CHINA: Town receives two bids on Lakeview Drive lot

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by Mary Grow

China selectmen had two bids on the town’s Lakeview Drive property to review at their Aug. 30 meeting.

Voters at the June 8 town meeting authorized them to sell the almost 40 acres of land on the east side of the road opposite The Cottages at China Lake. A group called People’s Park, led by Lindsey Harwath and others, promptly organized to raise money to buy the lot for a park.

At their Aug. 16 meeting, selectmen voted to contract with Lucas Adams, of Adams Realty, in China, to handle the sale. Town Manager Becky Hapgood signed the contract last week, and Adams attended the Aug. 30 meeting to discuss the two offers.

Confidentiality considerations prevented Adams and the selectmen from sharing all details with the audience. Adams said one bid was $10,000 from a group planning a park; the other was $80,000 from someone whose tentative plan is to split the lot and sell part of it to the People’s Park organization.

Earlier, Adams had valued the land at between $80,000 and $100,000, and selectmen had settled on $90,000 as their base price. Adams said he had had other inquiries, but so far no other offers, he thinks because much of the lot is wetland.

After discussion, selectmen voted 4-1 to authorize Hapgood to make a counter-offer to the higher bidder, negotiate with him, her or them and sign relevant documents.

Selectman Janet Preston, a supporter of the park plan, voted no. Her earlier motion to accept the lower bid was not seconded.

On another issue, China’s Broadband Committee (CBC) had asked selectmen to put a question on the Nov. 2 local ballot asking voters to authorize a bond issue to build new internet infrastructure in town. By Aug. 30, the CBC’s question had been rewritten by an attorney – not town attorney Amanda Meader, Hapgood said, but a “bondwriting specialist” Meader had consulted.

Selectman Wayne Chadwick did not like the result. It sounded to him, he said, as though if voters approved the article, selectmen would have no choice but to issue the bond and go ahead with construction.

CBC members have repeatedly said that if too few residents sign up for the proposed new service the expanded infrastructure will provide, or if the grants expected to cover some of the cost do not materialize, the project will be canceled and the bond will not be needed.

Despite the evening hour, Hapgood tried to reach Meader, without success. Since the Nov. 2 ballot must be final by Sept. 3 – the day nomination papers for local elective office are due – selectmen agreed to a short special meeting at 4 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 2, expecting a clarification before then.

Hapgood said none of the ordinance amendments China Planning Board members have discussed for months will be on the Nov. 2 ballot, because she has been unable to get final copies in time.

Jeanette Smith, Chairman of the Thurston Park Committee, attended the meeting to explain why committee members want to contract with Scott Childs to do $23,350 worth of work in the park, without seeking other bids. Childs heads SD Childs and Sons Excavation, Inc., of Palermo.

Last year, she said, Childs worked on two main trails in the town-owned park in northeastern China. Heavy rains in the fall showed that ditching some sections and installing a culvert are needed, to avoid dealing with repeated damage.

Childs gave them the estimate, which includes other projects, last fall. Committee members intend to use part of the $35,000 allocated from China’s Tax Increment Financing (TIF) fund to pay him.

Meanwhile, they were told they should get at least three estimates. Committee member Steve Nelson has found no other contractor with the time or inclination to bid on the project.

Smith asked selectmen’s approval to go ahead with Childs as planned. Despite general belief in the value of multiple estimates, they approved in this case; Chadwick pointed out that this year is unusual. The vote was 4-1, with Blane Casey opposed.

Chairman Ronald Breton added that since China apparently has no policy saying when proposed expenditures are to be bid out, the board should develop one.

In other business, selectmen made committee appointments as follows:

— Cemetery Committee, Elizabeth Curtis and Jean Dempster; and
— Building Committee, for the planned addition of a storage room on the town office, Ashley Farrington, Debra Fischer, Tiffany Glidden, Sheldon Goodine, Jaime Hanson and Scott Pierz.

After the special Sept. 2 meeting, the next regular China selectmen’s meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 13.

China budget committee urges “no” vote on broadband expansion

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by Mary Grow

China Budget Committee members recommend voters not approve the bond issue for broadband expansion on the Nov. 2 local ballot.

At the Aug. 23 committee meeting, members talked with representatives of the China Broadband Committee (CBC) before deciding to disagree with them.

