period in the interest of safety, but re-opened shortly after power was restored.
I attended the Friends of Rockland Public Library Board meeting.
The Thursday Evening Arts and Cultural Event was a film, A Christmas Memory, based on a Truman Capote story.
On Saturday, Jean Young hosted a Family Holiday Craft Day in the Children’s
Room, with three craft tables open with a variety of holiday gifts to make and
take, as well as snacks.
Also on Saturday, Jessie Blanchard presented the first of what will be a series of Coloring Sessions for Adults, with all materials provided, thanks to the Friends.
Also on (a very busy) Saturday, Alexis Iammarino held a Community Paint Day, for
anyone interested in working on the Library mural.
Upcoming—the first in a new series from Destination Wellness, Sherrie Clark on The
Original Bowen Technique; also--Introduction to Making Career Choices cosponsored by New Ventures Maine.
OFFICE OF THE FIRE CHIEF
Over the past week, in addition to the response to 40 Fire and EMS calls, conducting apparatus checks, daily cleaning, routine repairs and maintenance to the fleet and of the quarters, the following occurred:
FD personnel trained on Hall’s Lane on conducting rescues from upper floors. With limited staff and resources our personnel must practice improvisation and
ingenuity to ensure safe outcomes. Instruction and drills covered removing persons using zero specialized equipment, just standard items carried by firefighters.
CEO Root and I conducted two inspections for businesses relocating to Rockland.
I met with the Finance Director to review the purchasing policy changes and
begin to lay the framework for the upcoming budget process.
Developed an inspection tracking log to ensure we can readily show the volume of inspection activities our personnel conduct. While in the past these activities were nearly all captured in our incident reporting software, new guidance requires that we not use that system to document most non-emergency type activities. On January 1st we will begin tracking these inspections on an in-house log. In the end this may result in the reported number of annual incidents being lower than previous years, but the actual number of emergencies likely will not drop significantly, if at all.
A/C Mazzeo and I worked on modifying our in-house ordering/purchasing
program to align it with the new guidelines from City Hall. Given that we have
three semi-autonomous shifts and numerous facets of our mission, many personnel have assigned areas of responsibility which include authorization to make purchases or orders to keep stock levels and ensure efficient operations. This requires that we have internal controls to maintain our budget lines, while not creating an operational bottleneck that affects service delivery.
OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF POLICE
Officers responded to 188 calls for service. Rockland Police Officers responded to 7 motor vehicle crashes and 4 animal complaints. Twenty (20) traffic stops and traffic violations were conducted. Officers charged or made arrests of 9 individuals for various offenses, to include Warrants of Arrest, Traffic offenses, Bail Violations Drug violations and Operating under the Influence.
Administration-
Conducted the monthly building / fire extinguisher safety inspection.
Met with Marine Patrol area warden to discuss Harbor Patrol training this spring and other collaborative efforts between Rockland P.D. and Marine Patrol.
Attended an informational meeting with a representative from Watch Guard
regarding wearable video cameras for police officers.
Attended a Harbor Management Commission meeting on Tuesday night at City Hall.
Met with the other LE agencies within the county to discuss the merits of a future grant to update our respective technology requirements.
Continued to facilitate on-line mandatory MCJA training for all sworn personnel.
Met with Sgt. Pease (Maine Drug Enforcement Agency) to discuss and implement a plan to get officers trained on drug investigations and handling confidential informants.
C.I.D –
Det. Neal and FF Whytock completed Arson Investigation Training. They will now be called to the scene of any suspicious fire in Rockland to determine origin and cause and to investigate any fire that is deemed to be arson.
Assisted local community members by educating them on fraud.
Continued to work various criminal investigations.
Patrol Division –
Conducted compliance checks at liquor establishments in the city.
Officers did bail enforcement checks to make sure that residents of the city that are on bail are in compliance with their bail conditions.
Assisted Thomaston PD with locating a missing juvenile in Rockland.
Coordinated with Federal Probation and Parole in locating a subject who is on
Federal Probation to make sure he is in compliance with his probation
requirements.
