China committee approves four TIF requests

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by Mary Grow

At a brief meeting Feb. 9, members of China’s Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Committee unanimously approved four requests for TIF funds for the 2022-23 fiscal year. Their recommendations go next to the select board; voters at the June 14 town business meeting will make the final decision.

The approved applications were from the Thurston Park Committee, for $34,600; from the China Region Lakes Alliance, for $50,000; from the Four Seasons Club, for $30,000; and from the China Broadband Committee, for $40,000.

The requests do not exceed the limits in the different accounts from which the funds are to be allocated, Town Manager and TIF (and town) Treasurer Rebecca Hapgood said.

In reply to a question left over from the previous TIF meeting (see The Town Line, Feb. 3, p. 3), whether money appropriated for the current fiscal year (July 1, 2021 – June 30, 2022) but not spent by June 30 can be carried forward, Hapgood reported town attorney Amanda Meader said the answer appears to be yes.

Committee member Jamie Pitney said that answer makes sense. Some of the accounts need time to accumulate, he pointed out, and without carrying unspent funds forward from year to year, accumulation is impossible.

With their major task for the 2022-23 budget accomplished, committee members did not schedule another meeting. They intend to skip March; late April is a possibility.

CHINA: Committee discusses out-of-town disposal options

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by Mary Grow

At their Feb. 8 meeting, China Transfer Station Committee members continued discussion of out-of-town disposal options and possible changes at the local disposal facility (see The Town Line, Jan. 20, p. 3). They again reached no conclusions.

After years of sending trash to the Penobscot Energy Recovery Corporation (PERC) incinerator, China and more than 100 other Maine towns and cities joined the proposed trash-to-energy facility at Hampden. One component of the deal was creation of the Municipal Review Committee (MRC), which represents member towns.

The facility has been closed since May 2020, and attempts to reopen it or to find a buyer who would reopen it have failed. Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood described MRC’s executive director, Michael Carroll, and committee members as “super-frustrated.”

Hapgood said an executive-session MRC meeting is scheduled for the week of Feb. 14, after which there might be additional information.

Mark Davis, acting chairman of the China committee, is also super-frustrated. He wants China to get out of the project, and suggested hiring another attorney to find a legal way if town attorney Amanda Meader doesn’t have time to explore options.

With the Hampden plant not operating, some towns’ waste is going again to PERC and some is being landfilled. Davis is indignant that China’s trash is landfilled. His preferred option is an incinerator at the China transfer station.

Palermo representative Robert Kurek said the multi-town project was a sound idea, and members signed up because PERC was about to raise its fees. But the Hampden facility was too ambitious.

Hapgood reminded Davis that legal advice costs money.

Committee members returned to discussion of other topics from their previous meeting.

There is no information from contractors on building a cover for the crusher box.

Hagood had not analyzed results of her just-completed survey of residents and therefore was not ready to make a recommendation on new transfer station hours.

China select board members are in favor of replacing the current radio frequency identification (RFID) tags with stickers. Kurek is unenthusiastic. There is no consensus among committee members on whether there should be a charge for stickers and if there is, how much it should be.

Kurek again explained how the contract between China and Palermo sets requirements for changing the price Palermo residents pay for their special trash bags. He planned to repeat the explanation for China select board members at their Feb. 14 meeting.

Hapgood said select board members are open to the idea of adding a guard shack at the transfer station entrance. They assigned the proposal to board member and contractor Blane Casey.

The next Transfer Station Committee meeting is scheduled for 9 a.m. Tuesday, March 8.

An article in the Dec. 30, 2021, Mt. Desert Islander newspaper said that the technology planned for the closed Hampden plant is being used successfully in similar-sized plants in Massachusetts and Utah.

The process separates saleable recyclables from mixed waste and uses the mixed waste to produce biogas, described as “a renewable energy byproduct.”

The article further said that MRC Executive Director Michael Carroll said some towns’ waste must be landfilled because the PERC incinerator at Orrington is not big enough to accommodate all of MRC’s member towns.

China select board hears from Palermo rep on transfer station fees

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by Mary Grow

At their Feb. 14 meeting, China selectmen dealt with three issues before continuing review of the proposed 2022-23 budget.

Lacking complete information on a few budget items, they scheduled a special meeting for 6:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 21, despite the town office being closed that day for the Presidents’ Day holiday.

The longest pre-budget discussion was with Palermo select board chairman Robert Kurek, about the price Palermo residents pay for trash bags under the contract that lets them use China’s transfer station.

