by Mary Grow China selectmen learned at their special meeting Sept. 2 that it takes at least two lawyers to draft a proper ballot question asking voters if they will authorize selectmen to issue a bond – and a third lawyer to explain the result. The local referendum question China voters will be asked to […]
by Mary Grow Vassalboro voters will have a chance to approve or reject a Mass Gathering Ordinance at the polls on Nov. 2. Selectmen unanimously approved the proposed new ordinance at their Sept. 2 meeting, after reviewing and mostly accepting town attorney Kristin Collins’ recommended changes to the draft Town Manager Mary Sabins and Selectman […]
by Mary Grow One more former school in the central Kennebec Valley is on the National Register of Historic Places: the original Cony High School, in Augusta, often referred to as Old Cony High School, to avoid confusion with present-day Cony High School, or as Cony Flatiron, for its unusual shape. Kirk Mohney of the […]
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 […]