The Maine Department of Health and Human Services and Maine Center for Disease Control recently updated their report and recommendations on how to prevent, monitor and respond to mosquito-borne illnesses. The report, designed expressly for towns and cities, includes recommendations for citizens, but also for municipalities that wish to engage in mosquito control.

Maine Municipal Association has been informed that the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) wants to draft legislation creating an extended producer packaging responsibility law for the Legislature's consideration next year. The goal of the resolve is to create a system that shifts responsibility for managing the waste that producers generate, rather than shifting costs onto property taxpayers. To this end, DEP is seeking input on how best to achieve this goal.  The department wants input by no later than Friday, July 19.

Each year, member municipalities have an opportunity to vote on the election of the proposed Maine Municipal Association Vice President and municipal officials to serve on the MMA Executive Committee. A five-member Nominating Committee was appointed to review nominations submitted by municipal officials and conduct interviews with those municipal officials interested in serving as the MMA Vice President and Executive Committee. The MMA Nominating Committee completed its task in May and put forth a Proposed Slate of Nominees for 2019 to member municipalities.  It is now time for each member municipality to cast its official vote.

The City of South Portland and ReVision Energy will hold a free webinar about what Maine’s new “solar bill” means for the future of solar power and its financial attainability. The webinar will be held at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, July 16. Registration is required to access a live video link.

Prior to adjourning last week, the Legislature approved an amended version of the state Office of Marijuana Policy proposed rules, paving the way for state licensing of non-medical marijuana businesses as early as this autumn. Lawmakers also carried over until next year’s legislative session MMA’s platform bill to share a portion of the proceeds with municipalities that opt-in to allow “adult use” businesses. More details, and a list of municipalities known to have opted in to date, are provided in an update memo from MMA State and Federal Relations available here.

The White House (yes, that one) will host a regional State Leadership Day on July 16 in Washington, D.C. The meetings are designed so that municipal and county officials can inform Trump Administration Cabinet members about shared federal-state-local priorities. Attendees also will meet Intergovernmental Affairs team members who serve in a variety of roles across the federal government. Space is limited; early RSVPs are highly encouraged.

The City of Portland is accepting financial support from people, organizations and municipalities as it deals with a recent influx of people seeking asylum. The city will use donations to provide emergency shelter, housing assistance and basic human necessities. The city requests monetary donations only at this point. It cannot accept physical donations and the United Way of Greater Portland says it is still processing volunteer requests. More volunteers are not needed at this point.

It has come to the attention of the Maine Municipal Association’s Legal Services Department that some taxpayers are confused by additional information that the new senior tax lien law requires be included in the 30-day demand notice sent under the real estate tax lien mortgage process. Legal Services has published a short bulletin in an effort to assist members – especially, municipal tax collectors – with this issue.

The Maine Bicentennial Commission (Maine200) kicks off the commemoration of 200 years of Maine statehood with a special event on Friday, July 26, 2019. Gov. Janet Mills will join commission leaders in Presque Isle, Bangor, Portland and Augusta to announce plans for Maine’s 200th anniversary of statehood, and to raise Maine’s bicentennial flag. The commission asks all Maine towns and cities to join Gov. Mills in kicking off the occasion by raising the bicentennial flag at noon on Friday, July 26 in their communities. Bicentennial flags will be available for purchase soon via the www.Maine200.org  MaineMade webstore. Questions? Contact Maine200 Business Manager Bradley Sawyer, bradley.sawyer@maine200.org.

The Maine Emergency Management Agency will be co-sponsoring a three-day Heritage Emergency And Response Training (HEART) from August 27-August 29 at the Maine Cultural Building in Augusta. Sessions will run from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm daily and will provide realistic, hands-on training in damage assessment, rapid documentation, emergency evacuation and salvage, rehousing and storage, crisis communication, team building, and more. Later in the year, a five-part webinar series will build upon the in-person training, reinforcing concepts covered in the August training.