BRIDGTON

The municipal building is currently closed to the public and this includes attendance to various meetings. To keep the public informed, the town is working with Lake Region Television to do “live stream” of meetings and to allow public participation by setting up a virtual meeting platform.

In order to participate in select meetings, interested members of the public will need to call an assigned telephone number and access number. These numbers will be different for each meeting. This information will be posted in advance on the Town of Bridgton website, social media and will be noted on each posted agenda. Any questions, call Georgiann Fleck, town Public Information Officer, at 803-9959.

Bridgton Public Library Offers Modified Services

The Bridgton Public Library will be offering limited services while we are facing the changes to our community during the COVID-19 Pandemic Response. The building will be closed to the public, but limited staff, practicing safe item handling, will be cleaning out the book drop, packaging up books for pick up, and offering home delivery to those who would prefer.

Please call 207-647-2472 and leave a message or send an e-mail to bpldirector@bridgton.lib.me.us to let BPL know if you are interested in these options.

Interlibrary Loan services throughout the state have ceased through at least April 15, and perhaps longer.  BPL will be mailing back all books it has already received through Interlibrary Loan to the lending libraries when it is deemed safe to do so. 

As you finish your books, please return them in the BPL book drop, and library personnel take care of it from there.

Please use the online catalog to place “Holds” and make “Purchase Suggestions.” BPL will get in touch with you as soon as possible. The website (www.bridgtonlibrary.org) has some great online resources, including cloudLibrary audio and e-books, DigitalMaine databases and journals, and community resources.

BPL continues to offer 24-7 Wi-Fi access in the parking lot and courtyard. Please think of BPL if you need a study-from-car hotspot, for those who have students in their homes but don’t have internet access. 

At this time, BPL is unable to process book donations, but it will publish an announcement when able to process them. Especially during this time, BPL is thinking about safe and creative ways to meet the reading needs of our community. 

BPL has Activity To-Go bags for kids and adults. The Activity To-Go bags include a simple project with instructions and suggested reading for you to keep.  Please call or e-mail and let BPL know if you would like to pick one up outside the building.

Tri-County Mental Health Services (TCMHS) continues to follow the State of Maine Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommendations on containing the spread of COVID-19 by limiting close visit contact and practicing social distancing to protect everyone’s health.   As an essential health services organization, to maintain our commitment to assuring the health and safety of our clients, families, staff and the wider community, TCMHS is maintaining our operations as follows into the foreseeable future.  

Staff in our Lewiston, Bridgton, Farmington, Oxford, and Rumford outpatient service locations are providing services via telehealth and telephone-only.  In person, face-to-face appointments have been suspended.   This impacts Assertive Community Treatment team services, community rehabilitation services, mental health and substance use counseling, medication management, Behavioral Health Home, Opioid Health Home, and MST services. 

Integrated primary care and psychiatric inpatient and crisis consultation services provided on behalf of Central Maine Health Center patients will continue.

Group mental health treatment services are cancelled.  Those seeking AA or NA support group services can visit www.therecoverybook.com for more information about how meetings may be offered virtually.

The Social Learning Center in Lewiston remains closed.

Residential group homes in Lewiston, Rumford and Sabattus, and supported living services in Lisbon, are open but operating with resident restrictions on travel outside the homes and visitor restrictions.

The majority of operations and administrative functions are being conducted on a work from home basis to comply with the mandate to avoid convening groups of 10 or more people.

Questions about service availability can be answered by calling 1-888-304-4673.

If someone is in crisis, call the Maine Crisis Helpline at 1-888-568-1112.

CASCO

As the number of COVID-19 cases continues to increase, efforts taken in response by state and federal officials have become increasingly aggressive to help curb the spread. The Town of Casco continues to make decisions that it believes are in the best interest for the community while taking into account the latest information, guidance and mandates from state and federal authorities. 

The goal remains to ensure the safety of employees and residents in the most responsible ways possible. The town apologizes for the inconveniences that these measures have and will cause. It is important to avoid a full shut down through unintended exposure to the virus. 

The Community Center, Bulky Waste (side of facility with scale), and the Town Office will remain closed to the public until further notice.

With the exception of the Selectboard, all budget workshops, other board and committee meetings, and all recreational programming has been cancelled until further notice.

The Transfer Station remains open so residents can continue to properly dispose of trash and recycling. 

Given the circumstances, town officials are unable to determine how long these safety measures will be necessary. As soon as officials are able, they will send out notice of our intent to reopen.

The Selectboard meeting scheduled for Tuesday, April 7 is expected to occur via remote meeting (likely Zoom). Information on how the public can access the meeting will be included with the agenda and posted on the town’s website homepage. 

Many services can be accessed online at www.cascomaine.org and anyone with questions, please call 627-4515. A drop box is available during normal business hours for anyone needing to drop things off. It is located just outside the front door. 

Please be aware that given the circumstances, certain things may be delayed. Action has been taken by the legislature related to extending registrations including temporary ones, along with many more provisions. Details can be found on the States website, the homepage of our website and on our Facebook page- www.facebook.com/townofcascomaine. 

“We strongly encourage residents who can stay home to do so. Only go out for necessities and limit your trips as much as possible. If you have recently traveled/entered Maine, please self-quarantine for 14 days to ensure you are not contributing to the spread of COVID-19. The more steps taken by individuals to limit exposure, the better of everyone is,” wrote Town Manager Courtney O’Donnell.

For more information on Coronavirus (COVID-19), please visit the U.S. CDC’s website, which can be found at www.cdc.gov/coronavirus.

NAPLES

The Selectboard will conduct a meeting on Monday, April 6, at 7 p.m. The meeting will take place using a web-based conferencing application and will be available via Lake Region Television. Due to social distancing requirements, there will be no in-person attendance permitted.

Public input should be delivered to the Town Manager prior to the meeting by e-mailing pmiller@townofnaples.org or calling the Town Office at 207-693-6364.

WATERFORD

The Waterford Planning Board will hold a video-teleconference only meeting on Wednesday April 15 at 7 p.m. Viewing will be open to the public. The agenda includes: a solar farm site plan on Bisbeetown Road; an outdoor wedding venue on Passaconaway Road; other planning board business.

If you would like to attend the meeting, e-mail twnofwaterford@roadrunner.com and video connection information will be sent.