China Middle School honor roll

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photo source: JMG.org

GRADE 8

High honors: Ashlee Carrillo, KennanClark, Lauren Cowing, Lillian Crommett, Kali Duvall, Chloe French, Clara French, Serena Hotham, Abigail McDonough, Shannon McDonough, Colin Oliphant, Noah Pelletier, Justin Reed, Laney Robitaille, Avery Ross, Carlee Sanborn, Aislynn Savage and Parker Studholme. Honors: Haileigh Allen, Jayda Bickford, Carter Brockway, Dylan Cooley, Lucas Farrington, Parker Hunter, Walker Jean, Adrian Mayo, Emma Mills, Kaeleigh Morin, Sadie Pierce, Kyle Scott, Larissa Steeves, Myra Trott and Dalorice Vires.

GRADE 7

High honors: Cassandra Bessey, London Castle, Madeline Clement-Cargill, Claire Davis, Sylvia Davis, April Dutilly, Madison Gagnon, Willow Haschalk, Kasen Kelley, Bayley Nickles, Ruby Pearson, Elijah Pelkey, Desirae Proctor, Christian Salvadori, Jaelyn Seamon, Benjamin Severance, Nichala Small, Madelynn Spencer, Kayla Stred, Abigail Studholme and Kamryn Turner. Honors: Kylie Bellows, Lucas Berto, Brock Bowden, Logan Breton, Brittney Dunton, Faith Futrell, Brandon Haley, Colby Hardy, Easton Houghton, Laylah Leach, Nathaniel Levesque, Hayden Little, Aurora Litrell, Jeremy McKay, Jack Murray, Michael Richardson, Benjamin Severy, Phoebe Taylor, Alexander Walker and Ella Winn.

GRADE 6

High honors: Isaac Audette, Delia Bailey, Emma Casey, Connor Crommett, Isabella Farrington, Danica Ferris, Collin Fletcher, James Goodwin, Kaylee Grierson, Chase Hester, Johanna Jacobs, Peyton Kibbin, Kate McGlew, Wyatt Michaud, Molly Oxley, Bryson Pettengill, Caylee Putek, Jessika Shaw, Colby Spry and Sabrina Studholme. Honors: Mason Carillo, Khloe Clark, Landen DeCosta, Kelsie Dunn, Delaney Dupuis, Bella Dutilly, Connor Hardesty, Lilyanna Holmes, Cassidy Liberty, Gage Miller, Annie Miragliuolo, Hadleigh Morin, Madeline Oxley, Natalie Peaslee, Dylan Proctor, Mason ReedProsser, Emma Rodrigue, Dylan Saucier, Lucas Short, Blake Spry, Gabriel Studlholme, Olivia Vashon and Matthew Vernesoni.

GRADE 5

High honors: Mackenzie Bowden, Alexxander Catassi, Trevor French, Tyler Gagnon, Myla Gower, Landon Larochelle, Bella Lefferts, Madison Levesque, Lainey McFarland, Ava Miragliuolo, Reed Pilsbury, Liam Ross, Keegan Sears, Maxine Spencer, Amelia Spry, Ethan Studholme, Dalton Stufflebeam, Kallie Turner, Brian Walker and Leah Watson. Honors: Dawson Baker, Jackson Bryant, Kaylee Dunton, Dante Farrell, Taylor Gagnon, Marcus George, Mason Mattingly, Alexander Mayo, Clara Monroe, Nolan Pierce, Camryn Prosper and Braelyn Waters.

Vassalboro planning board meeting rescheduled

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by Mary Grow

The Vassalboro Planning Board meeting scheduled for Dec. 1 has been rescheduled for Dec. 8 due to power outages causing a lack of internet and telephone connections at the town office on Dec. 1.

The Dec. 1 meeting was to have been via YouTube. The two agenda items were Andrew Barnett’s application for three buildings at 67 Sherwood Lane, two for medical marijuana growing facilities plus a storage building; and Jeremy Soucy’s application for a used car sales business in an existing facility at 24 Webber Pond Road, at the intersection with Riverside Drive.