The vote on a motion to add a “No” recommendation under the ballot question was 4-1, Chairman Robert Batteese announced. He, Tim Basham, Kevin Maroon and Tom Rumpf voted to recommend against the bond issue. Trishea Story dissented.

The committee majority’s main argument was that CBC members are getting too far ahead; they should wait until amounts and allowed uses of pending federal and state funds have been made clear.

One budget committee member added that the option of collaborating with other towns should be explored. Another objected on principle to town government rather than private enterprise providing broadband service.

CBC members advocate the bond issue, currently estimated at around $5.6 million, to cover most of the cost of building new broadband infrastructure town-wide. They anticipate grants will cover about 15 percent.

Having bond money would put China in an advantageous position for getting grants, because the usually-required matching funds would be available, CBC member Tod Detre said.

CBC member Jamie Pitney said there had been informal discussions about regional cooperation.

The problem with waiting for a private company to offer improved service is that China is too small to attract investors, Detre said. Pitney said CBC members have talked with Spectrum, the company currently providing internet service to about 70 percent of residents, and found no interest in upgrading and expanding. Meanwhile, Detre said, some residents have no internet access at all, and others have limited service.

When the CBC asked for proposals for broadband service at the beginning of the year, there were three responses, including Spectrum’s expensive and inadequate offer, Pitney said. Since then, CBC members have chosen to work with Axiom Technologies to provide a town-owned, Axiom-operated and maintained system funded by user fees, not tax dollars.

Story said better service is essential as needs increase, for example for education, and to attract new businesses to town. Axiom’s proposed monthly $55 fee for the lowest service tier is significantly less than she pays now, she said.

Pitney and Detre pointed out that authorizing the selectmen to apply for the bond does not mean they must do so. If too few residents sign up for the new service to provide needed income, or if grants are not awarded, selectmen need not act on the authorization.

At the Aug. 16 China selectmen’s meeting, Selectboard members decided their recommendation on the ballot question will be “Leave to the people” or similar wording, meaning that as a board they recommend neither for nor against the bond issue.

VASSALBORO: Despite parents’ objection, board votes to require face masks indoors by a split vote

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Vassalboro Community School (contributed photo)

by Mary Grow

On a split vote and over audience objections, Vassalboro School Board members approved requiring students, teachers and staff to wear face masks indoors when school opens Sept. 1.

The “mask mandate” was part of a multi-item school opening plan, and the only part discussed at length during the board’s Aug. 17 meeting.

Superintendent Alan Pfeiffer and Board Chairman Keven Levasseur spoke in favor of requiring masks as a safety measure.

“I don’t think we have a choice to do anything different,” since children under 12 cannot yet be vaccinated, Levasseur said. Pfeiffer said a high percentage of adults working at Vassalboro Community School (VCS) are already vaccinated.

Four of the 10 audience members argued vociferously against the mandate. They wanted the choice left to parents.

Masks are bad for children’s mental health by interfering with socialization, one woman argued. They are harmful to physical health, especially for children with illnesses like asthma, another said. And they don’t work anyway; there is no standard for an effective mask, and virus particles are small enough to penetrate most masks in common use.

[See also: CDC mask guidelines.]

The eventual vote to approve the back-to-school document, including mandatory masks, was 3-2, Levasseur announced. Principal Megan Allen said face shields instead of masks will be allowed with a doctor’s note.

Allen said other procedures in place last year, like temperature checks, social distancing and keeping windows open as often as feasible, will continue to be followed. Pfeiffer added that students and drivers on school buses will follow state regulations.

VCS will also do pool testing, nurse MaryAnn Fortin said. She explained the procedure: classroom members’ individual samples are tested in a bunch, and if there is a positive result individual tests will follow.

Aside from the mask debate, the Aug. 17 meeting was mostly upbeat. Pfeiffer set the tone with his repeated “The good news is:” school will open with students in classrooms five days a week, recess and sports will happen as in the old days.

But he kept adding, “As I sit here now,” promising he and school administrators will monitor updated rules and recommendations from state and federal governments.

Pfeiffer reported staff shortages: VCS needs substitute bus drivers, educational technicians, a sixth-grade teacher and substitute teachers, he said.

Allen reported the summer school, Viking Summer Adventure Camp, had been “hands down a success.” Six staff members and 33 students spent two four-day weeks working on projects tailored to students’ interests.

