Mon, 07/20/2015 - 17:17

ROCKLAND — According to the Rockland City Manager’s Report for last week, library staff have requested that RSU 13 cover the cost of non-resident teacher library cards. The request will be presented to the school board at this Thursday’s special meeting. The Red Cross will be conducting its Home Fire Preparedness Campaign in August. Police responded to eight motor vehicle crashes. The Fire/EMS department is protesting changes in state training requirements, and ten new trees will be planted in the Rockland area on July 30. Read the full Manager’s report below.

CITY MANAGER’S OFFICE

 70% of the Department of Labor findings have been corrected to date.

OFFICE OF THE PUBLIC SERVICES DIRECTOR

 Trash pick-up city-wide.

 Swept city streets.

 Ditching work on Autumn Street.

 Picked up barricades from Blues Festival.

 Repaired steps on Main Street (winter damage).

 Watered flowers.

 Cold patching.

 Trimmed trees on Broadway.

 Prepped sanders for paint.

 Painted city streets.

 Worked on sanders paint subframes.

 Started Summer Street sidewalk repair.

 Lawn mowing.

 Worked on sanders and plows.

 Fire extinguishers in all equipment checked.

 Dozer tracks cleaned and serviced.

OFFICE OF THE LIBRARY DIRECTOR

 Another busy, summer week, with some extra drama thrown in—The Library lost half, then all its power for a couple of hours on Tuesday. Something to do with CMP, and we opened about 45 minutes late.

 The Library is addressing the issues found by the Department of Labor representative, Tammy Gross. I met with Ed Alley, of Alley Electric to discuss the several minor electrical concerns, and he will be back to take care of these next week. A fire extinguisher in the Storage Room was moved to allow easy access.

Another, formerly beneath the Reference Desk was removed, and marked as a spare, as per Tammy’s conversation with Patty King and me; it is in my office. A surge protector power strip has been ordered, and is due to arrive before the end of this week.

 Catinka Knoth’s Children’s art class this week drew Rockland - landmark scenes of a Maine town!; Adults worked on “Lupines at Mosquito Harbor.”

 The Summer Breakfast and Lunch programs continues; more are partaking of lunch than breakfast.

 I met with Don Fowles, and with Don and Keith Drago regarding several computer issues, including regular updating for the public PCs; Keith has been busily attacking this (ongoing) project with vigor.

 Keith hosted the Monday evening Drop-in Tech Help.

 Also on Monday evening, the Library hosted My Money Works, co-sponsored with Women, Work & Community, a four-week series.

 I met with Matthew Revitt, the Special Collections and Maine Shared Collection Librarian for Maine InfoNet to review the analysis of Rockland’s print collection.

This included the candidates for a commitment of long-term retention (no more than 180 titles), should we decide to take part in the Mine Shared Collection, as well as other very interesting and helpful information on the Library’s holdings.

 We updated Library documents and policies to reflect the new fee schedule, as well as posting signage to that effect.

 I wrote a letter to the Superintendent and Board of RSU 13, to request that they consider paying for some of the non-resident teacher’s cards, as those were formerly free. Oceanside East Principal, Renee Thompson kindly agreed to present this during Thursday’s Special Board Meeting.

 Nathan Borst and David Elwell of the WWTP used a camera to check the gutter and downspout in the Children’s Garden, to determine if this might be the source of the water which occasionally causes standing water in the Historical Society, during some very heavy rainfall. During their examination, they located a hole where an electrical conduit enters or exits, and which mortar is crumbling sufficiently to be the likely culprit. In one of those amazing coincidences, I spoke with Al Hodson of Resurgence Engineering, who told me, “I think I found a smoking gun,” and went on to describe the very hole, as he had located it via one of the many, many photos he and Eric Dube took during their last site visit. This piece, at least, looks like a pretty easy fix.

 The Polliwog Pages writing class continued this week; it’s part of The Arts...series.

 The Memoir Writing Workshop was held on Tuesday. This group meets weekly, and is open to anyone who wants to write, share, or just listen.

 The theme for this week’s Wednesday Storytime was camping. A children’s tent was set up in the Children’s Room, and many camping books were on display for parents to peruse. Guest Storytime reader extraordinaire, Judith Andersen read to the group. Among the titles were Monk Camps Out, by Emily Arnold McCully, Meet Mr. and Mrs. Green, by Keith Baker, and Matthew and the Tall Rabbit Go Camping, by Susan Meyer. Afterwards the children played and read in the cozy tent.

