China transfer station committee debates use of RFID tags

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by Mary Grow

China Transfer Station Committee members spent much of their Nov. 15 meeting talking about whether to continue using RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tags to separate China and Palermo residents from out-of-town users, or to go back to stickers on vehicles.

The RFID system was started with state grant funding in 2019. The main purpose was to track recycling.

The current system is that a resident gets one free RFID tag and can buy as many more as needed for family or business vehicles, for $10 each. People who move out of town in theory return their tags; that doesn’t always happen, Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood said.

In addition to identifying users as entitled and showing where each vehicle stops inside the transfer station grounds, the system provides statistics on such things as busiest and least busy times and how often the same tag comes in.

To protect personal privacy, tags are not associated with tag-holders’ names for these purposes. As a result, transfer station attendants know for sure that someone with a tag is a resident only when they recognize the person.

Onsite transfer station supervisor Tom Maraggio asked if town office staff could notify transfer station staff when someone moves away. With about 200 deeds being processed every month, Hapgood said, staff members don’t have time.

Her main problems, with which committee members sympathized, are that people move away and continue to use the China transfer station, and residents lend RFID tags to non-residents. China taxpayers therefore end up paying to get rid of out-of-town waste; they’re getting “gypped”, in committee chairman Paul Lucas’ opinion.

“The problem is we’ve lost control over who can use the transfer station,” Palermo representative Robert Kurek summarized.

Chris Diesch, Palermo’s other representative, asked how big the problem is. Her question led to discussion of ways to give attendants limited access to the town office list connecting tags with people, so they could do random checks.

Committee members cited three objections to going back to stickers. Some people object to putting stickers on their vehicles; changing the system again so soon would make town officials look silly, in Kurek’s opinion; and Maraggio said depending on where they’re affixed, stickers are often harder for attendants to see than an RFID tag dangling from the rearview mirror.

The discussion ended with Diesch, a computer expert, and Lucas agreeing to meet and see what additional uses they can make of the RFID system.

The problem of improper disposal also plagues the Free for the Taking building, building manager Karen Hatch said. Intended as a swap shop where people can leave usable household items they no longer need, it too often acquires unusable items, including furniture and other bulky items for which the transfer station charges fees.

Discussion led to consensus that people leaving such items – the list is on the China website, www.china.govoffice.com, and posted at the transfer station – should pay the fees, even if the items go into the Free for the Taking area. If the previous owner is still on the premises when someone else claims an item, the fee might be refunded.

Transfer station staff pointed out that with winter coming, items too large to be displayed inside the building will have to be rejected anyway.

Lucas repeatedly returned to a suggestion made at earlier meetings that a guard shack be installed at the transfer station gate, where an attendant could direct people to proper disposal areas and collect fees as needed. No one else followed up.

In other business, Maraggio and Director of Public Services Shawn Reed proposed a custom-made liftable metal cover for the pre-crusher.

Reed said the new loader, to be shared by public works and transfer station crews, is here. He hopes the snow-pusher attachment will arrive in a week or so.

Maraggio plans to update the transfer station five-year plan. Briefly-mentioned potential recommendations include replacing the mixed waste hopper, which Reed said has been repeatedly repaired; buying a closed container to store mattresses, of which Maraggio said he gets about 10 a week; and installing a proper lighting system in the Free for the Taking building.

Maraggio said work is going smoothly at the moment. Each transfer station employee has a specialty, but all are cross-trained and able to assist each other. Relocating a cardboard bin near the mixed waste hopper has improved traffic flow.

Hapgood reported receiving many compliments on Maraggio’s Halloween decorations at the station entrance.

Committee members scheduled their next meeting for 9 a.m., Tuesday, Dec. 20, in the town office meeting room.

China town office, transfer station closed Nov. 24-25

The China town office and transfer station will be closed Thursday, Nov. 24, and Friday, Nov. 25, for the Thanksgiving holiday. On Saturday, Nov. 26, both will be open as usual, the town office from 8 to 11 a.m. and the transfer station from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Final results from November 8 election (2022)

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by Mary Grow

Because of several write-in candidates for local elected positions and a technical glitch with the town website, results of China’s Nov. 8 local votes were incompletely reported in the Nov. 10 issue of The Town Line (see p. 3).