The summer course was intended to help students catch up after the disruptions last school year. Allen recommends continuing it after a return to pre-Covid normalcy.

John Hersey, new food service director for Vassalboro, Waterville and Winslow schools, said that even though school meals are now free for everyone under 18, regardless of family income, it is important that parents continue to fill out the annual applications for free and reduced-price meals.

Currently, school meals are free under a federal pandemic program that will continue through the 2021-22 school year. By a new law signed in July, the State of Maine will take over the free meal program in 2022-23, when the federal program is scheduled to end.

Applications for free and reduced-price meals brought in federal funds in pre-Covid days and will do so again, Hersey explained.

School Board member Jessica Clark seconded his reminder. She added that any parent who skipped the application for fear of taking away meals from another family need no longer worry.

“Jessica, you are spot on,” Finance Director Paula Pooler said.

Hersey also said that the school cafeteria is running into supply problems. As a result, he warned, menus may change on short notice.

Pooler’s report had two pieces of good news. She said the budget deficit that has characterized the school lunch program at many Maine schools for many years has been erased at VCS.

And she said that the unaudited final report for the fiscal year that ended June 30 shows a budget surplus of around $260,000. In addition, she said, after voters approved the 2021-22 school budget, she was notified of additional state subsidy money, as a result of the legislative decision to raise state funding to the long-promised 55 percent level.

Both the left-over money and the unappropriated money will go into the school’s surplus account. As school board members plan the 2022-23 budget, they can decide how much to recommend using from the account.

Director of Maintenance and Grounds Shelley Phillips reported on building renovations over the summer, including transforming the area formerly for industrial arts into two classrooms. She said a specialist in browntail moth control will return in the fall to decrease next year’s outbreak.

Neither the new lighted sign for the front yard nor the generator that will make the school building qualify as an emergency shelter is in place yet, due primarily to delays in getting parts, Pfeiffer said.

Technology Director Will Backman cheerfully described unwrapping boxes and boxes of new computers, and said he expects another 100, enough so every student will have one. Pfeiffer said federal CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) Act funds bought the computers.

School board members heard several other reports; approved many appointments and two requested reassignments Pfeiffer had authorized; accepted four resignations; approved a variety of policies; and rescheduled the workshop postponed from August to Wednesday, Sept. 22.

The next regular Vassalboro School Board meeting will be Tuesday evening, Sept. 21.

WINDSOR: Town to receive more state revenue sharing than budgeted

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by The Town Line staff

At the August 3 meeting of the Windsor selectmen, town manager Theresa Haskell read a release from the Maine Municipal Association regarding the town receiving a $2,383 dividend check for its good performance and loss prevention program. Other financial news from the town manager is that the projected revenue sharing numbers have changed again but it still shows the town will be getting more than was budgeted.

Haskell presented the monthly report from the transfer station, showing $8,370.47 so far this fiscal year, which is up $637.62 from last year. Selectman Richard H. Gray Jr. asked for clarification on the recycling process and what could be done to get the information to the public. Haskell proposed creating a flyer to educate residents on proper recycling, and to poll other towns on how they do it.

Discussion centered around the schedule at the transfer station during Windsor Fair week. It was suggested to reduce the hours to 9 a.m. – noon on the Saturday during the week. However, this year, both attendants are asking for time off, so it was suggested to close the transfer station on Saturday, September 4. Selectmen unanimously approved closing the transfer station on that Saturday.

In other transfer station news, Gray stated that upon a visit to the transfer station, he noticed the good customer service from the attendants. Selectman William Appel Jr., also noted that other residents have complimented the transfer station attendants.

Selectmen directed Haskell to contact the Maine Department of Transportation for speed limit signs on the Reed Road, since it is now a default road, with a speed limit of 45 mph.

Selectmen suggested the flagpole at the Veterans Monument be returned to the person who purchased it. Scott Pierce has said he does not want the flagpole, and wants to sell it, and donate the money to the veterans memorial fund. The public works department will take down the old pole.

The well pump at Resthaven Cemetery has been repaired. The town is still planning to purchase the refurbished pump for $6,000.

It was noted that October 10, 2020, was the cut off date for names to be submitted to be added to the Veterans Memorial Wall. Names can still be added for a fee of $275.