The contract sets four parameters affecting changes in bag costs: the cost of living, transportation and disposal costs, state mandates (which so far have been irrelevant) and the price China pays to buy the bags. It requires China officials to give Palermo six months’ notice of any increase.

Kurek has developed formulas for translating words into dollars. For example, he defines the cost of living increase as the change between Dec. 31, 2016 (the day before the contract came into force), and Aug. 31, 2021 (when China officials proposed upping Palermo residents’ price).

Kurek asked China select board members to appoint someone to review his formula with him and make sure it is acceptable. They appointed Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood.

Hapgood reminded them that the long-discussed revised charge is scheduled to take effect April 1. “Give me some direction,” she asked select board members.

The second issue was improved security cameras at the transfer station to make it easy to identify people who enter when the facility is closed. Hapgood presented a figure of $3,194.99, of which $1,750 is on hand as a carry-forward from last year.

She recommended taking the remaining $1,444.99 from the transfer station budget. Select board members unanimously approved the total.

The third issue was the planning board’s request to put proposed amendments to Chapters 2 and 11 of the Land Use Ordinance on the warrant for the June 14 town business meeting.

After discussion of the relationship between the two elected boards, select board members voted unanimously to present the amendments to voters.

The planning board is working on a new Chapter 8, which would set rules for future solar developments. Hapgood said that document is not yet in final form.

Information on the proposed changes is on the town website, china.govoffice.com, the manager said. In reply to resident Scott Pierz’s question about whether the planning board held a public hearing during development of the amendments, she reminded the audience that discussions were in the spring of 2021 and said she would look for a record of a hearing.

Budget discussion took more than an hour. Board members accepted Hapgood’s recommendations, which are based on requests from heads of town departments and the current year’s budget adjusted for expected changes, on most items.

The only split vote was on the proposal to reduce the amount for 2022-23 road paving from Hapgood’s recommended $600,000 to Road Foreman Shawn Reed’s requested $560,000.

Everyone who spoke expects paving to be more expensive this summer than last; the question is how much more. Hapgood recommended the higher appropriation because of the uncertainty. If prices are lower than she anticipates, roads skipped in past years could get resurfaced, she said.

Board members Wayne Chadwick and Blane Casey made and seconded the motion for $560,000, and were supported by Janet Preston. Chairman Ronald Breton and member Jeanne Marquis were opposed.

After the Feb. 21 special budget meeting, the next regular China select board meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 28.

VASSALBORO: Major decisions postponed during budget talks

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by Mary Grow

Vassalboro select board members held their second budget discussion on Feb. 10, taking another two and a half hours to review expenditure requests for the fiscal year that begins July 1, 2022.

Major decisions were postponed for more consideration, and the decisions select board members did make are subjected to reconsideration as the budget develops. A still-pending decision that will affect several budget lines is what percentage pay raise to recommend voters give town employees.

Late in 2021 board members authorized Town Manager Mary Sabins to contract for a regional salary survey. Until they have the results, which Sabins expects soon, they are waiting to see what 2022-23 pay level seems appropriate.

The Feb. 10 special meeting began with a presentation by Holly Weidner, chairman of the Vassalboro Conservation Commission (VCC), with comments by Scott Pierz, executive director of the China Region Lakes Alliance (CRLA). The first draft of the 2022-23 budget has a request for $11,500 for the CRLA.

In past years, voters approved $7,500, until at the 2021 town meeting they added $398 (from another organization they decided not to fund) for a total of $7,898 for the current fiscal year.

Weidner explained that for $7,500, Vassalboro had a share of the CRLA’s Courtesy Boat Inspection (CBI) program: inspectors checked boats to make sure no fragments of invasive weeds were being imported. Inspectors were stationed at all three Vassalboro landings, protecting China Lake, Webber Pond and Three Mile Pond, she said.

If Vassalboro increased its appropriation, Weidner expected the VCC would work with CRLA and lake associations to add four more water quality protection projects on Webber and Three Mile ponds: Best Management Practices advice to landowners; a survey of gravel roads to see where road run-off impacts water quality; a demonstration project for the state-wide LakeSmart program; and monitoring and when necessary clearing Seaward Mills Stream to ensure alewife passage into Three Mile Pond.

Weidner’s letter to select board members estimated the four projects would cost a total of $3,000. She requested another $1,000 as Vassalboro’s share of the additional administrative costs.

