by Mary Grow

China selectmen spent much of their Feb. 5 meeting putting the warrant for the March 24 town business meeting in absolutely final form, in preparation for review by the budget committee the evening of Feb. 6. The last few changes they approved included renumbering the articles, because one number was omitted as drafts changed; deleting an unnecessary reference in the funding article for the LakeSmart program; and increasing the amount they recommended for the China Village library from $100 to $4,500, matching the recommendation for the South China library.

The article that will be renumbered 34 asks voters to appropriate up to $20,000 for the LakeSmart program, which helps lakefront property owners on China Lake control run-off to protect water quality. As drafted, the article included a clause requiring Selectboard approval for spending any of the money “to advance an interest in real property.” LakeSmart spokeswoman Linda O’Connor said the program has no intention of acquiring any such interest; the clause was removed.

In what will be Art. 26, selectmen initially recommended voters give $4,500 to the South China Library and $100 to the Albert Church Brown Memorial Library in China Village, run by the China Library Association. Their rationale was that the China Village library had less need of money, because the association has an endowment fund that totaled more than $450,000 before the recent stock market declines.

Association President Tom Parent explained that a maximum of four percent, $20,000 to $22,000, is withdrawn annually so that the fund will keep the library running in perpetuity. The library’s annual operating budget is around $32,000, Parent said. The difference is made up by donations, numerous fund-raising projects and the town stipend.

Challenged by board Chairman Robert MacFarland for keeping the funds in the comparatively volatile stock market, Parent pointed out that the interest earned on a savings account or bond fund would not begin to cover annual expenses.

Selectmen voted unanimously to increase the recommended appropriation. They did not accept Parent’s second request, that they rewrite the article so that it would allow voters to choose the amount to give each library, below, at or above the recommended amounts.

The library funding article and a few others in the March 24 warrant are closed or capped: the recommended funding amount appears in the body of the article. Most of the rest of China’s expenditure articles begin with “To see what sum” and have amounts as recommendations by the selectmen and budget committee added below the articles; they are called open articles.

Town meeting rules say that when an article is closed, voters can approve the amount as stated or a smaller amount, but not a larger amount. When an article is open, voters can appropriate whatever they see fit.

Parent argued that open articles are more democratic. MacFarland said having all open articles makes it possible for special-interest groups to increase funding beyond selectmen’s intentions, unbalancing town finances.

China’s annual town business meeting is scheduled for 9 a.m. Saturday, March 24, at China Primary School.

In other business Feb. 5, selectmen voted unanimously to begin the process of seeking a successor to Town Manager Daniel L’Heureux, who plans to retire in June. They rejected O’Connor’s suggestion that they add four residents, one from each area of town, to a selection committee, saying that interviewing and hiring the town manager is the selectmen’s job.

They accepted Thomas Michaud’s resignation as at-large (elected from anywhere in town) planning board member and agreed to advertise the vacant seat.

The selectmen’s meeting was preceded by a bicentennial celebration in the former portable classroom, at which Bicentennial Coordinator Neil Farrington and about three dozen residents of all ages discussed China’s history, and a fireworks display that audience members agreed was one of the best in China in years. The occasion was the 200th anniversary, to the day, of the creation of the Town of China from parts of Harlem (the southern part of present-day China), Albion (then Fairfax) and Winslow.

by Mary Grow

By the end of the China selectmen’s Jan. 29 special meeting, board members and Town Manager Daniel L’Heureux were satisfied they had the warrant for the March 24 town business meeting in final form.

Selectmen plan to sign it at their Feb. 5 meeting. By email, L’Heureux invited budget committee members to find a meeting date later in the week of Feb. 5 to review proposed expenditures and make their recommendations.

Selectmen’s recommendations were unanimous on 4-0 votes, with board member Jeffrey LaVerdiere absent due to illness. Items discussed and decisions made resulted in several proposals that will be new for town meeting voters.

For example, Art. 14, dealing with annual appropriations for emergency services, asks voters also to implement a new state law allowing the town to give each volunteer fire department its appropriation as a lump sum from which the department pays its bills, rather than having the departments submit bills to the town for payment.

Selectmen established that the law applies only to the China Village, South China and Weeks Mills fire departments, not to China Rescue.

