China planners consider three documents at meeting

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by Mary Grow

China Planning Board members considered three documents at their Jan. 24 meeting.

They agreed to continue discussion of amending the Board of Appeals Ordinance (which is Chapter 9 of the Land Use Ordinance) at their Feb. 14 meeting, with members of China’s board of appeals and select board invited to participate (see The Town Line, Jan. 12, p. 2, and Jan. 19, p. 3, for background on this issue).

Co-chairman James Wilkens expressed appreciation to the select board for raising the issue, although he objected – again – to select board member Brent Chesley drafting revisions; writing ordinances is the planning board’s job, he and other board members said.

Two days later, Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood forwarded to planning board and select board members an email from Maine Municipal Association Staff Attorney Susanne F. Pilgrim saying the task is shared.

The section of the Planning Board Ordinance defining the board’s general responsibilities says the board “shall prepare ordinances and amendments thereto” to be submitted to voters. But, Pilgrim pointed out, neither that sentence nor anything else in the ordinance grants the planning board exclusive authority to draft ordinances. She referred to a later section that says, “Amendments [to the Planning Board Ordinance] initiate from the Planning Board, Board of Selectmen, or by the people in the form of a petition.”

Pilgrim’s interpretation is, “…nowhere does the ordinance provide the planning board with the exclusive authority to prepare all draft ordinances. Nor does the Planning Board Ordinance preclude other bodies, such as the select board or an ordinance committee, from preparing ordinances.”

Planners are sympathetic to one Board of Appeals issue Chesley raised, the lack of time limits for action after an appeal is filed. They also approve of updating the nomenclature in this and other sections of the Land Use Ordinance – replacing “selectmen” with “select board” and “chairman” with “chair,” for example.

Once they have input from the Feb. 14 meeting participants and any other interested parties, they plan to propose amendments to the select board. That board is responsible for putting ordinance amendments on a local ballot, probably at the June town business meeting, for voters’ decisions.

The second document discussed was China’s comprehensive plan. Co-chairman Toni Wall had excerpted sections that refer to planning board duties and responsibilities; the other board members will review them for future discussion.

Wall had also reviewed China’s Planning Board Ordinance and marked appropriate nomenclature changes. Board members unanimously accepted them; assuming voters agree, “Board of Selectmen” quoted above will become “Select Board.”

In reviewing past board minutes, Wall said, she found other suggested changes, including adding a provision for co-chairs. Further discussion is likely.

Codes Officer Nicholas French said he has been approached with preliminary proposals for a solar farm and two subdivisions. No applications have yet been submitted.

VASSALBORO: School, day care provider reach agreement

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Vassalboro Community School (contributed photo)

by Mary Grow

After several months’ discussion, at their Jan. 17 meeting Vassalboro School Board members approved a lease agreement for the daycare that Jennifer Lizotte runs at Vassalboro Community School (VCS).

The daycare has operated without a formal agreement for years. The agreement runs into the spring of 2024, when it is to be discussed and if necessary amended. School board members indicated they expect to renew it in June 2024.

The longest discussion Jan. 17 was over the $25 a day fee Lizotte is agreeing to pay. The purpose is to cover janitorial services, supplies (light bulbs, toilet paper) and other expenses.

A couple people calculated the effect if Lizotte were to raise the amount she charges parents in order to cover the fee and found it would not make a large difference. Lizotte said she does not presently plan a rate increase.

The other major topic at the Jan. 17 meeting was a presentation by school counselor Gina Davis and part-time school social worker Laurie Lefebvre. They were also speaking for school social worker John Merrill, who was unable to attend the meeting.

The two explained what they do working with students, teachers and other staff and parents to help students do their best academically, socially and personally. Their days are primarily scheduled classroom presentations, group discussions and individual consultations, with schedules sometimes upended by crises.

The model they use, called the Second Step Program, is briefly explained in the December 2022 issue of the VCS newsletter, found on line at vcsvikings. December activities described were focused on “ways to show we care and how to show compassion for others.” Seventh-grade students made 225 holiday cards for area nursing home residents.

Principal Ira Michaud said he was pleased to find the program in place when he came to VCS last fall. He and assistant principal Tabitha Brewer also use Second Step; it “creates a common language through the school,” he said.

