By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

NAPLES — During the first week of 2021, most town officials view countering COVID-19’s spread and balancing the budget among the top five New Year’s goals for their municipalities. 

Then, there are goals that express the individual needs of each town. For example, Casco will be reviewing the employee pay scale and benefits packages that might be a bit behind the times. Raymond is seeking to attract more volunteers and employees to its public safety department for the long haul. Naples is collaborating with other towns on Long Lake — the towns of Bridgton and Harrison — to resolve safety issues on the waterways by hiring a full-time inland fisheries warden for extra enforcment. 

TOWN OF NAPLES 

Naples Town Manager John Hawley ranked COVID-19 concerns on the top of his list, and some of this year’s goals are inter-related to the pandemic.

“Certainly navigating COVID is high on the list for this year,” he said before mentioning the budget.

“The challenge is getting the budget approved. Normally, we have our town meeting during the last week of April. With stricter meeting requirements, that is not likely to happen. That is up in the air,” he said. 

The Naples Budget Committee begins meeting Wednesday, Jan. 13. 

Goal No. 3 is to set up the shared services of a full-time game warden with the towns of Bridgton and Harrison to resolve problems with public safety on the water. In 2020, more recreational boaters was a trend that occurred because of the social distancing that was being required by the CDC during the pandemic. More boats meant more people, often first-time boaters, out on the already popular lakes. 

 “People who took advantage of water activities this year — it was kind of unmanageable. The improper behavior was unmanageable,” Hawley said.  

“The towns of Bridgton, Harrison and Naples have agreed to enter into a contract with a dedicated game warden. The town managers have agreed. We just have to get it approved through our budget. Naples already has the funding so I already have the green light from my board to do this,” he said. 

Goal No. 4 is figuring out how to attract people to eat and shop at local businesses while the festivals and events that draw large crowds may be cancelled, Hawley said. Like the town meeting, events such as the Maine Blues Festival and the Independence Day fireworks, are still up in the air. 

“The lack of festival and fireworks” has driven down sales and hurt local businesses, Hawley said.  

“We will be looking for alternative ways to promote the community and the businesses during a time when the economy is negatively impacted by COVID,” he said. 

Also, Naples residents are looking toward the future: A new community center that won’t be ready to face voters for financialapproval for two years or more.

“In the coming year, a committee will be looking into the potential development of a community center and town office,” Hawley said.

TOWN OF BRIDGTON 

Bridgton Town Manager Robert “Bob” Peabody, Jr., did not hesitate to put COVID-19 concerns in the No. 1 spot. Also, Peabody talked about the importance and the logistics of wrapping up infrastructure projects that will improve the town.  

“Right at the top is dealing with COVID. It has been a challenge. As folks know, we closed down this spring for a period of time. We had to close this fall because two employees tested positive. It is a challenge to keep the town moving forward and offering services under the umbrella of this pandemic,” Peabody said. 

Goal No. 2 is “keeping our three major infrastructure projects going. The streetscape project is winding down. We are down to the final punch list. The lower Main Street reconstruction project — that shut down during the winter and that will start up this spring. The wastewater expansion has another year and a half” before it is finished, Peabody said. 

“I have staff who are overlooking the projects. It all blends together with keeping the town operational during the pandemic. Just because I have to close the office doesn’t mean that construction bills don’t get paid. It doesn’t mean that I don’t put out to bid other parts of the project. And, it doesn’t mean I don’t meet with the contractor,” Peabody said. “We have to provide oversight management. We have to hold monthly meetings with the contractor.”

Goal No. 3 has to do with regionalizing services and promoting public safety on the water. Bridgton’s two neighboring towns are planning to combine financial forces and together contract one full-time warden from the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. 

“One the challenges that we share with Harrison and Naples is people abusing their right to use Long Lake in a respectful manner — respectful to other boaters and respectful to our property-owners along the lake,” Peabody said.

The warden’s contract is going to be part of the budget process discussion, he said. He will pitch the idea to the selectmen and hopefully they will be agreeable to put it in the budget for residents’ approval. 

Budget development is goal No. 4. 