Voters will be asked in Art. 18 to appropriate $80,613 to buy a pre-crusher/compactor and a new forklift for the transfer station, taking the money from a reserve fund and the town’s unassigned fund balance (commonly called surplus).

Art. 26 asks for up to $20,000 from surplus to provide a septic system and water system for the former Weeks Mills schoolhouse.

In Art. 41, voters are asked to appropriate up to $100 from surplus for purchase of the Branch Mills Union Church, adding another historic building to town ownership. The amount is intended to cover transaction fees; the article also requests authorization to use up to $80,000 from grants, donations and Tax Increment Finance funds to restore the building.

Art. 43, requested by the planning board, proposes using up to $22,000 in TIF funds to develop and implement a new town comprehensive plan.

Selectmen made final decisions on two local service organizations’ fund requests they debated inconclusively at their Jan. 22 meeting. They recommended a $3,000 appropriation for The Town Line newspaper as in past years – the item was debatable this year because the newspaper is renting the old town house basement for a nominal fee. And they recommended a $4,500 appropriation for the South China Library and a $100 appropriation for the Albert Church Brown Memorial Library in China Village, basing the difference on the growth of the latter’s endowment fund.

The possibility of reappearance on a June local ballot. One would have requested up to $10,000 to buy the land around the new fire pond on Neck Road; the other would have requested up to $110,000 to buy the Bailey property at the head of China Lake, as part of the expansion of recreational opportunities there.

The fire pond was again discussed at some length, and selectmen reaffirmed their Jan. 22 decision to get some kind of barriers around it as soon as possible.

Engineer Rick Pershken, attending the meeting at board Chairman Robert MacFarland’s request, gave his professional opinion that the steep sides of the pond would gradually erode into milder slopes, cutting away the edges including toward Neck Road. Selectmen agreed to ask someone from the US Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service for advice on stabilizing the pond.

The Feb. 5 selectmen’s meeting is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. The Budget Committee meeting, when scheduled, will be posted on the town web site. Both meetings are open to the public.

by Mary Grow

China Planning Board members have decided to start carrying out their responsibility to prepare a revised town comprehensive plan before the current one expires in the summer of 2020.

The three members at the Jan. 16 meeting directed Chairman Tom Miragliuolo to ask selectmen to appoint a new comprehensive plan committee and to try to get a request for funds on the warrant for the March 24 town business meeting.

Miragliuolo promptly got in touch with Town Manager Daniel L’Heureux, who replied that he would put the requests on the selectmen’s Feb. 5 agenda. Miragliuolo proposed an estimated cost of not more than $24,000, based on information from Kennebec Valley Council of Governments about other municipalities’ costs.

Residents interested in serving on a new comprehensive planning committee are invited to contact the town office.

Miragliuolo’s state job used to involve reviewing towns’ comprehensive plans. He told the other planning board members that they are created under the state Growth Management Act, passed in the late 1980s with general goals like creating orderly development and economic growth, providing housing and recreational opportunities and protecting natural, agricultural, historic, archaeological and other resources.

China’s current plan was developed by a committee, with major assistance from a paid consultant. The committee reported to the planning board; at the board’s request, selectmen presented the plan to voters, who approved it in November 2008.

Miragliuolo expects the process of revising the plan and getting local and state approval to take a minimum of 18 months. Few towns do it that fast, he said.

The consultant’s fee will be the major expenditure, he predicted. The person with whom the town contracts will be expected to attend committee meetings and draft the plan based on committee members’ and residents’ input.

China is not required to update its plan. However, a town that does not have a current state-approved plan cannot do some things, like adopting an impact fee ordinance, and is disadvantaged in other ways, for example in applying for state grants. The second topic at the Jan. 16 planning board meeting was Codes Officer Paul Mitnik’s draft revisions to China’s Planning Board permit application and conditional use permit application checklist.

Board members agreed the documents should be discussed in more detail at their Jan. 30 meeting, after they have time to consider them.

The Jan. 22 China selectmen’s meeting, scheduled for 7 p.m., will be preceded by a 6:30 p.m. meeting of the Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) subcommittee of the Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Committee. Both meetings will be in the town office.

The RLF subcommittee is meeting to approve an agreement with the Kennebec Valley Council of Governments to administer China’s revolving loan fund. The fund uses money from China’s TIF program for small auxiliary loans to help start or expand local businesses.

The full TIF Committee is tentatively scheduled to meet Monday evening, Jan. 29.