China candidates forum canceled

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Albert Church Brown Memorial Library in China Village (photo courtesy of library Facebook page)

by Mary Grow

The annual China candidates’ forum, intended to introduce candidates for local offices to voters and scheduled for Oct. 17 on Zoom only, will not be held.

Louisa Barnhart, Chairman of the Trustees of the Albert Church Brown Memorial Library that sponsors the event, announced, “Due to general lack of interest, the candidates’ forum will be canceled this year.”

LakeSmart presentation from state director slated

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Image Credit: chinalakeassociation.org

The China Region Lakes Alliance (CRLA) will sponsor a presentation by State LakeSmart Director Mary Wicklund on Maine’s LakeSmart Program, designed to help improve the health of Maine’s lake resources.

The meeting will be held Wednesday, October 20, 2021, at 6 p.m. (EST) at the portable classroom at the China Town Office Complex, and by Zoom.

All interested parties are invited to attend. For more information about LakeSmart, or to obtain the Zoom link, please contact (207) 200-8361.

Vassalboro selectmen cancel October 14 meeting

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by Mary Grow

Vasssalboro selectmen have canceled their meeting that was scheduled for Thursday evening, Oct. 14. Their next meeting is an Oct. 21 goal-setting workshop, to which they will add the discussion of a Solar Array Ordinance that was on the Oct. 14 agenda.

The Oct. 21 meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. in the town office meeting room. Interested residents are welcome to attend, but selectmen do not plan to accept public comments at this informal stage of discussion.

Vassalboro planning board: two applicants are approved

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by Mary Grow

Vassalboro Planning Board members found that two applicants for Webber Pond shoreland permits met all town standards and unanimously approved their permits.

Receiving approval were Alecia Saucier, to replace a mobile home on Saucier Lane with a larger mobile home on a cement slab; and Mike Fisher, to enlarge a deck and add a handicapped access ramp at 1 Baker Lane.

Saucier’s approval was with the condition that the usual erosion control measures be in place when the slab is put in. Saucier said the company that sold the mobile home told her it had to be on a slab and to have hurricane straps.

Each home was a non-conforming structure in that it was within 75 feet of the high-water line. Expansion therefore required planning board review and approval. No building will be extended closer to the water on either property.

Both applicants also need Department of Environmental Protection permits. Fisher had just received his; Saucier was waiting for hers.

Codes Officer Paul Mitnik and his successor-in-training, Ryan Page, discussed with each applicant the additional permits needed.

Mitnik told planning board members that as of Oct. 5, he had no applications for a November meeting agenda. If the board does meet in November, it will reschedule from Nov. 2, its usual first-Tuesday meeting night, to Nov. 9, to avoid conflicting with elections.

Mitnik said he and Page, having finished reviewing applications for auto graveyard/junkyard and auto hobbyists’ permits, were looking at permits for marijuana businesses in Vassalboro.

In narrow vote, selectmen agree to sell Lakeview Drive property for $65,000

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by Mary Grow

By a 3-2 vote, China selectmen have sold the 39-acre lot on Lakeview Drive to China resident Brent Chesley, for $65,000.

Eight bids had been submitted by the selectmen’s Oct. 12 meeting. They ranged from $10,000 to $75,000.

The $75,000 offer was from Nikolette Alexander, of South China, who reportedly planned a residential development. Her bid was conditional on the lot being appraised at that figure.

Now that the previous subdivision permit has expired, realtor Lucas Adams has revised the property’s value downward, from an early estimate of $80,000 or more to $55,000 or more.

Chesley told selectmen he would not hold his offer if they reject it in favor of another that falls through. The board has already had one buyer withdraw, after learning the subdivision was no longer valid.

Asked what he would do with the land, Chesley said he has no plan yet. After the closing, which will be November 19 if feasible, he said he might talk with the People’s Park organization whose members want the property made into a public park.

Irene Belanger, Blane Casey and Janet Preston voted to accept Chesley’s offer. Belanger and Preston favor a park over a subdivision; Casey believed Chesley’s offer was the safe one, given the condition on Alexander’s offer. Chairman Ronald Breton and Wayne Chadwick were opposed.

Board members differed in defining their responsibility to townspeople. The town meeting warrant article authorizing the sale says proceeds will go into a fund to lower the tax rate in the following fiscal year, suggesting an obligation to accept a high bid.

Lindsey Harwath, Chairman of the People’s Park organization, and board member Preston said that residents who had expressed opinions heavily favored making the area into a public park, with minimal development; and selectmen should listen to the people. Also, they said, a visible roadside park would attract people and thus generate income for nearby businesses.

Transfer station: Proposed fee increase postponed to November meeting

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by Mary Grow

China Transfer Station Committee members made progress on their Oct. 12 agenda items, while postponing decisions to their Nov. 9 meeting, mostly to give them time to collect more information.

They approved by consensus Palermo representative Robert Kurek’s methodology for calculating a new fee for the disposal bags Palermo residents use. They need updated information and more options on sources for the bags (bought by the Town of China, sold to Palermo people) to decide what the fee should be.

Any cost increases for Palermo will take effect April 1, 2022, as the contract between the two towns calls for six months’ notice.

Committee members endorsed the draft vision and mission statements proposed by the Visioning Subcommittee. The subcommittee will schedule a meeting to continue refining the documents.

Part of the future planning calls for new equipment and improvements to the facility. Transfer Station Manager Ronald Marois said work has started on a new pad intended to store refrigerators; he said it will be large enough for other similar items.

Marois recommended that the committee endorse a request to China selectmen for a new front-end loader, the top item on the list of proposed new equipment.

The one now in use is old, and, he warned, if it breaks down this winter, the transfer station will be hobbled and the public works employees will be unable to load sand and salt trucks.

