The following report from Town Manager Jon Duke was circulated in advance of the March 10 Rockport Select Board meeting, March 10. That meeting begins at 6 p.m. in the Parker Meeting Room at hte Opera House. It is streamed live on YouTube.

Town Manager's Report

All items on our Annual Town Meeting warrant will be decided at the polls on Tuesday, June 10, at the Rockport Public Library. The school budgets will be part of this election, and all ballot information will be available on our town website at rockportmaine.gov once those ballots have been finalized. Absentee ballots for the June election will be available beginning on May 10th.

Nomination Papers:
Nomination papers are now available for the following Elected positions: 1 seat/3-year term for Select Board
2 seats/3-year term Library Committee
1 seat/3-year term School Board
3 seats/3-year terms Budget Committee

The deadline to return the nomination papers is Friday, April 11th by 4:00 p.m. Those seeking office must obtain at least 25 and no more than 100 signatures.

Property Taxes Due. The second property tax payment is due April 15th. While we can accept tax payments at the Town Office during regular business hours, our online tax payment system is live on the  Town website 24 hours a day.

Cemetery Program: Things are progressing nicely with our new database, which will be extremely helpful managing all our cemeteries. At present the Rockville Cemetery is nearly complete and we will move to West Rockport and then Sea View before focusing on the cemeteries which are closed to new lot sales.

Liquor Licensing: Registrations and excise tax submissions are now managed throughthe Bureau of Liquor Enforcement's Enterprise Liquor Licensing System (BELLS). BELLS offers a streamlined, all-in-one platform for licensees to manage their applications and compliance requirements. For those businesses and caterers who have not received a license in the last few months, they will experience a very different process. Please reach out to our Town

Clerk’s office for more information.

Bureau of Motor Vehicle Plate Changes: On May 1st, 2025, the Maine Bureau of Motor Vehicles will begin replacing all existing Chickadee plates with a new design. Residents with a Chickadee plate should prepare for their vehicle registration to take a bit longer than it has this year.

Anyone who currently has plates with the chickadee design will be required to obtain new plates when they renew their registration or obtain a new registration on or after May 1, 2025.

This means municipalities will be issuing a new plate when registrants with a chickadee plate “renew their registrations.”

For new registrations and renewals in the Passenger Class (PC) class code, registrants can choose:

• a Pine Tree Plate (existing PC class code) for no additional costs or;

• a “no tree plate” (new NT class code) for no additional costs or;

• one of the current specialty plates (normal fees apply).

Plate Reservations:
Registrants who would like to keep their current chickadee plate numbers may reserve their plate number for a $25 one-time fee. This includes people with vanity, low digit, and National Guard (PC class code) plates.

You can reserve your plate online at maine.gov/online/reservemyplate. Registrants with questions about reserving platereserve.bmv@maine.gov.

In Lieu of Taxes

Many thanks to Vesper Hill Foundation who contributed $1,000 in lieu of paying taxes to help assist with Town provided services. Though it is not a requirement, it is appreciated non-profits see such value in how the Town supports them.

Assessing

Property Tax Relief
I could go on a long rant on the inability for multiple levels of government to serve their constituents and we’ve seen this happen in our region as well. In addition, the never-ending cascade of unfunded mandates being passed down from the state and federal levels seem to be piled as high as ever for our property taxpayers to foot the bill. Then couple these costs with a property taxation system that can lead to long term residents being taxed out of their homes... it is a system in Maine that is nonsensical and can be quite cruel. Maine municipalities like ours are forced to follow the Maine constitution and the laws of our state, but that last avenue is where we can truly seek change to lessen the burden on our taxpayers.

Assessor Kerry Leichtman has taken on the task to work with Maine Municipal Association to push hard for a real change in our legislative efforts. Kerry’s efforts are outlined in the Pen Bay Pilot this week on a long list of bills attempting to lessen the burden on the property taxpayers in Rockport and across Maine. This budget season is incredibly challenging and given the past few years of incredibly growth in real estate values up and down the coast, this model needs dramatic change to keep Maine’s Midcoast a place families of all economic levels can afford to live and work. Change is not easy to come by in the realm of tax reform in Maine, but we need to add our voice to the concepts Kerry has brought forth to ensure those in Augusta are listening!

