CAMDEN — Audra Caler-Bell is Camden Town Manager. In advance of an April 10 Select Board meeting, she submitted the following report: I met with Patrick Adams, the Maine Department of Transportation Bicycle Pedestrian Coordinator, along with a number of department heads and Julie Waters from SAD 28 to discuss Camden becoming part of the DOT's Pedestrian Safety Project. This project identified 23 communities in Maine with the highest number of conflicts between pedestrians and vehicles and invites these communities to participate in this project which focuses on the community identifying areas of highest concern and potential solutions for these areas.

The DOT is very committed to working with communities who choose to participate in this program and will prioritize infrastructure improvements that come out of the Pedestrian Safety Project to receive funding.

Beth Ward and I had a very productive meeting with Ian Stewart and Jackie Stratton from Coastal Mountains Land Trust to discuss the Round the Mountain Trail and other projects we're working on in collaboration.

There's an opportunity to do a lot of work within the next year on repairing and repurposing existing trails at the Snow Bowl so they better serve a number of different users. I believe this will be an important step in improving the Snow Bowl's ability to offer year-round recreational opportunities.

The managers of Hope, Lincolnville, Rockport and I have continued to meet and refine the draft performance based contract the towns will negotiate with Northeast Mobile Health Services. The EMS Performance Committee will meet within the next couple of weeks where they will agree on the final contract with Northeast.

The Town's Investment Committee has a number of meetings with financial consulting firms to discuss investment strategies for the Town's nine trust funds.

I met with Geoff Scott, Chairman of the Pathways Committee, Beth Ward, Jeremy Martin and Jeff Senders from Gartley and Dorsky to discuss the Knowlton Street segment of the Riverwalk and a number of logistical issues that need to be solved before we can put this project out to bid.

Planning and Development Department

Planning and Development Director Jeremy Martin came on board on March 19 and has been familiarizing himself with town ordinances and policies, as well as the town, town committees and boards, including CEDAC, Downtown Design Review, Historic Resources, and the Planning Board.

The Planning and Development Director and Fire Chief Chris Farley attended an Maine Municipal Association workshop on short term rentals on April 3.

Work is underway to integrate fire personnel into code enforcement activities, as they have been recently certified as CEOs and will be appointed as CEOs at the next select board meeting. They will assist in conducting inspections of both commercial and residential projects. This will allow for improved efficiencies in the inspection process and will also provide additional coverage as may be necessary.

Director Martin continues to meet with various individuals and businesses in town to understand their interests and needs and to see what if anything the town can do support them.

Fire Department

Incident response call volume has reflected a late winter/early spring lull. We are preparing for the spring fire season including a training update with our local Maine Forest Ranger.

We have invited our mutual aid partners to this training

Conducted several Fire Department training sessions

Includes a Table Top Exercise with scenarios based around the Anderson Inn

RKD Chief Whytock provided a START Triage training program

Conducted a monthly meeting of the Department with safety programs review

Continued apparatus and equipment maintenance programs

Hosted the several sessions of the Citizens Public Safety Academy

Chief attended a meeting of the Maine Fire Chiefs Association

Chief and AC Lowe met several times with Rockport Chief Jason Peasley and AC John Wickenden to colloborate about future training opportunities

Reviewed and provided feeback about draft EMS agreement

AC Lowe applied for and received a $3,000 technology grant from FM Global Insurance

Obtained 2 Microsoft Surface Pro tablets

AC Lowe and FF Beveridge are working on transferring all FD daily/weekly/monthy/yearly checks to a paperless process

Chief attended a monthly meeting of the Knox County EMA directors

FF Heath has finalized the town EOP for adoption

Chief attended a district-wide school safety forum at CHRHS

Using the Ladder truck, we assisted physics classes at CHRHS with their class experiments

Chief attended a Knox County Enhanced Mutual Aid meeting at RKD Fire

Loaned physical fitness equipment to Freeport Fire

Attended town safety committee and pedestrian safety meetings

Started spring cleaning of the public safety building

Annual Life Safety Code inspections for lodging and victuler's licenses are in a seasonal upswing

As Code Enforcement, met with Jeremy Martin to plan for intergration of FD with CEO inspections

As EMA Director, Chief attended a monthly meeting of the Knox County EMA directors

FF Heath has finalized the town EOP for adoption

As Public Health Officer, followed up on the Notice of Violation at 11 Chestnut Hill