Rockport Town Manager Erick Bates submitted the following mid-March report to the Rockport Select Board at its March 11 meeting:

Generator

The generator installation is moving forward but not as planned. The company was supposed to have everything done before the generator was installed and given the number of times, they have been here from the Bangor area, they should have installed the thing three times already. They have scheduled to come in over president’s day to do the final conduit installation. They showed up but needed access to the whole building not the back room and basement as we were led to believe. They are coming back tomorrow to finish up what they couldn’t finish then.

Assessing

The personal property bills went out last week and returns are being processed now. The abatement filing deadline passed last Friday (February 22). The deadline is 185 days (6 months) after commitment. On February 22 there was only one application in hand. The own is required to accept applications after Feb 22 if they are timely postmarked. We received just one today (Feb 25). We have now past the deadline margin.

The Select Board approved the applications of Bob Hall and Ruben Brown to serve on the Board of Assessment Review (BAR). We are now a fully-staffed board again. They are a largely inexperienced board. Kerry have embarked on a training program, the second session of which is was Feb 26. Putting together these 90-minute training sessions is a lot of work for Kerry. Our hope is that it will pay off if and when we have hearings and the board understands its role and performs it well.

The Chairman of the State Board of Property Tax Review has asked the Governor to appoint Kerry to serve on the State Board.

Fire Department

The fire department remains very busy with calls with a large portion of them being on nights and weekends.

The fire department has completed its pre-plan training the YMCA, Pen Bay Medical Center and HS and has reviewed all of their emergency procedures and layouts. The Chief attended an EMS meeting in Rockland to discuss a possible regional EMS. The new truck went to Brunswick for its 6-month inspection and some final repairs to the rear door.

Training Thursday 18th in Rockland. Topic; Bail-out and SCBA Maze.
o Non SCBA Members will take Fire Hydrant Location Tests

8 calls over 2 weeks, 7 of the calls were at night or on the weekend.
2 Car Accidents- one Head on with one injury, one rear end

Lift assist for NEMHS on Vinal St

Mutual Aid to Rockland for Possible Structure Fireo Flooded Basement

Mutual Aid to Camden for Possible Structure Fireo Fire Alarm Calderwood Lane, Cooking error.

Completed Fire Extinguisher training at the High School for all Janitorial Employees from Elementary, Middle School and High School. Completed some live fire exercise with old extinguishers. Attended meeting and Pen Bay YMCA with the CDC about using that facility as a dispensary for large events. Attended our monthly Fire Chiefs Meeting in Rockland. Discussed creating a strike team to assist all towns in the community during larger scale events and installed a new Knox Box on Sea St. That brings our total to Private Homes and 11 Commercial Properties.

Harbor

The Harbormaster received a call about a seagull that appeared to be frozen in the ice. Two compassionate souls were able to free the bird from the ice and we put him in a box with a towel and called Avian Haven, they came and took the bird and later reported that the bird was too badly injured and died.

On January 21st the fishing boat La Boat III was discovered by the harbormaster as missing. It was tied up to a private float in the river. Abbie called the owner before the big rain storm that was predicted to hit overnight and advised the owner to get the boat moved. When she came in in the morning both the boat and Dock were missing and later found on the rocks on the west side of North Haven.

The Harbormaster has been working on ordinance changes to present to the harbor committee to give some control to the Town for boats left on moorings over the winter.

Library

The Library had their annual “toast day” celebration who knows why but this is a very popular program for young and old. They also hosted an event titled “working across theaisle with speakers Penny Beebe-Center, Elie Espling, Erin Herbig, and Joyce Maker a bipartisan panel of current and past legislators who will share stories about working across the aisle, including why they do it and what it takes to surmount the obstacles and get the job done.

Training staff on the new cash out procedures. Keith and Laura are up to speed. I will be training Ben O and Melissa over the next week. There are still some bugs to work out but overall it is going well.

Planning

Planning Board applications were prepared for two applications and 2 pre-applications. Staff assisted with 3 other applications for future submittal. Staff prepared ordinance drafts for consideration of the ORC which will be meeting in February and March to complete their review of the proposed ordinance revisions.

The comprehensive plan inventory sections are being updated. The following sections are partially completed: Demographics, Transportation, Historic, Housing, Economic, Recreation, Municipal Services, and Natural Resources. The drafts are expected to be complete for committee review in April. A project canopy tree grant application is being developed, and the EDA applications for the proposed sewer expansion is beingdeveloped (pre application)

Library Construction

The Library Building committee has had their first meeting on Friday, March 1, they were brought up to speed by Charlie Frattini with where we are now in the project and are getting prepared to help vet the bids responses, we receive for the library construction project.

