The Planning and Development Director [Jeremy Martin] and I met with Coastal Mountains Land Trust and Will Gartley on permitting for Round the Mountain Trail. This spurred a conversation on longer term planning at the Snow Bowl related to trails. Once we have a better understanding of what the permitting requirements will be for the RTM trail we will be approaching the Select Board to seek formal approval for moving forward.

• A workshop has been scheduled for July 30 to discuss improvements to our current EMS system and how this could compare to a regional EMS system.
• The goal of this workshop will be to gain a better understanding of how our current system is designed, how our current service agreement defines our level of service, what changes we’d like to see in the future and whether these changes can be made through changes to our current service agreement or through a different service model.
• I met with the chairman of the Downtown Design Team to discuss improving pedestrian access to the Public Landing.
• This project will be connected to both the Route 1 Drainage and Pedestrian Improvement Project and any future redevelopment of the Public Landing. For this reason it will need to be addressed through both planning efforts.
• The Parks & Rec Director, Planning & Development Director and I met with the chairman of the Pathways Committee to talk about finalizing the first segment of the Riverwalk and how to move forward with the next segment.
• There are very challenging permitting issues on the Wastewater and Middle School properties that need to be considered. In addition, any efforts to address the Knox Mill and Knowlton Street dams will likely have an impact on the Riverwalk.
• For this reason, it’s best to put further construction, past the segment that’s currently being constructed, on hold until these issues can be resolved and there’s a plan for routing and permitting the entirety of the next segment.
• The Town has closed on the loan for the LED streetlight conversion. As soon as the inventory has been completed, which should be finalized by the end of this week, RealTerm will begin the design process. In the meantime, we’ve been working on purchasing all of our streetlights from CMP.
• A lot of work has been put in to seek funding to continue river and habitat restoration and feasibility assessment for all the dams on the Megunticook River. The Town has submitted grant applications to the Maine Coastal Program’s Coastal Communities fund and to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s Coastal Resilience Fund.
• A big thank you to Alison McKellar for all her work on these grants. Alison has put in countless hours and late nights to secure funds necessary to move these projects forward.
• We should hear from the Maine Coastal Program on whether they will fund our project within the next few weeks. NFWF should send us notification by September.

Assessor’s Office:

• The following a memo details updates that will be made to valuations in order to correctly reflect changes in the market and take pressure off the mil rate.

To: Audra Caler-Bell, Town Manager From: Kerry Leichtman, Assessor Date: 7/19/19
Re: Value adjustments

I routinely check assessed values against sales and have the following to report:

At the conclusion of the 2017 reval our town-wide median ratio was 97%. Two years later the median average is now 86%. The ratio is calculated by dividing sales prices by assessed values. The change to 86% from 97% represents market growth.

Ideally, we need to maintain a ratio in the 95-100% range. Once we get below 90% the state won’t allow us to certify at 100%. Certifying at less than 100% creates unnecessary complications for everything from residents’ exemptions to state reimbursements to the town. As a quick example, if we certify at 86% the Homestead Exemption will be reduced from $20,000 to $17,200 ($20,000 x 86% = $17,200).

State valuation has a built-in two-year lag, so not to worry, our certified ratio is not yet at risk of being lowered by the state.

If we allow the town’s ratio to continue downward, adjustments, when we do make them, will most likely be severe, as was the situation in 2017 where no adjustments had been made since 2004. It is my intention to nudge values up or down once a market trend has established itself.

Also, growth occurs at different rates among the different market segments, which can create a disparity between taxpayers. Residents of one area might be paying a disproportionate amount in taxes if their neighborhood is at 93% while another neighborhood is at 80%.

To correct this I will soon be adjusting the cost tables embedded in Vision. My goal is to bring all market segments back to the target ratio range of 95-100%, as we did during the reval.

Because the budget has already been approved by the voters the increase in Camden’s overall valuation, that I anticipate will result from the adjustment, should ease pressure on the mil rate.

I’ll keep you informed as I progress through the process of making these adjustments.

Police Department

The following reflects statistics from Police Department files from July 1st to July 21st 2019. The statistics listed reflect a partial listing of the total number received. The complaints listed denote those which are used for reporting purposes or had a significant amount reported to the police during this period.

Foot patrols are being completed within the business district as summer crowds and traffic continues

Special Detail requests are increasing due to summer events at Harbor Park and Snow Bowl Completed a detail in support of Harbor Arts in the Park

Completed detail of the Bike Maine Lobster Ride Total complaints received during this period:

32 Responses to 911 hang up / open line

22 Agency Assist calls

20 Alarm responses

13 Animal complaints; 1 Animal Noise; 3 animal problems and 9 animal welfare

5vBusiness/License checks

16 Citizen assist calls

2 Domestic

7 Drug Take Back (use of lobby drop box)

2 OUI

11 Foot Patrols

14 Found property

16 Information Complaints

5 Litter/Pollution/Public Health

5 Mental Health Issues

6 Nuisance

27 Parking problem

11 Traffic accidents with damage

15 Traffic Erratic Operation

64 Property Checks

42 Radar details

8 Suspicious Vehicles

6 Suspicious Persons/Circumstances

2 Theft

2 Threatening

16 Traffic / Erratic Operation

13 Traffic Hazard

9 Traffic violations

19 Well Being checks

Fire Department:

• We are coordinating with public works to have the annual preventive maintenance work performed on vehicles over the next several weeks
• All the new Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus underwent annual flow testing
• AC Lowe coordinated with a contractor to have annual hose testing completed
• Call Firefighter Jon Heath recently graduated from CHRHS and the Knox County Fire Academy Firefighter I & II program
• Former Call Firefighter Riley Peterson was recently hired full-time at Rockland Fire
• Call Firefighter Charlotte Duncan is currently in the hiring process for Rockland Fire
• Firefighters Beveridge & Heath have recently been out of town on vacation
• Chief has participated in a review of KRCC and been involved with several interview boards for KRCC staff
• A Post Incident Evaluation was conducted after a building fire at 555 Belfast Road
• MutualAid Departments were invited to participate
• A aeries of mutual goals was developed as a result of the feedback offered
• We hope to see more mutual aid training in the coming months as a result of this evaluation