Town Manager’s Report
Tuesday
July 5, 2005
Road Name Change:
This office received a request for a road name change and after review by the Staff it has been approved. Journee’s Way, LLC has changed the name of their 1800’ road from Journee’s Way to Timber Creek. This will be changed in the 911 Data base.
IF&W Renewal of the Discharge Permit:
We have received notice of the IF&W fish hatchery renewal application for their discharge of the settling pond at Hatcher Brook. The complete application is on file at the Gray Public Library for public inspection. The notice also outlines how citizens may request further information including but not limited to a public hearing.
Notice of Motion to Extend Stay:
We have received a copy of the filing by the Town and the MSAD #15 to extend the stay that was due to expire on June 30, 2005. The extension is to August 31, 2005 by mutual consent. This is in regards to the Town’s original motion to stay the stipulated judgment rendered on June 13, 2003.
Wilkies Beach Water Test:
As part of the Recreation Department’s efforts to ready Wilkies beach for the fourth of July weekend, Dean conducted a water test to assure safe water. The results were very favorable for swimming activities. Our initial concern had come from the high spring water and possible contaminations. None existed.
Year End Financial Actions:
Donna Hill and staff spent several extra hours on the night of June 30 to process the closing of the 2005 fiscal year and prepare for the Auditors arrival. The auditors are due to arrive on Wednesday, July 6. As Town Manager I will also be working on the Management Discussion and Analysis letter that is part of the year end audit and a requirement of GASB 34 accounting standards.
In discussing our year end expenditure balance with Donna she reports that of the $4.7 M budget as approved at the June 2004 Town Meeting, we will have about $15,000 of unexpended funds after the approval of the segregated funds. This is about 3/10th of one percent surplus. This is an un-audited number. We will also report the revenue balance at the July 19 meeting.
Libby Hill Maintenance:
As an ongoing effort to assure that the trails and properties remaining at Libby Hill are addressed for maintenance and the like, we met in the Superintendent’s office last week with representatives from Gray Community Endowment, George Litrocapes, Victoria Burns and myself. Carl explained the level of work he and some volunteers annually accomplish and that they were not able to carry that load…they needed help. As a result, this Wednesday, July 6 Ed Milose and myself will join George, Terry Towle ( Business Manager of MSAD #15) and Carl to walk the area starting at 8:15 AM behind the Middle School. We are willing to dedicate some staff time for trail mowing but first want to see the conditions and challenges. The cost of any work we do is covered by the budgeted amount, which is $2000 for
FY 2006.
As Council may remember, GCE, MSAD and the Town are just three of the key property owners with Hancock Land Management being the fourth. There are private land owners who allow access but rely upon the key players to maintain the trails. The collaboration of all land owners to assure access to their lands has made the whole Libby Hill area a much larger publicly used parcel that what could have been achieved otherwise.
Universal Waste Disposal:
Effective July 1 the Town like all other waster handlers, must now deal with the special handling of television sets and monitors due to their lead content. As such our costs for these are, in part, being charged to any Gray resident and user of the Transfer Station. The charges are $10 for monitors and $15 for console tv’s to simply give an example of the size and cost. We will continue the free disposal during August Fall Greening up weekend to determine the impacts of loss of revenue and report to the Council the findings and any recommendations.
Bidding of Projects:
Over the next several weeks the Town will be advertising several projects for which we are accepting bids. These include the painting of Stimson Hall, the Section 125 Plan, vehicle and equipment purchases for both Public Safety and Public works. We will also be notifying the Engineering firm of HNTB to proceed with the bidding process for the Bridge work on Mayall Road, Center road and the deck replacement of the Meguire Bridge.
Mass Gathering:
Over the July 4th weekend the Stonehedge Country Festival completed a safe and successful music festival. This is noted since it was only the second such mass gathering permit issued by the Town. Because we anticipated a greater crowd the Town and the applicants spent additional time in pre-planning. For this event, the crowds did not materialize but all of the pre-planning was very helpful for our future permit applicants.
The first mass gathering permit was issued to Juniper Farms as they conducted the National Holstein Cattle competition and auction. Gray will continue to experience these events in the future and as they occur, our community will receive recognition. It will be our challenge to balance the requests against the potential problems they may occasionally arise with such events.
Respectfully Submitted,
Mitchell A. Berkowitz
Town Manager
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