Bridge loan money available to China businesses; applications available at town office

China residents or non-resident property or business owners needing a bridge loan to help start or expand a business in China may apply to borrow between $5,000 and $25,000 from the TIF revolving loan fund. After months of discussing a revolving loan fund, TIF Committee members agreed on July 1 to “put it live.” Information and application forms will soon be available on the Town of China website.

Guardrail topic generates heated discussion; Cotta resigns from TIF committee

by Mary Grow

Money was the top issue at the China Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Committee’s July 1 meeting, but guardrails generated the most heated discussion.

The metal guardrails run along the shore at the head of China Lake, on both sides of the new causeway bridge and for a considerable distance east. Several TIF Committee members emphatically do not like them. They’re ugly and unsafe, committee members said.

Included in the plan for Phase I of the causeway project, they were installed by Wright-Pierce Engineering, Town Manager Dennis Heath said.

As Tom Michaud, who chairs the TIF Committee’s construction subcommittee, remembers, in November 2018 the committee asked Wright-Pierce to postpone the guardrails to Phase II. Selectmen decided they were necessary for safety and authorized going ahead with the installation.

Jim Wilkens said they are too hard to get over to be safe. He recently watched parents trying to help children climb over them to get out of the roadway.

Michaud said the guardrails need to be gone before the China Days children’s fishing derby the first weekend in August so derby entrants can fish along the shore. So far he’s been unable to get the project engineer, Mark McCluskey of A. E. Hodsdon, to respond to his complaints.

Heath said he would talk with McCluskey, and committee members considered a recommendation to selectmen. They scheduled a second meeting focused on construction issues on July 2.

Assuming Phase II includes changes to the guardrails, Heath said preliminary suggestions include shortening the existing ones or replacing them “with a more decorative pedestrian type instead of a vehicle type.”

[See also: Selectmen unanimously approve fire departments stipend plan; to submit to state for review]

Phase I is almost complete, Heath said; the two remaining items are resurfacing the sidewalk, which was damaged when rain fell before the concrete dried, and completing records. The TIF fund has about $139,000 earmarked for Phase II, plus money set aside for engineering. Heath is waiting for cost estimates from McCluskey.

The manager is the TIF Committee’s financial officer. In that capacity, he told committee members the TIF fund has an unaudited balance of close to $435,000, and he expects about another $360,000 in 2019-2020 from Central Maine Power Company tax payments on its power line and South China substation.

Heath told committee members they can recommend rearranging China’s TIF program to cover new economic development activities to meet changing times. Committee members voted to review the program every two years, and more often if needed. The TIF Committee makes program and funding recommendations to the selectboard; specific projects need town voters’ approval. So far projects have appeared on the warrant for the annual town meeting. In November 2018 voters turned down a request to let selectmen approve TIF fund requests between town meetings.

The next TIF Committee meeting is scheduled for Monday evening, July 29.

After the July 1 meeting adjourned, H. David Cotta announced his resignation from the committee, effective immediately.

Selectmen unanimously approve fire departments stipend plan; to submit to state for review

by Mary Grow

China selectmen hope they settled three issues, at least temporarily, at their July 8 meeting, while kicking a fourth question down the road for the third time.

The dispute with the town’s three volunteer fire departments over payment of stipends has been going on since the fall of 2018. After a discussion in executive session, Town Manager Dennis Heath summarized a path forward that board members unanimously approved.

The question of removing sections of the guardrails at the head of China Lake before they get in the way during the annual China Days fishing derby was a new item that Heath thinks can be taken care of in time. The executive session was followed by a second decision, on town office hours.

And selectmen for the third time declined to commit to buying a grader for the town’s public works department, planning to revisit the question with additional information at their July 22 meeting.

The issue with the volunteer firefighters is how to give them token compensation for their efforts without making them town employees under state or federal law. Voters approved money for stipends at the April 6 town business meeting.

The decision approved unanimously at the July 8 meeting was that the stipend-payment formula developed by the firefighters will be sent to the state labor board for review. If the labor board approves it, departments and town representatives will incorporate it in a new memorandum of understanding on disbursement policy, after which payments will begin.

The guardrails were installed as part of Phase I of the causeway project, running across the new bridge that was the focus of that phase and eastward along the shore. The Tax Increment Financing Committee discussed the guardrails the previous week, found them ugly and unsafe (although they are intended as a safety measure) and recommended selectmen see to changing them. Heath agreed July 8, describing them as “overkill” and “designed for an interstate.” The manager expects project contractor Comprehensive Land Technologies can remove the sections that block access to fishing areas before China Days, scheduled for Aug. 2 through 4. Heath had no cost estimate during the selectboard meeting, but emailed shortly afterward that CLT planned to charge $4,000 a day. The manager thought the work might take only one day.