For three positions on the planning board, James Wilkens was re-elected with 1,442 votes; Toni Wall was re-elected to the District 2 seat with 18 write-in votes; and the District 4 seat remains vacant. Town Clerk Angela Nelson explained that the qualified write-in for District 4, incumbent Scott Rollins, has declined to accept re-election.

For three positions on the budget committee, Trishea Story was re-elected secretary with 23 write-in votes; in District 2, after two of the three people with the same number of write-in votes declined to serve, Nelson reported that Taryn Hotham was sworn in as a new member on Nov. 14; and, as reported Nov. 10, District 4 member Timothy Basham and at-large member Elizabeth Curtis were re-elected, unopposed.

The count in the three-person contest for one position on the Regional School Unit #18 board of directors was as follows: incumbent Dawn Castner, re-elected with 851 votes; Darrell Stevens, 403 votes; and Wallace Pooler III, 371 votes.

Votes on the local referendum questions, all of which were approved, were as follows.

  • To appropriate no more than $70,000 from American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money for expanded broadband service: yes, 1,492; no, 672.
  • To appropriate no more than $21,590 in ARPA money to reimburse China Rescue for a defibrillator: yes, 1,925; no, 252.
  • To appropriate no more than $7,000 in ARPA money for improvements to the town’s radio tower: yes, 1,831; no, 332.
  • To appropriate no more than $22,000 in ARPA money for three heat pumps for town buildings: yes, 1,548; no, 612.
  • To appropriate no more than $75,000 in ARPA money for the town’s senior fuel assistance fund: yes, 1,903; no, 261.
  • To appropriate no more than $30,000 in ARPA money for repair of cemetery fences: yes, 1,506; no, 641.
  • To amend the town’s quorum ordinance to say that 100 registered voters is the minimum needed to start a town meeting: yes, 1,015; no, 965.
  • To amend two sections of the Land Use Ordinance, as recommended by the planning board: yes, 1,356; no, 650.

China building committee recommends looking ahead

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by Mary Grow

At least two members of China’s Municipal Building Committee plan to join chairman Sheldon Goodine at the Nov. 21 China select board meeting, hoping to persuade select board members to see the future through their eyes.

The disagreement between the two boards, as described by several building committee members at their Nov. 10 meeting, is over how far ahead current officials should be planning for future town office space needs.

Also involved is the Presque Isle engineering firm of B. R. Smith Associates (BRSA). Goodine said engineer Keith Whittaker, who has been working with the China committee, plans to join the Nov. 21 meeting.

Building committee members have been meeting for more than a year. Their main focus has been on providing additional safe storage, climate-controlled and fireproof, for the paper records state law requires towns to keep forever.

The ordinary storage space in the office building is also overfull, with paper records, office supplies, voting machines, Christmas decorations and other necessities. Building committee members are not optimistic about the volume decreasing, though they and select board members talked about digitizing records to eliminate some of the paper. Foreseeing increasing needs, they have looked beyond the immediate issue and discussed additional storage and perhaps work space.

Select board members have not been receptive to these more expansive – and expensive – ideas. At the end of the Oct. 24 select board discussion (see The Town Line, Oct. 27, p. 3), board members authorized spending up to $11,000 to have BRSA design a storage vault plus prepare a concept plan for a later addition.

The storage vault, presently proposed as a 12-by-24-foot structure, is fine with building committee members as a first step. Goodine calls it a storage room; select board members referred to it as a building.

The $11,000, and about as much again, is available in the current budget, Goodine said; but there is not enough, without readjustments, to cover detailed plans for a larger addition.

However, building committee members believe that within two or three years town office staff will need more space. They think BRSA should be asked to prepare a comprehensive expansion plan, showing, for example, where another section could be connected and how heating and electrical systems could be extended.

Neither the cost of planning nor the cost of construction is likely to go down, they agreed. Therefore, they think it prudent to have detailed plans ready as soon as the need becomes urgent enough to justify an appropriation of town funds.

Vassalboro select board told weather cause of poor lake water quality

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by Mary Grow

Webber Pond Association President John Reuthe brought Vassalboro select board members information and recommendations on the lake’s water quality, at their Nov. 10 meeting.

The water quality this past summer was very poor, he said, back to where it was in the 1970s and 1980s, with algae blooms and toxins that were a threat to children and pets.