In other business, Ken Knight was present to speak to the board about the possibility of doing the mulching on the sides of the roads for Windsor when needed. There was much discussion regarding this and the it was decided the work would need to out for bid.

Selectmen also unanimously approved a new contract with Transco and possibly a new copier for the town office. The new copier would have scanning, faxing and emailing options that the current copier does not provide. The new copier will save the town $30 a month. Selectmen unanimously approved the new copier.

The next meeting was scheduled for August 17.

China planners review documents submitted to selectmen

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by Mary Grow

China Planning Board members used their Aug. 10 meeting for final reviews of documents they submitted to China selectmen ahead of the Aug. 16 selectboard meeting.

Both are proposed ordinance changes that need voter approval: an amendment to the shoreland zoning section of the town Land Use Ordinance to bring China regulations into conformity with state rules; and the Solar Energy Systems Ordinance, a new section of the Land Use Ordinance to guide planning board members as they review future applications for new solar developments, individual and commercial.

Planning board members hope selectmen will put the proposed ordinance changes on the Nov. 2 local ballot for voters’ action.
However, by the time selectmen got to the request, two hours into their Aug. 16 meeting, no one argued with Chairman Ronald Breton’s postponing it to the Aug. 30 selectmen’s meeting.

Codes Officer Jaime Hanson reported at the Aug. 10 planning board meeting that he continues to be very busy. In addition to reviewing permit applications, he is monitoring two properties that are not in compliance with town ordinances and four that are categorized as dangerous buildings.

The owner of one cluttered and rodent-infested property has made progress on cleaning it up – his “only positive response” to neighborhood complaints about such situations, Hanson commented.

Planning board members intend not to meet Tuesday, Aug. 24, unless Hanson gets an application or something else requires their attention. Without any immediate new business, their next regular meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 12.

Vassalboro selectmen put tax rate at 14.48 mil

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by Mary Grow

Vassalboro selectmen have set the 2021-22 tax rate: 14.48 mil, or $14.48 for each $1,000 of valuation. The town website says the 2019-2020 rate was $14.35 for each $1,000, so the new rate is an increase of 13 cents for each $1,000.

The assessor gave selectmen four rate choices at their Aug. 12 meeting. They chose the second to lowest.

Tax bills are mailed out as soon as possible after the rate is set; property-owners should receive them by early September, if not sooner. By town meeting vote, the first quarterly tax payment is due Monday, Sept. 27, and six percent interest on late payments will begin to accrue seven days after the due date.

The Aug. 12 meeting began with a half-hour executive session discussion with Codes Officer Paul Mitnik and, virtually, attorney Allaina Murphy, of Preti Flaherty’s Portland office. Afterward, selectmen voted unanimously to pursue legal action against the owner of the former church at 14 Priest Hill Road, on Murphy’s advice (see The Town Line, July 22, p. 14).

When Board Chairman Robert Browne invited final audience comments at the end of the meeting, a man identified himself as Chad Caron, owner of the former church, and said he had come to apologize for the trouble his negligence in managing the property had caused.

Caron said his goal is to take advantage of an “incredible opportunity to restore and preserve” the church, but “I bit off more than I could chew.”

He has neither the financial resources nor the time he needs; hence donated materials have piled up in the yard, to neighbors’ dismay. Mitnik has visited the property and reported to selectmen previously. Caron said he was not aware that he could come to a selectboard meeting.

Caron assured selectmen the building is structurally sound and will not fall down. He does not want it to be torn down, and offered to donate it “to someone who can preserve it.”

Historian says Priest Hill Road property was formerly a Methodist church

Vassalboro Historical Society President Janice Clowes says the Priest Hill Road building was formerly a Methodist church, and it is so identified on its photo in the Vassalboro sestercentennial calendar prepared by Don Breton.

Both Henry Kingsbury, in his 1892 history of Kennebec County, and Alma Pierce Robbins, in her 1971 history of Vassalboro, said the town had four Methodist churches, one of them in North Vassalboro. Neither author gave a precise location.

Robbins wrote that the North Vassalboro Methodists bought an unfinished Winslow church and “moved it to the present site about 1875. This pretty little church stands to this day,…white, with a steeple pointing heavenward and a bell to ring on Sunday morning.”

