West Rockport Fire Station

Amanda Austin from 2A Architects, LLC held a meeting/presentation at the Opera House on Monday, July 26. This presentation was also livestreamed so anyone can go back and watch it.

On Monday, August 4, there was an onsite/walk thru meeting held at the West Rockport Fire Station.

Police Department

Celjeta “Jeta” Bixhaku will be attending the Policy Academy starting this month. Jeta will be out beginning August 16 for 18 weeks.

Library

Library Director Ben Blackmon, Circulation and Technical Services Librarian Ben Odgren, and I interviewed candidates for the vacant Children’s & Youth Services Librarian this week. We hope to have a candidate on board this week.

A Dedication Ceremony was held on Saturday, July 31, to celebrate the new Public Library. There was an outstanding turnout with speakers including Ben Blackmon, Joan Welsh from the Library Foundation, Helen Shaw from the Library Committee, Denise Munger from the Select Board, and I spoke to a crowd of approximately 75 residents and patrons. Ben continues to report incredible participation from residents and patrons at all time highs.

MMA Workers Compensation Fund

We have received $2,360 dividend check from Maine Municipal because of the Town’s good performance and loss prevention programs.

Town Office

We have had a rash of building issues at the office in the past few weeks. The sewer line connecting the office to the sewer system is not functioning properly and will require replacement. Public Works Director Mike Young is securing quotes on the repair and replacement of this sewer line.

Additionally, the air conditioning unit failed last month once again and effectively “flooded” a workstation. I am meeting with David Leighton this week to investigate our options, but effectively our system is so outdated that we may be unable to find the parts (and more directly, the coolant) necessary to repair it. From what I have come to learn, this system has been problematic for a long time.

Lastly, we have engaged Modern Pest Services as we have what they determine to be a “significant” pest issue. The traps and monitoring equipment have been circulated around the building.

Opera House

We have two new hires at the Opera House. Nancy Albertson as our “Marketing Booking Agent for Rentals” and Kari Luehman as our “Marketing Booking Agent for Produced Events”. We are very exciting to have them both as part of our team.

We are also beginning to take a closer look at the building itself. Megan Brackett has involved Modern Pest Services to remove some unwelcome guests which include carpenter ants. Megan has reached out to builders to investigate whether these ants have created more damage than we can see with the naked eye.

Committees Workshop

The Select Board held a workshop Monday evening to discuss the Town’s committee structure and find some avenues for improvement. The Board endorsed requiring of the committees to:

• Establish an annual workplan
• Limit committee work to action items
• Angle committee directives through the town manager
• Request committees review their bylaws (in particular, the mission and purpose)
• Ensure agendas and minutes/committee reports are sent to the town office
• Adopt Remote Participation Policy
• Board also recommend adjustments to some committees whose purpose has altered over time and to create a standard set of bylaws to govern task forces, which are short term committees with a specific area of focus.