I would like to thank the Department Heads and City Council for everyone’s hard work on the FY17 Budget. It was truly a team effort between Staff and Council to come up with a budget that balances fiscal responsibility with retaining services that are valued by the community and looking toward long term investment in our City’s infrastructure.
Now that the budget is behind us it will be important to move quickly on
workshops we discussed during the budget review process to solidify priorities for infrastructure improvements if Council would like to see a bond question on the ballot this November. Decisions on the types of projects and amount we intend to borrow will need to be identified by August if we want the bond ordinance to follow the regular Council meeting schedule. I would recommend the Council consider holding a workshop this month to discuss whether or not you feel the City will be ready to put a bond question to voters in November and if so identify the priorities and bond amount.
Related to the discussion about infrastructure improvements Gorrill Palmer has completed the final engineering design and traffic study for Camden Street and would like to present it to the Council, Committees such as REDAC and Comps and other interested community members. The redesign of the Public Pier, which we received a grant from the Maine Coastal Program to complete, is also finished and the design firm Milone and MacBroom would like to present the final design concept.
I’ve very excited to announce that Rockland has received a $100,000 Safe
Neighborhoods Program Grant from the Department of Economic and
Community Development. A public hearing will be scheduled for August to solicit feedback from the public on the project. Chief Boucher and Connie Putnam did a fantastic job in designing a great project that will benefit some of the most vulnerable people in our community.
I have been approached by the Town Manager of Vinalhaven to collaborate on
a project to plan for climate change/sea level rise resiliency. The Maine Coastal
Program is seeking funding to resource this planning process for the Penobscot
Bay Area. They would like to see Rockland (as a mainland community) and
Vinalhaven (as an island community) be key partners in this project. The Maine
Coastal Program has worked extensively with communities in Saco Bay and
Casco Bay to do this sort of planning over the past decade. They have identified
Penobscot Bay as the next major population center that needs to plan long term
for the impacts of climate change – particularly sea level rise.
OFFICE OF THE CODE ENFORCEMENT OFFICER
John attended the City Council Agenda Setting Meeting on Wednesday evening.
John and Bill met with the State Electrical Inspector regarding electrical problems at the Fish Pier along with the Harbor Master and Assistant Harbor Master.
John met with a prospective buyer of an existing building in the Industrial Park to discuss possible alterations & uses.
Bill performed two renewal victualer’s license inspections as well as a renewal
lodging house license inspection in conjunction with the Fire Department. Bill and John had a compliance meeting with the owner of Time Out Pub.
John met with five Rockland property owners this week regarding upcoming
building projects throughout the city.
We issued a residential building permit for a new single-family dwelling with
garage and porch on Riverwood Drive, and a permit to demolish a single-family
dwelling on Carroll Lane, a fence permit on Littlefield Street, and a change of use from commercial to residential on Union Street. A Certificate of Occupancy was issued for a garage on Summer Street.
Four complaints were filed this week. One was regarding building a structure
without a permit, one regarding bags of trash attracting animals, one regarding
property line vegetation, and one regarding an abandoned building. We
continue to follow up and work on complaint issues within the City, including
follow up inspections at several locations and beginning enforcement action on a
North Main Street property.
Bill performed footing and subsurface wastewater disposal system inspections on Riverwood Drive.
We continue to be busy with various other permits, inspections, and assisting the public with questions. The following permits were issued by the Code Office this week:
o 4 Building Permits
o 2 Electrical Permits
o 1 Plumbing Permit
o 1 Sign Permit
o 1 Sidewalk Display Permit
o 1 Keeping of Domesticated Chickens Permit
OFFICE OF THE FIRE CHIEF
Over the preceding week, in addition to the response to 56 Fire and EMS calls, shift training, conducting apparatus checks, daily cleaning, routine repairs and
maintenance to the fleet and of the quarters, the following occurred:
FF Carl Anderson will be the lead instructor for this month’s drills focused on Truck Company Operations. He spent a good part of the week preparing by building a mock up to hold garage door panels that were donated to the department. This will allow members to hone their skills with our power saws and working on egress into a garage. Along with the garage door prop he also built a simulation bulk head around a friction force door which is a perfect set up to train on gaining egress into a basement with minimal room.
