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 […]
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. […]
by Mary Grow So far this series has discussed the following churches in the central Kennebec Valley area whose buildings are on the National Register of Historic Places: Waterville First Baptist; Ten Lots Chapel (Baptist-based, now non-denominational); St. Mary’s Catholic, in Augusta; South Parish Congregational in Augusta; St. Mark’s Episcopal, in Augusta; three Quaker (Society […]
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]
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 […]
by Mary Grow Writer’s note: Samuel Francis Smith is mentioned in enough local histories that writing a few paragraphs about him seemed obligatory, even though his connection with the central Kennebec Valley was brief. Samuel Francis Smith (Oct. 21, 1808 – Nov. 16, 1895) is best known as the man who in 1831 wrote America, […]
by Mary Grow Vassalboro Planning Board members approved both items on their Aug. 3 agenda. The major one was an application from landowner Linda Butterfield and the Maine Rivers organization to remove the Morneau Dam on Outlet Stream and replace the nearby Mineral Springs Road bridge. The project is the final step in opening Outlet […]
by Mary Grow Money was the theme for many of the topics at the China selectmen’s Aug. 2 meeting – quite a lot of money, much of it potentially outgoing. The China Broadband Committee’s planned request for a bond issue of around $6 million is the biggest proposed expenditure. CBC members did not have all […]