2007 Annual Report TOWN MANAGER
As I sit down to write my twenty-second annual report for the Town of Bar Harbor, I find myself reflecting on how this job has changed over the years. My primary service to the Town Council remains relatively unchanged, but where we are spending our time has certainly evolved. Council and, consequently, me as their staff, is focusing on more of the "big picture", comprehensive goals and less on the day-to-say details of how to accomplish those goals. The seven directors who manage the town departments are more than capable of handling the details, so my task is to effectively communicate your elected officials goals to the staff, so that we can accom-plish their goals together.
Shortly following the election of new councilors each June, the Town Council develops goals and strategies for the next five years and sets short-term priorities for the coming year. In 2007 they started their goal setting process from the proposed policies, goals and strategies of the Comprehensive Plan which they expected to be adopted at the November election. Priorities were set and a quarterly reporting schedule was established so that town staff could update Council on the status of each goal. This process has worked very well, assuring that we as town employees are working on the projects which matter most to your elected officials.
Individual councilors have changed over the last decade, but one over-riding council goal has remained the same: to keep your property taxes as low as possible, while delivering high quality service. One of the ways we do that is by the integration of the work of all branches of the town government. Phase Two of the Ledgelawn Avenue reconstruction project is a good example. This complex project was carried off with hardly a hitch by Public Works Director Chip Reeves and his excellent team from the Highway Division, Water Division and Wastewater Division. Everything from storm drains to sidewalks was rebuilt all the way from Waldron Road to Mount Desert Street. This project was only one part of our continuing efforts to stretch your tax dollars by rebuilding all of the infrastructure at once, rather than picking away at it and having to pave, repave and then pave it again. Such scheduling is no easy matter, but Chip's newly completed five year capital improvement plan integrated all three budgets (sewer, water and General Fund) to help us better understand just how much infrastructure work is needed and how we can better juggle future projects so you get the most bang for your buck. As a result of Chip's planning, you'll be seeing even more capital projects over the coming years.
Another goal of Council has been to improve communications with all of their appointed boards and committees. With the adoption of a Charter amendment in the fall of 2006, the Town Council received authority to implement a Code of Ethics for all elected Town officials, as well as those they appointed. The existing Ethics Ordinance was updated to include the elected officials, but also to setup an independent Ethics Commission composed of the officers of the Superintending School Committee and Warrant Committee, in addition to those of the Council. An enforcement procedure was also developed and adopted as part of this ordinance, and Council processed its first ethics complaint before the year was out. Particularly successful was an ethics training program which we developed and implemented this year to assure that all elected and appointed boards and committees understood appropriate standards of ethical behavior.
One of my primary duties is to develop the three budgets needed to properly raise, allocate and spend nearly $19 million per year. Again, these are tied to the strategies set each year by the Council during its goal setting process. I was pleased that we were able to adopt 2007 general and sewer budgets which did not exceed the 3.3% cost of living adjustment granted to all Social Security recipients the previous January. Even better, the water budget contained no rate increase at all, but to be fair, this was a result of the 19% rate increase approved by the Maine Public Utili-ties Commission the previous year to fund some of the long-neglected capital improvements needed to keep the system operational and in compliance with Federal and state regulations. During the calendar year 2007, Council received a very positive financial report from our auditors. A copy of the highlights are included later in this report, but in brief, the Finance Department, under the very capable leadership of director Stan Harmon, is taking good care of your tax dollars, mak-ing sure they are appropriately spent and safely invested.
Probably the most controversial action taken in 2007 was my recommendation to add staff in the Assessing Office. Although I had denied the Assessor's assistance requests for four years, the burden of increasing State regulations, the backlog from many years of neglected duties and deteriorating customer service required that we do something different. While we had hoped to work out a cost-sharing arrangement with the other eight municipalities in the League of Towns, that hasn't worked out, so the FY09 budget facing ratification at the June town meeting now includes funds for a deputy assessor. While this appears to be a radical step, our research has found that a two person assessing office is very common for communities our size. I hope you will support this much needed position.
In no particular order, there are quite a few other projects that occupied substantial portions of my time this last year. Council has embarked upon a new economic development effort, not the least of which is tackling our cruise ship conundrum. Stay tuned for the report of the Cruise Ship Study Task Force which is expected to make it's final report by the middle of 2008. Meanwhile, the economic development Stakeholders Group is looking for ways to preserve our quality of life while keeping our local economy vital. Council also backed the Northeast Creek workforce housing project this last year, as did the voters at Town Meeting in June. They also improved communications with our citizens by televising the Appeals Board and Design Review Board meetings and continued their efforts to preserve public shore access by researching the Town's legal title to Bridge Street and The Bar. One owner cleaned up his junkyard and another is awaiting a court date, unless he gets it cleaned up before then. Council gave the go-ahead to the Friends of Acadia and Acadia National Park to restore the Schooner Head Path and pushed long and hard to get the MDOT to make improvements to the Eden Street sidewalks near the college, while the State preferred to redesign and rebuild the Route 3/198/102 intersection at the head of the island.
I guess it has been a pretty busy year. Much has been accomplished, but not without the cooperation and assistance of hundreds of volunteers, employees and the public at large. Thank you for whatever part you contributed to making it happen.
Respectfully submitted,
Dana Dana J. Reed Town Manager