CHINA: Belanger, MacFarland, Mills-Stevens win seats

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by Mary Grow

China voters re-elected one of two incumbent selectmen, re-elected a former selectman and added a newcomer to the board in a Nov. 7 contest that featured eight candidates for three seats.

Irene Belanger and former Selectman Robert MacFarland were elected to serve two-year terms, with 595 and 490 votes respectively. Incumbent Ronald Breton received 402 votes and Frederick Glidden 370.

For a one-year position to fill out Joann Clark Austin’s term, Donna Mills-Stevens was elected with 401 votes. Wayne Chadwick got 347 votes, Ralph Howe 125 and Randall Downer 124.

In the only other contest on the ballot, Kevin Michaud defeated Stephen Hadsell for the District 1 Planning Board position, by a vote of 625 to 269. Michaud succeeds James Wilkens, who, like Austin, is retiring. Three local referendum questions were approved, as follows:

  • Authorization to spend up to $8,500 for a fire pond on Neck Road, 784 yes, 335 no.
  • A requirement that nonprofit organizations applying for town funds submit financial statements, 921 yes, 197 no.
  • Authorization to lease space on the town telecommunications tower behind the town office, 957 yes, 160 no.

Budget Committee Chairman Robert Batteese and District 1 representative Kevin Maroon were re-elected without opposition. Town Clerk Rebecca Hapgood will announce results of write-in votes for Planning Board District 3, Planning Board alternate member and Budget Committee District 3 soon.

China Town employees get a new health plan

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by Mary Grow

Their meeting twice rescheduled due to lack of power, China selectmen finally connected with two health insurance experts at a Nov. 1 meeting that was also attended by town employees.

China employees, like those in many other Maine towns and cities, are insured by the Maine Municipal Employees Health Trust, a nonprofit affiliate of the Maine Municipal Association. According to Director of Health Trust Services Anne Wright, they have the best of the five insurance plans offered.

At the instigation of board member Jeffrey LaVerdiere, selectmen invited a representative of F. A. Peabody Company, an insurance broker, to talk about private insurance plans.

Max Lynds, vice president for Life and Benefits in Peabody’s Houlton office, said up front he could not duplicate the current policy with no deductible and low co-pays. However, LaVerdiere said, if a different policy cost employees more the town could reimburse them and still save enough on premiums to come out ahead.

An hour-long blizzard of facts and figures followed – co-pays, co-insurance, deductibles, health reimbursement accounts, health savings accounts, drug benefits, diagnostic benefits, primary care providers, specialists, in-network, out-of-network, individual rates, couples rates, family rates. After the presentations and questions, selectmen considered town employees’ health insurance in an executive session. After that, Town Manager Daniel L’Heureux reported, they voted to switch to the Health Trust’s POS (Point of Service) 200 plan. L’Heureux estimated future savings to taxpayers at about $23,000 a year. Asked the effect on taxes on a $100,000 house, he replied the homeowner would save about $5.

There is a general expectation that rates will increase in 2018. L’Heureux said during the discussion that Health Trust rates are likely to increase from two to six percent, private group plans from 15 to 18 percent and individual rates by even more. Neither Lynds nor Wright contradicted his figures. The next regular China selectmen’s meeting is scheduled for Monday evening, Nov. 13. L’Heureux said the agenda includes a review with China’s emergency service providers of the stipends voters approved at the March town business meeting.

Planning board continues review of definitions

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by Mary Grow

China Planning Board members continued reviewing the definitions section of the land use ordinance at their Oct. 24 meeting, going through the third and fourth letters of the alphabet.

Retiring Chairman James Wilkens again shared definitions from four other Maine town for comparison. Fairfield, Readfield, Windham and Winthrop all list definitions that are not in the China ordinance – “communications tower” and “demolition,” for example; and China’s ordinance includes definitions not found in the other four ordinances, like “condominium” and “conversion.”

“Campground” generated considerable discussion, with board members distinguishing among public campgrounds that charge a fee, private campgrounds where landowners let visiting friends and relatives park recreational vehicles and storage areas where people keep their campers when they’re not in use.

Board members found most of the definitions satisfactory. A few need to be updated or perhaps revised after board members look more closely at where the terms are used in the ordinance.