Revaluation
Representatives from KRT Appraisal have been circulating around Rockport through the summer and fall visiting various neighborhoods to gather data concerning each property in our town. The data from each property is crucial to provide as clear a representation as possible as to the assessed value of each property. This process can seem intrusive for property owners, but a full property revaluation requires all data involved to be as accurate as possible. Neither the Town, nor the contractors employed by the Town, wish to provide an inaccurate value to any property owner which could easily be resolved if the revaluation company is able to gather an accurate read on a given property.

Obviously, the sales of properties in Rockport in recent months will set a stage to understand the impact of the market value, but we all need each property owner’s help in providing that data through these visits to improve the accuracy of the entire effort. Rockport has not had a full property revaluation since 2005 and while our assessing department works diligently to gather information each year, the best method to level set all properties is a full property revaluation. We appreciate your assistance through this process.

Finance

Budget:
The FY26 budget will soon be circulated to the Select Board and Budget Committee for their review. This budget is particularly challenging due to a number of costs added to the budget which are impacts from previously approved policies and projects whose full impacts are felt in this budget.

From the new EMS service to adjustments in salaries for our police force to increases in health insurance, there are very little new aspects in the proposed budget.

Cuts to road construction, staffing, and programs were needed to provide what a status quo budget would represent. The budget process will be condensed this year, but we expect to have completed all efforts within the next four weeks so that the voters can consider the budget at the polls in June.

FEMA
Despite having completed the replacement of the culvert at Robinson Drive and almost three and a half years elapsing since the storm event, we still have not received our reimbursement for this project. This is an utter failure by our federal government on a whole host of levels and independent of party affiliation.

Buildings and Grounds

In addition to the regular maintenance schedule, our crews have been working at the harbor replacing windows which had reached their end of life. These windows should help our harbor staff have a clearer view of the entire harbor and keep a lot more of the heat inside the building in the winter.

Maine Municipal Association Scholarships:

MMA is currently offering five (5) $1,000 scholarships for Maine high school seniors planning to enter post-secondary education at a community college, trade school or university, which is located in Maine that will be pursuing a career in municipal government or public service.

Applications are being accepted now with the deadline at noon on Wednesday, April 30, 2025:

Fire Department

West Rockport Fire Station Updates:
Construction is 98% complete and our 24-hour staff are now operating out of the new station full-time. Our new ambulance has arrived at the dealer who is making the necessary improvements to the rig prior to its arrival in Rockport. We expect to have the ambulance in service by the end of March.

EMS Service
Our existing contract with Northeast Mobile Health Services will end April 1st after which point Rockport Fire and EMS will be the primary transporting EMS authority in Rockport. Additionally, we will continue to utilize Northeast Mobile Health Services as a mutual aid partner when needed and they remain the primary provider for some neighboring communities. Our crews are already present at all EMS calls in Rockport, but following April 1st, we will be able to transport patients in need immediately and without delay. Residents do not need to change anything about using this service, they should continue to dial 911 in an emergency and the dispatcher will ensure the proper service responds as quickly as possible.

Donation.
Many thanks to Jeff Hall of Jeff’s Vacuum on Route 90 for donating a lightly used Sebo vacuum for the West Rockport Station. It’s generosity like this that makes our community a special place. We can’t do all we do without community support and businesses stepping forward like this. Thank you, Jeff!

Calls:
We had 67 fire department calls in January and 53 in February. Which totals 121 calls year to date.

Volunteer Opportunities:
For those interested in learning more about joining the fire department, please contact Chief Jason Peasley at jpeasley@rockportmaine.gov.

Employment Opportunities:
We are currently hiring Per Diem  Paramedics and Per Diem Firefighters EMT/AEMT, check out our website for more details..

Harbor

Training:
Abbie will be at Harbormaster training this week in Castine.

Harbormaster Abbie Leonard will be available weekly Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday if you need any harbor related assistance you can reach her on her cell phone on those days. As I noted above, there is construction happening to replace the windows in the Harbormaster’s office which will impact on the availability of in-person walk-up service until that project completes soon. Abbie’s hours should return to its usual Monday-Friday schedule later this month as warmer weather arrives.

Planning and Codes

Business Ordinance Licenses
As some may recall, the Town ballot in November included an ordinance change which institutes licensing for businesses who provide lodging and/or serve food. The process of beginning this licensing effort is underway and letters to these businesses are being sent out this month. In summation, this letter is an introduction to the ordinance and helpful information regarding what to expect and who to contact. This also includes a self-check list for businesses to start this process in preparation of their inspection.