In other business Jan. 17, Superintendent Alan Pfeiffer reported for Finance Director Paula Pooler that the current year’s budget remains on target. Planning for the 2023-24 budget is well under way.

School board members approved an updated board handbook. With typical humor, Pfeiffer told them he plans to make the handbook available on the website and in paper form, “so all those in town who follow in your footsteps some day will know how easy your job is.”

Board members approved hiring Andrew Turner as an educational technician and accepted the retirement of art teacher Susan Briggs, effective at the end of the school year. Pfeiffer said Briggs has been teaching art for 40 years, the first two and a half in Waterville and the rest in Vassalboro.

The next regular Vassalboro school board meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 14 (a week earlier than usual because February vacation is the following week), in the VCS library.

Vassalboro select board listens to ARPA spending suggestions

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by Mary Grow

Vassalboro select board members preceded their Jan. 19 meeting with a 45-minute public hearing to collect suggestions for spending federal ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funds in the 2023-24 fiscal year.

During the meeting, they rediscussed some recommendations from their Dec. 8, 2022, meeting, added a few more items and after another 70 minutes agreed to return to the topic at their Feb. 2 meeting, to decide on priorities.

The list of items approved Dec. 8 with which they began discussion included:

  • At the town office, add a button opener to make the front door more handicapped accessible (Town Manager Aaron Miller said he expects cost estimates soon) and an outside glass-covered memo board; improve outside lighting; install heat pumps; and get equipment to live-stream and record public meetings.
  • At the town recreation fields in East Vassalboro, add security cameras and a water spigot (for watering the playing fields, not for drinking, Community Program Director Karen Hatch explained) and replace a leaky holding tank.
  • At the Historical Society headquarters, the former East Vassalboro school building, install a 200-amp electrical service and new basement lighting.
  • For the volunteer fire department, buy almost another $3,000 worth of new Scott SCBAs (self-contained breathing apparatus, or air packs).
  • For the volunteer First Responder service, buy a $21,000 cardiac monitor.
  • For the police department, upgrade the computer in the cruiser, at an estimated cost of $5,000.
  • For the Vassalboro Sanitary District, contribute $11,000 toward guardrails.
  • And allocate another $11,000 for Vassalboro to host a window dressers program, which provides window insulation. Resident Holly Weidner explained that the bulk of the funds would pay an organizer, as past events have shown that there is too much work involved for town staff or volunteers to be asked to do.

During the Jan. 19 discussion, board members added $15,000 to the recreation program for field improvements and $3,400 for attic insulation in the Historical Society building. Board member Chris French calculated they had agreed on spending about $140,000.

Resident Michael Poulin suggested select board members consider TIF funding improvements at the transfer station, among other items. Board members and transfer station manager George Hamar discussed possibilities, with Hamar advocating for a redesigned traffic flow that would make using the facility safer.

Hamar did not yet have a price estimate for a cover for the new compactor, a topic discussed at several previous meetings. He suggested the redesigned traffic pattern should come first.

In reply to audience member Dave McCarthy, Hamar said there are three or four minor traffic accidents a year and “a lot of near misses.” A couple drivers have backed into him, he said.

Board member Frederick “Rick” Denico, Jr., suggested the transfer station should be relocated from the Lombard Dam Road to a sturdier road with three-phase power available.

Harking back to an expensive redesign plan prepared by the Waterville engineering firm of A. E. Hodsdon, former select board member Lauchlin Titus assured the group, “There’s no hurry; we had the same conversation five years ago.”

After almost half an hour’s discussion, the issue was tabled.

Select board members spent three-quarters of an hour reviewing the town personnel policy. Redmond and Miller will incorporate the revisions they approved into a third draft, to be discussed at a future meeting.

The next regular Vassalboro select board meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 2. Their annual preliminary budget discussion is set for 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 7

Vassalboro planners to forward draft ordinance on solar development to town attorney

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by Mary Grow

After their Jan. 17 meeting, Vassalboro Planning Board members have a draft ordinance section that would regulate commercial solar development in near-final form. They plan to forward it to the town attorney for her review.

