News
New
Gloucester Town manager Report
Submitted by Rosemary Kulow
Public Works Director's Pickup
The
Public Works Department now has the new Ford pickup
for the Public Works Director. It is white in color.
Woodman
Road Reconstruction
Maine Municipal Association lists statutory requirements
for municipalities. Public works projects costing
more than $100,000 require a certified P.E. (professional
engineer). This means that the Woodman Road reconstruction
project requires a P.E. Kulow asked if the Board is
interested in procuring an engineer for this project
with next year's budget funds, or should the project
in its entrety and all its costs be included in the
Capital Investment Plan? Kulow recommended the latter.
Employment
Positions
The Town is currently advertising to fill three positions
on town staff: the Public Works Director, one Truck
Driver/Laborer, and one part-time clerical assistant
to work about 15 hours a week. One person was hired
to work as a Truck Driver. Thor Hall will begin working
around the first of November.
Public Works Director applications are due to the
Manager by November 5th. The following people have
been asked to serve on the interview panel: Peter
Coughlan, the head of the MDOT Local Roads Center;
Greg Dore, Public Works Director for the City of Skowhegan;
and Steve Libby, Chairman of the Board of Selectmen.
The Clerical Assistant is not able to work a full
40 hours per week as budgeted; therefore, another
person is needed to work about 15 hours per week.
The Assessors' Agent needs some help transferring
property data manually from the old DOS TRIO system
to the Windows-based TRIO system, so the clerical
assistant would initially help with this task. To
help defray the expensive advertising costs for employment
recruitment, we have set up an account with JobsInME.com
at a cost of $150 for three months at a time. Job
openings are posted directly on their web site, which
is very popular among job seekers. The cost of one
ad in the Sunday edition of the Portland Press Herald
costs more than $600. The goal is to cut back on that
expense whenever possible, especially for re-advertisements.
Skating
Rinks at Fairgrounds
The chairman of the Fairgrounds Committee has asked
town staff to do several tasks at the fairgrounds.
One of them is for the Fire Department to flood skating
rinks this winter. The Fire Chief said that the department
could do the initial flooding, but for subsequent
top-offs it would be better to get the fairgrounds'
water supply working and do it with that. Kulow said
they do not want to endanger the town's expensive
emergency vehicles by using them to frequently flood
skating rinks, when they should be reserved and in
working condition for emergency situations.
CIP
Process
Tentative Capital Improvement Plan Committee meetings
are scheduled at the following times:
7:00 p.m., Monday, November 22
7:00 p.m., Wednesday, December 1
7:00 p.m., Wednesday, December 8
7:00 p.m., Wednesday, December 15
Solid
Waste Study
Neal
Allen met with town staff again and has submitted
a draft report to Kulow that contains his recommendations.
The report should be ready for Selectmen's next regular
meeting November 15th.
Emergency
Operations Plan
The
Emergency Operations Plan will be presented to the
Board of Selectmen at its next regular meeting, November
15th.
Safety
Committee
The
first meeting of the Town of New Gloucester Safety
Committee was held at the Library on Tuesday, October
26th. The Chairman is Jon Rioux; the Vice-Chairman
is Nancy Pinette; and the Secretary is Suzan Hawkins.
Committee members include the following: Jim Farwell,
Suzan Hawkins, Scott Hodgman, Rosemary Kulow, Nancy
Pinette, Jeff Pratt, and Jon Rioux. Kulow distributed
materials from MMA about safety committees and programs.
The committee defined its mission, developed a work
plan, and agreed to read all the materials and inspect
their respective work areas for safety hazards before
the next meeting. The next meeting is at 12:00 p.m.,
November 30th at the Library.
Employee
Holiday Party & Open House for Bill Waterman's
Retirement
This event is planned for the evening of Friday, December
10th at Spring Meadow Country Club in Gray. Bill's
last day on the job is November 30th. More information
will follow as it becomes available.
Upcoming Events:
Tues. Nov. 2 Election Day
7:30 p.m. Tues. Nov. 2 Planning Board Meeting
5:30 p.m. Thurs. Nov. 4 Southern Maine Corridors Committee
in Scarborough
11:30 a.m. Fri. Nov. 5 MTCMA Membership Committee
meeting in Augusta
2:00 p.m. Fri. Nov. 5 Applications for Public Works
Director position due
6:30 p.m. Wed. Nov. 10 Central Corridors Coalition
meeting in Windham
Thurs. Nov. 11 Office closed for Veterans' Day holiday
1:30 p.m. Fri. Nov. 12 Cable TV franchise negotiations
in Portland
