…From the Town Manager

Newsletter organizer and Deputy Town Clerk Mary Fowle (who does an EXCELLENT job putting this newsletter together each quarter, I might add), has requested that I again do a “poem” for my addition to the newsletter, much as I did last winter. In this vein, I offer the following:

Greenville is the destination for visitors by planes, trains and automobiles
And also snowsledders (so long as the trail groomer holds its rear main seals).

We offer restaurants and gift shops aplenty, and four banks for your deposits.
Our industrial park makes log homes, steam, and soon, wood composites.

Our school offers a great education, and new ideas by the Pound.
Our hospital is a place for healing for some, for work for many,
and has a future which is sound.

So come to Greenville, to play, work and to live.
Ask yourself not what you can take from our community,
but what you can give.

Musical “ANNIE” is coming to town Friday – March 21st and Saturday March 22nd at 7:00 pm At the Greenville High School Auditorium Dinner and the Theatre By donation The 2003 Greenville Yearbook Staff will be having a spaghetti dinner prior to “Annie” on Friday – March 21st from 5:00 pm – 6:30pm in the H. S. Cafeteria Greenville Town Meeting Nomination Papers Greenville H.S. Auditorium Greenville Nomination Papers will be available to pick up on Monday – March 10, 2003 at the Town Office. Nomination papers are available for the following positions: (2) 3 years Selectmen (2) 3 years School Board (1) 1 year School Board (3) 3 years Moosehead Sanitary Dist. (1) 5 years Shaw Library Nomination Papers are to be brought back to the Town Office by 4:00 pm on Friday, April 18, 2003. Greenville and Shirley Apply for 2003 Housing Grant The Town of Greenville has received a $300,000 Community Development Grant from the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development. This funding is being used to make home improvements for income eligible homeowners in Greenville. Over the past year the program has upgraded 25 properties. Improvements include such things as replacement windows, doors, septic systems, wells, roofing, siding, electrical and other health, safety or energy efficiency related repairs. The local Community Development office obtains bids to complete the work from qualified and reputable area contractors. The current program will be completed by this spring but applications are still being accepted. If you are a Greenville resident and your home is in need of repairs, you are encouraged to apply. Applications are easy to complete and are available at the Town Office or by calling the Community Development office at 1-800-648-8335. Family income guidelines apply and all applications are confidential. Plans are also underway for Greenville to submit a new application to continue this important program. The Town will include Shirley in their 2003 application and if successful a new program will begin next summer. We will plan to inform residents using subsequent newsletters and the Moosehead Messenger. Move & Improve Offers Incentives to Be Physically Active Question: What physical fitness program: had more than 14,500 people moving last year? awards prizes for those that improve their health through routine exercise? takes only 30 minutes of physical activity, four days a week? Answer: The Move & Improve Program Move & Improve Specifics: Specifically, Move & Improve is a 12-week program offered through C.A. Dean and EMMC that's designed to increase your physical activity level. Move & Improve's goal is 30 minutes of physical activity, four days a week. Physical activity need not be continuous, but the minimum requirement is three 10-minute sessions, four days per week. And meeting these requirements is easier than you think when you consider vacuuming, snow shoveling and walking are some basic ways that you can meet your obligations to win prizes. Prizes? Absolutely. Move & Improve loves to reward exercisers with rewards and many great youth and adult prizes are available to those who complete the program. This year, prizes are eligible to the following move and improvers: GOLD INCENTIVE PRIZES: Awarded to individuals, chosen at random, who are active for 10 of the 12 weeks. Or… SILVER INCENTIVE PRIZES: Awarded to individuals, chosen at random, who are active 6-9 of the 12 weeks. To be eligible for prizes, you must let us know how many weeks you completed by June 11, 2003. How to get started: This year, ALL registrations will take place online by going to www.moveandimprove.org. After completing the registration form (don't forget to list Charles A. Dean Memorial Hospital & Nursing Home as your primary registration site), remember to download your Physical Activity Log to record your exercise. Move & Improve Kick-Off Celebration Who: Move & Improve participants and people interested in signing up What: Move & Improve Kick-Off Celebration Where: Greenville school gym When: Sunday, March 9th @ 11:00 – 1:00 p.m. How: No cost. Come and enjoy. Agenda: Bring walking shoes and come walk in the gym for an hour and then enjoy health snacks and information about keeping healthy and exercise. Special thanks to Lucy Johnston of United Kingfield Bank for chairing this event! REMINDER If you have not registered your dog for 2003, please come into the town office and do so. Please bring with you the dog's current shot records and neuter papers. From the Town Manager… The snowmobile trails are very good right now, as is the ice-fishing. Be