Chief Whytock attended meetings with some mutual aid company chiefs in South Thomaston and Rockport. The focus over the next few months between these towns will be training. There is value in training together for when the real
emergency happens.
Chief Whytock and Assistant Chief Elwell attended the tabletop exercise for the 2016 Maine Lobster Festival. The training was put together by both the Knox
County Emergency Management Agency and Rockland Fire/EMS and was well
attended by all involved parties. The purpose of the training is to work out any
“kinks” that may present itself in an actual emergency. Plans are in place for yet
another successful and safe festival.
On Friday the duty crew represented the City at the Change of Guard Ceremony for the United States Coast Guard Base on Tillson Ave. We have the highest respect for our USCG members and wish the leaving Commander well and look forward to working with his replacement.
A promotional board was convened in order to fill our EMS only position within the full time staff. EMT-P William (Bill) Pendleton was interviewed and promoted from the call division into the full time ranks of the fire/ems department. Bill has been a member of our call division for almost two years and had every qualification needed to fill the EMS position.
A car seat inspection was conducted by Lt. Johnson on Sunday. Rockland
Fire/EMS is a designated car seat inspection station and both Lt. Johnson and FF
Anderson hold the required license in order to do the inspections. If citizens have
car seats and need them inspected for whatever reason they can call the fire
station at 594-0318 and an inspection can be set up with one of the two
inspectors.
Chief Whytock and Assistant Chief Miceli attended the last budget meeting for the now excepted FY17 budget. Work has already begun for the FY18 budget.
OFFICE OF THE PUBLIC SERVICES DIRECTOR
Watered flowers
Street painting
Street sweeping
Mowed lawn at landfill
Repaired basin, Front Street and Camden Street
Picked paper at landfill
Cardboard building repairs
Cleaned bath house at beach
Trash pick-up City-wide.
Built ladder for float at lake.
Reclaim, Winter Street park area
Sign work at landfill.
Cold patched.
Loamed and seeded Winter Street.
Installed dispensers at bath house.
Installed door closer at City Hall.
Shoulder work on Commercial Street by Fish Pier.
Graded boat launch at lake.
Helped Harbormaster put pilings in place.
Picked up oil at landfill.
Repaired Library drain.
Replaced ring and cover on James Street by Credit Union.
Trimmed brush on Clarendon Street.
Street sweeper repair hydraulic leak
Built awning frames for landfill
Repaired tire loader landfill.
OFFICE OF THE HARBORMASTER
Installed three new pilings and rebuilt a corner on the fish pier.
Installing four No Wake buoys in the harbor by next Thursday.
Repairs are completed after the damage from the car on the railing at Harbor
Park.
Met with fishermen on the fish pier addressing concerns, expectations, and
developing a better working relationship amongst all involved on the pier.
Commencing electrical work on the fish pier.
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.
OFFICE OF THE LIBRARY DIRECTOR
The Summer Breakfast & Lunch program continues; this is a popular service, which we are so pleased to offer.
Catinka Knoth’s Adult Drawing class featured Reds, whites and blues; the
Children’s class drew 4th of July Celebrations.
I attended the City Council meeting, where the FY17 Budget was passed.
This was an “on week” for LEGO™ Club; LEGO™ Master Jon Newton was on vacation this week, but Children’s Librarian Jean young filled in happily. The
theme (one of the most beloved, was spaceships).
I sat in on the seven interviews the Personnel Board conducted for the Library Tech position. Four candidates were certified, and I look forward to second interviews.