Comprehensive Plan
Comprehensive Plan is done with the final recommendation from the Comprehensive Planning Committee. This has been a long process with a diligent committee working to ensure the community has a plan that is implementable, non-controversial, and will push the community in the right direction. This document is off to the State for their approval and is ready for the June vote.

The Comprehensive Plan “draft” document is available on the Towns website for review

Harbor Strategic Plan Task Force
The Harbor Strategic Plan is underway, and the Town has engaged Richardson and Associates and WSP Engineering to draft this plan. The consultants will be working on creating a plan for our harbor and how to best combat climate change with our existing assets. There will be public meetings, which will be posted on the Town Calendar and circulated through Civic Ready. The final presentation will be made to the Select Board and is tentatively scheduled for July.

VPI Task Force/Bridge Advisory Group
The Village Partnership Initiative task force has met with the MDOT bridge department, and we will be receiving a bridge and sidewalk on both sides of the new Goose River Bridge. We do not yet have a final design worth sharing at this point, but once MDOT has more final plans and accompanying dates we will upload to our Projects page the details for the public to follow along with.

Conservation Commission
On Wednesday, March 30 at 4 p.m. the Conservation Commission is putting on an event entitled “Rising Tides, Lifting All Boats: Visualizing Rockport’s Climate Future.”

The highlight of the event is a 45-minute concert by the Halcyon String Quartet. If you’re unfamiliar with their work, they are a group of Bay Chamber teachers who integrate climatdata with music and visual storytelling. You can explore their projects
here. The performance will be tailored to reflect findings from our community’s vulnerability assessments conducted through the Community Resilience Partnership grant the Town received in 2022. The Conservation Commission will soon launch the Rockport Climate Resilience Hub which will be a central resource for data sharing to assist Town staff and leadership in meeting the challenges our changing climate provides.

Public Works

Mud season has arrived and so too have frost heaves! This also means we’ve posted all Town roads to help prevent further damage to these roads. Thanks to the prolonged cold, frost has worked its way deep into the ground, so we are more susceptible to issues at this time than we have in recent, warmer winters. While those delivering staples for living like heating oil are exempted from these postings, some others are not. If you have questions, please call Public Works at 236-6245 during business hours and we can help to meet your needs and protect our roads.

Road Construction
We have been delayed in further brush cutting/clearing thanks to the cold snap and deep snow that have plagued us over the last 4-6 weeks. Not only have our crew been busy plowing and sanding our roads, but those tall snowbanks on the roadside don’t lend themselves to easily allow for brush cutting. If we can get some melting, I suspect our crews will be back out on the roads we expect to pave this summer.

Marge Jones Fields

The Marge Jones Fields will remain closed till spring, but if you would like to plan ahead and reserve the use of a field for this year, email rockportrec@rockportmaine.gov.

Tennis/Pickleball Court Reservation Policy:

• Reservations can be made for a single month/month or an entire season.

• Anytime when the tennis/pickleball court is not reserved it is “first come first serve play."

• The usage fee will be $250 per month, up to $1000 for the entire season. •

• No reservations on Sundays. This day will remain first come, first serve all day. •

• Tennis/pickleball groups that pay the monthly or annual fee may reserve the full court area or half (one tennis court) up to three hours of court time per day each week Monday - Saturday, not to exceed 15 hours total per week. No more than three total hours in a day, and you cannot reserve the same time block for more than 3 days in one week. This allows others to utilize these time slots for first come first serve play.

  Facility Improvements:
  A fundraising effort has begun to help with new basketball post and backboards, pavement and 

  • lines which will be installed in the spring once the ground has time to settle. Unfortunately, our basketball court has been deemed condemned due to unsafe cracks making injury risks too great to open to the public. We are hopeful of dealing with this quickly, but this was an unexpected issue to appear last fall.If you wish to help us complete this unplanned project and get our kids back out shooting hoops, please reach out to Fire Chief Jason Peasley or myself.

  Library

• Library Cards:

  Sometimes it gets lost in the shuffle, but even the most basic of items of how our Town operates requires reminder now and again. Our library is free for computer use, browsing, reference, and program attendance, but to borrow materials, you must register for a library card (or present a valid library card from one of the libraries in Maine's Reciprocal Borrowing Program to view the list of participating libraries.