safe while doing either – we want each of you back next season! Snowmobile Trail Program Despite numerous breakdowns on both groomer machines owned by the Town, the trails continue to be regularly groomed and the riding is very good right now. There has been a change in the groomer program personnel: Southbound groomer coordinator Tom Gravelle has resigned from the program, but remains available in a reserve capacity only. Tom explains that he has too many other duties to fulfill, and 'something had to let go'. On behalf of the Town, I wish to thank Tom for his time and efforts with the program. For the remainder of the season, Northbound Groomer Coordinator Mike Coburn will be in charge of both machines and all routes groomed by the Town of Greenville. Mike has done an exceptional job this season keeping our equipment running and keeping many volunteers interested and engaged in the program. Despite the additional of some professional workers in the program, the Town's grooming program still relies on the backs of about 20 dedicated volunteer groomer operators. Not dissimilar from the Town's fire department or CA Dean Hospital's ambulance service, these volunteers make possible a very valuable community service which would not be possible at this time if filled with only paid staff. Thank you, all, for your efforts to make snowmobiling in the greater Greenville area fun and possible! Sidewalks The Board of Selectmen for the Town of Greenville are concerned about the quality of our sidewalks in the winter months. Recognizing that the Town's Public Works crew does not have the specific equipment necessary to adequately and efficiently remove ice and snow from our sidewalks (especially without damaging them), the Board is interested to see if any contractors in the area would be interested in investing in the proper equipment (small tractor and snow blower; MT Trackless or Holder Sidewalk machines) to maintain our sidewalks in the winter months. The Board is only exploring these options at this time. If you are a contractor in the Greenville area with interest in providing us with winter maintenance of our sidewalks, please contact me at the Town Office at your earliest convenience. Housing Rehabilitation Program The Town of Greenville STILL has funds available AT THIS TIME for eligible homeowners seeking to make improvements to their homes. Please contact the Town Office for a Housing Rehabilitation program application if you are interested. Also, the Town of Greenville has submitted a joint application with the Town of Shirley for $400,000 in additional housing rehabilitation funds to be shared between our two communities. We should know soon whether this grant request will be awarded. Finally, the Town of Greenville is contemplating an application to the Maine State Housing Authority to fund the rehabilitation of multi-family rental apartment units in the private sector. If you are an apartment building owner in Greenville and would be interested in receiving some matching funds for improvement to your apartments, please contact me at the Town Office before April 1, 2003. Railroad The railroad tracks which run through Greenville are now operated by a new railroad company: Maine, Montreal & Atlantic (MMA). This company successfully purchased the bankrupt Bangor & Aroostook (B&A) railroad and renamed it and is now running it. Freight continues to travel through Greenville, and passengers will return this season aboard Acadian Railway, which boards and disembarks from the railroad siding in Moosehead Junction Twp. twice per week each summer. For more information regarding Acadian Railway, please see their website at www.AcadianRailway.com. Acadian's first trip for the 2003 season is currently scheduled to arrive in Greenville the third week of June. Other issues regarding the railroad include the future of the current railroad depot station at the Junction siding. There is interest by a great number of groups, both locally and statewide, to rehabilitate this siding and this building. The Maine Port Authority and the Rural Development agency under the USDA have each shown interest in helping to fund a project to fix this building. Please watch the newspapers for meetings in the near future regarding the fate of this structure. If you have interest in working on this project, please contact me at the Town Office or on-line at John@GreenvilleME.com. Finally, the Town of Greenville continues to work with business interests in the Greenville Industrial Park, as well as the Maine Port Authority and the Maine Department of Transportation to seek funding for a new rail siding in our industrial park. This would both enhance the value of our park, as well as produce additional freight traffic (and therefore revenue) for the railroad. Committee to Explore Options to Curb Vandalism and Related Community Problems This committee, chaired by Prudy Richards, meets every Tuesday night at 6:30 PM at the Town Office to discuss ways and means to curb vandalism and resolve related community problems. The committee welcomes input from the general public at any and all meetings. The group is coming up with some very good suggestions, all of which will be part of a final report submitted to the Board of Selectmen at their March 19, 2003 meeting. For more information, please contact Chairperson Prudy Richards, Police Chief Duane Alexander, or me at the Town Office. Piscataquis County Economic Development Council (PCEDC) This past December, I ended