Patty King advised that the Tick Free ME packets have arrived, for those who
signed up to be a part of this joint program of Maine libraries and the Maine CDC. If you signed up, please come pick up your packet!
We held a staff meeting on Wednesday morning.
Among other books, Ms. Jean read stories featuring the 4th of July during
Wednesday Storytime, including Independence Day, by David F. Marx, a small
book that successfully explains our holiday to very young children, and McDuff
Saves the Day, by Rosemary Wells. Craft time consisted of bright red, white, and
blue stars, colorful tissue paper, and holiday colorings. The children constructed a 4th of July poster to take home.
Our regular Eastern Fire tech performed the Quarterly sprinkler test.
I neglected to mention last week, that Storytime at the Rockland Farmers’ Market has begun for the season. Both last and this week’s readers were former Friends’ Board members, Eileen Spectre and Marilyn Trask, respectively.
Scott Michaud surveyed the additional pendent lights he’ll be converting to LED; we are slowly, slowly converting these as doing so represents a very significant cost savings in energy usage.
The Thursday evening Arts & Cultural Event was an Author Talk: The Once and Future Ocean- Notes Toward a New Hydraulic Society, by Peter Neill, director of the World Ocean Observatory. His theme—at a time when the world faces a multitude of potential calamities ranging from climate change to water pollution and plastic pollution, to rapid population growth, the solution may well be in the sea around us. “It is water, the world’s most valuable element, the key ingredient to solving Earth’s most vexing problems,” says Neill.
On Saturday, Wind Over Wings Educational Program featured a Cockatoo,
Macaw, Great-Horned Owl, and a Golden Eagle. After the presentation, kids
were invited to go to the craft table set up in the back of the Community Room,
where they could look over the best children’s fiction featuring birds and
sanctuaries for our winged friends. Puzzles, mazes and coloring pages featuring
birds were also available.
OFFICE OF THE WASTEWATER TREATMENT FACILITY DIRECTOR
Repaired a faulty coolant level sensor on the backup generator at Thomaston St. pump station.
Assisted Interstate Septic Systems to clean and pump the wetwell at Waldo Ave. pump station.
Built shipping crates to return three grinders to the manufacturer under a cost
saving rebuild/ exchange program they offer.
A replacement for the failed variable frequency drive on the #1 dry weather
pump arrived and is planned for installation next week.
Steel-Pro completed a total rebuild of the influent bar screen rake. This was a
significant cost savings over the replacement cost of this piece of equipment.
Weekly inspection and testing of the ten pump stations.
Responded to a Dig-Safe request on Warren St. for Maine Water.
Downloaded and checked the batteries in the flow monitoring devices being
used in the Harbor Park sewer main.
Gathered water samples from 10 locations on Lindsey Brook and delivered them to the WWTP lab for monthly testing and analysis.
Met with Interstate Septic Systems at 65 Pacific St. to provide access to a city
sewer manhole to clear a blockage in the sewer service lateral from the property.
Received new wheels for the CCTV pipeline camera to be used for inspection of 6 inch clay and plastic pipe.
Responded to a Dig-Safe request on Route 17 at Old County Rd. for A.D. Electric.
Average flows through secondary treatment were approximately 2.7 MGD.
Composite samples collected during the week: Municipal Influent, Aeration Basin Influent, Secondary Effluent, FMC Effluent.
Grab samples collected during the week: Aeration Basins, Municipal Influent,
Primary Effluent, Secondary Effluent, Chlorine Contact Chamber and Hypochlorite Pump.
CITY OF ROCKLAND
Meeting Weekly Schedule
Monday, July 11, 2016
6:00 PM City Council Meeting, Council Chambers
Thursday, July 14, 2016
6:00 PM Comprehensive Planning Commission Meeting, Council Chambers
With over 40 years in the arts he brings a wealth of artistic expression to his new designer fashions. Doug's photos will transport you to a place where life is simple and the unspoiled beauty will take your breath away.
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