Sgt. Finnegan was at the Maine Criminal Justice Academy for 2 days assisting
other instructors in the selection process for the next class of Drug Recognition
Experts.
Dayshift Officers continue to perform daily school visits.
Radar details continue to be conducted at various locations throughout the city.
Home Safety This Holiday Season
Many people leave home during the holiday season to visit friends and relatives. Criminals are aware of this fact and look for homes that are vacant during this time of year. The last thing you want to come home to is a house that has been burglarized, so here are a few things you can do to protect you home.
Make Your House Look Occupied
The best way to keep a burglar away from your home while you are gone is to
make it appear that you never left. Start by temporarily stopping the delivery of
the daily mail and newspaper. When papers are allowed to pile up on the front
porch or mail boxes start to overflow, criminals are alerted that people have gone
out of town. Put timers on lights inside the house so they turn on every night. The same can be done for television sets will help give the appearance that people are at home. Once you have things in place to make the house look occupied, remember to do one final thing: turn off the ringer for your phone. All the work you have done to create the illusion that you are home can be shattered by a ringing phone that is never answered.
Ask a friend or relative to stop by your home periodically if you will be gone for several days. This allows them to keep an eye on the place, and will show any
criminals who might be watching that someone is going inside on a regular basis.
If no one is able to do this for you, try to leave a parked car in the driveway while you are away to make it seem like someone is at home.
Safety When You Are Home
Just because you don't leave home for the holidays doesn't mean your house is
automatically safe. A very common holiday mistake is to make it obvious that you have expensive items still in their boxes within your living room. Of course most people would assume that every home has a variety of gifts inside during the holidays, but if a criminal can actually see them they will be far more tempted to break in. Never place wrapped gifts where they can be seen through a window. Doing so lets a criminal know exactly where everything is, and they may be inclined to break that window, grab what they can and run off.
Don't let your holiday season be ruined by a law breaker. Make sure a criminal
can never tell that you have expensive items inside, or that you have left town for
a few days.
Keep safe and enjoy the holiday season. Remember we will be out there.
OFFICE OF THE MUNICIPAL FISH PIER DIRECTOR
Reviewing this fiscal year’s revenue received, from the last six months, to prepare for next fiscal year’s budget.
Started working on the Annual report based on the first six months of the fiscal year.
In the process of setting up next year’s permits and the filing of this year’s permits.
The price per pound for scallops is currently $12.50 per pound.
The price per pound for lobster has dropped to $3.90 a pound.
OFFICE OF THE FINANCE DIRECTOR
I can safely say that my staff and I welcome the end of this week; having dealt
with auditors for the last two weeks. The auditors are doing a great job of pawing
through the transactions of the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2015. The
difficulties for my staff and me have more to do with digging up past transactions, and for my staff trying to remember what happened and why. This is not unusual and is most often the case in dealing with annual audits. For me, this is the second audit I have gone through this year; first with Rockport and now with Rockland.
There have been some issues that have come up that I have alerted the city
manager to, and I’m sure more matters that we will need to deal with. However,
the auditors have not yet completed their review of FY 15 and will come back
again in January. After they have finished, the auditors will give a detailed report
to the city manager and city council. It would be premature of me to say
anything at this point, other than to say that whatever issues we need to deal with
will be taken care of and we will move forward with a better understanding and
control over the city’s financial matters.
In addition to dealing with the auditors and audit issues, payroll specialist Wanda Harvey completed the payroll for the week for a net total of $71,162. The previous week the payroll included retroactive pay for union employees; the net of which totaled $98,219. Wanda diligently worked to get the retroactive pay calculated and payment made to employees prior to the upcoming holidays. I commend Wanda for her diligence and proficiency in getting the retroactive pay to employees in a timely manner. Her attention to detail and quality of work is very much appreciated by both me and the city manager.
