Microsoft Word - Final Annual Report 2019.docx

ANNUAL REPORT 2018-19

Report of the Town Manager

“Never look back unless you are planning to go that way.” -Thoreau

There is a lot on the horizon for this community; many plans have been laid, or are in various levels of progress with some visible and some less obvious. Many notable projects include re- development of our walking downtown, reassessment of the town facilities on Lewiston Rd, expansion of the recreation programs to include senior activities and the promotion of Mechanic Falls as an age-friendly community. These activities go hand in hand with supporting the numerous private development projects currently underway around town. The most labor intensive of the lot has been the assessment and realigning of our general government activities in order to achieve improved compliance as well as transparency. The budget presented and passed by the Council and the Budget Committee is the first step in that direction. First, it realigns expense formats to allow for more clarity and transparency to the cost of the services we provide. Secondly, it begins to address certain service and compliance shortcomings following growing changes to state mandated requirements of procedures and reporting coupled with years of flat budgeting in the face of inflation. I believe that our municipal budget should represent our values as a community. What we choose to provide for services should be rooted in the demand of our residents. As our town grows and more commercial development is welcomed into the community, we will continue to adjust our service levels on a supply & demand model to ensure we do not attempt to dictate what municipal services should be but instead respond to the demands presented to us. Over the past 10 months I have spent a fair amount of time working with the Council to lay the groundwork for a comprehensive long-range plan. We have stepped back from the Town Office relocation as new information and costs came to light, and we have incorporated more community input into the planning and goal-setting procedure by including more residents and volunteers into the process. Through our work with various committees, including the Public Safety Advisory Committee and the Age-Friendly Task Force, we are opening up not just the dialog, but our decision-making process as a whole to new ideas and new opportunities for input. Moving forward, department by department, we are completing a detailed reassessment of all the town assets, from general maintenance and utility to repair and replacement lifespan. This approach is essential to ensure that we properly maintain our assets as well as achieve a certain stability & expectancy in budgeting. Once we first get a solid understanding of our resources, clarifying the demand of our current services, we will be better suited and prepared to take on the tasks of tomorrow. I look forward to creating new opportunities and avenues for even more community input as we continue this process. All the Best,

Zachary W. Maher

16

Page