Resident Linda O’Connor proposed they reconsider their two-weeks’-ago discussion of whether a definition of “Airbandb” should be added, since to her the term means a marketing or advertising system, not a physical property. Board members agreed with her view.

At the end of the meeting, the other board members thanked Wilkens for his 13 years of service on the board. Wilkens thanked them for making the job pleasant and secretary Tracy Cunningham for her excellent minutes.

The next planning board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday evening, Nov. 14. On November 7, China will voters will choose between two candidates for the District 1 Planning Board seat that Wilkens is leaving, Steven Hadsell and Kevin Michaud.

There are no names on the ballot for the District 3 seat currently held by Milton Dudley or the alternate position elected from the town at large and currently held by Ralph Howe. Dudley has said he is running as a write-in candidate. Howe is on the ballot as a candidate for the one-year term on the Board of Selectmen.

China’s polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Nov. 7 in the portable classroom behind the town office on Lakeview Drive.

China voters to decide RSU #18 bond issue

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by Mary Grow

Regional School Unit (RSU) #18 officials are presenting voters in the five member towns – Belgrade, China, Oakland, Rome and Sidney – with a $13.9 million bond issue that they hope will be approved at the polls Nov. 7.

Voters in China also have local elections and three local referendum questions, including one asking approval to spend money.

At the first of a series of hearings on the bond issue, on Oct. 23 at China Primary School, RSU #18 Superintendent (and former China principal) Carl Gartley explained what the bond money would be used for. About $10 million will be spent to repair and update school buildings; $3.9 million will help build a new athletic complex at Messalonskee High School in Oakland.

A Facilities Committee composed of community members, RSU staff and the state Fire Marshal recommended funding priorities, Gartley said. The two China schools are slated to get almost $2.4 million worth of work, mostly at the older China Middle School.

Gartley said the committee’s tasks included catching up on work postponed after the 2008 financial downturn, emphasizing safety and looking toward future needs. Since 2010, he said, state funding has decreased and voters continue to resist local tax increases. As a result, in the last eight years China’s school budget has gone up by 6.61 percent, or an average of 0.83 percent per year, not enough to keep up with rising prices. Building maintenance has suffered, despite the RSU applying for and receiving loans from the state’s revolving loan fund.

Proposed improvements at China Middle School include a reorganization and expansion of the gymnasium, a new boiler, a new Americans with Disabilities Act compliant back entrance, paving and interior and exterior lighting upgrades.

China Primary School is slated to get roof repairs to stop leaks, a generator for the boiler room and paving and lighting. Modern lights should reduce costs, Gartley added.

Gartley calculated the cost of the bond in terms of additional taxes on a China house valued at $100,000: $49.10 a year, or $4.09 a month, averaged over the life of the bond.

The Messalonskee athletic complex is needed, Gartley said, because the current facility lacks handicapped access and other amenities. He emphasized that the complex would be for youth sports, gym and health classes and community use, not just for high-school sports teams.

China’s three local ballot questions ask voters if they approve:

  • Spending up to $8,500 from surplus to build a fire pond off Neck Road;
  • Requiring nonprofit organizations seeking town funds to provide a current financial statement in order to have their requests considered by selectmen and the budget committee; and
  • Authorizing selectmen to rent out space on the town’s communications tower behind the town office.

The proposed fire pond would be an enlargement of an existing pond just south of the intersection of Neck and Stanley Hill roads, with permission of the two landowners involved. The project would include an area for fire trucks to load water.

During selectmen’s discussions of the questions, Town Manager Daniel L’Heureux said many of the nonprofit groups who seek town support already provide the information that would be required if voters approve the second question.

The town’s tower might be competing with privately-owned area towers. People said, however, that companies seeking to rent tower space look primarily for a location that meets their needs; so the town tower would be requested when no other was as suitable. Selectmen have not talked about criteria for choosing tower users or fees to charge.

Selectmen and the budget committee recommend voters approve all three questions. China polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Nov. 7 in the former portable classroom behind the town office.

China town officials honor retiring selectboard member Joann Austin

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Joann Clark Austin

Joann Clark Austin

Joann Clark Austin has devoted a significant part of her adult life to public service, approximating 25 years of serving, volunteering or in an elected public office position. Her last day in public office will be on November 1, 2017. Joann’s “getting involved” has had a fundamental meaning to her; a genuine concern for her local community expressed in working for its betterment and caring for those in need within it and having the consciousness of a concerned citizen; the consciousness of a town mother or town father.