Accounts payable clerk Laurie Smith completed the mid-month warrant totaling $1,385,886. Beginning in January all invoices submitted for payment will be made around the first and fifteenth of each month; and department heads will no longer be imputing their own purchase orders. As a matter of internal control, the city manager has agreed that the issuance of purchase orders is a function of the finance department. In addition, any purchase order of $2,500 or more shall require the city manager’s approval before the purchase order is issued to the department head. This makes for better tracking of the city’s finances and keeps me aware of how departments are spending their budgets. Since the auditors were in the building at the time the city manager and I discussed this issue I asked their opinion on the issuance of purchase orders; no surprise to me that they also agreed with the city manager and me that the purchase orders are better managed by the finance department. As a result of the change in this internal control policy Laurie will be imputing the purchase orders into the financial software system when requests are made by department heads for purchase orders; POs that reach the $2,500 mark will be forwarded to the city manager for approval. In Laurie’s absence either Wanda or I will be able to assist department heads with their purchase order requests. Most department heads have welcomed this change in the purchase order procurement policy.
There is much to get updated on in the city’s world of finance. I met briefly this week with Joanne Billington regarding the city’s insurance policies. She is
requesting updated information regarding the city’s purchases of vehicles and
equipment, so that they can provide the changes to the insurance carrier for
renewal in April. I will be forwarding the insurance company’s vehicles and
equipment lists to department heads so that they can update the information
needed.
In addition to providing auditors with information this week, the city manager and I also met and discussed the upcoming budget season. After reviewing the city’s charter the city manager and I developed a budget review schedule that will begin early in January with the issuance of new budget forms to department
heads. Everyone can expect that I will put my own “brand” on this year’s budget
in an effort to provide a budget document that will provide required information,
but one that will also be easier for the reader to understand and be able to
acquire financial information more easily than they might have been able to in
the past.
I’ve begun working on developing workbooks/spreadsheets for various
infrastructure projects of the town, and will continue to update project information as I learn more about the projects and their funding requirements.
Future in-house projects for me include applying for a bond with the Maine
Municipal Bond Bank in late January. If approved, the bond would provide the
city’s $1.6 million share of the re-construction of Old County Road; the city has
already received two grant promises of $500,000 each from the state for an
additional $1 million.
Other in-house projects include updating the city’s debt information, with past
and current debt obligations; working on the city’s capital improvement plan; and working with OpenGov on validating the city’s financial information.
It’s been a busy week; but, I’m enjoying working here in the city. I’m very
fortunate to have two staff members that are devoted to their work, are very
competent, and have been very welcoming. It’s a pleasure to work with them as
well as the other employees of the city.
Happy Holidays to one and all!
OFFICE OF THE PUBLIC SERVICES DIRECTOR
Randy Geaumont, Chris Landry, & Jerry Douglas from Maine DOT came down to the Public Services Garage to provide informational training on the use of brine to pre-wet salt prior to application which eliminates the need for virtually all sand. This approach is meant to attack the snow from the pavement up instead of the outdated top down approach. We also talked about pre and post storm meeting, and preloading trucks in preparation for the storm. We have established two plow routes that we plan to adopt this methodology.
Contacted Jerry Douglas from Maine DOT to assist us with using the RSMS
database system used to update our road inventory, conditions and cost or
repairs.
We shipped out one tractor trailer truckload of debris that was collected from the ocean thru Parley for the Oceans where it will be sorted and inventoried in
Portland.
Paula Clark the Solid Waste Division Director has been in contact about providing the City with a letter regarding the City’s eligibility and qualification for the 75% reimbursement on the landfill closure costs.
Contacted Eric Dube of Casco Bay Engineering about the details of the roof
repair on the Community Building. We have also contacted costal copper to
evaluate the current roof condition. We are at a point where we need to decide
if we will repair, or replace the current roof above Rockland District Nurses area.
We had Shawn Bennett formally the Public Works Director for the town of Pownell and not a representative of All States Materials Group assist with training on the same topics that DOT reviewed (the pavement up approach to snow and ice control). Shawn provided some great technical advice to the crew.
Hung holiday wreaths and garland on Main Street Lights and placed Holiday lights on the trees in Winslow Holbrook Park.
Cut and removed a large tree on Woodland Avenue.
