2007 Report 02-20-2008 - Town of Scarborough

Letter of Transmittal from the
TOWN MANAGER
To the Town Council and Citizens of Scarborough:
It is my privilege to present the annual report on operations and
the financial condition of town government to the Council and
to the citizens of Scarborough. Each department including the
school department, the Public Library, council appointed
citizen committees and public agencies provide a brief recap of
their activities during the past fiscal year ending June 30, 2007.
This year we not only report on the past fiscal year’s activities,
accomplishments and challenges but the department managers
also offer insight into the future and how our actions today
affect our future. Planning, preparedness and strategic thinking
are important activities to keep our community on a secure
path to maintaining our quality of life. I especially want to
remind citizens that in July the Town will celebrate its 350th
anniversary beginning July 10 and ending on July 13 primarily
in Memorial Park. This report documents the year in review
but it also sets the stage for the new fiscal year.
I wish I could summarize the year’s activities and key
opportunities going into the future, into a couple of paragraphs
but that would not do justice to the various departments and the
myriad issues they deal with every day. Instead let me take this
opportunity to highlight in general what I consider to be some
of the key issues that government has confronted over the past
year and that will continue to challenge us in the future.
TECHNOLOGY – The town is committed to using the latest
technologies to build a better community, deliver services
more efficiently and to lower costs. The town is implementing
a multi-year plan to connect all of its facilities with fiber optic
cable. This allows us to create our own internal telephone and
data transfer system at a much lower cost then using one of the
commercial providers. Technology assists the Police and Fire
Departments with providing the patrol officer with instant
information on any incident to allowing the paramedics to
deliver the best emergency medical care. Internally technology
assists in employing a new purchasing system that has saved
the Town approximately $800,000 in contracting and
procurement costs. Also technology is helping to conserve
fuels and make all our buildings more energy efficient.
COMPREHENSIVE PLAN UPDATE – This year we had a
change in the position of Town Planner with the retirement of
long time planner, Joe Ziepniewski. Dan Bacon, Joe’s
replacement, has taken on the task of shepherding the
implementation of the comprehensive plan update with both
energy and insight into guiding the town into a period of
redefining how it will grow in the next 10 years while
preserving the qualities that make Scarborough one of the most
attractive communities for families in Maine. Oak Hill and
Dunstan have already been rezoned as part of the
Comprehensive Plan to allow more mixed use (business and
residential) and higher density to create a stronger sense of
neighborhood and encourage redevelopment.
RECYCING AND SOLID WASTE – In 2007 our goal was to
encourage residents to recycle everything that could be
recycled by making it easy and convenient. Public Works
introduced the automated curbside collection system by
providing residents with two
roll-out containers of equal size
for recycling and waste. Most of
the waste we generate in our
homes is actually recyclable and
for every ton that is recycled the
town saves $155. With
implementation of the new
curbside system, our recycling
rate jumped from 18% to almost
40%. The challenge for the
future is how to find ways to
encourage residents to think
even more aggressively about
recycling and think of waste
as a by-product of recycling.
Our goal is 50% recycling
with one of the State’s most
efficient collection systems.
SENIOR CITIZEN PROGRAMS – 2007 was the beginning of
a new era in attempting to meet the needs of our senior
citizens. Early in the year the town conducted a comprehensive
study of who are our seniors and what are their needs. This
study was presented to the Town Council and resulted in the
creation of a Senior Programming and Implementation
Committee to begin the task of creating a senior citizen
advisory committee, developing and creating a new
organization to solicit senior volunteers and creating programs
to meet needs highlighted by the study. The outcome was the
creation of WOW, an acronym that is defined in the
Community Services report on senior programs.
TRAGIC NOTE – The town relies on volunteers to assist all
many of our departments in providing services to the
community. One group that assists the Public Safety
Department is the Volunteers In Police Services (VIPS), they
are individuals, many retired, that volunteer hours to assist the
Police Department in non-critical or administrative areas. One
of the volunteers offered to assist the Police at the scene of
traffic accident on a cold night in December 2006 and
unfortunately a motorist made a turn without seeing the
volunteer. James Durant was struck and later died from his
injures. To recognize Jim’s selfless desire to help his
community and to acknowledge the value of all volunteers, the
roadway through Memorial Park was named Durant Drive.
The topics that I have chosen to highlight are representative of
the events, activities and operations that made fiscal year 2007
an important year and many other examples are found
throughout this annual report. The events of fiscal 2007 and the
programs initiated will have a significant impact on the year
ahead but these actions are all part of a plan that balances
services with financial responsibility. Reading through this
annual report will hopefully give the reader a sense that we
remain a financially strong and stable community with
employees committed to the highest standards of public
service. But there is always room for improvement and we
welcome your comments and suggestions on improving both
the delivery of services and the reporting them in this annual
report.
Respectfully submitted,
Ronald W. Owens, Town Manager
July 1, 2006, through June 30, 2007
Ronald W. Owens
Town Manager
3