In other business Aug. 12, Browne and Selectman Chris French approved the work Selectman Barbara Redmond and Town Manager Mary Sabins had done on the proposed Mass Gathering Ordinance. They still need information on a couple technical issues and a review by the town attorney before a final document is ready.

Selectmen will schedule a September public hearing on the ordinance. They intend to ask Vassalboro voters to approve it Nov. 2, in anticipation of a planned country music concert in July 2022.

When discussion turned to possible uses for federal American Recovery Plan Act (ARPA) money, Richard Greene, the engineer with Yarmouth-based Hoyle, Tanner and Associates who worked on the Vassalboro Sanitary District’s sewer expansion, asked selectmen to consider assistance to the district.

Selectmen accepted Greene’s offer to send them his list of suggested projects, some essential and others optional. He has included cost estimates and recommended priorities.

The topic will be on the agenda for a later selectmen’s meeting.

Board members had bids for a second compactor at the transfer station, with prices ranging from just under $32,000 to $115,000. Bidders offered a variety of configurations, motor horsepower and potential delivery dates. After discussion that included Transfer Station Manager George Hamar and Road Commissioner Eugene Field, selectmen postponed a decision for more information.

They voted unanimously to let Sabins and Field decide where to use anticipated extra paving money. They unanimously approved Sabins’ planned rearrangement of 2020-21 town funds to cover about $22,000 in overdrafts in two accounts.

After discussion with members and supporters of the town recreation committee, selectmen voted 2-0-1, with French abstaining, to appoint John Fortin a coach. He had failed a background check because of a 10-year-old assault conviction that he described as a result of youthful foolishness.

Browne suggested the selectmen need a clearer policy on interpretation and use of background checks.

Selectmen approved two suggestions Sabins made:

  • When recently retired bookkeeper Jean Poulin is recognized as Employee of the Year at the Nov. 2 Mid-Maine Chamber of Commerce banquet, the town will pay the banquet fee for employees who want to see their former co-worker honored. Sabins and Selectboard members intend to pay their own way.
  • Selectmen will schedule a special goal-setting or visioning session, probably in the town office meeting room, probably in early October, to talk about longer-range town issues that they seldom have time to discuss in their meetings.

The next regular Vassalboro selectmen’s meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 2.

China selectmen set tax rate at 14.40 mil

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by Mary Grow

China selectmen have set the tax rate for the current fiscal year, after a presentation by Tax Assessor William Van Tuinen at the Aug. 16 Selectboard meeting.

The new rate Van Tuinen recommended and selectmen approved is 14.40 mil, or $14.40 for each $1,000 of taxation. The rate for the year that ended June 30, 2021, was $14.90 per $1,000, selectmen said.

Van Tuinen warned property-owners not to expect lower bills, however. Tax bills depend on the value he has assigned to property multiplied by the tax rate; and because house prices have risen so dramatically, he increased building valuations by 16 percent.

He used building values for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2020. Since house prices have continued to rise, another upward revaluation is likely in a year.

Van Tuinen explained that by state law, an assessor needs to keep valuations close to market prices. If the difference gets too large, the state penalizes the town, by reducing various state financial contributions.

China is expected to spend more than $9.5 million in the current fiscal year, with more than half going to the school budget. By Van Tuinen’s figures, a little under $7.1 million will come from property taxes, the rest from other sources, including an anticipated $500,000 in state revenue sharing.

At the June 8 town meeting, voters approved a list of other revenue sources – revenue sharing was then estimated at $335,000. They also set tax due dates: the first half payment is due Thursday, Sept. 30. Town Manager Becky Hapgood expects bills will be mailed out before the end of August.

Selectmen followed up on another town meeting vote at their Aug. 16 meeting, the one authorizing them to sell the former subdivision on the east side of Lakeview Drive through a licensed real estate agent and to put the proceeds “in an assigned fund to reduce the mil rate in the fiscal year following the sale.”

After discussion, they voted unanimously that Lucas Adams of Adams Realty should handle the sale. Adams proposed a seven percent commission and, Hapgood said, he offered to work with Lindsey Harwath, head of the People’s Park organization seeking to raise funds to buy the land, and to reduce his commission if the group succeeded.

Adams valued the land at between $80,000 and $100,000. Selectmen split the difference and voted, again unanimously, to set $90,000 as a starting price.