 Rachel Nixon, held the second Children’s Yoga class, for kids and parents; this will continue on Thursdays through the end of August. Also part of The Arts... programming.

 Jessie Blanchard presented another Cornerstones of Science truck, all about water--Activities included What Is Water?, The Water Cycle, Breathing Underwater, Frogs of Maine, Fish Printing – the art of Gyotaku, Groundwater Activity/Demonstration, and Water Science Jeopardy.

 Beginning Ukulele Class for Everyone continued this week; it, too, is part of The Arts for Kids & their Families at the Rockland Public Library series.

 Storytime at the Rockland Farmers’ Market was hosted this week by Friends’ Board member Jeanie Schaden.

 I attended a meeting of the Friends’ Board.

 Thank you to Public Works for trimming the ornamental pears, which were interfering with safe passage on the walkway.

 In keeping with the month-long art theme, the Thursday Evening Arts and Cultural Event was an Art & Architecture Talk: Beautiful in All its Details– Library Art & Architecture, with artist Alison Rector and Kirk Mohney of the Maine Historic Preservation Commission. Mr. Mohney, author and architectural historian, presented a history of libraries in Maine, and Alison Rector discussed her recent work Shared Quiet, a group of paintings of Maine public libraries (including the one of this Library, which was a gift from PLEA and PLEA Directors.

 On Saturday, Alayna Smith led a Teen Art Class: Colored Pastels. Participants learned about the color wheel and how to shade with color, blend colors, mix colors, and practiced showing the light source.

 Upcoming: Author Talk: Jon Keller discussing his debut novel, Of Sea and Cloud which was inspired by years of experience working in the secluded lobstering culture of rural Maine. Also, if you missed it at the Strand on Earth Day, or haven’t seen it, you’ll have a chance to see Winged Migration on the big screen at the Library in August. It’s magnificent!

OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF POLICE

Officers responded to 215 calls for service. Rockland Police Officers responded to 8 motor vehicle crashes and 7 animal complaints. 18 traffic stops and traffic violations were conducted. Sixty (60) parking violations were issued. Officers charged or made arrests of 14 individuals for various offenses, to include Warrants of Arrest, Bail violations, Traffic offenses, Alcohol violations, Burglary, Probation Violations and Operating under the Influence.

 We have completed, collected and submitted all job description questionnaires requested by city hall.

 Officers have completed the quarterly Crisis Intervention Team report and submitted it for quarterly reporting purposes.

 The police department finished coordination with the Farnsworth Art Museum regarding the Oak St. Mural project.

 We were busy this past weekend with the annual Blues Festival, Pub crawl and closure of Main St. on Saturday night. The event was a huge success.

 Deputy Chief Young and Chief Boucher attended the Maine Lobster Festival Table Top Exercise at Knox County EMA office on Thursday night.

 Officers have been working with State Probation and Parole concerning compliance checks with probationers living in Rockland.

 Parking Enforcement Officer Peasley has been working with the design team at the Thorndike Lot concerning the parking plan redesign.

 CID assisted Auburn PD with an active investigation.

 Det. Neal and Det. Sgt. Thompson attended Identity theft training in Portland last week.

 We have been working with MDEA on activity that made a substantial impact on criminal activity in the city this past week.

OFFICE OF THE FIRE CHIEF

Over the past week, in addition to the general response to 54 Fire and EMS calls, conducting apparatus checks, daily cleaning, routine repairs and maintenance to the fleet and of the quarters, the following occurred:

 On Wednesday evening personnel reviewed the overall safety “culture” of the department, discussed all types of protective equipment and adjuncts that we provide onsite and how to select the appropriate safety equipment when the work is not already detailed in a policy. They also conducted a gear inspection looking for any issues with their issued structural protective equipment.

 Squad 3 went to Vasselboro on Wednesday for its annual pump service and test (which it passed without issue) and then went over to O’Connors in Augusta to have an auxiliary braking issue addressed. The other two engines will also be seen in Vasselboro over the next week or so.

 I attended the Knox County Chief’s meeting in Union where we got an update on the current County Enhanced Cooperation Study (Regionalization-lite).