Finalized the waterline repair and valve installation at the Solid Waste Facility. We also eliminated a Confined Space in the process.
Conducted dry plow runs.
Cleaned area out back of City Hall.
Repaired washout on Dunbar Road.
Repaired several signs around the City.
Repair work on snow scoop.
Repaired storage trailer doors.
Continued on basin vactoring.
Worked on roadside brush trimming.
Cut trees on woodland Ave.
Provided temporary stop signs for PD when the street lights on Main Street were down due to a power failure.
Picked up waste oil at the Solid Waste Facility and one other city vendor.
Worked on Sander #4.
Worked on truck number 7 so it could pass inspection.
Removed leaf box on truck #31.
Used the jetter truck to unplug basin on Samoset Road.
Fixed hydraulic line on D5M at landfill.
Conducted annual gas monitoring as well as quarterly gas monitoring.
Cold patched needed areas around the city.
Worked on Traverse Street underdrain.
Continued picking up leaves around the City, we are now finish leaf pickup.
OFFICE OF THE CODE ENFORCEMENT OFFICER
John attended the MBOIA IRC & IBC Seminar on Dec. 14th & 15th in Portland.
John attended the Planning Board Meeting 12/15/15 and the Comprehensive
Planning Commission Meeting 12/17/15.
The Code Office received a Home Occupation Application from a property
owner on Rankin Street to operate a Rental Property Management Business out of one room in his home. This is a Level 2 Home Occupation and requires Code
Officer approval.
John continues to be extremely busy with various permits and inspections.
There were two complaints filed this week.
The following permits were received by the Code Office this week:
o 5 Building permits
o 1 Driveway permit
o 4 Electrical permits
o 4 Plumbing permits
o 3 Sign permits
OFFICE OF THE HARBORMASTER
Replaced the exterior door to the cupola on the harbormaster's building, it had
finally reached the point where it couldn't close.
Attended the Harbor Management Commission's meeting.
Attended the quarterly meeting of the Maine/New Hampshire Port Security Forum, a group of agencies and private businesses concerned with maritime security issues.
Took two tentative cruise ship reservations and one confirmed for 2017.
Closed the office and took two days of vacation.
OFFICE OF THE WASTEWATER TREATMENT FACILITY DIRECTOR
WWTP Maintenance
Inspected and made adjustments to the horizontal conveyer in the sludge
processing room to correct a belt tracking issue.
Responded to an alarm at Industrial Park pump station, cleared a clogged pump and restarted the pump station.
Removed the drive motor from the #2 Vortex Underflow pump and replaced a
failed drive shaft end bearing.
The bar screen and screenings press became blocked with debris due to high
flows during the CSO event. They were shut down and locked out, cleaned and
re-started.
CIANBRO installed the 35 H.P. pump at Park St. pump station that was recently returned after rebuilding.
Sent information to Komline-Sanderson for a quote for replacement hydraulic
tracking cylinders for the Belt Filter Presses.
Began working on a drawing with parts list to be sent to the manufacturer of the influent bar screen for a quote on parts for a total rebuild.
Collection System
Continued investigation into the source of sewer discovered in the storm drain
system on the property at #12 Water Street (Boston Financial & YMCA). Both
smoke and dye testing were done on the city sewer and storm water system on
the streets in the area. There hasn’t been any indication of a connection between
the city’s systems and the drainage lines on this property.
Responded to a Dig-Safe request on State St. from Maine Water employees
preparing to repair a broken water main.
Investigated a sewer back-up at #16 Scott Street. Did not find any issues with the city sewer in the area, the problem appeared to be in the sewer lateral on the
property. Advised the owner to have the line cleaned and inspected.
The Environmental Technicians had 2 Days of training a review for the Collection System Operator grade 3 exams scheduled to be taken on Friday.
Lab
Worked with Woodard & Curran to get the CSO monitoring back online.
CSO Tuesday & Wednesday.
Average flows were about 2.2MGD going through plant except for the CSO days.
Pre Treatment
Met with FMC Corporation to discuss pending Industrial User Permit.
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