For more information, see the Town of Vassalboro website.

CHINA: Decision on trailer-based marijuana dispensary postponed

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by Mary Grow

After a 20-minute Nov. 24 public hearing during which one person testified remotely, China Planning Board members postponed a decision on Giovanni DelVecchio’s application to set up a trailer-based medical marijuana dispensary on Route 3.

DelVecchio, doing business as Weed on Wheels (WOW) Maine, has applied to use a travel trailer parked in front of the former restaurant, at 857 Route 3, as a dispensary. Board members inspected the trailer at its temporary location in Augusta on Nov. 21.

Abutter Russell Varin told board members and DelVecchio he is concerned about the impact on the neighborhood, and especially on his young grandchildren, if patients start taking their medication on the grounds. DelVecchio said no smoking will be allowed on the grounds, and that people don’t take medication as soon as they buy it. Varin countered that he often sees people medicating themselves in pharmacy parking lots.

DelVecchio added that a trailer is appropriate in a small-town setting, that offering the service in China means people need not risk coronavirus exposure in a city and that the small size of the trailer is another factor minimizing contact with other people.

Board members focused on a different issue after Chairman Randall Downer closed the hearing and opened discussion. Retiring Codes Officer Bill Butler, who did not take part in the Nov. 24 virtual meeting, had sent board members an email saying under state law, a travel trailer is not a legal base for such a business.

The information from Mark Desjardin, a Field Investigator for the state’s Office of Marijuana Policy, said by law a retail caregiver store must have “a fixed location” and a mobile unit like a travel trailer does not count as a fixed location, even if the owner does not plan to move it.

DelVecchio said he had contrary information by email from Desjardin. Planning board members voted unanimously that they would continue discussion of DelVecchio’s application only after he submitted a certified letter from Desjardin saying state officials consider the trailer to be compliant with state law.

In the only other business Nov. 24, Downer reported that new codes officer Jaime Hanson will take over Nov. 30, and board members unanimously expressed appreciation to Butler for all his help and guidance – “fabulously helpful,” Downer said – and wished him a happy retirement

The next regular China Planning Board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday evening, Dec. 8, and is expected again to be a zoom meeting.

China selectmen say public water supply is not possible

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by Mary Grow

After several discussions earlier this fall, China selectmen decided at their Nov. 23 meeting they cannot grant a resident’s request to establish a public water supply for people whose well water is undrinkable.

Until last summer, a spring on private property on Route 3 was open for public use. It is no longer. As a result, South China resident Carrie Gay, speaking for her family and others, asked selectmen to provide an alternative. Board members discussed setting up a public supply, and at one point another resident explored providing private service.

As of Nov. 23, the private offer was withdrawn, board Chairman Ronald Breton said. Board members said a public supply would require licensing and repeated and expensive testing, and might expose the town to liability. Breton asked Town Manager Becky Hapgood to notify Gay that town officials will not pursue a public water source.

Board members unanimously approved the appointment of a new codes officer, Jaime Hanson. He will also be China’s plumbing inspector, building inspector and health officer.

Retiring Codes Officer Bill Butler told planning board members in an email that Hanson was Augusta’s codes officer until the pandemic led to his being laid off; he is now part-time codes officer for Wayne. His China job begins Nov. 30.

Selectmen also added two members to China’s Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Committee, Jamie Pitney and Michael “Mickey” Wing.

The next China selectmen’s meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 7.

Holiday hours announced for town office, transfer station

For the Christmas holiday, the town office and transfer station will close at noon Thursday, Dec. 24, and be closed all day Friday, Dec. 25. The transfer station will be open regular hours, 6:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 26.

