The New York developer who failed to win local permits to build Maine’s tallest hotel at Spring Point recently purchased the largest empty office building in South Portland, and has started to renovate it.

John Cacoulidis paid just under $10 million for 300 Southborough Drive, near Payne Road, according to Thomas Moulton, partner with the Dunham Group, which brokered the sale. The 116,500-square-foot office building had been vacant since the Unum Co. moved out 18 months ago.

I write about the property transaction and plans by Cacoulidis for the building in this week’s edition of the Current newspaper.

The seller was a Middle Eastern royal family represented by a Boston company, Moulton said. The property owner was listed in South Portland tax records as Scarborough Holdings LLC, and the city had valued the property at $15.9 million.

Scarborough Holdings owned the building since 2003, leasing it to Unum, the original property owner.

Moulton said renovations will focus on energy-efficiency, with a goal to bring the building to industry-level standards, known as LEEDS.

Caccoulidis previously had tried to build a hotel complex, hospital and convention center on 22 acres he owns on South Portland’s waterfront. He had proposed connecting the complex to Portland by using an air tram across that people would take across the harbor.

Caccoulidis and his wife live part time on a private island they own off the coast of Cumberland.

Here is a press release from the South Portland Police Department:

As announced early last week, the South Portland Police Department will be conducting increased enforcement of Maine’s drunk driving laws.  On Friday night, 6/27/09, beginning at 11 pm, officers from the South Portland and Cape Elizabeth police departments conducted a sobriety checkpoint on the inbound lane of the Casco Bay Bridge (Rte. #77).  This operation was made possible by grant funding from the Maine Bureau of Highway Safety.

During this checkpoint, 563 vehicles were contacted.  Of those, 33 were detained for further inquiry, testing or law violations.  As a result of this checkpoint, 5 people were charged with OUI; 2 people were charged with Operating w/out a License; and 1 male passenger in a vehicle was arrested on an outstanding warrant for OUI (Failure to Pay Fine).  He was transported to the Cumberland County Jail.  All of the other violators were each issued a summons and released from the scene.  One of them, a 23 year old male who had been summonsed for OUI and had left with a sober driver, returned a short time later and confronted officers who were conducting an inventory of his vehicle.  He was arrested for Assault on a Police Officer and Refusing to Submit to Arrest.

As we approach the 4th of July weekend, the department wants to remind the motoring public of the dangers and consequences of drinking and driving.  Whether you want to drink responsibly or drive responsibly, they both mean they same thing:  Don’t drink and drive.  The legal limit in the State of Maine is 0.08.  Don’t blow it.

To the Editor:

I am thoroughly disgusted at City Manager Jim Gailey and the city of South Portland for continuing to fall back on legal “advice” and statutes as grounds for withholding the findings of a report that was paid for with taxpayer dollars (see June 24 South Portland: “Consultant’s Directive, Findings Unknown").

Linda Skinner
824 Sawyer St.
South Portland

South Portland Project Scholarship issued the following press release:

At South Portland High School’s June 5 Senior Final Assembly, South Portland Project Scholarship (SPPS) awarded 22 scholarships to graduating seniors, according to Ralph Cabana, co-chair of the organization.

In the words of Linda Sturm, SPHS Guidance Counselor and SPPS co-chair, “We hope that be decreasing the amount of out-of-pocket expenses and loans for families, we will encourage more SPHS students not only to go to college, but also to persist to graduation.” More information about South Portland Project Scholarship can be found at projectscholarship.spsd.org. 

Dana Anderson, who has been on leave of absence pending a financial audit of his department, will return to work, according to an article by Randy Billings in the Forecaster.

Billings reports that Greg Frame, Anderson’s attorney, said that a pair of investigations has cleared the chief of Public Works, Parks, Rec and Libraries. Anderson has been on paid leave since May 8.