my one-year term as President of the PCEDC, and passed along the Presidency to Milo Town Manager Jane Jones. For those of you who do not know what the PCEDC is about, I encourage you to check out their website at www.pcedc.org, or access it from the Town of Greenville's website. The PCEDC officially formed in 1998 and is a non-profit organization devoted to the development of the economy in Piscataquis County. Some of the organization's successes include, but are not limited to, the construction of the Penquis Higher Education Center in Dover-Foxcroft, the transition of the Dexter Shoe facility in Milo from vacancy to production via JSI Store Fixtures, and most recently the successful receipt of $225,000 in direct appropriation from Congress for the Wood Composites Incubator to be produced in Greenville. It has been a distinct honor to serve this organization as President, and I am pleased to continue to work with the PCEDC as a member of their Executive Committee. For those who think we get few services from Piscataquis County, please know that Greenville is very well-served by the PCEDC, an organization heavily funded by Piscataquis County. If you would like more information about this group, or if you are a business owner looking for help in growing your business, please contact PCEDC Executive Director Mark Scarano at 564-3638 or mscarano@emdc.org. Wood Composites As previously noted, the Town of Greenville is the successful recipient of $225,000 toward the construction of a wood composites incubator center here in our community. There are other grants pending, and eventually a loan will be sought to secure the final funding for this 35,000 – 40,000 sq. ft. facility in the Greenville Industrial Park. Who will own it? A group known as the Composite Development Corporation, a non-profit group with based in Sanford and with ties to both Greenville and the University of Maine at Orono. What will be done in the facility? The building will become "rented factory space" for start-up businesses in the wood composites field. What are wood composites? Much of the furniture in your home and the building materials in your house are made with some sort of wood composites. "Wood composites" is a loose terms for taking different types of wood or different types of wood and other non-wood materials and combining them together to make a valuable product. For example, most of the I-beams used in the floors of manufactured homes today are made with a wood composite which takes waste wood, glue, carbon fibers and fiberglass and makes an I-beam structure which is stronger and lighter than its steel counterpart. The proposed "plastic lumber" type product which will replaced the rotting beams in the Junction Wharf's retaining wall system is a wood composite being perfected right now at the University of Maine's Advanced Engineered Wood Composites (AEWC) Center in Orono. On a recent trip to Quebec City, I met with five different businesses or representatives for businesses which are all interested in the wood composites field. Greenville will be on the cutting edge of new technology and product development in this field through the construction of this incubator center. Occupants will be for-profit businesses (taxable) who will likely exit the incubator when they are ready to grow, and will likely build their own businesses in the Greenville Industrial Park, or at least nearby. If you would like to learn more about the Wood Composites field, and what is being developed at the University of Maine, please come to a presentation co-sponsored by the Natural Resource Education Center (NREC) and the Town of Greenville at 7:00 PM Tuesday, April 15 (location TBA). The presentation will be by Professor Habib Dagher, PhD., Director for the Advanced Engineered Wood Composites Center at the University of Maine. Dr. Dagher will explain more about the center, the new technologies it has helped to produce, and the future for this exciting field right here in Greenville. Please come!

Budget The FY2003-2004 Municipal Budget and School Budget are each being constructed at this time. Unfortunately, the state budget shortfall and overall sluggish economy will work to shrink outside revenues for this budget, placing greater reliance on our own local property taxes. Superintendent of School Steve Pound and I, with our respective elected boards, will work to craft a fair and lean budget to keep the impact on the local taxpayer as minimal as possible. The budget advisory committee will meet in the month of April to review these budgets, and the voters will have their say on the budget at the Monday, June 2, 2003 Annual Town Meeting. If you have any questions or concerns about the budget, please contact me at the Town Office or at John@GreenvilleME.com. Summer! It may be hard to imagine that summer is coming with the cold weather we are having now, but it will be here soon enough (and we'll all be complaining about how damn hot it is….). Anyhow, the Town of Greenville co-sponsors several popular and successful events in the summer months, and we need help to make them bigger and better than ever before! If you would like to help out either on the day of the event(s), or help with the planning of the event(s), or would be interested in co-sponsoring an event, please contact me at your earliest convenience at the office or via email at John@GreenvilleME.com. Here's what we have: Fourth of July Celebration: Co-sponsored with the Moosehead Lake Region Chamber of