For the New Year’s holiday, the town office and transfer station will close at noon Thursday, Dec. 31, and be closed all day Friday, Jan. 1. The transfer station will be open regular hours Saturday, Jan. 2, and because Jan. 2 is the first Saturday of the month, the town office will be open from 8 to 11 a.m.

Story time at South China library

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photo courtesy of South China Library

Come join Courtney Roy for South China Public Library story time (online) for some reading fun, songs and finger plays on Wednesday, December 9, at 6 p.m., right on the library Facebook page. This is geared towards ages 0-5.

The library is located on Main St., in South China Village.

For more information please visit the library’s website at southchinalibrary.org, or email them at southchinalibrary@gmail.com.

China TIF committee discusses broadband funding

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by Mary Grow

China Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Committee members spent most of their Nov. 17 virtual meeting talking about broadband funding with Jamie Pitney, speaking for the China Broadband Committee.

The Broadband Committee’s goals is to expand and improve internet access throughout China, including making service faster and more reliable for residents who already have it and extending it to unserved areas.

When China’s TIF program was set up, the state program that authorizes it did not include broadband service as eligible for TIF funding. In 2019, according to a report from Pitney, the state law governing the program was amended. TIF money can now be used “to pay costs related to broadband service development, expansion or improvement, including connecting to broadband service outside of a TIF district.”

TIF projects must promote economic development. Municipalities are allowed to use certain property taxes to fund local TIF programs. China supports its TIF activities from taxes on Central Maine Power Company’s north-south transmission line through town and its South China substation.

The Broadband Committee proposes amending China’s TIF document to make broadband expansion and improvement TIF-eligible. A separate proposed amendment would add water quality improvements, so that local groups working on erosion control and related projects around China Lake could receive TIF funding.

The process for amending the TIF document involves the TIF Committee making a recommendation to the selectmen; the selectmen writing a town meeting warrant article and holding a public hearing on the proposed changes; voters approving the amended program; and the state Department of Economic and Community Development approving the final product, Town Manager Becky Hapgood told committee members.

If the changes, known among town officials as Amendment Two or the Second Amendment (voters approved an earlier amendment that redistributed TIF funding), are to be on the warrant for China’s 2021 town business meeting, Hapgood said they need to be in final form by mid-March 2021. The town business meeting is currently scheduled for May 18, to be held by written ballot.

Pitney was not sure the Broadband Committee could act that fast. Selectmen just authorized the committee to hire a consultant, Mission Broadband Inc., to prepare a request for proposals for expanded service.

Pitney and TIF Committee members discussed whether they need to prepare amended wording or amended dollar amounts and decided the answer is both. Pitney had no estimate how much town-wide, fast and reliable internet service might cost; he suggested the “place-holder” $1.5 million in the current TIF budget might be much too low.

At the Broadband Committee two evenings later, Nov. 19, Pitney said committee members talked about how to develop a budget number for broadband work. They made no recommendation.

TIF Committee members agreed to hold a virtual budget workshop meeting at 2 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 1, with Hapgood to send attendees printed budget information in advance to make following the numbers easier. The next regular TIF Committee meeting, also virtual, is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 8.

Fortins celebrate 65th wedding anniversary

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Anne , 86, left, and Jerry Fortin, 85. (contributed photo)

On October 24, 2020, Anne, 86, Jerry Fortin, 85, celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary. They received many congratulations and well wishes from friends and relatives as far away as Connor Township, Maine, to Riverside, California, with many in between. The Fortins have three children, Joan Chaffee, of Clinton, Audey Fortin, of South China, and Neal Fortin, of Riverside, California. They also have two grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

China planners to visit site of proposed medical marijuana dispensary

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by Mary Grow

China Planning Board members heard an application for a trailer-based medical marijuana dispensary at their Nov. 10 Zoom meeting, and scheduled a site visit and a public hearing prior to taking action.

Giovanni DelVecchio, of Augusta, said he is arranging to park his 18-foot-long converted travel trailer in front of the former restaurant building at 857 Route 3, next door to S & T Motors, and use it as a medical marijuana dispensary.

