You may be aware that Knox County towns have been served by the Midcoast Regional Planning Commission for decades until recently.

The MCRPC has had difficulty hiring a new director for many months and is essentially no longer operating.

The Midcoast Economic Development District (MCEDD) can provide the same services that MCRPC formerly provided and has provided a proposal to Knox County for these services. In addition to the planning services, MCEDD also provides access to federal funds through the EDA and the Norther Border Grant Program. MCEDD is a member organization and the Town of Rockport is a member by paying its dues to MCEDD.

The proposal from MCEDD to Knox County is that the county pay the dues for all the towns within Knox County and thus, every town would be a member and enjoy the services that MCEDD provides.

If this is approved as part of the county budget, Rockport will continue to be a member of MCEDD, but not pay an annual membership fee.

Personnel Changes

Public Works: Glen Adolphsen, formerly a part-time snowplow operator with the Town, has been hired to fill the recently vacant full-time position in Public Works.

Codes, Planning andAssessing: Mandy Marriner-Everett has been hired for the temporary part-time administrative assistant position for Codes, Planning and Assessing. She will work 24 hours per week for the foreseeable future.

Police Department: Jonathan Poole has been hired as a full-time police officer Jonathan has completed Phase I & II of the Maine Criminal Justice Academy Pre-Service training. He can complete Phase III as part of his on the job training during filed training with staff from Rockport PD and will attend the Criminal Justice Academy likely next fall.

Welcome to all three!

Wastewater I/I Study

We are almost complete with the I/I basement study. There are 15 inspections that the CEO/LPI needs to complete, but being short staffed in the office, and this being the busiest time of the year, he has not been able to complete these.

The Town of Camden bills us quarterly, and we do not have the most recent information at this point. We have reached out to see if they can provide the numbers to us earlier.

It will take some time to see if our inspections had an impact or not, as you would expect to see a trending decrease, not something that could be considered a one-time decrease.

At this point most of the problems that we found were located at places where their wastewater would have been sent to the Camden Treatment Plant, which means once the problems are corrected we should see a decrease in what we are sending to the Camden Wastewater Treatment Plant.

As we receive more data, we will continue the analysis and provide the findings to the Board.

MDOT Meeting

Planner Bill Najpauer and I met with MDOT Region 2 planner Steve Cole to discuss projects in Rockport and future ideas/concerns, as well as the potential for a land swap of the MDOT property on West Street (Route 90).

Mr. Cole discussed the potential land swap with his managers and the informed us that MDOT is not interested in a land swap or sale of the property. They intend to keep that property.

LED Streetlight Project

We are making progress with the LED Streetlight Project. The inventory has been completed by Realterm Energy and compared to CMP’s inventory list. There are some differences, but CMP will not provide what those differences are until a purchase and sales agreement is executed.

There is a mixture of lights in town, including 150 radial wave lights that were termed “decorative” when they were first installed and the reminder of the lights are cobra-heads, which is the basic type of streetlight.

The next steps in the project include choosing an installer and choosing the type of fixture.

The towns involved in the project are meeting next week to discuss the installer, as there is an economy of scale if we can all choose the same installer.

At the Board’s October 28 meeting, I will have a recommendation for the installer, and I will ask the Board to choose the light fixtures (decorative or cobra-head, or a mix). I will have all the cost comparisons at that point. After these decisions are made, we can continue to move forward with a purchase and sales agreement.

Department Reports

Department Reports are now being prepared on a monthly basis and will be placed in the Select Board members boxes at the Town Office for your information. It is hoped that these reports will provide you with information and activity from each department so that you are well-informed.

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