by Mary Grow Another Kennebec Valley town incorporated April 26, 1771, simultaneously with Hallowell (then including Augusta), was Vassalboro, then including Sidney. Vassalboro’s and Sidney’s early educational systems will therefore be examined next. According to Alma Pierce Robbins’ 1971 history of Vassalboro, voters did not discuss education at their first town meeting, held May 22, […]
by Mary Grow China Municipal Building Committee member Edwin Bailey discussed his concerns about recent changes in the plan for a records storage vault at the town office building at an Oct. 24 committee meeting. He, Scott Pierz and chairman Sheldon Goodine did most of the talking, with occasional comments from Terry DeMerchant and Angela […]
by Mary Grow China planning board members continued review of the town’s subdivision ordinance at their Oct. 22 meeting, focused on clarifying a change Codes Officer Nicholas French is recommending: allowing cluster developments, also known as open space subdivisions. The current ordinance has one sentence about cluster developments. Section 11.7 says, “Cluster developments are prohibited.” […]
by Mary Grow Only two members of China’s Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Committee, chairman Brent Chesley and member Jamie Pitney, attended the Oct. 28 meeting. Though no decisions could be made without a quorum, Chesley and Pitney heard reports from TIF fund recipients. Martha Wentworth, chairman of the China Recreation Committee, was the only one […]
by Mary Grow China voters have a two-sided local ballot on Nov. 5, local elections on one side and five referendum questions on the other. For elections, there is one contest on the ballot: five men are running for three seats on the select board, incumbents Blane Casey and Brent Chesley and Edwin Bailey, Tod […]
by Mary Grow An Oct. 21 public letter from Vassalboro School Superintendent Alan Pfeiffer tells residents that Nov. 5 plans have changed. Because voting will be at Vassalboro Community School (VCS), classes have been canceled for that Tuesday. The day will be made up in June 2025 as though it were a snow day.
by Mary Grow By 1820, James North wrote in his 1870 history of Augusta, the town was again thriving after the economic downturn caused by the War of 1812. The bridge across the Kennebec River had been rebuilt; a dam was proposed to promote water-powered industry (finally built in 1837); stagecoaches and steamboats provided connections […]
by Mary Grow Vassalboro select board members heard a second presentation on the TownCloud company’s system for municipal computer functions at their Oct. 24 meeting. On Sept. 7, 2023, Dennis Harward, the company’s founder (identified on his business card as Wizard of Light Bulb Moments), and his son-in-law and partner Christopher Haywood (Chief Amazement Officer) […]
by Mary Grow Vassalboro’s three local referendum questions for Nov. 5 have been well publicized, thanks to information from select board members and Town Manager Aaron Miller on the town website and elsewhere. The three questions ask voters if they want to: — Appropriate $360,000 from the Tax Increment Financing fund or the undesignated (surplus) […]
by Mary Grow Weeks Mills residents Marilyn Reed, Dwaine Drummond and Kyle Pierce attended the Oct. 21 China select board meeting to ask board members to try to get the speed limit reduced through their village in southeastern China. The Maine Department of Transportation sets speed limits. Town officials can request an MDOT review, and […]