Committee members were supportive, but took no formal action.

Two facilities improvements also got unofficial support. Marois wants a cover over the pre-crusher near the present mixed-waste hopper, to protect the controls and to avoid adding rainwater and snow to the outgoing loads of trash. Karen Hatch, who runs the Free for the Taking building, asked for electricity and heat.

Ashley Farrington volunteered to see whether the transfer station addition would need an engineer. Committee members amended Hatch’s request to electricity and lights, suggesting a small electric heater would be enough to keep the small building warm; Farrington will get a cost estimate.

Looking beyond the local transfer station, committee member Mark Davis expressed frustration with the failure to open a successor to the Fiberight recycling facility in Hampden. China has a contract to use the facility, which has been closed for more than a year; without it, trash is being landfilled in Norridgewock, an option Davis opposes.

Committee Chairman Larry Sikora said the last he heard, the Municipal Review Committee (MRC), the body representing towns that used the Hampden facility, had three parties expressing interest in reviving it.

Davis suggested China ditch MRC and contract to use the waste incinerator in Orrington run by Penobscot Energy Recovery Company (PERC), until, he further suggested, China builds its own waste incinerator.

Kurek and Sikora advised checking the contract with MRC and looking into PERC costs before considering a change. Marois added that the PERC incinerator is already well supplied.

The next China Transfer Station Committee meeting is scheduled for 9 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 9.

Local residents named to Simmons University dean’s list

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The following local residents were named to the 2021 spring semester dean’s list at Simmons University, in Boston, Massachusetts.

Allyson Cunningham, of Augusta, Kaili Shorey, of Vassalboro, Abigail Bloom, of Waterville, and Maddie Beckwith, of Winslow.

To qualify for dean’s list status, undergraduate students must obtain a grade point average of 3.5 or higher, based on 12 or more credit hours of work in classes using the letter grade system.

St. Michael students lend helping hand during “Day of Caring”

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Contributed photo

Contributed photo

Students at St. Michael School, in Augusta, put down their books and iPads on October 1 and picked up rakes, rags, and gloves to help make their community a better place.

Pre-kindergartners through eighth graders participated in the “Day of Caring,” an annual event organized by the United Way to celebrate the spirit of service and engage thousands of people across the country in community service projects. During the day, St. Michael students cleaned the yard at the Howell House, a senior residence in Augusta; picked up litter and raked on the Kennebec River Rail Trail; and spread bark mulch on the school playground.

In addition to the “Day of Caring” projects, students also launched a drive to collect mittens, hats, pillows, towels, and socks for Bread of Life, in Augusta, an organization that operates a soup kitchen, a family shelter, a shelter for veterans, and apartment units, and offers case management services to those in need.

“Students take pride in giving their time and donations to important projects to help improve our communities,” said Kevin Cullen, principal of St. Michael. “We are proud of our students and the community spirit they demonstrate not just during special events, but each day.”

Contributed photo

Local Dancer in the spotlight

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Wyatt Woodbury, of Fairfield (contributed photos)

by Mark Huard

Wyatt Woodbury, 11, of Fairfield, recently traveled to Weymouth, Massachusetts, to appear in a photo shoot for the Turn It Up Dance Challenge. Wyatt is a member of the Stage Presence Dance Team, in Winslow. The team competes locally and throughout the country at various competitions, earning many regional and national awards for their work. In April, he competed with his team at the Turn it Up Dance Challenge in Westbrook. He earned a Platinum award and a High Score Winner award for his solo routine entitled Cruel World, choreographed by Ashley Roberge. He also competed for, and won the title Mr. Junior Turn It Up Dance Challenge. As a title winner he was invited to participate in a photo shoot for the 2021-22 dance season promotional materials and merchandise catalog. Turn It Up Dance Challenge hosts competitions throughout the Midwest and Eastern part of the country.

New child care center opens in Winslow

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Neighborhood Child Care Center in Winslow. (contributed photo)

by Laurie Lizotte

When two hundred thirty one child care centers in Maine closed during the pandemic, we were determined to find alternative care for families in our community. There are currently 210 programs that have reopened for care for children ages birth through age 12. Make that number 211 as a brand-new childcare center has opened in central Maine. The Neighborhood Child Care Center is now open at 20 Garland Road in Winslow. They are currently accepting enrollment for ages 4-12. The expanded hours will include before/after school, early release days and full-day care from 6:30 a.m. to 5:45 p.m., Monday through Friday. They will also be open for summer care. Please email at theneighborhood.tiffany@gmail.com for more enrollment information.

Over the past 18 months, many communities have been hit hard by the lack of quality child care centers that remained open during the pandemic. When the virus was at its peak, child care centers across the country and the State of Maine were forced, in many instances, to shut their doors, thus creating a void in the child care industry. This void proved to be an insurmountable, drastic upheaval in households where families were forced to either leave their jobs permanently, work from home (not the best situation), and/or collect unemployment. If your employment was in the health care field, you worked tirelessly to ensure that those folks who were ill with the virus received the utmost professional care possible all the while rearranging your schedules to provide a positive child care environment for your young children.

As noted in “Child Care Plan for Maine: September 2021 Updates”:

“Maine recognizes the importance of quality, accessible, affordable child care to support working families. The benefit of quality child care is multifold – it supports working parents to provide for their families while children benefit educationally, socially, and emotionally from a caring, nurturing environment.”

This excerpt was taken from the most recent update from the Maine Department of Health and Human Services and serves as a reminder to us all that without quality, engaging, healthy, creative, and sustainable child care, the community would find it difficult to return to work.

They are delighted to be able to provide a child care solution for the hard-working families in our communities.