Vassalboro resident and Department of Maine Resources staffer Nate Gray expanded on Reuthe’s report. The main causes of the problems in Webber Pond, and Three Mile Pond, and to a lesser extent China Lake, were weather-related, he said.

All three lakes have high background phosphorus levels, due to years of accumulation from run-off from surrounding lawns, fields and roads. A warm, sunny summer encouraged algae, which depend on phosphorus, warmth and light to grow.

Several years of low rainfall, less snow and earlier ice-out extended the warm season. Hot summer days evaporated surface water, increasing the concentration of algae close to the surface. Surface water temperatures reached 88 degrees in Webber Pond and Three Mile Pond and 84 degrees in China Lake, Gray said.

Reuthe cited the economic importance of the pond and its alewife fishery. His list of recommended actions started with a meeting of stakeholders, which would include area lake association members and town and state officials.

He asked for money to buy more complex equipment to test water quality; more attention to codes enforcement around water bodies (though he recognized Vassalboro’s problem with frequent changes of codes officers); and a building atop the Webber Pond dam, which is owned by the association, to shelter the gate controls.

One topic that might be discussed at a stakeholders’ meeting is whether the town wants to continue to own the dam.

Select board chairman Barbara Redmond asked Gray how much money the town might need to improve the situation.

“Oh, they don’t print it fast enough,” Gray replied.

Specifically, he said, the easy-to-use monitoring equipment Reuthe recommended would probably cost about $2,000, and would provide useful information.

Select board members are minimizing new commitments until they finish the process of hiring a town manager to succeed Mary Sabins, who is retiring at the end of the year.

They therefore postponed any action. Redmond suggested the stakeholders’ meeting might be scheduled in January, before area towns begin developing 2023-24 budgets.

In a related matter, select board members unanimously extended the contract with Ronald C. Weeks, Sr., to harvest alewives at the Webber Pond outlet for another five years.

The second proposal presented at the Nov. 10 meeting, for a Vassalboro dog park, was also postponed, mostly to give proponent Vivian Flamm time to gather more information.

Flamm was representing a number of residents – and a few people from China, she added – who would like to see Vassalboro develop a dog park. Her idea is that the town would buy land, fence it, provide benches and do whatever other development is needed. Three possible sites had been suggested, she said.

She expects interested local people would help create the park and would show their appreciation for it by keeping it clean.

Board members and Sabins suggested approaching the Vassalboro Sanitary District trustees about a possible site; asking the City of Augusta for guidelines; preparing a cost estimate; and other preliminary actions Flamm’s group could take before returning to the select board and the new town manager.

In other business, Sabins reported she had a request to ask the state Department of Transportation to lower the Quaker Lane speed limit from 45 to 25 miles an hour. Board members unanimously agreed to forward the request.

They agreed by consensus to cancel their second November meeting. It would have fallen on Thanksgiving Day, was tentatively rescheduled two days earlier and, they decided, could be eliminated. Their next regular meeting will be Thursday, Dec. 8.

FAIRFIELD: Town to conduct survey to redevelop Mill Island Park

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The Town of Fairfield’s Economic and Community Development Committee (FECDC) has created a variety of surveys to assist with the redevelopment of Mill Island Park. Divided into six (6) separate surveys, residents and community members are able to provide valuable public input and insight as to how they would like to see the public park enhanced.

Fairfield Town Manager Michelle Flewelling.

“Mill Island Park is a truly unique urban, island waterfront park with direct proximity to the downtown. With historical features that represent the town’s industrial and commercial past, today the park showcases the town’s stunning riverfront natural resources,“ elaborates Fairfield Town Manager Michelle Flewelling. “The committee will have the opportunity to hear from the general public as to how certain areas of the Island should be reimagined, improved, or protected; I look forward to seeing how the Town can move this project forward in a meaningful and impactful manner.”

Separated into six (6) separate surveys, the Mill Island Park Zone Surveys correspond with six (6) areas or planning zones across Mill Island Park. Each survey will allow respondents the opportunity to provide feedback on recreational activities, open space planning, historical preservation, park amenities, and give unique and open-ended feedback as to the future goals and objectives FECDC should prioritize when making recommendations for park enhancements.

