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The Magic City Monthly December 2022

A Piece of Our Past

Millinocket’s first jail, located on Shack Hill was a small shed with one barred window and was surrounded by a tall stockade fence. The need for a jail came about due to the raucous behavior of some of the mill construction workers. Fred Gates served as police chief and fire chief. The Museum has the jail key and lock on display.

Photo curtesy of Millinocket Historical Society Curator, Trudy Wyman

Engage, Participate, & Subscribe!

Stay in the know by attending the various Council and Committee meetings. We appreciate any and all input and feedback. Please remember this is YOUR community and YOUR voice matters. Click here to view the current meetings calendar. If you cannot attend a meeting you can stay in the know by watching the recordings on our YouTube Channel. Feel free to subscribe to the channel to stay up to date. 


The Millinocket Town Council meets on the 2nd and 4th Thursday of each month at 5:30. Meetings are held in-person in Charles Sanders Council Chambers and remote access available via Zoom. CLICK HERE for more information regarding town council meetings! Please considering joining these meetings are participating in the discussion. All are welcome!

Municipal Updates


Public Works:

  • Both Loader mounted snow blowers have been serviced and prepared for winter.
  • The crew has been gathering loose and broken hot top from the first couple minor snowstorms.
  • Tree trimming has been on going on each plow route to prevent damage to the plow trucks.
  • Cutting Edges have been replaced on a few trucks in preparation for winter.
  • Shoulder work performed on Rhode Island to promote better drainage from the road surface.

 Transfer Station:

  • Brush pile was ground during the first and second week of December.
  • Waiting for the pile of mulch to be hauled away
  • Grimmel Industries has started to haul away the scrap metal pile.
  •  Public Works fabricated a ramp to access the storage container purchased just before COVID forced the shut down of recycling. The container will be used to store bailed materials until they are shipped.

Cemetery:

  • Cemetery gate closed at the onset of the snow season. Will be closed until spring.

Bryan Duprey, Director of Public Works


Fire Department

  • Working with the Recreation and Dept. Heads for the Winterfest Parade and activities during Feb. school break.
  • Placed new Stryker Power Pro II cots in 788 and 789. Training was held on operations of these new units.
  • Purchased 2 Pedi-Mate child ambulance restraint systems for 788 and 789 per EMS protocols. Training was held on these as well.
  • Currently have two medics out one for knee injury and the other with back injury, unsure at this time how long they will be out of service.
  • Had Fire Truck, Ambulance and Chief’s Pickup in Christmas in Katahdin Parade and attended event.
  • Had mechanical issue with 788 2015 Chevrolet Ambulance and Pelletier Manufacturing was able to get it right in and repaired so was not out of service.
  • Asst. Chief Cote is presently working on DOL/OSHA required annual training and will include other Town departments in this training early in 2023.

Thomas Malcolm, Fire Chief,

Public Health and Safety Officer


Waste Water Treatment Facility

  • The Town of Millinocket would like to remind the property owners/residents to not flush non-flushable items into the sewer system. Including, but not limited to: Baby Wipes, Flushable Wipes, Cleaning Wipes, Feminine Hygiene Products, Paper Towels, Tissues/Q-tips, Grease, Plastics, Mop Heads, or trash of any kind.
  • Municipal employees continue to find very large amounts of non-flushable items causing extreme plugs to the sewer system resulting in costly maintenance to our pumping stations. If this issue continues, this may result in an increase of your sewer rates. Thank you for this consideration.
  • In October the Treatment Facility processed 25.5 million gallons of wastewater. The average daily flow was 0.9 million gallons. Peak flow was 1.6 million gallons which was on November 12th. Removal rates for Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD5) were 95%, and Total Suspended Solids (TSS) was 97%. Total rainfall for October was 5.69 inches. Snowfall was 2.00 inches.

James Charette, Superintendent


Community Initiatives

  • Received $20,000 from the Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation for new turnout gear for the Millinocket Fire Department.
  • Received $600 from the Northern Penobscot Activities Council to go towards our rope tow project!
  •  The Town’s application to the Maine Service Fellow Program – A steward will be coming to Millinocket to work on Economic Development specifically in relation to the Millinocket Regional Airport. 
  • Oversaw the installation of the fence for the new dog park, ordered along with the support of Bryan Duprey (Public Works) and Jeff Campbell (Airport Manager) additional materials for the park i.e. signage, waste receptacles. 

Amber Wheaton, Community Initiatives Director


Town Clerks Office

  • Personnel Appeals Board: (2) Full seats available
  •  Recreation Advisory Committee: (1) Full seat available
  •  Cemetery Committee: (1) Full seat available
  • 2023 Snowmobile Registrations Available
  • 2023 Dog Licenses Available – Current year expires 12/31/2022
  • Mandatory $25 Late Fee 2/1/2022
  • 2023 Boat Registrations – Available on December 1st.
  • 2023 Inland Fisheries & Wildlife Licenses – TBA
  • Continued restoration efforts of vital records by filing, indexing, and storage.

 Diana M. Lakeman, Town Clerk/Deputy Tax Collector

Sharon A. Cyr, Tax Collector/Deputy Clerk

 

Assessor

  • We are starting to prepare for the property inspections next summer in conjunction with our proposed revaluation. 