The investigations looked at complaints made by Deb Smith after she was laid off as Rec Center manager. They also looked at finances of the departments Anderson oversees. The financial audit was prompted by a legal claim that Anderson settled out of court.

The civil claim, made by the International Association of Affiliated Basketball Officials, alleged that Anderson embezzled money from the group when he served as a volunteer officer. Anderson maintained his innocence and settled out of court for $900.

“I think he’s looking forward to getting back to work and putting the past behind him,” Frame told the Forecaster. “But that’s not to say that, if stuff like what has happened rears itself again, he won’t avail himself of legal remedies,” Frame said, referring to comments City Councilors made about Anderson.

It is test day today for a half-dozen Maine officers seeking certification to operate police motorcycles in the cities and towns where they work.

South Portland Police Sgt. Joseph Dell’Aquila—one of only two certified police motorcycle instructors in Maine—has been leading the men through drills to prepare them for the road test. The 56-hour course has been held in an empty parking lot at the Maine Mall, where orange cones were set up for the various courses the drivers have had to maneuver.

The special drills and test cover “brake and escape,” in which the riders have to stop quickly and safely, a slow cone weave that takes agility and good driving skills, and “the circle of death,” where the men must turn their bikes in tight circles without dropping them or wiping out.

The departments represented at the drill and test are: Scarborough, Portland, Lewiston, Wells and Bath. Although Dell-Aquila said at least two riders usually flunk the driving test, he predicted this class of riders would fare well. Dell’Aquila (shown above) said he has no qualms about failing a fellow officer who cannot show proficiency on the motorcycle. “Otherwise, when I certified them, I would be signing their death certificates.”

The 1966 city ordinance establishing the South Portland Library Advisory Board gives the volunteer group broad powers in determining policy, staffing and programs. But a recent workshop the board had with City Manager Jim Gailey and the city’s legal counsel raises questions about how it is applied in 2009.

“The board just wants to do what it is charged with, but now we’re not quite sure what that is,” said Carin Dunay, board chair, who described the group as “stalemated” in the last two years.

Dunay said it is her understanding that there is “shared governance” among the board, library director and city manager.

But the board was not involved in the decisions to close the Young Adult Resource Room and lay off the Young Adult Librarian, along with a library clerk.

Likewise, board members say that two of three men designated as “directors” over the city’s two libraries have not been to board meetings. Kevin Davis is the on-site director and attends all advisory board meetings. But Dana Anderson and Tim Gato have not attended meetings. Anderson directors Public Works, Parks, Recreation and Libraries, with Gato as his second-in-command. They report directly to the city manager.

The city’s attorney advised the board that ongoing union negotiations with library staff prevent the volunteer group from performing some of its historic functions. The city’s personnel policy, enacted in the early 1990s, also conflicts in parts with the old ordinance, Gailey said in an email.

Gailey said in an e-mail Monday that “there are some inconsistencies in the old Ordinance,” with how South Portland’s libraries operate today. He pointed to the language that directs the board to have “oversight of the Director and his/her staff and setting pay scale for those employees.”

I write about the library ordinance and questions that surround in an article in this week’s Current newspaper. Click here to read Ch. 13 the Code of Ordinance on the Library.

“We want to do things correctly,” said Dunay, a librarian at Southern Maine Community College. “But we want to find a way to have a voice.”

Library director Davis said “it’s safe to say that an ordinance instituted in 1966 is likely to be out of date in places.”

“We just need to find the best way for the Board, the staff and myself to work together in the most beneficial manner for our users,” he said.

Kevin and Melinda Strout, who have experience operating lunch trucks, are ready to open the shutters on the Willard Beach concession stand, as soon as it stops raining.

The Strouts—who operate two lunch trucks in greater Portland—are the new vendors of the popular Willard Beach concession stand, which typically opens after Memorial Day and operates daily through Columbus Day.

