by Mary Grow A majority of China Transfer Station Committee members recommended at the Aug. 24 meeting that selectmen increase fees for disposal of demolition debris, and selectmen agreed at their Aug. 30 meeting. Committee members reviewed the current fee schedule (available on the town website, www.china.govoffice.com) with two goals in mind: to ensure that […]
by Mary Grow Members of China’s Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Committee spent much of their Aug. 23 meeting trying to understand the state-required policy on board and committee meetings that are not entirely in-person. Pre-Covid, Town Manager Becky Hapgood explained, the state right-to-know law assumed, and required, that when a board or committee met, members […]
by Mary Grow China selectmen had two bids on the town’s Lakeview Drive property to review at their Aug. 30 meeting. Voters at the June 8 town meeting authorized them to sell the almost 40 acres of land on the east side of the road opposite The Cottages at China Lake. A group called People’s […]
by Mary Grow There are four school buildings in the central Kennebec Valley that are on the National Register of Historic Places, two in Augusta and one each in Winslow and Waterville. Winslow’s Brick Schoolhouse has already been described, in the Jan. 28 issue of The Town Line. The old Cony High School, in Augusta, […]
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 […]