Garvan Donegan

“Within the view corridor and walking distance to the downtown, the community has a rich opportunity to make significant improvements to one of its greatest public spaces, open up waterfront enjoyment and public access to the community, while marrying the project to downtown redevelopment initiatives,” explains Central Maine Growth Council’s Director of Innovation, Planning, and Economic Development Garvan Donegan. “The Mill Island Park Zone survey aims to collect and reflect the public’s collective goals for Mill Island Park and will inform short- and long-term growth strategies.

Each survey is available in an online format and may be accessed by utilizing QR codes that are physically located within the applicable zones on-site at Mill Island Park. Upon visiting the park, residents and visitors may scan the digital code in the marked Zone to access the survey, which offers five open-ended questions. Zones represented throughout Mill Island Park include the Mill Island Park Gateway, Mill Island Park Commons, Mill Island Historic Area, Mill Island Point, Mill Island West Waterfront, and Mill Island East Waterfront.

Responses will be collected until Friday, December 2. For more information on the Mill Island Park Zone Surveys, including instructions for accessing a paper copy of the survey, please visit www.fairfieldme.com or email mflewelling@fairfieldme.com

The Economic and Community Development Advisory Committee is a “citizens” committee with open membership to all Fairfield residents, business owners, and educators who have a vested interest in community development. Meetings are open to the public, and the committee typically meets monthly at the Fairfield Community Center; go to Fairfield’s online calendar of events for a meeting schedule.

CHINA: Casey, Preston re-elected; Chelsey wins other race

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by Mary Grow

The results of China’s Nov. 8 local voting, as reported by Town Clerk Angela Nelson just before 11 p.m., are as follows.

In local elections, Blane Casey and Janet Preston were re-elected to the select board and Brent Chesley was elected to succeed Ronald Breton. Vote totals were Casey, 1,434; Chesley, 948; and Preston, 1,124.

For the planning board at-large position, James Wilkens was re-elected with 1,442 votes. Nelson expected results of write-in votes for representatives from District 2 and District 4 to be available within a day or two.

District 4 budget committee incumbent Timothy Basham and at-large member Elizabeth Curtis were re-elected with 1,571 and 1,492 votes, respectively. There were only write-in votes for committee secretary and for the District 2 seat.

In a three-way race for one seat on the Regional School Unit 18 board of directors, Nelson wrote that incumbent Dawn Castner defeated challengers Wallace Pooler III and Darrell Stevens; no numbers were on the town website, china.govoffice.com, early the morning of Nov. 9.

Nelson said all referendum questions were approved. China voters thereby:

  • Appropriated no more than $70,000 from American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money for expanded broadband service;
  • Appropriated no more than $21,590 in ARPA money to reimburse China Rescue for a defibrillator;
  • Appropriated no more than $7,000 in ARPA money for improvements to the town’s radio tower;
  • Appropriated no more than $22,000 in ARPA money for three heat pumps for town buildings;
  • Appropriated no more than $75,000 in ARPA money for the town’s senior fuel assistance fund;
  • Appropriated no more than $30,000 in ARPA money for repair of cemetery fences;
  • Amended the town’s quorum ordinance to say that 100 registered voters is the minimum needed to start a town meeting; and
  • Amended two sections of the Land Use Ordinance, as recommended by the planning board.

Qualifications for the senior fuel assistance program are on the town website. An applicant must be 65 or older, a China resident for at least a year, with a household income below $30,000 for a single person or $60,000 for a couple. Applications must be accompanied by a copy of the 2021 Maine income tax filing or, if no taxes were filed, comparable evidence.

One $500 payment per household is authorized, between Nov. 15, 2022, and April 15, 2023, as long as the $75,000 lasts. Recipients of LiHEAP and HEAP are not eligible.

The town will make payments directly to fuel vendors — oil and propane dealers or Central Maine Power Co. for people with electric heat, for example. Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood said unusual situations – like someone burning the wood he bought year before last – will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis, with the goal of helping all eligible residents.

Hapgood did not know whether a payment to a fuel vendor should be reported as income by the homeowner. She recommended asking a tax professional or Maine Revenue Services.

In the race for RSU #18 school board, Dawn Castner was the winner with 851 votes. Darrell Stevens received 403 votes, and Wallace Pooler, 371.

Results of China’s voting on the state ballot

On the Maine state ballot, China voters gave District 1 Democratic Representative to Congress Chellie Pingree 983 votes to 1,197 for Republican challenger Edwin Thelander and 7 for Alan H. MacDonald, a declared write-in candidate.