When they reached the “Requests” section of the draft budget, selectmen recommended $9,000 for the CRLA.

They also endorsed Sabins’ recommendation to ask voters for $1,500 for the Vassalboro snowmobile club despite lack of a written request.

Other decisions made at the Feb. 10 meeting included:

  • Raising the proposed budget for legal costs from the current year’s $10,000 to $15,000.
  • Making Ryan Page’s codes enforcement position full-time, at a total cost to be determined when salaries are set.
  • Recommending $2,000 for supplies and equipment for the police department, less than Police Chief Mark Brown requested. Sabins said the draft budget does not include Brown’s request to make his position full-time; select board members did not object to the omission.

Numerous other budget items were discussed without decisions. As of Feb. 10, select board members were leaning toward two new proposals: per-hour stipends, instead of mileage reimbursement, for members of Vassalboro First Responders (treating them the same as volunteer firefighters); and an undetermined amount to begin development of a new park on town-acquired land between Route 32 and Outlet Stream, north of East Vassalboro.

Sabins said a state grant might be available for the park; but, she said, the one she investigated requires any park it funds to remain a park forever, and she would prefer not to limit future officials and voters.

Selectmen and audience members suggested different names for the park to honor the town manager, whose idea it is to use the streamside lot for fishing and other recreation.

Continued budget discussion is on the agenda for the regular Vassalboro select board meeting scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 17, at the town office.

The selectmen’s budget recommendations will go to the budget committee, which will begin meeting March 3. Disagreements between the two boards are often resolved before the warrant (list of articles) for the annual town meeting is approved; if not, town meeting voters make the final decisions.

Vassalboro’s 2022 town meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Monday, June 6. Local elections will be held Tuesday, June 14.

Other Feb. 17 agenda items include an update from codes officer Page on the former church on Priest Hill Road, in North Vassalboro, deemed a dangerous building and scheduled for demolition if owner Chad Caron does not correct the situation; and discussion of the 10-Year China Lake Watershed-Based Management Plan with China Lake Association President Stephen Greene.

For background on the Priest Hill Road building, see The Town Line, Jan. 13, p. 2. For background on the China Lake management plan, see the issues of Dec. 9, 2021, p. 1, and Dec. 23, 2021, p. 2.

Vassalboro planners approve three applications

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by Mary Grow

Vassalboro Planning Board members unanimously approved three applications on their Feb. 1 agenda, none intended to create environmental changes.

Robert Parise and his brother-in-law are buying the Riverside Drive (Route 202) business called RAPS. Parise told board members the new business, named Platinum & Core LLC, will continue the junkyard/scrapyard part of RAPS and discontinue used car sales on the premises, at least for now.

The other change planned is adding a fence about 225 feet long, running from the present building to the tree line, to better screen the property from drivers on the road.

Proposed business hours are 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays, with possibly occasional Saturday hours. Noisy work will be done inside the existing building.

If Parise and his partner decide later to change the type of business, add another building or make other significant changes, they know they need to come back to the codes officer and probably the planning board.

Planning board members reviewed Parise’s application and approved it without conditions.

The second application was to change the name of the owner of the solar farm on Cemetery Street, in North Vassalboro. The license approved in June 2021 was issued to New England Solar Gardens (NESG); Owens McCullough of Sebago Technics, who made most of the 2021 presentation, explained that it should now belong to a wholly-owned new partner named Maine 1 Vassalboro Cemetery.

NESG has taken parallel actions with two other Maine projects, in Lewiston and Berwick, he said.

Board members were satisfied that the ownership would be the same, just with a new name; nothing would change on the land; and nothing had changed in local ordinances since June 2021 that would require them to review a new application.

The third applicant was Bryan Moore, looking for a renewal of his October 2019 permit to expand a non-conforming structure at 152 Park Lane, in the Three Mile Pond shoreland zone.

Moore presented a new building plan he said an architect had prepared. Although the appearance has changed, he said the new building still would be no closer to the water and would not exceed size limits for a shoreland expansion.

Planning board members approved a permit good for one year.

The next Vassalboro Planning Board meeting should be Tuesday evening, March 1.

Public hearing regarding proposed contracting with Liberty Ambulance

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(Photo courtesy of Palermo Community Library)

The Palermo Select Board will be holding a public hearing on Friday, February 11, at 6 pm. The meeting will take place at the Palermo Community Library, located at 2789 Route 3, in Palermo. The main topic of discussion will be the proposed contracting with Liberty Ambulance Service as an emergency service provider for Palermo. Chief Komandt (Palermo) and Chief Gillespie (Liberty) will present their proposal and will be happy to answer all your questions.

