205 Main St. P.O. Box 586 Biddeford, Maine 04005

City of Biddeford, Maine

205 Main St. P.O. Box 586 Biddeford, Maine 04005

City Manager’s Report

To February 17, 2009

John D. Bubier

City Manager
City of Biddeford

I will miss Bob Dodge greatly. Perhaps we can set up and annual award like The Robert ‘Bob’ Dodge Award … For Outstanding Service to the Citizens of Biddeford. Just athought……

Announcements

TODAY IS A DAY TO MOURN ONE OF OUR OWN

Photo Credit John Swinconeck of the Journal Tribune

Today is a day to mourn one of our own, we all had our own personal relationship with this man, I would like to share some thoughts with all of you, none of us know when our last day will be, we work hard, we raise our families, and we try to do what we think is right towards one another.

We have hopes and dreams and we work toward the day when we can retire, Bob's dream according to Josie was to retire in Florida, he had just bought a home there. When we pray over him in these next two days let us not just grieve over a man that accomplished so much and; never lived to retire, let us celebrate his life. His work is all around us, his legacy is Biddeford.

He leaves behind two children and they will live his dream, and know that Bob is still with them. We are a family when we work for this great city, and though it can be dysfunctional at times, we are all in this together.

So today I celebrate Bob's life, and thank him for helping me with the downtown development project,and all the other work he did. I will make sure that I know each day could be my last and that I will use my best china when I drink tea,and not save it for that special occasion. Each day we have is our special occasion.

I celebrate all of you as well and thank you for being a member of the cities family.

In celebration of Bob's life,

Sincerely, Mayor Joanne Twomey

If you have a memory, prayeror positive thought about Bob that you would like to share please email it and we will post them on this website.

I absolutely love this story . We need to see if this is possible in the State of Maine cause if you look at the issues for next year and over the last 10 years the shift from state funding of state mandated programs is just alarming and flat out wrong:

Board OKs Legal Challenge to Make State Pay for State Programs
Unwilling to let the state budget devastate Riverside County's finances, the Board of Supervisors decided Tuesday to pursue legal action to prevent the state from shifting responsibility for state services over to the county.
Supervisor John Tavaglione also announced at Tuesday's Board meeting that he is working with supervisors in other Southern California counties to form a coalition and hold a joint meeting in Sacramento, a move aimed at hammering home the message to the governor and Legislature that the state cannot cripple the counties in order to resolve the state budget mess.
Board Chairman Jeff Stone said the Board wants the state to address the needs of children, the elderly and the sick whose lives depend on services that, by law, the state is obligated to fund.
"It's easier for the state to ignore people who live in our community. They don’t see them every day. We do," Stone said.
"In the short term, we'll do what we can to make sure people get the help they need. But the state wants counties to take responsibility for state programs that cost hundreds of millions of dollars. The state seems bent on driving itself into bankruptcy. We're not going to let them do the same to us," he said.
In closed session today the Board voted 4-0, with Supervisor Wilson absent, to authorize the county to file or join in an action to relieve the county from providing state services that have not been sufficiently funded by the state. The Board also authorized legal action to compel the state controller to give the county money already appropriated for state programs. County officials said millions of dollars are being withheld.
Tavaglione said he hopes a joint public meeting involving Board members from five neighboring counties will be held Feb. 12 in Sacramento. Those counties represent 20 million people, half the state’s population, and would provide a strong voice calling for a resolution to the state's budget stalemate. Full or partial boards from Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Imperial, Los Angeles and Orange counties are expected to meet with state legislators to discuss impacts of state deferments on counties.
"Together, we can send a strong message on behalf of our constituents that the state can’t balance its budget on the backs of counties," Tavaglione said.
The developments occurred Tuesday during a board meeting that included lengthy discussion about Riverside County's budget. County officials expect that 50 layoffs could be needed before the end of the year to address flagging revenues caused by the economic slowdown. Another 200 layoffs might be needed in the coming fiscal year.
County Executive Officer Bill Luna told board members Tuesday that millions of dollars in county reserves could be wiped out by April depending on actions by state officials, who already have announced plans to defer more than $100 million in state payments for social services by the end of the year. The county implemented a five percent budget cut in the current fiscal year and expects to impose a 10 percent cut next year.
On Tuesday, the Board adopted a policy not to backfill state funding cuts for state programs when the cuts imperil the county's financial position. Board members also directed department heads limit spending and take steps to meet budget goals while maintaining core services.
"We can't put off unpleasant decisions," Luna told the Board, explaining that delays would require more drastic cuts later on. "We cannot fail to meet the task ahead."