This idea of hers, being a town mother, incorporates a sense of understanding how one’s interests are reliant upon the community as a whole. Traditionally the town mother or town father concerned themselves with the investment each had made in the community, whether in public office, business or family. Their (town mothers and town fathers) time and energy were tied to a community in some way.

Joann believes the investment of oneself in community requires an individual to see how her/his personal interests relate directly to community and its members and also to have information on the community and how its needs fit into larger political contexts such as the state of Maine or the nation. To have such information about one’s community in these contexts, Joann believes it requires civil practices that allow for shared conversations on what is the common good. This motivation of Ms. Austin, to perform public service, is driven within a moral context to make the world a better place. Indeed, Joan Clark Austin has made this local community a better place over a long and rewarding life of information gathering on community, many conversations, and service to others. Joann, on behalf of all the citizens in the Town of China, we are GRATEFUL.

/s/ Dan L’Heureux, China Town Manager
/s/ Select Board members Chairman Neil Farrington, Irene Belanger, Ronald Breton, Jeffrey LaVerdiere

China has two soccer champs

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China Middle School girls’ soccer team

The China Middle School girls and the China Middle school boys won their respective 2017 Sheepscot Valley Athletic conference championship games played on October 23. Above, the China Clippers girls soccer team, coached by Carl Peterson, defeated Palermo in a very close game, 3-2. The China Clipper boys soccer team, below, coached by Colby Foster, won with a 3-0 shutout against St. Michaels School, of Augusta. Schools that participate in the SVAC are China, Windsor, St. Michael’s, Vassalboro, Palermo, Chelsea, Temple Academy, of Waterville, and Whitefield. Contributed photos

China Middle School boys’ soccer team

Howe defends position in legal controversy with town

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Ralph Howe, one of the four candidates for a one-year term as selectman, is involved in a legal controversy with the town, which will come before the Board of Appeals at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 2. Board of Appeals meetings are open to the public. Howe is appealing rulings by Codes Officer Paul Mitnick that he has expanded his business, Bio Renewable Fuels Corp (BRF), without planning board approval and is therefore in violation of town ordinances. Through his lawyer, Howe claimed at the Oct. 2 selectmen’s meeting that he has not expanded the business, and since previous Codes Officer Scott Pierz approved what he is doing, he does not need a permit now. In the appeals board filing, Howe’s attorney, Kristin Collins, of Preti-Flaherty, writes that BRF has had wastewater treatment lagoons and storage tanks on the property at 168 Weeks Mills Road since 2012.

BRF was not required to get a commercial permit to start operations and, Collins writes, received a 2012 building permit to add 4,400 square feet to an existing building and a 2015 building permit for a 25-by-40-foot water treatment building “without being required to obtain approval of a new or expanded commercial use.”

Collins writes that BRF has a state waste discharge license that “covers the entire property and all of BRF’s wastewater disposal and treatment activities at the property.”

CHINA: Eight candidates seek three seats on selectboard; two running for planning board

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by Mary Grow

Two dozen China voters took advantage of a chance to meet and question candidates for local office at an Oct. 22 forum sponsored by the China Village Library.

Attending were all eight candidates for three seats on the board of selectmen and one of the two candidates for planning board District 1.

Candidates for two three-year terms as selectmen are:

  • Incumbent Irene Belanger, retired real estate agent, Ingraham Road resident who has lived in China since 1969 and has been on town committees and boards almost since she arrived, including the planning board and board of selectmen;
  • Incumbent Ronald Breton, Lakeview Drive, an Augusta native and China resident for 32 years, retired since 2008 after a career as a federal employee including 34 years in the Department of Veterans Affairs at Togus, also a former planning board member;
  • Frederick Glidden, China native, retired from the Merchant Marine, who said he is running for selectman because his family told him to “stop bitchin’ and start doing something”; and
  • Former Selectman Robert MacFarland, Alder Park Road resident and self-employed contractor.
    Candidates to serve the final year of retiring board member Joann Austin’s term are: • Wayne Chadwick, Palermo native who’s lived in China more than 30 years, self-employed excavation contractor;
  • Randall Downer, 19-year Neck Road resident, New York native, computing manager for Colby College who hopes if elected to emulate Austin’s qualities: “respectful, polite and a good listener”;
  • Ralph Howe, owner of Bio Renewable Fuels on Dirigo Road, who has spent his whole life in China except for six years in the army; and
  • Donna Mills-Stevens, owner with her husband of Stevens Dairy Farm on Pleasant View Ridge Road since 1995, assistant vice-president of Bar Harbor Bank and Trust with 20 years’ experience in banking.