  Free cards are available to all Rockport residents and taxpayers, to all who work in Rockport, and to all children and students in Knox and Waldo Counties. Proper ID verifying residency is required. Nonresident cards are available for a $20 annual fee for individuals, and $10 for short term visitors. Proper identification required such as a valid driver's license, or photo ID and proof of mailing address.

• Books, magazines, audio- books, DVDs, and ukuleles circulate for a three-week period. Items may be renewed two times unless another borrower has requested the item. You can request renewals in person or by telephone and get confirmation. If you request by sending an email to rpl@rockport.lib.me.us, we will reply to confirm the renewal or let you know that the item cannot be renewed. You can also renew your borrowed items online.

Events:
For information on our events, check out the library website https://www.rockport.lib.me.us/

Fun Contest:
The library is hosting a “NAME THE ROOSTER” contest during the months of March and April. The Rooster is located in the Marine room on the upper level of the library. The sculptor G. Bion Richards will select the winner on April 30th.

Resignation:
Ann Filley will be leaving us in April. Ann works every other Saturday for a few hours to cover the busy part of the day and fills in when needed. She will be hard to replace.

Training:
Julia and Ben Blackmon will be training with the National Digital Equity Center so they can teach some tech classes.

Tech Help:

Computers & More:

A staff member is available to assist you with whatever your tech needs are. We can help with anything from basic computer questions to using your iPad with the Maine Download Library.

This free service is available every Thursday at 4:00 p.m. in the marine room.

The library has a raft of desktops and laptop computers for your use in the building. The desktops are located by the main circulation desk. The laptops are located behind the main circulation desk. If you would like to use a laptop in the building, ask a librarian.

There is also free Wi-Fi throughout the building. No password is required. Simply find the

Rockport Public Library's network in your Wi-Fi settings and connect.

We have a copier, a scanner, and a black-and-white printer for public use. Printing and copies cost ten cents per page.

Donations: once again accepting donations of books, DVDs, CDs, audiobooks, and puzzles in good condition. They ask that donations be limited to three boxes/bags per person.

Volunteer Opportunities:

We are often looking for volunteers to assist with shelving, shelf-reading, assisting the Friends of the Library with their book sales, craft prep for children's programs, CD cleaning, and more. If you are an adult, please contact Julia, our Deputy Director at jpierce@rockportmaine.gov or call 207-236-3642.

If you are a teen between ages 14-18 and are interested in volunteering with the library, please contact Stephanie, our Youth Services Librarian at scurcione@rockportmaine.gov or call 207- 236-3642.

Opera House

Events:
For information on our events, please check out the Opera House website:https://rockportoperahouse.org/rockportoperahouse

We also have Yoga or Dance several days a week

Sponsorships:
If you wish to participate in helping make these shows part of our calendar in 2025, please visit to learn more. Your sponsorship will make a difference and will bring even more vibrancy to our ongoing programming!

Take a moment right now to give to the Rockport ACE Annual Fund – Arts, Culture and Entertainment for all. Make a potentially tax-deductible donation of any amount to support the work we are doing to revitalize the arts in Rockport and bring the community together.

Individuals or businesses can choose to make a one-time donation or recurrent monthly contribution of any amount using the custom feature on our giving page. Businesses may also choose from already crafted levels which each include visibility for your business as a gesture of gratitude for giving.

Donut Festival

The town is excited to announce the 3rd Annual Donut Festival will be on June 13 and 14, 2025. We served up 13,410 donuts during our second annual event and we are going even BIGGER in 2025! Save the date! Admission is FREE!

Civic Ready:

We encourage all residents to sign up for this, if you are interested in knowing what is happening in the Town of Rockport. What is great about this system is that you decide which types of information you will receive whether it is a reminder when property taxes are due to information on an upcoming event at the library, opera house or when a public works project is happening in your neighborhood; Civic Alert can keep you informed. Those interested can also sign up for alerts on our website at https://rockportmaine.gov/civicready

Maine Water Assistance Program:

This is a federally funded program to help support eligible households in having access to drinking water and wastewater utility services. Households will be required to have water liability to be eligible for the drinking water/wastewater program. To receive an application, you can call 888-623-6762 or email water@mainehousing.org.

Rockport Resource Newsletter:

If you would like to receive the Rockport Resource Newsletter via email you can sign up through our website.