During the week ending July 9, 2016, the Rockland fire department promoted a call shift member to full time. The City budget has been finalized. Rockland received a $100,000 Safe Neighborhoods Program Grant from the Department of Economic and Community Development. The town of Vinalhaven wants to collaborate on a plan for climate change/sea level rise resiliency. The code enforcement office issued one domesticated chicken permit, and the breakfast and lunch program at the library continues to thrive.

Read the entire City Manager’s report below.

OFFICE OF THE INTERIM ACTING CITY MANAGER/COMMUNITY & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR

 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 LEGOTM Club; LEGOTM 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.