Steven Hadsell and Kevin Michaud seek the District 1 Planning Board position from which James Wilkens is retiring. Hadsell was not at the forum.

  • Michaud, a Maple Ridge Road resident since 2003, has spent more than 30 years in education and is now director of the Waldo County Technical Center in Waldo.

Town Manager Daniel L’Heureux moderated the hour-and-a-half hour presentation and discussion, which repeatedly came back to two themes: China’s future should include more small businesses to meet local needs and to add to the tax base; and selectmen are not all-powerful, but are instruments of the voters’ will, so voters should educate themselves about town affairs, attend more meetings and express their views. Belanger endorsed small businesses, and pointed out that larger ones whose owners were respectful of neighborhood and town needs and wishes could also fit in – for example, the once-opposed Hannaford supermarket.

Breton recommended businesses, affordable housing, a health care clinic, children’s programs and maybe a youth center.

Glidden listed small machine shops or a meat market as examples of businesses that might be welcome.

MacFarland thinks China’s Tax Increment Financing (TIF) money should be used to promote small businesses. He would like to see local businesses provide the services for which residents now travel to Waterville and Augusta.

Chadwick supports both more housing and small business, but pointed out few small business owners can afford to provide the benefits that will attract young workers. Downer would like to see diverse residential development as a contributor to the tax base.

Howe said China’s reputation for being anti-business should be corrected. He believes TIF money and grants should be used to attract investors for projects like senior citizens’ housing near Hannaford, and that TIF funds should be used in ways that encourage repayment, not for projects like the causeway bridge. He called for an end to the Not in My Back Yard (NIMBY) attitude. Mills-Stevens thinks China should take more opportunities to seek state and federal grants, an area in which she has expertise. She proposed more local business and entertainment, like parks and a community center. The town-owned former subdivision near the north end of Lakeview Drive might be a good site for such improvements, she suggested.

Michaud called for making the town more business-friendly, suggested trying to get more use out of the China Conference Center buildings on Neck Road and proposed “small manufacturing where appropriate.” Retiring Planning Board Chairman Wilkens asked all the candidates whether, when quality of life and location of a new business conflicted, their priority would be quality of life or business. He got four different answers:

Glidden, Mills-Stevens, Downer and Michaud would all choose quality of life, with Downer adding “under the rule of law.” Howe replied that a “business was a greater public benefit than a handful of negatively impacted neighbors.”

Breton said firmly, “Both” and did not expand his answer.

Belanger, MacFarland and Chadwick said each decision would have to be made on a case-by-case basis.

Asked more specifically about zoning as a means to separate residential and business areas, only Downer and Michaud were willing to consider it, with the understanding that it would be complicated to define and implement if voters approved it.

Discussion of business development led to a discussion of China’s comprehensive plan. The 2008 plan needs to be updated in 2018, Belanger said.

To objections that the 2008 plan was never implemented, Belanger and Breton said selectmen and an Implementation Committee proposed several measures and voters consistently rejected them.

Chadwick and Howe said the plan is too long and contains too much that is irrelevant to China. Belanger replied most of the irrelevant material is required by the state – and, she said, towns without a state-approved plan are disadvantaged when they apply for state grants.

Proposals for encouraging participation and educating voters included several candidates’ recommendation that the town collect email addresses, perhaps at the polls, and send email notices of selectboard, planning board and other meetings. Use of social media was also recommended.

A suggestion of notices in the Central Maine newspapers was countered by Howe’s suggestion that the money they would cost be used instead to subsidize mail delivery of The Town Line, which Breton said selectmen made the town paper some years ago when it was mailed weekly.

