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Thanks to all Staff and Committee Members Working on these Great Projects:

Wastewater Director Terry Pinto does it again... the plant has been awared another Efficiency Maine grant in the amount of $1,100 for the installation of wall packs, which are outdoor lighting over doorways. The grant is to help off set their purchase and installation.

Kudos to Audrey Lovering in Community Development, and Samantha Mank in General Assistance, and all the good folks involved with the Harbor Trails Committee: The Penobscot Bay YMCA - ACHIEVE created a Mini Grant Cycle to support the community of Rockland, Maine, in making health and wellness changes that provide easy access to healthy, active lifestyles throughout the community: in our homes, at our schools, in our workplaces, at our parks, and on our trails, paths, and streets. YMCA awarded $10,000 of federal funds in the form of mini grants to support policy, systems, and environmental change. The City of Rockland received two mini grants:

1. General Assistance and the Community Development Office received a $500 grant to develop a proposal for a policy/environmental change that will provide SNAP (food stamp) and General Assistance Benefactors a means to understanding the importance of nutrition, food budgeting, and easier access to affordable local foods. This proposed change acknowledges, identifies, and begins to address complicated problems preventing Rockland residents from embracing healthy food choices as first choices. The change will lay the foundation to begin shifting the mindset and lifestyle of a sector of Rockland’s population that struggles to make regular healthy food choices due to financial constraints. In order to assist this population in making life long healthy food choices, policy changes, education sessions, and community initiatives/tools need to be developed and implemented to insure this population has access to affordable local foods.

2. Harbor Trail and the Community Development Office received an $800 grant to development written materials to begin a public outreach campaign regarding Harbor Trail and the next construction phase of the Trail.

 

City Manager Search Public Input Always Welcome.

We had a public meeting to gain information, but if you missed it, Watch the rebroadcast on UStream. Click Here. City Manager Search Public Input Meeting, November 29, 6:30 PM, Council Chambers, and if you have comments, let us know either at city hall or email me if you want me to forward your thoughts.

The purpose of this meeting was to gather information regarding what the community believes are the major issues and challenges facing Rockland and to express what the qualities, education, background, and experience the new City Manager should possess to meet these issues and challenges. Don Gerrish and Dick Metivier from Eaton Peabody Consulting Group facilitated this meeting. Mr. Gerrish and Mr. Metivier also presented an overview of the process the Council will follow in selecting the new Manager. If you want to give input, the day is yet young. Do not hesistate to contact us. You can also view the meeting, as it was recorded and is being rebroadcast on UStream. Click here to go there.

TREES: Rockland will be awarded the full $4,700 we requested from Project Canopy to create a tree master plan/inventory.

It's a go. Thanks to Audrey Lovering, our new Community Development Director, and the hard work of the Parks Commission. We will inventory the city's trees, determine where the need to add to the trees lies, since if we don't start planting more, soon, we will start losing our urban forest, and we will develop a master plan and move forward with implementation. How's that? Super fab.

Chief Jordan Receives Grant for the Rockland FD/EMS

Chief Jordan reports that he has been awarded a Local Capacity Grant under the Emergency Management Performance Grant. The City will be reimbursed up to $5,532.36 for qualified expenditures against the grant application. CONGRATULATIONS Chief Jordan!

Construction Update

As you are all familiar, Limerock Street now has a pavement coating on it, but we will probably be digging again in the spring. It was discovered that there is a large fiber optic hub under the intersection of Union and Limerock, and the telephone company being right next to it, it probably made sense to put it there. This hub serves most of Knox County, and it's a damned good thing no one dug into it.

And, we are probably going to spend our winter trying to figure out who is responsible for this oversight. In the meantime, the projects have wound down for the year, and we will be back at it in the spring.

We got a bill for an additional 109,000 dollars for all of these unforseen circumstances, and Acting Manager Tom Luttrell decided to pull the plug on the project until some clear resolution could be attained on the inconsistencies in information, planning, and execution. Left to do is the Grace Street Area, trying to make sense of the Limerock Street area.