Selectman Janet Preston asked whether the other board members had a goal for the property – did they favor the park (which she supports), or were they willing to see it become whatever a buyer wanted, even if the use did not benefit the town?

Sell it to the highest bidder, Selectman Wayne Chadwick said. He and fellow board member Blane Casey are dedicated to keeping taxes down; both reacted to the approved mil rate by commenting they need to budget more tightly this year.

Chadwick then made a third motion, to put the property on the market immediately while the market is up, rather than waiting to give the People’s Park group time to seek pledges and grants. That motion was approved on a split vote, with Chadwick, Casey and Irene Belanger in favor and Breton and Preston opposed.

Two other major items on the Aug. 16 agenda were proposed questions for the Nov. 2 local ballot.

Board members postponed action on the planning board’s requests and did not discuss the draft Solar Energy Systems Ordinance or the proposed shoreland zoning changes. (See related story, p. 8).

They debated the China Broadband Committee’s (CBC) request to ask voters to approve a bond issue for more than half an hour, discussing first whether to ask voters to weigh in at all and, after they agreed to that, whether there should be a Selectboard recommendation to approve or reject the article.

If the issue goes on the ballot, voters approve and selectmen borrow the money, currently anticipated to be $5.6 million, it would be used by Axiom Technologies to build new broadband infrastructure.

Chadwick was the only board member to vote against putting the bond issue on the Nov. 2 ballot. He thinks town government should not be in the telecommunications business.

Casey agreed with Chadwick, and Breton has strong reservations about the CBC’s plan. But both argued that after CBC members have worked so hard, they deserve a vote.

The selectmen’s recommendation on the article will be “Leave to the people,” or similar wording. Chadwick and Breton opposed that decision; Chadwick would have recommended not to approve the bond, and Breton thought selectmen should offer guidance.

“They [voters] didn’t elect us to dump it on them,” he said.

Less controversial agenda items included:

— Accepting the highest of seven bids for the old grader, $13,250 from Baker Machine, in South China;
— Reappointing Belanger as the town’s representative to the Kennebec Valley Council of Governments’ General Assembly, with Preston the alternate; and
— Renewing the license for Wildwood Pawn Inc., outside China Village.

Hapgood presented preliminary information she had collected on heat pumps for the town office and transfer station. Chadwick suggested other local venders she could contact.

The next regular China selectmen’s meeting will be Monday evening, Aug. 30.

CHINA: New transfer station visioning subcommittee begins work

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by Mary Grow

Four members of China’s new Transfer Station Visioning Subcommittee defined their job and planned how to start doing it at their initial meeting Aug. 11.

Chairman Chris Diesch, of Palermo, said the group needs to develop two documents: a brief mission statement telling what the transfer station is for, and a vision statement talking about what should be accomplished in the next five or 10 years.
Larry Sikora, Chairman of the Transfer Station Committee, said that group has a five-year plan that is reviewed and updated annually, but it is more “nuts and bolts,” focused on operations and equipment.

The visioning statement, in Sikora’s words, would be more about “something we’re not doing now but it’s possible we could do.”

Diesch volunteered to collect samples of mission and vision statements for other Maine towns’ transfer stations, and Ashley Farrington offered to provide suggestions from a course she took.

The committee’s final drafts will be reviewed by the full Transfer Station Committee and when approved forwarded to the town manager and the selectmen.

The next meeting, the group decided, should be planned for two hours, an hour on each document. Other transfer station committee members will be invited.

By consensus, preferred meeting days and times are Fridays starting at 11 a.m. The next meeting will be scheduled on a September Friday if all members are available, or early in October.

Webber Pond Association elects new president, vice president; votes down membership restrictions

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Webber Pond.

by Roland D. Hallee
with contribution from Susan Traylor

The Webber Pond Association annual meeting was held on August 14, at the Vassalboro Community School with 88 association members present.

There were several controversial items on the agenda at this year’s meeting, including the drawdown, association membership, and ownership of the Webber Pond Dam.

Following the president’s and vice president’s report, election of officers were held.

John Reuthe was elected the new association president, unopposed. Past president Frank Richards, who had held the office for 20 years, has stepped down. Tiffany Luczko was elected vice president, unopposed; treasurer is Erika Bennett and Secretary Rebecca Lamey. Returning directors are Bob Bryson, Bob Nadeau, Charlie Backenstose, Jennifer Lacombe, Pearley LaChance, Phil Innes, Roland Hallee, Russell Charleston, Susan Traylor. New directors elected were Dave Haskell, Kevin Luczko, and Lindsey Tweed.