Howe thought coffee and donuts would be an inexpensive way to make residents feel more welcome at board meetings, and MacFarland, less seriously, proposed “a keg of beer.”

Glidden and Chadwick were pessimistic about getting people routinely involved. People are too busy to come to a meeting unless an issue affects them, Glidden said. Downer suggested that before each town meeting, warrant articles and explanatory material be posted on the website, so voters would arrive informed and meetings might be shorter.

Chadwick, Howe and MacFarland all called in their opening statements for “common sense in spending” taxpayers’ money. Former Selectman MacFarland thinks board members do use common sense and do a good job of carrying out voters’ policies; Chadwick and Howe see room for improvement.

Glidden and Mills-Stevens also had reservations. Mills-Stevens said selectmen listen to residents but don’t always follow through and Glidden cited examples of their acting against voters’ will, for example by installing cameras at the transfer station.

China voters will decide among the candidates at the polls on Nov. 7. There are also state questions, three local referendum questions and a school bond issue on the ballots. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. in the former portable classroom behind the town office on Lakeview Drive. Absentee ballots are available through Thursday, Nov. 2, at the town office.

Eagle Scout project in South China

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Aiden Pettengill’s Eagle Project was at the new location for the South China Library. His project was to design and build a reading outdoor station. His final design included clearing a space under a large tree, having two benches built, two large flower beds surrounded by two layers of round rocks. He had many donated flowers and bulbs to plant. Thanks to all the Scouts and Leaders that came this morning to work under his leadership. The library, Scout leaders, town residents and parents should be very pleased with the results.

Photo courtesy of Ron Emery, Troop #479

Local businesses team up to help veterans in need

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Pictured, from left to right, Lance Gilman, president & CEO – IGT Retirement Solutions, Sharon Leighton, winner of the fundraiser vacation package, Penny Morris, owner of Penny’s Barbershop, in Augusta, Judi Gilman, owner of Sunset Pine Cottages, in China.
Contributed photo

For the past three years Penny’s Barbershop in Augusta has sponsored initiatives to help veterans in need. In those three years, Penny and her team have raised nearly $10,000 to help veterans. This year her goal is to raise at least $3,500. All of the money she raises goes either directly to veterans or to organizations that directly support veterans. The goal for this year, set at $3,500, is for a distinct purpose: $3,500 is the exact amount that is required to provide one fully-trained service dog to a veteran requiring such help or support. Both the service dog and training are fully covered for the veteran. Once an application is received, K9s On The Front Line (a nonprofit 501 (c)(3) organization out of Portland) will schedule the training for both the veteran selected and the service dog to complete a 16-week training program. Then the service dog will remain with the veteran after the training to help them.

This year, IGT Retirement Solutions, LLC, a retirement planning and Investment firm located in China, sponsored a one-week vacation at Sunset Pine Cottages, also on China Lake, to help in Penny’s fundraising efforts. This was one of many prizes people could buy raffle-tickets for to have a shot at the prize. Lance Gilman, President & CEO of IGT Retirement Solutions, is a veteran and was very glad to sponsor the one-week vacation at Sunset Pines to help raise money for the initiative.

This year’s winner of the vacation package was Sharon Leighton. Sharon was delighted to have won the vacation package and to support the efforts as well. “It’s been over ten years since I have had a vacation. This is great!” Sharon said. “I am also glad to have contributed to this worthy cause.”

The group has raised approximately $3,200 to date. They need about $300 more to meet their $3,500 goal, which will provide one fully-trained service dog to a veteran in need. If you would like to contribute to this noble effort, please contact Penny’s Barber Shop, located at 173 State Street, in Augusta, by calling 207-380-6224. You can also make a tax-deductible contribution by making a check payable to “K9s On The Front Line” and bringing it to Penny’s Barber Shop.

On Saturday, November 11 (Veterans Day) Penny will be offering free haircuts to any veteran. All proceeds from other haircuts completed on Veterans Day will be added to the amount donated to support this initiative.

The final proceeds for Penny’s fund raising efforts will be tallied and given to K9s On The Front Line on the Monday after Veterans day. The veteran selected to receive the service dog will be selected at that time. Please help however you can in this effort. If you are a veteran – thank you! If not, please be sure to reach out to thank one for their service to our country on Veterans Day.