In the gubernatorial race, Republican former governor Paul LePage received 1,177 China votes to 1,019 for incumbent Democrat Janet Mills and 39 for Independent Sam Hunkler.

For state senator from District 15, incumbent Republican Matthew Pouliot got 1,371 votes to 822 votes for Democratic challenger Storme Jude St. Valle.

In a three-way race for state house District 62, with no incumbent, Republican Katrina Smith had 1,189 votes; Democrat Pamela Swift had 729 votes; and Independent Lindsey Harwath had 282 votes.

In the only contest for Kennebec County office, for register of deeds, in China Matthew James Boucher outpolled incumbent C. Diane Wilson by 1,268 to 877 votes.

Vassalboro voters approve moratorium on solar development

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by Mary Grow

At the polls on Nov. 8, Vassalboro voters approved a moratorium on commercial solar development in the town, effective immediately.

Town Clerk Cathy Coyne said the vote was 1,343 in favor to 748 opposed. The moratorium prohibits the planning board or any other municipal board or official from taking action on a commercial solar application for at least 180 days; the select board has the discretion to extend it.

Purpose of the delay is to give planning board members time to develop new regulations for such developments and present them to voters for approval. Board members have started discussing regulations and hope to have a document ready for the annual town meeting in June 2023.

The only other local question in Vassalboro on Nov. 8 was election of a representative to the Kennebec Water District board of trustees. Incumbent Frank Richards, unopposed for re-election, received 1,920 votes.

In state and county voting, Coyne reported the following results from Vassalboro voters:

  • For Representative to Congress from District 1, incumbent Democrat Chellie Pingree, 1,000 votes; Republican challenger Edwin Thelander, 1,138 votes.
  • For governor of Maine, Independent Sam Hunkler, 39 votes; Republican Paul LePage, 1,187 votes; incumbent Democrat Janet Mills, 954 votes.
    or state senator from District #15, incumbent Republican Matthew Pouliot, 1,359 votes; Democrat Storme Jude St. Valle, 790 votes.
  • For state representative from District #61, incumbent Republican Richard Bradstreet, 1,318 votes; Democrat Amy Davidoff, 848 votes.
  • For Kennebec County register of deeds, Matthew James Boucher, 1,270 votes; incumbent C. Diane Wilson, 843 votes.

Coyne said Vassalboro polls were busy all day, with a total of 2,190 ballots cast. The new secure ballot drop box outside the town office was used a lot up to and on election day, she said; even when the office was open, some voters put their early ballots in the box.

China select board supports broadband committee

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by Mary Grow

After a pre-meeting party in appreciation of retiring chairman Ronald Breton, China select board members settled down to deal with a long and varied Nov. 7 agenda.

They unanimously endorsed a letter of support for the China Broadband Committee (CBC) application for a Maine Connectivity Authority (MCA) grant to improve broadband service in China.

CBC chairman Robert O’Connor said under new state standards, all of China, not just part of the town, qualifies as underserved by current internet providers. Therefore, he said, CBC’s partners, UniTel, of Unity, and UniTel’s Idaho-based parent company, Direct Communications, have expanded their original application.

O’Connor said he has numerous letters of support from townspeople. Select board members unanimously authorized Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood to send a supporting letter and to sign any other documents needed as part of the application.

Several Thurston Park Committee members attended the Nov. 7 meeting to argue against Breton’s proposal to leave the park gate open in October and November so that hunters can drive in. Breton explained his goal was to make it easier for older people to hunt in the park.

Sheri Wilkens said that after years of neglect that led to impassable roads and vandalism, committee members had done a lot of hard work to restore the park. They feared leaving the gate open would lead to major setbacks.

No one else on the select board favored Breton’s idea, and no action was taken.

Hunting has always been allowed in the park. Part of the roads are open to four-wheelers, committee members said.

Select board members acted on bids or price estimates on two topics.

They voted to buy a snow pusher to go on the new loader from Scott’s Recreation, a company with dealerships in Hermon, Manchester and Turner that sells a variety of RVs, trailers, tractors, equipment and other outdoor-related items. The price was $5,900, more than $1,000 lower than the next lowest bid.

Hapgood thanked Brent Chesley (who appears certain to be a select board member after the Nov. 8 local election) for picking up the new loader.