DelVecchio said his plan is “a toe in the water.” If the business succeeds enough to justify expansion, he intends to renovate and move into the former restaurant building.

The trailer will accommodate up to three people at a time, DelVecchio and Codes Officer Bill Butler agreed. Butler said the proposed use is not in the watershed of either China Lake or Three Mile Pond. A right-of-way across the property will need to remain unblocked. If customers are to enter the trailer, he would like more information about the water supply and waste-water disposal plans.

By unanimous votes, planning board members found that DelVecchio’s application is complete; scheduled a site visit to the trailer at its current location on Riverside Drive, in Augusta, for 10 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 21; and scheduled a public hearing at their next meeting, scheduled for Tuesday evening, Nov. 24. Due to coronavirus restrictions, the hearing will almost certainly be by Zoom.

According to a Nov. 12 Associated Press report, DelVecchio, owner of Weed on Wheels Maine, made a similar application to the Augusta Planning Board in October. Augusta officials replied with a moratorium on most retail sales from vehicles. A public hearing to discuss a permanent ban is scheduled as part of the Dec. 8 Augusta Planning Board meeting.

In other business at the Nov. 10 China meeting, planning board members elected Randall Downer chairman and re-elected Toni Wall co-chairman.

Butler reported on recent activities, including permits issued, inspections and investigations of violations of local ordinances. One of his newer duties, he said, is to make sure town businesses are obeying coronavirus-related restrictions. Businesses that do not conform in a reasonable time are referred to state authorities who can impose fines and if necessary order a business closed.

Butler is retiring at the end of the month. He said he has offered to remain available to assist his successor with issues left unfinished as his tenure ends.

Before adjourning, board members unanimously voted to formally and publicly thank former chairman Tom Miragliuolo for his service to the town. Miragliuolo did not seek another term on the board at the Nov. 3 local election, and when he received the largest number of write-in ballots declined to serve.

There are currently two vacant planning board positions, representing the two southern districts in town.

China transfer station committee asks for travel reimbursement

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by Mary Grow

Members of China’s Transfer Station Committee, meeting remotely the morning of Nov. 10, discussed a variety of trash-disposal and recycling issues, but made only one decision.

They voted to ask that the 2020-21 town budget include $1,000 for committee expenses, so that members could, for example, get mileage reimbursement if they visit the Fiberight/Coastal Resources waste disposal facility in Hampden, or attend training classes if deemed useful.

In the past, any such funds came from the transfer station budget. Committee members and Town Manager Becky Hapgood agreed a separate budget line would promote transparency.

The Hampden facility has been closed for several months. Hapgood and committee member Irene Belanger said the Municipal Review Committee (MRC), the group of facility-using towns on which Belanger represents China, is overseeing pending transfer to new ownership. No decision has been made, and Belanger had no guess as to when one would be made.

Meanwhile, transfer station Manager Ronald Marois said, China’s municipal solid waste (MSW), the things residents dump in the transfer station hopper, is being landfilled in Norridgewock. The exceptions are tires, which are sent to Penobscot Energy Recovery Center (PERC), and recyclables.

Bob Kurek, Palermo’s representative on the committee (because Palermo shares China’s transfer station, paying both an annual fee and a per-bag charge), said he would have appreciated advance notice on the recent elimination of mixed paper and other items from recycling.

Hapgood apologized for the lack of notice. Selectmen approved the changes more quickly than usual, she explained, for two reasons: low market prices and especially the desire to minimize handling items brought in, for the safety of transfer station staff.

Cardboard also needs handling, but cardboard recycling is mandated by town ordinance and therefore continues.

Safety was paramount when Kurek asked about plans to reopen the free-for-the-taking building, earlier called the swap shop, which was closed to avoid bringing in things and people as the pandemic spread. Hapgood’s reply referred to the current surge in Covid-19 cases in Maine and nationally as the reason no date is being proposed.