 The Red Cross is going to conduct their Home Fire Preparedness Campaign in our area in August. This is a two part project where they are looking for groups of people to first distribute information and request forms for smoke and CO detectors and then two weeks later groups of people who can go out and install detectors for those who’ve requested them. The first part takes no training, the installation teams must take one of two training classes that explain how to install the detectors and fill out the requisite Red Cross paperwork. If anyone knows of any groups that would like to participate in either part, please let me know as we’d like to be able to get as many detectors installed as we possibly can in one weekend. The Red Cross has a nearly endless supply for us. This is a great opportunity to provide these needed safety devices to some folks that really could use them.

 The Blue Festival went off with very few calls related to the event, but on Monday the crew had 14 calls during which at four times both our in service ambulances were tied up and necessitating an ambulance from Thomaston to cover the City.

 Penned a letter commenting on the Proposed Rule Changes for Maine EMS opposing numerous changes that will increase expenses in our budget. Some highlights include increasing required training, reducing license periods from 3 years to 2, requiring individuals to maintain their own EMS training records for two license cycles, and removing pro-rating of ambulance licenses. We’ve asked that they not incur any cost increases until the State can return to funding the schools as mandated and revenue sharing returns to previous levels.

OFFICE OF THE WASTEWATER TREATMENT FACILITY DIRECTOR

Pollution Control Facility

 Treatment Plant flows were very low, averaging only about 1.3 MGD.

 DEP conducted a pretreatment program inspection on 7/14/2015.

 Wrote the blood borne pathogens exposure control plan for the Pollution Control Facility.

 Worked on the inter-local agreement with Rockport.

 Submitted an incident report and corrective action addressing dry weather pump #1 monitoring and SCADA call out trigger.

 CSO vortex underflow pump #1 is being rebuilt.

 Most of the grounds and landscape work on the treatment plant property has been completed.

 All department personnel attended safety training sessions on 2 days.

Environmental Services

 Received notice that the new Ford pickup is scheduled for delivery to the dealer next week.

 Continued CCTV inspections of the sewer mains in the south end.

 Completed service to the generator on the camera trailer.

 Located the connection point of the sewer lateral from 94 Mechanic St. for Rockland Marine. They are planning to demo the house and will be required to seal the sewer connection.

 Dig Safe check on Holmes Street at State Street.

 Inspected a sewer lateral repair at 355 Broadway.

 Inspected a sewer lateral replacement on Holmes Street at State Street.

 Dig Safe check on Park St. near the CMP transformer sub-station.

 Smoke tested a drain pipe behind Atlantic Baking Co. on Main Street and determined it is connected to the city’s storm drain system.

Other Projects

Thorndike Parking Lot

 Met on site with Joel Lufkin from Landmark Corp. to inspect the project and update the punch-list of remaining items to be completed. There were a few items remaining, all landscape related except for a small sink hole near one of the granite posts in Glovers Passage.

 Farley & Son had someone on site to address the remainder of the punch-list items.

Rockland Harbor Trail

 Received notice from Farley & Son that the Omni Rail-Guard strips for the railroad crossing have been delivered and they will resume work on the project next week.

 Visited the site with Joel Lufkin from Landmark Corp. to investigate the ledge that the contractor reported to be preventing installation of 10 remaining guardrail posts. A steel probe was driven at each post location and the depth of the ledge recorded. The engineers will contact the contractor with an alternate method for installing the posts. The guardrail is important for pedestrian safety due to the steep embankment in this area of the trail.

OFFICE OF THE RECREATION DIRECTOR

 The Recreation staff helped with painting the wall for the new mural on Main Street.

 The Summer Day Camp went on the “big” field trip this week and had an amazing but long day at Aquaboggin.

 I am working with Public Services to locate 10 spots for new trees throughout the city. They will be put in place on the 30th of July.

OFFICE OF THE CODE ENFORCEMENT OFFICER

 John attended the Floodplain Management workshop meeting on 7/14/15.

 John attended the Planning Board meeting 7/14/15 at 5:15pm.

 John attended the Comprehensive Planning Commission meeting 7/16/15.

 John met with a representative from Back Cove Yachts to review plans to expand their parking lot for additional employees.

 There were two complaints filed this week.

 The following permits were received by the Code Office this week:

4 Building permits