Commerce, we need help with kid's games and adult distractions at the Junction Wharf, entries in the parade, and SEVERAL PARADE JUDGES! Please contact Sara Holman at the Chamber of Commerce (695-2702) or me at the Town Office if you can help or if you have an idea. This year's Fourth of July falls on a Friday, making this a very popular event for those attending from out of Town. Gazebo Concert Series: Entering its third year, the concert series needs business sponsorship to keep “big name” groups such as David Mallet coming to our gazebo. Susan Crippen, Executive Director for North Country Healthy Communities, will continue to organize the series for us. She and I have put together some creative options for sponsorship for the series which would highlight your business better than through previous seasons. Please contact Sue at 695-4306 for more information. “Moose-on-the-Run” 5K Road Race and 1K Fun Run: We will have a meeting in March to begin advertising and planning for the event, which was held for the first time with past Columbus Day weekend. If you would like to help plan or execute this event, please contact me at your earliest convenience! Respectfully Submitted; John Simko Town Manager John@GreenvilleME.com REGISTERING OF YOUR DOG It's that time of the year again. Please come into the town office to register your dog for January 1st, 2003. This is a State Law that you have your pet dog registered. You must have the rabies papers and if your pet has been spayed or neutered, we must see those papers as well. If you no longer have your dog, please let us know so that we can take them off our list. What is North Country Healthy Communities? It's a comprehensive, coordinated, and cutting edge community development initiative that has adopted a broad definition of health as part of its mission. The Healthy Communities movement is an internationally acknowledged and practiced model, encouraging collaboration and partnerships among community members, and placing an emphasis on community ownership of projects, from the assessment and planning stages through project implementation and evaluation. In other words, it's "People working together for a better quality of life." Moosehead Cultural Council - This group, under the aegis of NCHC, is working in partnership with the Moosehead Lake Region Chamber of Commerce, the Town of Greenville, and local businesses to plan and implement the 2003 Music in the Gazebo Summer Concert Series. Additionally, the Moosehead Region 2003 Summer Events Calendar will be put together soon, so if anyone has an event to list, please contact Susan Crippen at 997-3706 or susancrippen@gwi.net Greenville Trails Committee - This newly formed committee seeks a comprehensive and coordinated approach to recreational trail development in the Moosehead Region. Town Manager John Simko and NCHC Executive Director Susan Crippen are co-chairing this initiative. If you want to join, or just be in the loop of communication, please contact Susan Crippen at 997-3706 or susancrippen@gwi.net. This effort ties in with the work of the Piscataquis Public Health Council, our region's Healthy Maine Partnership, which is charged with addressing issues around physical activity, tobacco use, and nutrition. NCHC serves on the Executive Council of the PPHC. Depot Street Development - We are working to support the DSD Grants Team as we partner with the school to pursue a 21st Century Community Learning Center grant. This grant will fund after school programs if awarded. Piscataquis Oral Health Coalition - Last year, NCHC received a grant to hire a program coordinator for the POHC. We are looking to hire someone for this part time position. If anyone is interested in working on dental / oral health issues on a countywide basis under guidance of an excellent team of public and community health folks, please contact Susan Crippen at 997-3706 or susancrippen@gwi.net Piscataquis Public Health System Pilot Project - The Bingham Program awarded NCHC funding to conduct an experiment on what a local public health system might look like in Piscataquis County. This project is just getting into the implementation phase, and has put our county on the map in terms of Maine's public health infrastructure development. Middle Ground / An Arts & Participatory Research Project on Forest Issues - In a society that wants both "wood" and "woods", is there a "Middle Ground”? This countywide project has recently received national attention and was awarded continuation funding from the National Community Forestry Center, Northern Forest Region. This summer and fall, Middle Ground is scheduled to be exhibited at venues in Maine, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont, and possibly Massachusetts. Previous venues have included the Penquis Expo, the National Folk Festival, the Maine Festival, Abbot's 175th Anniversary, The Northern Forest Center's "Ways of the Woods" conference in Jackson, NH, the SWOAM Annual Meeting, and the Western Mountains Alliance in Farmington. Funding News - NCHC recently received a donation of $30,000 from an anonymous benefactor. In addition, NCHC has been awarded $5,000 from the Community Health Program of the Maine Bureau of Health to conduct community health research; specifically, to update the 1998 Piscataquis County Community Health Needs Assessment and to conduct an asset mapping exercise of the region's community health resources. Susan Crippen was elected to serve as President of the Maine Network of Healthy Communities, the statewide organization representing Healthy Community and PATCH coalitions in Maine. As a result, she serves on the Legislative and Policy Committee of the Maine Public Health Association. If anyone would like to know more about the MNHC or receive information on public health bills of interest, please contact her at 997-3706 / susancrippen@gwi.net Greenville Recreation Department for Summer sign up will be held the first week of June. Exact date and time will follow in next issue of Greenville Newsletter and the local paper. Shaw Public Library Karen Chandler - Librarian Spring is coming, but Winter is still here, so there is plenty of time to read some of our new books and magazines.  