DECD’s Brian Doyle has made a great effort to assist us in these times when Bob Dodge was not able to be in the office .With Bob’s passing we will be very grateful for Brian’s help until we are able to ramp up.

The Heart of Biddeford and the Orten Foundation continue to do wonderful work to pull the various components of the City’s population together. The work will lead to a united effort to pull the cultural and economic edges together for a stronger city of Biddeford.

The Biddeford Cable committee continues to work hard to resolve the issues around the pairing od channel 3 and channel 85. The thought is that since channel 4 is not used now by a network wouldn’t it be great to have the two public access channels together. We will continue to hammer away on Time Warner on this very sensitive issue.

Biddeford/Saco hosted the NNEPRA operations committee at the new Saco/Biddeford area Amtrak station. Over 35 people from along the Downeaster line came to the meeting and were thrilled with the new facility. They were also very talkative about the clear improvements in the Mills district.

Emory School project continues to gain momentum with a very dedicated group pushing for a well rounded service delivery building anchored by GWH and the Biddeford Public access cable program.

As the Chairman of the Municipal managers association of York County, I have held two meetings with the congressional staff folks from the offices of Snowe, Collins and Pingree to discuss the Economic stimulus package. We are very worried that the funds coming in will be used to fund existing projects already funded rather than new capitol projects like the Biddeford High School;. We will continue to push on this important issue.

Stone Cliff road is an issue that has been around for a very long time After having several calls on the issues around the ownership of the pathways and that issue of the ROW for electric power and waster water lines we will be doing a concerted effort to get to the bottom of this issue More as it becomes available.

The city is well represented at the MMA LPC in both the general assembly and at the subcommittees. The city manager and at large councilor David Flood are the city’s representatives.

On February 20st, 21nd, Portraits a 2 night Franco American night at Biddeford City Theater will showcase a new play, La Souillionne, written by Biddeford’s own Dr Norman Beaupre. On the second night Greg Chabot will submit a night of monologues in French and in English. The evening has been underwritten by a generous sponsorship by KEYBANK and the Richeloux Club. The evenings are free to the public. Come and enjoy.

June 5th mark your calendar. There will be a very special event at city theater. The members of the graduating doctors in the UNE class of 2009 will be inducted into the branch of the service of their choice It is rumored that a very special guest will perform in the ceremony.

In the recent past several events have increased the media coverage of MERC. The NOV on several issues plus the discussion surrounding the Air Emissions renewal are at the top of the list. As a result the former mayor of Saco has shared this letter to the current DEP commissioner David Littell :

An open letter to Commissioner David Littell of the Department of Environmental Protection:
I repeat my earlier note of congratulations for the Department' swift action on MERC's late December odor violations. However, as you might imagine, the February 7 media story about the Department giving MERC the green light to ignore reporting requirements has really shaken people up. This community is very angry about what has taken place.
In my opinion the impact of the story was made more severe by your staffer's pronouncement that the DEP has no plans to issue any penalty against MERC for failing to report odor complaints, as specifically required by state rules: "Facility personnel must immediately contact the Department's Solid Waste Division to report odor complaints received by the facility." There is nothing ambiguous about this language. For the DEP to excuse MERC's non-compliance by having a staffer say, "It's one of those things that hasn't been clear," is a big mistake.
I am hoping that these were the remarks of someone who was caught off guard by a reporter. That would be understandable, and forgivable.
All eyes are on the DEP, Commissioner Littell. At stake is whether or not the people of Maine believe the Department is more concerned about the people it is charged to protect, or the expensive lobbyists and lawyers MERC pays to work the halls up in Augusta. Given the action DEP took in January, I hope it is the former.
Mark Johnston
former Mayor, Saco

Twin Cities Renaissance got into the flow by reporting on a piece of reporting by city reporter Dina Mendros:

TCR said The Journal Tribune published some outstanding investigative journalism today.
In an opinion piece published in the same paper last September, the Commissioner of Maine's Department of Environmental Protection wrote that, "…the inability of Maine Energy to resolve the incessant odor complaints raises the possibility that the issues may be simply irresolvable…"
Maine Energy's incessant odor nuisance is certainly "irresolvable" if its partner in crime continues to be the DEP itself. Today's article details exactly how MERC has been able to get away with being a constant odor nuisance. Worse, DEP says it has no plans to "address the lack of notification for prior odor complaints" or "issue any penalty against the facility for this." This is absolutely stupefying.
Journal Tribune, Saturday, February 7, 2009
MERC ODOR COMPLAINTS OVERLOOKED
By Dina Mendros, Staff Writer
BIDDEFORD – Although odor has been an ongoing concern for critics of the Maine Energy Recovery Co. incinerator, the company has not been passing on odor complaints to the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, as regulations require.
And the agency has not been pressing the company to comply.
According to DEP regulations, incinerators such as Maine Energy, which process solid waste into refuse-derived fuel, are required to inform the department's Solid Waste Division "immediately" of any odor complaints, according to Biddeford Environmental Code Officer Brian Phinney.
However, Maine Energy has not been doing so and the DEP has not been requiring the facility to comply.
According to Eric Hamlin, an enforcement agent with DEP's solid waste division, his office has received only a handful of odor complaints in recent years related to the downtown Biddeford incinerator.
The few complaints his office has received since 2000, said Hamlin, have come from Saco resident and former Mayor Mark Johnston and an employee of Run of the Mill brew pub in Saco, both received last year. Another was referred by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2000.
While Hamlin said he has been frustrated that he hasn't received complaints immediately in the past, his department has not pressed Maine Energy to report odor complaints.
In fact, it appears that the Solid Waste Division enforcement agents were unaware of the department's regulation requiring immediate notification of odor complaints.
When a copy of this regulation was sent to Hamlin by e-mail on Thursday, he said, "After much discussion here, it looks like it would apply.
"It's one of those things," he said, "that hasn't been that clear."
On Dec. 23, 2008, Hamlin issued a violation notice to Maine Energy regarding an odor complaint lodged the previous day. It was the first such violation notice lodged against the company, and as a result Hamlin said he made a decision at that time to request that Maine Energy notify him of all odor complaints when they occur.
However, he said, he didn't intend to address the lack of notification for prior odor complaints as a stand-alone issue or issue any penalty against the facility for this.
Although Hamlin may have been unaware of the notification requirement, the lack of follow-through appears to stem from a decision made at a higher level.
In a Dec. 29, 2006 letter from DEP Commissioner David Littell to former Mayor Wallace Nutting, when the city was negotiating a waste handling agreement with Maine Energy, Littell stated that the Biddeford incinerator was classified as an incinerator, not a processing facility.
Littell responded that processing facilities are obligated to follow regulations to immediately report odor complaints to the DEP. He did not address the issue of whether Maine Energy was required to follow rules calling for immediate reporting of odor complaints.
However, Phinney cited a regulation that specifically addresses refuse-derived fuel incinerators such as Maine Energy, stating that they are subject to the odor regulations that apply to processing facilities.
Maine Energy General Manager Ken Robbins said he recalled the issue of reporting all complaints to the DEP was brought up, at Biddeford's request, during the contract negotiations.
After discussing the matter with DEP, Robbins said, it was his understanding the department didn't want that level of reporting.
"The end result," said Robbins, "was that we were not going to notify them every time."
Instead, the company has been maintaining records of these incidents that Robbins said will be made available upon request.
According to an odor log summary compiled by Biddeford, the city's Enviroline, a telephone number where odor complaints can be lodged with the city, received 52 such complaints in 2008.
When a complaint is lodged, representatives from both the city and Maine Energy are required to respond to the location of the complaint to make a determination of whether the incinerator was the party responsible for the odor.
According to the log, the odor stemmed from Maine Energy in 20 of those 52 incidents. Only one odor occurrence, which took place on May 13 at the intersection of Main and Adam streets, reached the threshold necessary to warrant that the city issue a violation.
Maine Energy disputed the violation and that issue has not yet been settled, said Phinney.
The majority of the complaints, 30, were attributed to other sources. Robbins noted that there is a lot of public discussion about odor complaints attributed to Maine Energy but little about complaints attributed to other sources.
He questioned how much of the discussion was a concern about the odor and how much was due to a "political agenda."
In the past, said City Manager John Bubier, the DEP has told the city that odor complaints are a local issue.
"The fact that they are looking at it now is great," he said.
This concern and others may be brought up during public hearings that Mayor Joanne Twomey hopes will take place in Biddeford regarding the incinerator's air license, which is approximately three years overdue.
Robbins said that Maine Energy applied for the license in a timely manner. It appears that the hold-up is on the DEP's part, even though, said Phinney, the department has already passed its own deadline for issuing the new license.
--- Staff Writer Dina Mendros can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 324 or