One of the topics that drew considerable debate, as is the case annually, was the yearly drawdown. At their meeting in July, the board of directors recommended the third Sunday of the month, Sunday, September 19, which has been the drawdown date for the past several years. The date of September 26 was mentioned during discussion. The September 19 drawdown date was approved 46-42.

In the end, it was decided to conduct the drawdown differently this year because of the lake conditions.

A mini flush began later that day, on August 14. The lake is presently experiencing a severe algae bloom, with Secchi visibility of only 1.94 meters/6.4 feet, combined with high water levels due to all the rain. The lake level currently stands at 5.5 inches above the spillway. The mini flush will allow the removal of algae and phosphorus without significantly impacting water levels for recreational use.

One foot of boards were removed on both sides of the gates at the dam – they will be replaced in a week or when the water level reaches the spillway. If there is no rain, the lake normally loses about an inch a week due to evaporation, so the mini flush is a low-risk strategy. Last year the water was about even with the spillway at this point.

The normal annual flush will begin on Sunday, September 19, with three feet of boards removed on both sides. Typically, water levels at the dam have gone down 12 inches in the first week, eight inches in the second week, and four inches in the third week of the drawdown. Another change this year is that the boards will be replaced on October 3, in accordance with Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) recommendations to limit the time that lake bottom sediments are de-watered. Per DEP, draining the top several feet in a lake reduces the total lake volume by a large amount and often exposes large areas of lake bottom. This exposes significant areas of fine sediment to drying and can expose previously stable sediments to heavy rain, wind, and wave action for months, releasing phosphorus into the lake. This could be the issue with increased sediments in the very shallow areas of the lake, which are perceived as lower water levels.

A final flush, when boards are removed to set the lake at winter water levels, will take place in late November. Russell Charleston, who this past year was responsible with monitoring the dam and the lake levels, was approved by the membership to monitor the situation and will choose the date, based on weather conditions, and will post it on Facebook.

Last year there were very high phosphorus readings 0.057 (compared to figures normally in the 0.018 to 0.025 range). This indicates that phosphorus was brought to the surface when the lake turned over (cooler water on the top of the lake sank and warmer water from the bottom rose). Most of the phosphorus in the lake is on the bottom of the lake. If that were to happen again this year, more phosphorus could be flushed from the lake.

In other business, another controversial issue was the proposal to limit association membership to shoreline property owners only. Current by-laws state that anyone with an interest in the lake may become an association member. Following much, sometimes heated, debate, the motion was rejected 36-52.

Following that vote, Reuthe announced he would be forming a committee to review the by-laws in their entirety.

The proposal to ask the town of Vassalboro to assume ownership of the dam, currently owned by the association was quickly tabled to next year, pending more research and communications with the town.

The membership also voted to contribute $1,500 to the China Region Lakes Alliance. During that discussion, it was decided Webber Pond Association should look into forming a LakeSmart program, as is the case on China Lake, where the program has been very successful. CRLA Executive Director Scott Pierz was present at the meeting, and provided an overview of how the program works.

Palermo VFD receives gift from women’s extension group

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Photo: Palermo VFD Facebook

On Thursday, July 15, 2021, at the July Palermo selectmen’s meeting, a check for $800 was presented to the Palermo Volunteer Fire Department Chief Roger Kormandt, by the Palermo Women’s Extension Group, to be used for much needed equipment/materials.

The check was made out to the Town of Palermo for the express use of the Palermo Volunteer Fire Department. As a gift, the $800 may be used only for this purpose. The check was presented to Chief Kormandt by Anne Kurek, vice president, Palermo Women’s Extension Group. Chief Kormandt then gave the check to Mary Andrews, town clerk, to keep for the fire department.

The Palermo Women’s Extension Group was pleased to present this gift to the Palermo Volunteer Fire Department. And are happy to know that it will benefit the Town of Palermo and its residents.

Also in attendance were selectboard members: Chairman Robert Kurek, Ilene McKenney, and Pam Swift, Deputy Fire Chief Josh Seikens, Sherry Kormandt, and Diane Bent, treasurer, Palermo Women’s Extension Group.