“I recognize that it has been difficult year financially for many of our businesses and our citizens,” Peabody said. “So, my challenge and goal is to develop a responsible budget with services people have come to expect while being mindful of the financialimpact on the businesses and citizens.”

“We had a zero budget increase last year and we hope to do that again this year,” he said. 

Peabody’s final goal covers the unexpected, the wild card. 

“The overall thing is keeping the town moving forward and adapting to circumstances as they present themselves,” he said.  

TOWN OF RAYMOND

Raymond Town Manager Don Willard had high hopes that 2021 will bring opportunities to improve the parks and recreation department. After all, recreation programs took a hit from the pandemic’s restrictions. That happened after the town hired a new recreation director in February. 

First, Willard addressed the pandemic and the budget process.

“Off the top of my head, the No. 1 goal is to provide effective, safe services as we work through the pandemic That is the overall goal: To get through this pandemic safely,” Willard said. 

“The town is in great financial condition, great shape going into the new year. The (Raymond) Board of Selectmen presented a budget that provides the level of services that we’ve been providing. On average, Raymond generally has a lower tax rate than our neighboring communities,” Willard said. “The highest number of services and a low tax rate— that is a goal.”

“Goal No. 3 is to continue to go forward with road construction work. We have a long standing commitment to road construction,” he said. 

Goal No. 4 is the development of Raymond’s new recreation department. 

“We hired a new director, Joseph “Joe” Crocker, right at the beginning of the pandemic. We hired him in February. We didn’t get to roll out the programs that we had envisioned,” Willard said. “I am hopeful that we will be able to do more with the recreation director, to integratethe recreation department with our private recreation association.” 

Goal No. 5 issimilarto one expressed by the Casco Board of Selectmen: Drawing in and retaining volunteers.

“One of the challenges is to attract more volunteers, both volunteers and full-time employees, especially in public safety. Our H.R. [human resources] person has been working on strategies, incentives, to attract both volunteers and full-time employees, especially in public safety. There is a high turnover in that area. People come to us and then move to bigger departments, not just in bigger towns in Maine but also in other states like Georgia, New Hampshire, Florida. They move to bigger departments,” Willard said. 

He ended on a positive note.

“I am optimistic that the Town of Raymond will move forward positively and safely. It’s business as usual in Raymond,” Willard concluded. 

TOWN OF CASCO

Interim Casco Town Manager Don Gerrish has a different take on what is and what is not a goal. 

While balancing the budget and trying to keep staff and the public safe from the Coronavirusare necessary objectives, these are not goals in his eyes.  

“I look at goals as things you’ve wanted to do but haven’t been able to do,” Gerrish said.

“Hiring a town manager is just something that has to be done. They have to do a budget because they do it every year. That is something that has to be done. COVID-19 — it’s here. It’s something they have to deal with,”  he said. 

For that reason, Gerrish did not place the coronavirus and its ramifications or doing a budget that pleases the taxpayers on the goal’s list.

Serving as interim manager since September, Gerrish does have some insight into the goals that would be most suitable for Casco. More than a month ago, Gerrish asked the selectmen to write down the goals for their town. From this discussion, he was able to determine common goals for the town to work on first. Another important tip for goal setting: Limit the number of goals.

“Goals are good. You cannot have too many of them or you’ll never do them,” he said. “You cannot do everything at once. You have to do a study to know what the next step is.”

For example, one goal of the selectmen was to get a handle on how to approach road maintenance and road paving. First, the town awarded a bid to a firm to do a roads-condition survey. Once the board has the information, it will better be able to figure out which roads need to be improved in what order.

“Sometimes, it is just gathering information to make good decisions for now and in the future,” Gerrish said. 

“What I try to do for goals is: There are a lot of things the select board had thought of and that they wanted focus on. I asked them what their goals for the year were. Then I took all their goals and put them together where there was consensus. Then, I set out a plan for specifically doing those types of goals,” he said.

The goals for the Town of Casco, as determined by the selectmen’s comments, are in no particular order: 1.) Doing an updated comprehensive plan, 2.) Reviewing and possibly readjusting employee pay-scale and benefits packages, 3.) Addressing road management and road maintenance, including the plowing of public easements, 4.) Streamlining the planning board process, and 5.) Attracting and maintaining volunteers on boards and committees.