Board members and representatives of the Main Street Maine coalition, the residents near a suggested solar site between Route 32 and Outlet Stream north of Duratherm Window Company, spent three hours on the document. Several people made presentations before planning board members settled to two-and-a-half hours of substantive discussion and wordsmithing.

There is currently no application for a commercial solar project pending. Because of the moratorium Vassalboro voters approved last November, there will be no action on any such application until at least early May 2023. Select board members may extend the moratorium, for example, until after the June town meeting if an ordinance is ready for voters’ action.

Ann White read a letter from the Main Street Maine coalition. Jerry Hill, another spokesperson, had an opinion piece in the Jan. 19 issue of The Town Line (p. 3).

The Jan. 17 letter thanked planning board members for their time and attention and acknowledged their recognition of effects of solar projects on neighbors and on Vassalboro’s future.

However, it also said Main Street Maine members “do not believe all members of the planning board have the community’s best interest at heart and are only concerned with their agenda,” and called for impartiality.

The letter said the group is not against solar, but members want appropriate regulations in place to protect residents and the environment before the planning board considers applications. An accompanying document offered suggested ordinance amendments and additions.

One proposal, compatible with Hill’s The Town Line article, is that “The residents who visually surround the project collectively have complete control of what goes into the buffer.” The buffer is the area of trees and shrubs shielding the project from view.

Coalition members recommend the ordinance include a required emergency response plan. They suggest a committee to help the codes officer, and that the codes officer be required to inspect a project weekly during construction and monthly during operation.

Planning board members thanked the group for their help. They discussed several coalition proposals, including soil (or other) tests before construction and/or after a project is operating and buffer standards.

Testing requirements generated debate between the board’s senior members, chairman Virginia Brackett and member Douglas Phillips. Phillips believes solar panels contain dangerous substances; he proposed pre-construction testing to establish a baseline and mandatory testing if a panel were broken.

Brackett said the panels are mostly silicon; other materials are in such small quantities as to be non-threatening, and their leaching off even a broken panel is highly unlikely. And, she asked, how would anyone know where to test in advance and what to test for?

Discussion ranged from soil tests before construction to soil tests after damage and from soil tests to water tests to monitoring wells. The topic will be revisited.

Current buffer requirements envision a 50-foot-wide wooded buffer around a solar installation, near property lines but not necessarily along all boundaries of a large lot with a solar array on a small part of it. The buffer would consist of evergreen trees spaced to give them room to grow, with an understory layer of shrubbery to block the view between trees. Board members debated details.

The height of the panels was briefly debated. Holly Weidner, representing the Vassalboro Conservation Commission, recommended limits not be too strict, lest they prohibit dual uses or future technologies. Board members settled on a maximum height of 16 feet as not too intrusive, but sufficient to accommodate a developer who wanted to use the ground under the panels for gardens or pasture.

Main Street Maine members want prohibitions on using herbicides or pesticides on a commercial solar installation. Board members agreed.

Various future possibilities were discussed; some may be regulated. Topics included what should be done if a solar farm changed hands, or if the land under it (assuming it is on leased land) changed hands; when a project should be considered abandoned; and how to guarantee financing to remove a no longer operating solar array.

Brackett questioned a previously-discussed requirement that the decommissioning process should restore the land to its pre-construction condition. One of Vassalboro’s approved developments is for an area that had been logged and was covered with stumps, she said; and if construction required grading, she did not think the land should be dug up again to restore the original contours.

The next regular Vassalboro Planning Board meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 7. Codes Officer Robert Geaghan said there are several applications already pending, including renewed discussion of Tim and Heather Dutton’s plan to reopen the former East Vassalboro Country Store (see the Jan. 12 issue of The Town Line, p. 3).

Windsor clerk resigns; select board hears road report

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by The Town Line staff

Windsor Town Manager Theresa Haskell (photo by Sandra Isaac)

At an abbreviated meeting of the Windsor Select Board on December 27, 2022, it was reported by Town Manager Theresa Haskell that she had received a letter of resignation from Kyoko Roderick. Following an executive session, the select board voted unanimously to accept the resignation. After thanking her for her 4-1/2 years of dedication to the town of Windsor, they unanimously approved a motion to pay Roderick her banked PTO time of 52-1/4 hours.

