News

New Gloucester Town Manager report
Submitted by Rosemary Kulow

Household Hazardous Waste Collection

A total of 341 people visited the household hazardous waste collection event at the Gray public works facility Saturday, August 27th. Of those participating, 21 (6.2%) came from New Gloucester; 14 (4.1%) were from Pownal; 45 (13.2%) were from North Yarmouth; and 261 (76.5%) were from Gray.

Plenty of volunteers were there to take information from those visiting the event, so we duplicated efforts for awhile. Because of that and New Gloucester's low participation rate, the Board Chairman and I left the event at about 10:30. We turned data collection over completely to members of the Gray Recycling Committee and others. Costs of the event will be shared according to participation rates.

Vandalism at Rowe Station Road Recreation Field

Staff discovered that portable toilets had been set on fire and that the chain for the snack shack padlock had been cut with bolt cutters. Cumberland County Sheriff's deputies were called and the incidents reported. The necessary repairs were made.

Public Works Employees

Two highway crew members resigned from town employment to work elsewhere. The vacancies were advertised, applications received and reviewed, and interviews of applicants conducted. The Public Works Director has offered the positions to two applicants. Marc Moreau started as a Truck Driver/Laborer Thursday, September 08, 2005, and Matt Jackson is scheduled to start work as a Truck Driver/Equipment Operator September 26th. Welcome to our municipal team, and best wishes to both of them!

New England Managers' Institute

The Town Manager spent Wednesday, August 31st at the New England Managers' Institute at Sebasco Harbor Resort learning about and discussing social marketing principles and strategies to increase public appreciation of the functions, value, and vision of town and city government. Attendees learned how to set marketing goals, identify priority target audiences, and develop key messages that promote desired exchanges. Participants also learned about the key elements for creating a core communications program, gained insights for meeting our towns' current marketing/communications challenges, and identified next steps. The day's agenda included the following:

--Reaching and Teaching the Public - principles of effective marketing/communication, understanding and addressing diverse learning styles, and developing an overall plan.

--Identifying Target Audiences and Addressing Needs, Wants, and Aspirations - examples of effective public education and core communications strategies; marketing goals, priority audiences, cost-effective marketing research; developing the "marketing mix."

--Communicating Your Message - overcoming barriers and delivering benefits, creating key messages and using multiple communications techniques to deliver them; practice delivering key messages.

Joint Leaders (Town of New Gloucester, Town of Gray, and SAD 15)

At the Joint Leaders meeting September 7th, representatives from SAD 15, the Town of Gray, and the Town of New Gloucester kicked off another year of collaboration and discussed the following:

--possible sponsorship of a joint fund-raising effort for hurricane victims;
--how to proceed this year with meetings of the Joint Leaders;

--issues for future discussion and consideration: energy crisis; joint meeting of the Town of Gray and SAD 15 to discuss Pennell; how to achieve goals in light of impending economic hard times; marketing the upcoming SAD bond and stressing that building maintenance will remain a high priority; next year's budget challenges and collective budget development.

Discussion at the next meeting Wednesday, October 5th at 7:30 a.m. will focus on initial strategies for dealing with the high cost of fossil fuels and other related cost increases. It is possible that the town managers may not be present at the meeting because of the MMA Convention.