Police Department

Officer Chris Taylor has been recognized twice this week from citizens who expressed thanks for his service above and beyond! Excellent work Officer Taylor!

Officer Taylor also took his first ever ride on the Toboggan chute with the Rockport Team at the US Toboggan Nationals. When asked why the team lost to Camden, he stated something about the guy on the rear not weighing enough. We are working on finding training opportunities for all officers in the department. That training will be both procedural and instructor type training. Officers Ford, Taylor, Del Vecchio, and Powers will be attending Crime Scene Processing Training in Rockland during the first week in May. To send four officers out of a five- officer department all at once is going to be a challenge, but Sgt. Moore says we can do it! I have offered to work the overnight shifts if needed so we can accommodate this.

Officer Del Vecchio will be attending Taser Instructor Training with Officer Allen Weaver from Camden I’m mid-May. We hope to have a number of in-house instructors specializing in areas like Firearms, Taser, Mechanics of Arrest, Restraint & Control to name a few. We currently have an Intoxilyzer Instructor and Safety Seat Installation Technician.

Sgt. Moore and I were hoping to attend the FBI LEEDA New England conference in Portland. Iwas accepted, but Sgt. Moore was “Wait listed”. I have attended the conference in years past so Ihave given Sgt. Moore my slot. This will be a great training opportunity for Sgt. Moore!

Town Clerk

Monies taken in for excise tax totaled $26,351.51

The Town Clerks office processed $61,568.48 in real estate taxes from February 12, to February 25th. Foreclosures will mature at the end of the day on March 6th. They are for 2016 unpaid real estate taxes.

They also sent out 25 foreclosure notices for our taxpayers who have not paid their 2016 real estate taxes. They consist of four timeshares and twenty-one properties. They have to the end of the day March 6th to pay them. If we don't receive the taxes, we then send a redemption letter. At that time, they will have to pay the 2016, 2017 and the first half of 2018, in order to avoid us foreclosing on their property.

Our dog owners who have been delinquent in paying their dog's license have started to come in to pay the regular fee and a $25.00 per dog late fee. We get mixed reactions to the fine. We do inform them that this fine is imposed by Animal Welfare and we cannot waive it.

Harbor Fees are coming in due to bills being mailed last month. We have collected $8,831.80 for mooring, tie-off, dinghy rack space, winter boat storage private float, harbor lease, launching/haulers and waiting lists fees.

We have received 12 applications for Brenda’s replacement.

Linda attended an Opera House Committee Meeting and we discussed the budget and what items need attention (i.e. seats in the balcony, new refrigerator, barrier where some seats were removed in the balcony).

PWD/Winter Maintenance

The public works department has been very busy with winter snow removal and maintenance. While we have not had a big dump of snow the small storms every few days take their toll on the guys and the equipment. In addition, the big rain storm earlier in the month caused a considerable amount of damage that needed to be repaired.

Finance Department

The finance director and I have been almost entirely focused on the budget preparation for the series of meetings we have had over the past few weeks. This is time consuming for the both of us and on top of its Megan pulls together meals to feed members of the select board, budget committee and department heads. This is an amazing undertaking on her part. I am sure she will be glad to get back to normal when I am not spending 50% of her day in her office.

The Library Bond application was also submitted, and Megan has been working on the sewer bond, as well.

Town Manager

In summary, on top of the budget and normal work I attended the LPC meeting in Augusta where the MMA continues to push forward on initiatives that will help municipalities. The main focus of this tis the resumption of Revenue Sharing. There is a hearing at the State House on March 20 that I plan on attending and speaking. However, while they will listen to municipal managers to some degree, hearing from elected officials always carries more weight than the hired managers. Even if it is in the form of a letter that I deliver to them for inclusion into the record.

And finally, we said good bye to our Deputy Town Clerk Brenda Kurr who retired at the end of February after 18 years of service. We had a big send off for her and I haven’t seen her smile thatmuch in years. Thanks to the committee that planned the party and pulled it all together and a big thanks to Select Person Jeff Hamilton and his band “Red House” for providing excellent entertainment. I hear that Debra Hall plays a pretty mean piano and bells. The next election should have a candidate that plays drums and you could have a band like “just Teachers” call it the “Select Few”