If Phase I funds cannot cover the partial removal, the TIF Committee is ready to begin Phase II and can use that money, Heath said. Later in Phase II, he said, more attractive guardrails might replace the present ones.

[See also: Guardrail topic generates heated discussion; Cotta resigns from TIF committee]

The third decision, again after a discussion in closed session, was to change China town office hours effective Nov. 1. As of that date, the town office will no longer be open for three hours Saturday mornings; instead, on Tuesdays and Thursdays it will remain open an hour and a half later than it does now, until 5:30 p.m. In the only split decision of the evening, selectmen authorized the change on a 3-2 vote, with Chairman Robert MacFarland, Irene Belanger and Ronald Breton in favor and Jeffrey LaVerdiere and Donna Mills-Stevens opposed.

Yet another action after the executive session was board members’ report that they had conducted Heath’s annual review and found his job performance satisfactory (or, as Belanger put it, “He’s a keeper.”)

Selectmen have debated whether to buy an excavator since Public Works Manager Shawn Reed recommended that they do so, and at a subsequent meeting recommended a specific machine. In the interim, selectmen signed a contract with local contractor Wayne Chadwick to use his excavator this fiscal year.

Selectboard members argued again about Reed’s claim that buying would save money compared to contracting or renting. They discussed when Chadwick planned to work, and how long the price quote Reed had would be held. Deciding they needed more information on the last issue, they postponed a decision.

In other business at an unusually varied meeting:

  • Town Clerk Becky Hapgood announced that nomination papers for local elective offices will be available July 11; signed papers are due at the town office by closing time Sept. 6 for names to appear on the Nov. 5 ballot. People whose terms end this year are Selectmen Belanger and MacFarland; Planning Board members Kevin Michaud (District One) and Ralph Howe (District Three, appointed in June to fill out an unexpired term); and Budget Committee members Robert Batteese (chairman), Kevin Maroon (District One) and Wayne Chadwick (District Three). In addition, the planning board alternate at-large seat, currently vacant, is due to be filled this year.
  • Board members unanimously renewed Craig and Richard Taylor’s license for Wildwood pawn shop outside China Village.
  • Hapgood said town office staff started the new fiscal year with a new budget format and new accounts to which they are still getting accustomed. Heath also introduced a new payroll processing system; asked if it is working well, Hapgood said it “still has kinks.” Policeman Tracy Frost agreed: he and his colleagues could not get it to accept their payrolls for the previous two weeks, he said.
  • The usually-routine job of approving items presented for payment took almost half an hour, mainly because Breton questioned Courtesy Boat Inspectors’ supervisor Mallory Chamberlain’s mileage claims and, briefly, why she put in for a salary in addition. China Region Lakes Alliance President Scott Pierz explained why Chamberlain drives several hundred miles a week on the job, and Hapgood pointed out that the packet of supporting documents included Chamberlain’s mileage report in standard town format.

Lake Association Annual Meetings 2019

Image Credit: chinalakeassociation.org

2019 Lake Association Annual Meetings

*   *   *

THREE MILE POND
Saturday, July 13 • 10 a.m.
Windsor Town Halle

CHINA LAKE
Saturday, July 20 • 8:30 – 11:30 a.m.
China Primary School

WASHINGTON LAKES
Thursday, July 25 • 7 p.m.
Gibbs Library

WEBBER POND
Saturday, August 17, 9 a.m.
Vassalboro Community School

ANNABESSACOOK LAKE ASSN.
Saturday, August 17, 8:30 a.m.
Augusta West Kampground
off Holmes Road

*   *   *

To be included in this list, contact The Town Line at townline@fairpoint.net.

Give Us Your Best Shot! (Week of July 11, 2019)

To submit a photo for this section, please visit our contact page or email us at townline@fairpoint.net!

FAMILY TIME: Pat Clark, of Palermo, photographed these young foxes behind her home.

 

FULL BLOOM: The peonies are in full bloom in Ann Austin’s gardens, in China.

 

HEAD ABOVE: This male mallard duck was snapped by Michael Bilinski, in China Village, recently.

Local production to benefit The Town Line

The play, Senator Mitchell’s Sidney Farmer Comes to Washington, will be performed on Saturday, July 13, at 7 p.m., at the Vassalboro Grange Hall. Paul Cates wrote the play in the late ‘80s – early ‘90s, and would be so proud.

All proceeds will benefit The Town Line newspaper!

This production stars Steve Assante, Dr. Alan Ross, Dot Cates, Margaret Cates, Bernie Welch, John Reuthe, Holly Weidner, Helen Cates Devoe, Jody Welch, and Ethan Cates with musical accompaniment by Helen LeFleur. Stage direction is by Kala Wistar and Matthew Freytag. It is being directed by Linda Titus, and coordinated by Elisabeth Cates. Truly a community creation. We hope you will enjoy it as much as we have enjoyed preparing it!

