State of the Town
Report
By Mitchell A. Berkowitz, Gray Town Manager
Continuing the tradition of the State of the Town
Reports to our citizens I am pleased to report many
items since the beginning of the fiscal year on July
1, 2004.
We provided support to the Council's efforts utilizing
the Comprehensive Plan as a guiding tool to review
all of the zones in town. Staff members have worked
on the redraft of the zoning map, preambles to the
zones and researched land use information as the Council
continues this most ambitious and important work.
The redesign of the Town's website continues with
the assistance of Virtual Town Hall. A "beta"
or workup site was developed and the Company continues
to work on the new site in hopes of having it replace
the current web site by February.
Support for the Council's efforts to resolve the Pennell
Building and land issue continued with a presentation
to the Attorney General followed by an appeal for
reconsideration on two important elements.
Provided research and presentation of public information
regarding the citizens initiatives and potential implications
to the core services of the Town of Gray.
The conduct of the November elections saw a record
voter turnout with several initiatives for voters
to consider. The elections were concluded despite
a voter machine failure late in the day. Election
workers did a superb job in meeting voter needs during
the 14 hour long voting day followed by four hours
of detailed ballot work and reports.
Work with the Department Heads to initiate an advanced
schedule for the development of the FY 2006 budget
including Capital Investments and schedules was successful
effort. This includes assisting the Council appointed
Compensation Committees market research and reporting.
The Council was able to conduct a full review of all
departments on Saturday, January 8 more than a month
earlier than the previous year.
We have worked with the Yarmouth Lumber Company officials
and the Maine DEP to achieve further environmental
remediation. Recently we established direct contact
with their President who has shifted the Company's
responses and remediation efforts into more of a proactive
rather than reactive approach. The most recent MDEP
report dated January 7, 2005 indicated water testing
results on all but one well are now below detectable
levels for diesel range organics, the primary pollutant.
The remaining well at the Smith property continues
to show detectable levels.
Working with the Council Finance Committee members,
the Town completed its year end FY 2004 Audit in full
compliance with the most recent requirements called
GASB 34. Additionally, we have been developing, through
Councilor Lynn Olson's direction, a new reporting
format for monthly financial activities and just this
week received a draft format for review. From this
level it will be sent over to Northern Data Services
to be programmed into our financial package. The town's
financial status is in full compliance with generally
accepted accounting principles.
At the Council's directive, we have successfully sold
a dormant tax acquired property. The closing transaction
will likely occur in February and the new property
owner has already undertaken a major physical clean
up of the property. The property will also be placed
back on the tax rolls.
We also completed the final documentation of what
constituted the re-alignment of Bull Run Road with
the Wilson family. The problem was that this work
was done some twenty years ago even though the documents
were never completed at that time. Execution of the
documents is also slated for February.
The Rt. 26 By-pass continues to progress but at a
rate that is clearly a slower pace than we would prefer.
Despite the speed, the project has entered into the
final design and land acquisition phases. We also
worked with recommendations for pedestrian amenities
along the project corridor including bicycle routing.
This latter work continues through the office of Mr.
John Baliki who is in charge of grants.
From a regional perspective our Public Safety and
Public Works department continue their collaborative
efforts that include surrounding towns. These ultimately
support the services delivered to Gray citizens.
Volunteers and a timber forester helped to clean up
the damage on a portion of Libby Hill as a result
of a micro burst last spring. The net results also
included revenues in excess of expenses that are now
set into the Libby Hill reserve account.
The long awaited PWD sand and salt shed was completed
and came on line in the fall of 2004. It continues
to provide the storage of the products used this winter
on our road system.
The improvements to the Transfer Station were also
completed as part of the same salt shed contract.
Now materials are thrown directly into roll offs which
are below grade eliminating the double handling in
the past. This opened the older bin area to store
scrap wood which is now chipped and hauled away at
a savings of over $31,000 to Gray. The vision of our
Transfer Station Manager continues to improve those
services.
It is with a great level of enthusiasm that I am able
to report that the Town of Gray continues to be healthy,
growing and challenging. Working with a dedicated
Council and a group of employees committed and loyal
to this community makes this a very satisfying and
professional opportunity.
Most of all is it a community that remains desirous
to live in, learn, work and play.