But rainy weather and maintenance work needed at the city-owned “snack shack” kept the place closed for the start of the summer season. You can read more about the Strouts in an article that runs in this week’s Current newspaper.

The city is keeping mum on the extensive fix-ups needed at the venerable snack shack and the rush to find a new vendor as summer was getting under way. The city’s code enforcement officer had found problems at the beach-side stand. But city crews worked steadily to clean up the city-owned building, exterminate it, and bring it up to code.

The Strouts have dubbed the walk-up counter the Seaside Grille, put up a new menu board and bought a new fryalator. They plan to sell onion rings, mozzarella sticks, chicken baskets, clam cakes, cold sandwiches, hot dogs, hamburgers and soft drinks. The couple also will have the usual array of candy and ice cream that tantalize kids who play at the beach.

“The Willard Beach concession stand seemed like a good opportunity, and we grabbed it,” said Strout.

The Strouts run two lunch trucks that go to companies and construction sites in Portland, South Portland, Scarborough and Westbrook. Stops include the construction site for Westbrook Middle School, Yankee Ford in South Portland and the Maietta compound in Scarborough.

Strout said he expects to open at 10 a.m. and close at 5 p.m. But if the weather is hot and the beach packed, he will extend the hours. 

Here’s a press release from the Cancer Community Center in South Portland:

The Cancer Community Center, a nonprofit in South Portland, will start its new fiscal year on July 1. A new line up of their Board of Trustees and Advisory Board will lead the 2009-2010 year. Visit http://www.CancerCommunityCenter.og

New Officers:
President, Jean Wilson, Falmouth
Vice President, Joel Harris, Cumberland
Treasurer, Shelly Bartlett, Yarmouth
Secretary, Nicole Avery, South Portland

New Board Trustees:
Barry Godowsky of Yarmouth, VP of Sales at Artel
Nickolas D. Ireland of Gray, CPA, Senior Manager of Baker, Newman, Noyes, LLC
Maureen McIntyre of Portland, Sr. Purchasing Agent, Wright Express Corp.
John Ratoff of Kennebunk, VP of Marketing, TD Banknorth
Leslie B. Roberts of Kennebunk, Internal Communications Manager-Corporate Communications at Fairpoint Communications
Roberta Tielinen (no picture available) of New Gloucester, Account Executive for Employer Services at Lincoln Financial Group

New Members to the Advisory Board
Greg Adey, MD, Fore River Urology
Susan Bowden, RN, BSN, OCN, Nurse Manager, Maine Center for Cancer Medicine
Stuart Gilbert, MD, Spectrum Medical Group (retired)
Lou Jacobs, DC, Jacobs Chiropractic Acupuncture

Continuing as Chairperson for the Advisory Board: Roger Inhorn, MD, PhD, Director of Mercy Oncology/Hematology Center

The public seems unlikely to learn anything about the independent consultant’s report that was ordered by City Manager Jim Gailey to investigate complaints by laid-off Community Center Manager Deb Smith.

Gailey is refusing to release the findings, other than to Smith and her attorney. Meanwhile, Smith said last week that the report does not mention any of her complaints, though she met with consultant Michael Wing. She and her attorney have asked for a meeting with Gailey.

Gailey now has declined a request by resident Calvin Muse to discuss the directions he gave to Wing or provide the written order. He also will not say how many complaints Smith made in an exit letter she gave to the city, or how many of those complaints Wing’s report attempted to address.

Here is the exchange Muse had with the city manager:

From: Calvin
Sent: Sat 6/20/2009 4:04 PM
To: Gailey, James
Subject: Mike Wing report
Dear Mr. Gailey,
Could you please email me a full copy of the original charge and
instructions given to Mike Wing in regard to his task to investigate
and then submit a report regarding employment and department issues in
South Portland.
Thank you,
Calvin Muse

From: “Gailey, James”
To: “Calvin”
Sent: Sunday, June 21, 2009 9:03 AM
Subject: RE: Mike Wing report