Refreshments will follow the performance downstairs in the dining hall.

Please call and let us know how many are coming! We would so much love to have a full house.

We think you will really enjoy the play!

Three Mile Pond pilot project aims to replicate successes of China LakeSmart

LakeSmart crews at work!

by Jennifer Brockway

China Region Lakes Alliance (CRLA) is pleased to announce a new program focused on water quality at Three Mile Pond.

Lakefront property owners know the impact of water quality on their summer experience. Not all landowners know, however, the positive impact they can have on water quality. The choices made by lakefront landowners can make a difference for the people, fish and wildlife that call Three Mile Pond home. By making landscaping choices that keep stormwater out of Three Mile Pond, landowners can help combat the number one water pollutant – eroded soil, also called “non-point source pollution.” Phosphorus in soil promotes plant growth – in the lake that means algal blooms!

LakeSmart is an education and reward program coordinated by the Maine Lakes Society that helps lakefront homeowners make land use choices that keep pollutants out of our lakes. It is free, non-regulatory and entirely voluntary. Properties that meet LakeSmart standards receive a distinctive blue and white LakeSmart Award sign in celebration of good lake stewardship.

China Lake Association has operated a highly successful China LakeSmart program for many years. This summer, the CRLA has partnered with China LakeSmart to pilot the program at Three Mile Pond. Through the program, a free LakeSmart evaluation is available to lakefront property owners in China and Windsor this July or August. A trained evaluator will visit the property and recommend steps to take to capture and filter stormwater in order to keep pollutants out of the lake. Participating landowners will receive a follow-up report with suggested actions to support lake water quality, such as maintaining or enhancing vegetated buffers, installing water bars or relocating pathways and installing “infiltration steps” down to the lake.

For a limited number of sites in 2019, the CRLA will provide a technical design developed by a qualified professional, and the free labor of the CRLA Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) Program will install the best management practices identified in the free evaluation. The CRLA is able to offer this program at no cost to Three Mile Pond landowners thanks in part to pilot project funding awarded by the Davis Conservation Foundation and New England Grassroots Environment Fund.

The CRLA will gratefully accept contributions to help offset the costs of the program and stretch pilot program funds across a greater number of sites. These gifts may be directed to CRLA, P.O. Box 6339, China Village, ME 04926.

For more information or to request a free LakeSmart evaluation, please contact Jennifer at (207) 679-7306 or jennifer@riseandshine.consulting.

See also:

Beef up your buffers

Beef up your buffer

Vegetated buffers along a shorefront (cottage on right) reduce pollution and sedimentation, as well as providing habitat for pollinators and other wildlife. (photo courtesy of Androscoggin Valley SWCD)

Runoff from gravel road and shoreland homesites is the Number 1 cause of lake, pond and stream pollution in the state of Maine. Water travelling over the surface of roads and yards carries nutrients and other pollutants into waterbodies; soil from erosion is carried in runoff and results in sedimentation, as well as carrying phosphorous, a limiting nutrient for algal blooms. This spring has provided the opportunity to see where that runoff from roads and homesites is originating – and the opportunity to do something about it.

On Thursday, July 25, at 7 p.m., in the Bryant Room, at Gibbs Library, 40 Old Union Rd., in Washington, the Washington Lakes Association annual meeting will present Vegetated Buffers for Lake Water Quality by Hildy Ellis, program manager for Knox-Lincoln Soil & Water Conservation District. This slide presentation will demonstrate how landowners can improve water infiltration on shorefront properties with a vegetated buffer of native plants. Vegetated buffers will stabilize shoreland soils, absorb water and nutrients, trap excess soil, provide wildlife habitat – including pollinators – and mimic natural systems to create a dynamic landscape to enjoy in all seasons.

The public is invited to join members of the Washington Lakes Association for this free program. For more information about the program and the Washington Lakes Association, contact Charlotte Henderson at 845-2661.

Play in Vassalboro to benefit The Town Line newspaper

On Saturday, July 13, at 7 p.m., the Vassalboro Grange is proud to present the play, “Senator Mitchell’s Sidney Farmer Comes to Washington.” The play was written by Paul Cates and is being performed by local actors. It is loosely based on the truth, with some fun thrown in! Refreshments will follow downstairs at the Grange Hall. The proceeds will benefit The Town Line newspaper. Tickets are$10/adult or $8/child under 12 and may be reserved by calling 631-3303. Limited seating so call now!

Alyssa Wood earns a BA degree from Wesleyan University

Alyssa Wood, of Winslow (photo credit: Wesleyan University)

On May 26, 2019, Alyssa Wood, of Winslow, earned a BA degree in history from Wesleyan University, in Middletown, Connecticut.

Wood is a graduate of Winslow High School.