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 […]
by Mary Grow China Planning Board members and Codes Officer Nicholas French began work on updating the town’s subdivision ordinance, which is Chapter 3 of the Land Development Code, at their Oct. 8 meeting. Board Chairman Toni Wall said the subdivision ordinance has not been amended in years, as far as she knows. The copy […]
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 The town – now city – of Augusta was created on Feb. 20, 1797, when the Massachusetts legislature, responding to a local petition, divided the town of Hallowell. The downriver third remained Hallowell. The upriver two-thirds became Harrington, renamed Augusta on June 9, 1797. Harrington lasted long enough for voters to hold […]
by Mary Grow The major topic at the Oct. 8 Vassalboro School board meeting was the difficulty of finding people to drive school buses. Transportation Director Ashley Pooler presented a written report titled Bus Driver Challenges, starting with the statement that Vassalboro is currently short two drivers. One person retired; another changed jobs to get […]
by Mary Grow China Transfer Station Committee members held a short and cheerful meeting the morning of Oct. 8. Transfer station manager Thomas Maraggio and committee member Rachel Anderson, who volunteers at the free for the taking building, both said things are going smoothly. The one major pending issue is the revised agreement between China […]
by Mary Grow (Read about the candidates’ opening statements here.) Three candidates for the state legislature and six candidates for China town offices spoke to an audience of more than three dozen at the Oct. 9 candidates’ forum at the Albert Church Brown Memorial Library in China Village. Speakers were: — Five candidates for three […]
by Mary Grow Candidates’ opening statements, summarized, in the order given. Raegan LaRochelle, Augusta, Democratic candidate for state Senate District #15, is a Cony High School graduate with an MBA (Master of Business Administration) degree who works as an economic development consultant and owns a commercial cleaning business. She served on the Augusta City Council […]
by Mary Grow Hallowell & Supply Belcher The local responsibility for public education made it one of the first topics for voters in each newly-organized 18th and 19th century Maine town. Frequently, historians wrote, it was not easy for people in a low-cash economy to raise money to pay a teacher, provide instructional materials and […]