To demolish a trailer at 90 Chadwick Way, off Dirigo Road, board members had a $4,500 figure from Pine Tree Waste, including removal of the remains and site clean-up; and a $2,500 figure from board member Wayne Chadwick, owner of W. D. Chadwick Construction, with the town to pay for disposal after he brought debris to the transfer station.

Hapgood had tried to estimate disposal costs, but without knowing how much debris there would be, an accurate figure was impossible. Chadwick said he would not accept a motion to give the job to his company with a $4,500 price ceiling.

A board majority voted to accept Pine Tree Waste’s $4,500 price, with Chadwick and Blane Casey abstaining. Hapgood hopes the work will be done by the end of November.

Returning to an Oct. 24 topic, board members unanimously revised the starting date for the two-cents-a pound fee for brush disposal at the transfer station (see the Oct. 27 issue of The Town Line, p. 3) from Nov. 15 to Feb. 1, 2023. Hapgood said she had been reminded of the requirement that China give Palermo residents three months’ notice of transfer station fee changes.

By contract, Palermo shares use of China’s transfer station. Residents of the two towns pay identical fees for specified items (bulky items, tires, electronics and others); Palermo residents pay for trash bags for mixed household waste; and the Town of Palermo pays China an annual fee.

Board members postponed a decision on repairs to the roof of the recycling building after Casey suggested considering switching to asphalt shingles, instead of repairing the screwed-down metal roof. He volunteered to inspect the roof the next day.

Appointments approved were:

  • Kenneth Reese as a member of the Municipal Building Committee and the Emergency Preparedness Committee; and
  • J. Christopher Baumann as a member of the Transfer Station Committee.

Hapgood reminded those present that town facilities will be closed Friday, Nov. 11, in observance of Veterans’ Day. They will also be closed Thursday and Friday, Nov. 24 and 25, for the Thanksgiving holiday. On Saturday, Nov 26, the town office and transfer station will be open regular hours.

The next regular China select board meeting is scheduled for Monday evening, Nov. 21.

Vassalboro planners use bulk of meeting to discuss commercial solar development

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by Mary Grow

Despite a three-item agenda plus a spill-over item from the Oct. 13 select board meeting, Vassalboro Planning Board members spent an hour and a half of their long Nov. 1 meeting discussing proposed regulations for commercial solar developments.

They plan to return to the draft solar provisions, currently seen as a section of the site review ordinance rather than a separate ordinance, at their Dec. 6 meeting. They do not presently intend to schedule a special meeting only for ordinance discussion.

Their first actions on Nov. 1 were to approve:

  • An application to expand and rebuild a non-conforming structure at 30 Austin Road in the Three Mile Pond shoreland, with the understanding it will be enlarged by less than 30 percent and will not be any closer to the water.
  • Acceptance of the decommissioning plan for the proposed commercial solar development at 2579 Riverside Drive as meeting the requirement set at their Oct. 4 meeting (see the Oct. 13 issue of The Town Line, p. 2).

The third agenda item was listed as a presentation by Brittney Krebsbach of Novel Energy, the company planning to apply for a permit for a commercial solar farm on the west side of Main Street (Route 32) north of Duratherm Window.

Instead of Krebsbach, Patrick Zander represented Minnesota-based Novel Energy Solutions. He explained that he had been told that morning to “put a face” to the company. He asked that a preliminary application be accepted, so review could proceed if Vassalboro voters approved the solar development moratorium on the Nov. 8 local ballot.

Zander had not been told that the moratorium would prohibit any action, even if an application were in process. Nor had he been told that Novel had submitted no application. When he looked at the preliminary information planning board members have had for weeks, he said it was “way out of date.”

Codes officer Paul Mitnik said Novel had emailed something last week. When he replied that he could not open the document(s), he got no answer.

Zander said the revised plan reduces the size of the planned development by about 50 percent. Setback from Outlet Stream is increased and the project “won’t touch” the Kennebec Water District pipeline that crosses the property.

Novel has its Central Maine Power Company interconnection agreement (IA), Zander said. Board chairman Virginia Brackett was surprised, as several other Vassalboro projects have been delayed by lack of an IA.

Before he left, Zander offered information resources for the proposed solar ordinance. After he left, board members expressed sympathy for the difficult position his company’s lack of preparation put him in.