Lorna Thompson, Tax Assessor


Millinocket Municipal Airport

  • Jet Fuel sales are outpacing projected revenues for FY23, Sales remain steady.
  • 3000 gallons of Jet fuel was delivered on 12/12 to keep up with the demand.
  • Replacement of the Terminal Building chimney is complete.
  • The underground Avgas tank will have had its annual inspection is complete.

Jeff Campbell, Airport Manager



Millinocket School Department

  •  The students of Granite Street have been spending time in the library making Christmas Cards to be distributed to the area nursing homes and Assisted Living places.
  •  The wreath lighting at Granite was held Friday December 2. Mr. McEwen led the students in a couple of Christmas songs and then there was a countdown to lighting the wreath! 
  •  Stearns High School just signed a 2023-2024 contract with an agency who represents students from European countries. This agency will have more information in early spring as to the number of students interested in coming to Millinocket. 
  • We are currently looking for host families. If you’d like to be a host family, contact us at [email protected] or 723-6400. 
  • Stearns Gym floor refinishing: We are one of the very schools left that still perform this work in-house and have for over 40 years. Most all schools now contract out this work, however doing this ourselves provides not only considerable cost savings but also a higher quality end result. The Stearns gym is one of the largest north of Bangor at 13,500 sqft. If contracted out, this work would cost a minimum of .80 cents per sqft or nearly $11,000. Doing this work in-house reduces this expense by more than Half!  The gym sanding and re-finishing process is performed annually. This is done not only to protect the floor making it bright and shiny again, but of greater importance, the fresh finish provides a new safe and slip resistant playing surface making players less prone to injury.
  • The Stearns Athletic Boosters and Girsa Auto body have joined forces to purchase a new scoreboard for the softball field.

East Millinocket Police Department


  • We were able to join Penobscot County Sheriff Office in their “Secret Santa” event. We visited two local grocery stores and helped dozens of people in need pay for their groceries. This was a very humbling experience, and you could tell we made a very big impact on several people. We are in hopes we can continue this for years to come.
  • The Millinocket Marathon was a very successful, safe event. This year we partnered with PRCC and Penobscot EMA and operated a command post which was extremely helpful to the operation. We will look to expand on this next year.
  • In the last few months, we have had (5) drug overdose deaths in the tri-town Katahdin Region. Officers are continuing to investigate. We continue to aggressively work drug cases as it’s a crucial part of slowing the overdose deaths and the effects to the region.
  • Starting January 2023, officers will need to begin to collect demographic information on all traffic stops because of a law change in last year's legislative session.

"I would like to take this opportunity on behalf of the Town of Millinocket to express appreciation to all election officials, the newly appointed Deputy Clerks of the election Amber Carney & Sharon Cyr, appointed Warden of the Election Michael Knight, all ballot clerks, and deputy registrars; the November election went seamlessly with their continued efforts, dedication, and attention to detail." - Diana Lakeman, Town Clerk

December 1st, 2022, Community Initiatives Director, Amber Wheaton, received the news that her application to the Maine Community Resilience Partnership was accepted. The Town will be awarded $50,000 which will be used to purchase and install heat pumps in municipal buildings in our community. This will help the Town save money on heating and electric costs for years to come!

Address Corrections on Medway Road


If these changes affect your property please begin using the new address by February 18, 2023

If you have any questions about these changes please reach out to the Assessor at 723-7000

Photos curtesy of: Mike Peterson, Photography by Mike - click here to view his webpage

Christmas in Katahdin


On Sunday, December 11th, there was a Katahdin Christmas celebration for our community thanks to the Millinocket Events Committee, Red Knights Motorcycle Club Chapter 8, Nollesemic Lodge #205, Millinocket Regional Hospital: Legacy Medical Foundation, and last but not least our Katahdin.


Thank you to all who came out to see Santa, take a sleigh ride and who volunteered for the event. Our Community is so lucky to have many groups who are committed to hosting quality events for our citizens of all ages!

Engineering of the New Airport Terminal Building


Tuesday, December 13th, 2022 - Town Manager, Peter Jamieson, Airport Manager, Jeff Campbell and Amber Wheaton, Community Initiatives Director all had the opportunity to virtually tour the new airport terminal model. They all took their time to experience the space, to make any suggestions and adjustments before the engineers move any further.


The Town is excited to share these designs with the community in the near future!

Don't forget to check out the updated Community Calendar on the Town of Millinocket website to stay up to date on all the fun happening in our community!

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!

The Town of Millinocket is currently seeking volunteers to help with various events and projects! Join our team to help make our community a great place to live! CLICK HERE to sign up online or stop by the Town Office to sign up person.   We are looking forward to meeting all community members who want to help make a difference!

In October and November of 2022, the Town of Millinocket's Public Works Department had three employees retire Ralph Soucier, Terry Wilson and Rick Willigar.

We want to thank you all for your years of commitment and service to your community.


The Town Office would like to extend a special thank you to Dick and Brenda Angotti, for surprising the staff with cinnamon rolls fresh out of the oven. They were delicious and extremely appreciated by all.

Thank you, Dick and Brenda, for thinking of the staff at the Town Office and making our day!

Contact Us

Millinocket Town Office

197 Penobscot Ave

Millinocket, ME 04462

(207) 723-7000

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