We currently receive over 40 magazines, the newest being "Hope", which "allows you a glimpse into the lives of ordinary people accomplishing extraordinary things", and "More", for women "over 40 and fabulous."  We have also started to add some DVD's into our collection, in response to the survey we had last year. Each month, we are setting up displays featuring different topics with our newer and older materials.  March will feature:  National Women's History Month; National Craft Month; and National Nutrition Month.  April will feature:  National Poetry Month; National Humor Month; and "Keep America Beautiful Month".  May will feature: National Physical Fitness and Sports Month;  Older Americans Month; and "Get Caught Reading Month."  June will feature:  National Rose Month; June Dairy Month; and National Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Month.  On May 7th, at 6:30 P.M., at the library, Donna Lamb from the University of Maine Co-Operative Extension will be presenting a program on "Strawberries and Raspberries." We now have a display in our Reading Room, featuring materials on behavioral issues: ADHD, ASPERGER'S SYNDROME, and OCD.  The materials in the display are on loan from Becky Morse.  It will be updated periodically.  Arrangements can be made with the librarians to borrow the materials from Becky.  Last year, the library had received a "Family Caregiver Support Program Grant" from the Eastern Agency on Aging, to gather and house materials for caregivers.  We have set up a display near the paperback section with informational handouts and books that can be circulated.  Eventually, we plan to incorporate a list of all the materials we have into a brochure. Our Summer 2003 Reading Program will be "Laugh It Up"@ Shaw Public Library.  It will run for 6 weeks, beginning in July, with P.J. Tinto as our Coordinator.  Thursdays evenings will be for our independent readers with reading, writing fun books reviews, skits, jokes, and tall tales.  Friday mornings will be "Read-to-Me" for younger non-readers and beginning readers.  Our final program and party will be tentatively, Monday, August 18th, at 1:00 P.M. Just a reminder, we have a wide selection of Tax Forms, and if we don't have what you need, we can try to find it on the computer.  For a current list of new books, check the Moosehead Messenger and Channel 19 every week. Also a reminder to not drop off videos, audios, tapes in the drop box. These need to be brought directly into the library. FREE IN MARCH Did you find that overdue book or video that was due back in January, well now is the time to bring it back free of charge. March is bring back free month to the Shaw Public Library. Shaw Public Library New Hours starting April 7 Phone # 695-3579 Monday – Closed Tuesday 10:00 am – 6:00 pm Wednesday – 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm Thursday – 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm Friday - 10:00 am – 6:00 pm Saturday – 10:00 am – 2:00 pm Sunday – Closed CODE ENFORCEMENT HOURS Wed. 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm Thursday & Friday 9:00 am – 4:00 pm Dick Gould will be on vacation March 12-21, 2003 Greenville Sports Schedule Town of Greenville Town Office Hours Monday – Friday 8:00 am – 4:00 pm Landfill and Recycling Hours Sunday – Monday & Thursday 8:00 am – 4:00 pm Normal Trash Pickup – Monday Recycling Pickup – Ridge Parkway (the Highlands) 1st Sunday - Town wide curbside – 2nd Wednesday - Outer Scammon Road – 3rd Sunday - East Road (Wilson Pond Dam) – 4th Sunday - If there is a 5th Sunday – No pickup will be done Holiday Closings for 2003 Sun. – April 20th – Easter (Landfill & Recycling Closed) Sat. – April 19th – (Landfill & Recycling Open) Mon. – April 14t – Patriot's Day (Town Office, Landfill & Recycling Closed) Tues. – April 15th – (Trash pickup, Landfill & Recycling Open) Mon. – May 26th – Memorial Day (Town Office, Landfill & Recycling Closed) Tues. – May 27th – (Trash pickup, Landfill & Recycling Open) Fri. – July 4th – Independence Day – Town Office Closed Mon. – September 1st – Labor Day (Town Office, Landfill & Recycling Closed) Tues. – September 2nd – (Trash pickup, Landfill & Recycling Open) Mon. – October 13th – Columbus Day – (Town Office, Landfill & Recycling Closed) Tues. – October 14th – (Trash pickup, Landfill & Recycling Open) Mon. – November 10th – Veteran's Day (Town Office, Landfill & Recycling Closed) Tues. – November 11th – (Trash pickup, Landfill & Recycling Open) Thurs. – November 27th – Thanksgiving Day (Town Office, Landfill & Recycling Closed) Fri. – November 28th (Town Office Closed – All State Offices Closed) Wed. December 24th – Christmas Eve (Town Office closing at 2:00 pm) Thurs. December 25th – Christmas Day (Town Office, Landfill & Recycling Closed)