For those who prefer to attend via Zoom, the link is: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85682277706?pwd=S0RrU2V2cmk5alQ4OXptK3pEa3BuQT09, Meeting ID: 856 8227 7706, Passcode: 350168

All are encouraged to attend. Palermo residents will vote on the proposed contract with Liberty Ambulance Services at the Annual Town Meeting in March.

For more information call 993-6088 or email palermomelibrary@gmail.com or visit www.palermo.lib.me.us.

CHINA: Solar company may expand array onto another lot

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by Mary Grow

At their Jan. 25 meeting, China Planning Board members continued discussion of two of their Jan. 11 topics (see The Town Line, Jan. 20, p. 3).

Since Jan. 11, they learned, China’s town attorney, Amanda Meader, has agreed that if SunRaise Investments leases more land adjoining the planned solar farm on the south side of Route 3, the company may enlarge the solar array.

The previously-approved array met lot coverage limits in China’s ordinance; a larger one would require more land. When SunRaise proposed the additional lease, Meader’s first reaction was that a 2016 Maine Law Court decision meant the new area could not count as part of the original lot.

However, SunRaise spokesman Scott Anderson said Jan. 25, he convinced Meader that the two situations are not comparable, and she withdrew her objection. SunRaise therefore was ready to submit an application for an enlarged project at the next planning board meeting.

The next question was whether the expanded project needed a new application or a revision of the previous one. A majority of board members asked for a new application, citing their and neighbors’ concerns about run-off, the small amount of tree-cutting that is planned and other possible effects.

The second left-over issue was ordinance amendments that board members hope select board members will put on the June 14 town business meeting ballot. At the Jan. 11 meeting, board member Toni Wall volunteered to prepare the documents selectmen requested: for each proposed change, the original, the marked-up copy and the final copy. She had them ready Jan. 25.

After another discussion about whether board members needed to re-review the documents, they authorized Chairman Scott Rollins to send them to the Town Manager and to the chairman of the select board. If select board members send them back with recommendations for changes, planning board members can re-review them then.

The proposed changes are amendments to two sections of the current ordinance and addition of a Solar Energy Systems Ordinance to regulate future applications like SunRaises’s. For SunRaise and other solar-farm applicants, planning board members have adapted other sections of the ordinance.

Codes Officer Jaime Hanson said the new SunRaise application is, so far, the only item on the board’s Feb. 8 agenda. The planning board normally meets at 6:30 p.m. the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month, recently in the town office meeting room.

China TIF committee hears request from Thurston Park, broadband

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by Mary Grow

China Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Committee members reviewed two applications for 2022-23 TIF funding at their Jan. 27 meeting.

Jeanette Smith, chairman of the Thurston Park Committee, explained why her group is asking for $34,600. Jamie Pitney, a member of the China Broadband Committee (CBC) as well as the TIF Committee, explained the CBC request for $40,000 from two different packets of TIF money.

Committee members made no recommendation on either request. They plan to consider them together with requests received in December 2021, probably at the meeting they scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 9.

They also need a question answered: if money allotted for the current (2021-22) fiscal year is not spent by June 30, 2022, does it carry forward for the same purpose, or does it revert back to the body of the TIF fund?

Smith explained that money for a concrete pad for a storage building in Thurston Park was not allocated until November, when it was too late to start work. She doubts the park will be accessible in time to do the project by June 30 this year. If the 2021-22 allocation carries forward, the Thurston Park Committee’s 2022-23 request can be lowered.

Town Manager and TIF treasurer Rebecca Hapgood said she will find out where unspent funds go.

TIF Committee members had questions and comments for Smith, including a recommendation that her committee consider a prefabricated building instead of having a local contractor build one.

Pitney told the rest of the TIF Committee that $10,000 of the CBC request is for another year of service from consultants Mission Broadband. The $30,000 is for expanded broadband service that is part of the voter-approved TIF document. Committee members have no current proposal or project, but remain optimistic.

Last year’s delay in disbursing TIF funds was because China officials were waiting for state approval of the TIF amendments voters adopted in June 2021. The document is on the town website, china.govoffice.com, under the Tax Increment Financing Committee, titled “Second Amended TIF Program.”