Marois thinks the pandemic is the main reason the transfer station has been extremely busy, taking in unusual amounts of both household waste and demolition debris.

“We can’t keep up with it,” Marois told the rest of the committee. “Everybody’s still home, and they’re still cleaning or remodeling.”

The station manager added that the more thoroughly demolition debris can be crushed and compacted, to get more into each truckload, the lower the overall hauling cost; but large items, especially mattresses, are hard to compact.

Committee Chairman Larry Sikora suggested at a future meeting, committee members might review the fees charged for disposal of items other than MSW to see if they need changing. (The list of fees is on the town’s website, under transfer station.)

Committee members also plan to review operating manuals for the transfer station, probably a project for early 2021. Sikora said they are in two volumes, each about three inches thick, and he believes some of the content dates from 1992. The second volume is mostly manuals for specific pieces of equipment; Marois and Kurek suggested some might no longer be needed. Committee member Karen Hatch volunteered to work on the manuals.

The next Transfer Station Committee meeting is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 8. It will again be a Zoom meeting.

New face covering mandate on municipal property

By order of Maine Governor Janet Mills, face masks must be worn by everyone in publicly accessible parts of state, county or municipal buildings and grounds, whether or not physical distancing is possible. China Town Manager Becky Hapgood said the order covers the China transfer station, both grounds and buildings.

China selectmen OK broadband improvement RFP

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by Mary Grow

At their Nov. 9 meeting, China selectmen approved two requests, from the Broadband Committee and the volunteer fire departments, and made several appointments.

Since the meeting was the first after voters re-elected members Ronald Breton and Janet Preston and elected Blane Casey (to succeed Donna Mills-Stevens, who did not seek another term), board members began by re-electing Breton chairman and Irene Belanger secretary.

The Broadband Committee presented a report that summarized goals and activities and asked approval to spend $5,750 to have Mission Broadband, Inc., develop a request for proposals to improve China’s internet service. Selectmen approved.

The committee’s goals, the report says, are to make broadband service available to all China residents, with better speeds and greater reliability, and to increase competition. Three internet providers currently serve the town, Consolidated Communications Inc., Hussey Communications and Spectrum.

Earlier, the committee oversaw a survey of town residents. The report says of the 308 residents who completed the survey, 20 percent did not have internet service, because it was too expensive or too slow and unreliable to be useful. Of respondents who did have service, 161 used it for working from home and 111 for education.

The volunteer firefighters want a dry hydrant included as part of the on-going causeway project at the head of China Lake’s east basin. Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood said China’s three departments all support the plan, and if the dry hydrant is west of the causeway bridge, China Baptist Church officials have expressed willingness to sign an easement if church property is affected.

The firefighters propose taking money for the dry hydrant – the estimated cost is $6,780 – from the fire department reserve fund. Since the plan so far lacks detail, selectmen approved with the condition that the departments first get the necessary permit from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.

Appointments were approved as follows:

  • Member of the General Assembly of the Kennebec Regional Development Authority (which oversees FirstPark, the Oakland business park in which China and other towns have invested), Irene Belanger; alternate member, Janet Preston.
  • Members of the Broadband Committee, Robert O’Connor, Tod Detre, Raymond Robert, James Pitney and Neil Farrington.
  • Members of the Transfer Station Committee, Mark Davis, Karen Hatch, Kevin Rhoades, Ronald Marois, Lawrence Sikora, Irene Belanger and Robert Kurek.

Hapgood presented reports submitted to her from town departments and the treasurer’s report. Four months into the 2020-21 fiscal year, income and expenditures are on target, she said.

The next regular China selectmen’s meeting is scheduled for Monday evening, Nov. 23. Participation in the Nov. 9 meeting was remote except for Hapgood and the five selectmen, who gathered, masked, in the portable building behind the town office; the Nov. 23 meeting is likely to follow the same pattern.