News Briefs

New SAD Director of Finance and Operations
At the January 28th Special School Board Meeting, Interim Superintendent Vicky Burns recommended the name of Mr. Terry Towle as the Director of Finance and Operations. Mr. Towle is the current Businesss Manager of Union #7 at Saco, Dayton. He has had many years of experience as a business manager for School Administrative Districts including SAD #61, Lake Region, SAD #75, Topsham, and SAD #6, Buxton. In addition, he has worked with school transportation, operations and maintenance as well as school construction. When Mr. Towle accepts his contract he will come to the District as soon as he fulfills his work obligations with Uniton #7. Towle's salary would be $67,500 and he would receive the same level of health care benefits as other Administrators, 78%

Progress on the employee SAD Tort Claim
In November, an employee of SAD 15 lodged a Tort Claim against the district, stating former Director of Finance and Operations Brian McDonnell had behaved inappropriately toward her and that the District knew or should have known. The failure of the District to stop McDonnell's behavior created a hostile working environment, the employee stated. The Monument asked Interim Superintendent Vicky Burns as to the progress of the Claim. There is no progress to report on the status of the employee's claim against the district, Burns said. The monument also asked Burns if the District plans to sue McDonnell. "I cannot report on any district plans to bring suit against Mr. McDonnell," Burns wrote.

Chief of Police to retire
The Chief of the Maine State Police, Colonel Michael R. Sperry, has announced his plans to retire. Sperry has served as chief since November of 1999 and is a 26 year veteran of the State Police. Public Safety Commissioner Michael P. Cantara said he will begin immediately the process to find Sperry's replacement. Cantara said Title 25, Section 1501 specifies that the chief of the State Police must come from the ranks of the commissioned officers within the department.

Cantara praised Sperry's accomplishments as chief which include a number of technological advancements; mobile data terminals in each cruiser and on-line access to criminal history records, Maine sex offender list and motor vehicle crash reports. Cantara said Sperry initiated new protocol for the response to domestic violence calls and made available protection from abuse orders on-line to Maine police agencies. Cantara also said Sperry opened up the hiring process for new troopers allowing police officers from the municipal and county ranks to join the State Police without have to repeat academy training.

Sperry joined the State Police in 1977 following graduation from the University of Southern Maine and he initially patrolled in Franklin County. Sperry was assigned for several years in the department's drug unit and from 1989 to 1999 he served in the criminal investigation division (CID) investigating homicides and suspicious deaths in southern Maine. While serving in CID, Sperry worked out of the Franklin County District Attorney's Office in Farmington under then-District Attorney Janet Mills. He was promoted to sergeant in 1994 and lieutenant in 1997.

Gray Council to review budget
The Town Council and the Department and Division Heads will meet on Saturday, February 14th starting at 8 a.m. at the Public Safety conference room to review the various FY 2005 budget Requests. This annual review allows the Council to get a sense of what the magnitude of the budget requests might look like. However, the budget delivered by the Town Manager in March becomes the official budget for the Council to work on. The meeting is open to the public. Call Town office at 657-3339 FMI.

Sand and Salt Shed and Transfer Station Projects
On Friday, January 30, 2004 there was a bid opening at 10 a.m. for these two Town of Gray Capital projects. There were a total of seven bidders and the bids ranged from a high of $721,150 to the lowest of $562,474. Town manaer Mitchell A. Berkowitz recommended that the Council award the bid to R&R Construction of Auburn Maine in the amount of $562,474.
The June 2003 Town Meeting approved the warrant article that authorizes the Town to borrow up to $370,000 for this project. The final amount actually borrowed will also be reduced by the funds in reserve which is estimated at $231,754 plus interest accrued. A project payment schedule will be developed and then the Council will determine when to go out for any borrowing.

Personnel Changes at Gray Town Office
Over the past month there have been some personnel changes that the Town manaer reports. Denise Tate decided to resign her position in the front office to spend more time with her new born as well as pursue a career change. As a result, Diana Cronin was promoted to that position. The Manager will evaluate work loads before deciding whether to fill the vacancy.
After several months of review and interviews Mark Stambach has been promoted to the position of Code Enforcement Officer on a regular basis. Mark has been filling in since former CEO Debby Parks left Gray's employ. Mark has completed his certifications in the time frames required and continues to demonstrate his knowledge and skills as the Officer. One of his immediate tasks will be to review current applications with Dick Cahill and conduct an interview process for the full time deputy CEO position.