“Somebody at least owes him a beer,” Brackett suggested.

Although Brackett said the Novel Energy application wouldn’t reappear until the summer of 2023 if the moratorium passed Nov. 8, audience members who oppose Novel’s project – and supported the moratorium – insisted on speaking. Board member Douglas Phillips encouraged the rest of the board to let them.

Ann White and Linnea Ash Hill distributed three pages listing problems with solar panels, and the websites they said support their concerns. They claimed that property values drop within a mile of a solar project; that toxins from the panels will harm area wildlife and water quality in Outlet Stream and China Lake; and that decommissioning a system will result in release of more toxic chemicals.

“We can have a solar farm lots of other places. We don’t need it there,” Hill said.

When select board member Chris French asked from the audience if the new ordinance should also ban solar panels on people’s roofs, several people said, “No.” No one said yes.

Main Street residents also spoke at the select board’s Sept. 29 public hearing on the moratorium ordinance (see the Oct. 6 issue of The Town Line, p. 3).

The problem left over from the Oct. 13 select board meeting was the claimed lack of a buffer at the newly-opened brewery at 772 Cross Hill Road (see the Oct. 20 issue of The Town Line, p. 2). Neighbors Rick and Terry Dawson, and Peter and Mary Beth Soule again asked what they can do to ensure construction of a buffer, required by the planning board when the business was approved.

Mitnik offered his opinion that enough trees had been planted to meet the board’s requirement. The neighbors disagreed.

Planning board members said repeatedly they are not enforcers. They said if Mitnik’s response was not satisfactory, the town manager should be asked to call a meeting of the board of appeals.

The Nov. 1 preliminary discussion of the planned solar ordinance focused on setbacks and buffers. Planning board members discussed a multitude of probable complications.

By the end of the discussion, they envisioned a project, meaning the solar panels and associated equipment, inside a fence; a required distance between the fence around the project and the property line; and a vegetated buffer between the fence and the property line.

French suggested requiring that the fence be at least 100-feet from the property line or 150-feet from the nearest residence, whichever distance was greater. Board members approved, for now.

The vegetated buffer was one of the problems. Its purpose would be to screen the project inside the fence from neighbors, so a buffer all the way around the property seemed unnecessary. But if the vegetation were trees and if they were close to the fence, they could grow tall enough to shade the solar panels.

A related issue, setbacks from wetlands, was temporarily left to state regulators, with the expectation their information would be shared with town officials. Any commercial solar project over three acres needs a state permit, and French and planning board members believe recently-adopted state regulations require the developer to map and protect wetlands.

Also attending the Nov. 1 meeting was Bob Geaghan, introduced as Vassalboro’s new codes officer. Town Manager Mary Sabins said later that Geaghan is expected to work with Mitnik for the next two months and take over the job in January 2023 so that Mitnik can retire, as he has tried to do several times already.

HealthReach welcomes Nancy Johnson

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Nancy Johnson

This September, staff at HealthReach Community Health Centers welcomed Nancy Johnson, Connector. The two practices Nancy joins include Belgrade Regional Health Center, and Lovejoy Health Center, in Albion. Nancy looks forward to helping patients access important services, such as affordable healthcare, health insurance, and other social and support services.

Nancy obtained her bachelor’s degree in secondary education, language arts from the University of Maine at Farmington. She also has a master’s degree in literacy education from the University of Maine at Orono. In 2021, Nancy served as a Patient Services Representative for MaineGeneral Medical Center, where she provided excellent customer service to patients and determined urgency levels for medical referrals. Nancy previously worked as a certified title I literacy teacher for the Augusta school department for over a decade. She also has experience in helping people with Medicare Part D matters.

Nancy joins HealthReach’s dedicated Connector Team – Tina DeRaps, LSW; Chenoa Jackson, LSW; and Courtney Koczera. Connectors provide free and valuable services to help with the high cost of healthcare. Connectors are here to help patients navigate a variety of resources, including MaineCare (Medicaid), Hospital Free Care, Supplemental Nutritional Aid Program (SNAP, or “food stamps”), reduced-cost prescription medications through the Patient Assistance Program, and our HealthReach Affordable Care Program (“Sliding Fee”). HealthReach Connectors can also connect you to other helpful resources in your local community.