TIF money, from taxes paid by Central Maine Power Company on its transmission line through China, does not count as general fund revenue. If it did, county and state officials would consider China richer, and would increase the county tax and reduce state aid to schools.

Pitney reminded fellow committee members that failure to spend TIF money eventually sends it into the general fund. TIF is a tax shelter, Pitney said; if funds are not used as intended, “the shelter has a leak in the roof.”

Katrina Smith announces run for Maine House

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Katrina Smith

Katrina Smith, a Republican from Palermo, has announced her run for State Representative for District 62; China, Palermo, Somerville, Windsor and Hibberts Gore.

Katrina, a real estate broker and small business owner is excited to meet her constituents and listen to the concerns and hopes they have for Maine.

“I care deeply for what is happening to Mainers which is why I have chosen to commit myself 100 percent to winning this district for Republicans. In the past two years Maine has faced a rapid loss of freedoms, one party legislation, jobs being lost and our elderly being abandoned. Our children have undergone undue stress and a severe loss of education that must be reversed. Mainers are now facing extraordinary cost of living increases which deeply worry families, and I cannot sit by and let it happen. The time to be quiet is far past and we must elect officials who will speak loudly for the people of Maine. I promise to be that person.

“I have spent my life in Maine and have lived in Palermo for the past seven years with my children attending the local elementary school and Erskine Academy, worshiping in local churches and enjoying the natural resources that abound in our area. We call this area home because we love the hard working people who believe in the way life should be. I am running because we need to ensure future generations can recognize the Maine we have always loved.”

In 2020 Katrina was a Republican candidate for District #96 against a two- time Democrat incumbent. After speaking to thousands of people and working every day to listen to constituents she won five out of seven towns and lost by only 67 votes. In 2021 Katrina became chairman of the Waldo County Republicans and focused on giving hope in tumultuous times, educating the public on pending legislation and working, with her team, to prepare for 2022 by raising the most money to elect Republicans of any county in Maine.

A graduate of Gordon College, she and her husband Mike have five mostly grown children and two granddaughters.

For more information you may visit www.katrinaformaine.com or on Facebook under Katrina Smith for Maine.

China select board looks at half a dozen proposals for 2021-22 town budget

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by Mary Grow

The main business at the Jan. 31 China Select Board meeting was discussion of the first half-dozen accounts in the proposed 2022-23 town budget.

The main decision made was on salary increases for town employees. In a series of split votes, with board Chairman Ronald Breton and members Blane Casey and Wayne Chadwick on one side and Jeanne Marquis and Janet Preston on the other, board members:

  • Rejected Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood’s proposed six percent increase;
  • Rejected Preston’s suggested four and a half percent increase; and
  • Approved a three percent increase for 2022-23.

The men’s main arguments were focused on saving taxpayers’ money. The women’s emphasized the national cost of living increase, six percent or more. No one criticized town employees.

There was disagreement about how many people are covered. The number is about 15, all the full-time employees except Hapgood, whose salary is negotiated separately, but not some part-time employees, like the animal control officer and the planning board’s secretary.

Hapgood’s draft budget included the six percent increases. Select board members therefore postponed recommendations on the administration and assessing parts of the 2022-23 budget, which include salaries, until she recalculates.

They unanimously approved Hapgood’s recommendations on amounts for town boards and committees, association dues and legal expenses for 2022-23.

The budget discussion at the Feb. 14 select board meeting is slated to begin with the volunteer fire departments’ requests.

In other business Jan. 31, select board members spent a quarter-hour arguing over Preston’s proposal to review employee health insurance plans every other year, instead of annually, unless premiums rise more than three percent in a year.

Preston and Marquis supported the proposal, which they said would lessen stress on employees. Breton thought all budget elements should be reviewed annually. Chadwick saw health insurance as a possible place to cut costs if town officials anticipated a financial bind.

No action was taken.

Board members unanimously appointed Paul Lucas a member of the Transfer Station Committee. That committee’s next meeting is scheduled for 9 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 8, in the portable building behind the town office.

Hapgood said information on PFAS contamination is now on the town website. It is under a new tab at the top of the left-hand column, labeled “PFAS Information.”

The manager commended the town’s plow truck drivers for their long hours during the weekend blizzard. Their work started around 8 a.m. Saturday, she said, and some drove most of the time until mid-afternoon Sunday. After the roads were clear, they still had town properties to finish cleaning up.

The next regular China select board meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 14.