Once that was completed, the board approved in a 4-0-1 vote, with Ronald Brann abstaining for personal reasons, a motion to initiate a temporary stipend in the amount of $750 per week to Haskell to cover the position.

The select board and town manager, with much discussion, will be looking at reviewing all expectations for all job descriptions.

At the select boards January 3, 2023, meeting, the board heard a report from Keith Hall, road supervisor, that the Hunts Meadow Road tree trimming has now been completed, with an additional tree at the corner of the Hunts Meadow and Doyle roads taken down. The culvert at the end of the Barton Road and Route 105 is filled and plugged, with water running across the road. DOT has been contacted.

Also, the Weeks Mills Road brush cutting at the Serenity Springs Trailer Park to the Barton Road has begun.

In other business, Haskell reported the monthly figures at the transfer station. The month of December was up from last year $1,418.05 but the number is still down ($1,726.79) compared to the total last year at this time.

Haskell also reported receiving a check from Mark Scribner for $25,000 for the NETCo Inc. scholarship for Windsor residents for the 2023-2024 school year. Scribner was thanked by the board and town manager for his generous donations over the years for this scholarship.

China Village VFD working on grant for new pumper

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China Village VFD fire chief, Joel Nelson. (photo by Eric W. Austin)

by Mary Grow

After the China select board’s Jan. 17 meeting, town manager Rebecca Hapgood reported that most of their decisions, as assessors and as select board members, involved individual property tax issues. Topics of town-wide importance were a potential new fire engine, on which no action was taken, and a committee appointment.

China Village volunteer fire department chief Joel Nelson told board members his department is working on a grant to help buy a new pumper truck, to replace a 32-year-old one.

Nelson noted that the 2021 town report showed the department’s reserve fund had more than $112,000 as of May 2021. He said the new truck would probably cost more than $550,000, based on a May 2022 quote.

Hapgood said select board members appointed James Hsiang a member of the Transfer Station Committee.

The next regular China select board meeting is scheduled for Monday, Jan. 30, at 6 p.m., half an hour earlier than usual for a joint meeting with budget committee.

China’s Thurston Park group to ask for TIF funds

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Thurston Park in the winter (photo from Thurston Park Facebook page)

by Mary Grow

Four members of China’s Thurston Park Committee spent most of their Jan. 19 meeting talking about money, both the 2023-24 budget and the long-term future of the almost 400-acre public park in northeastern China.

As in past years, committee members intend to ask for money from China’s Tax Increment Financing (TIF) fund, as well as from the 2023-24 municipal budget.

Committee chairman Jeanette Smith said the proposed TIF request totals $44,000. Minutes of the committee’s November 2022 meeting show that planned expenditures include buying a utility vehicle that would be used to move equipment and supplies (like gravel); preparing a new trail; and building kiosks, installing more cameras and preparing trail maps.

The TIF Committee meeting scheduled for January to review requests was canceled due to members’ illnesses. The calendar on the town website shows the next TIF meeting scheduled for 6 p.m.. Wednesday, Feb. 8, in the portable building behind the town office.

Funds requested from the China municipal budget would cover work on the entrance road from Albion and supplies.

The park has more than five miles of trails that need maintenance. Several have been or are being built or improved as Eagle Scout projects. Committee members talked about damage from storms that have taken down trees and washed out trails.

Committee members are investigating grants that might be available for work in the park. Smith is concerned about funding sources when China’s TIF ends in 26 years. In reply to a suggestion to research other towns’ park financing, she said few if any other Maine towns support so large a natural area.

Another suggestion was to try to find out how many people, from China and from out of town, use Thurston Park, as an indicator of its value to townspeople and local businesses. The cameras in place and to be installed will help, committee members said. They doubted enough visitors would sign a logbook to make it informative.

Thurston Park has multiple listings on the worldwide web; it is included on the sites called mainetrailfinder.com and mainebyfoot.com.

Despite the Dec. 23 damage, on Jan. 23 Smith said the park is open for winter use, though she urged caution.

Parking is at the top of the Yorktown Road hill on the left, or in the new winter parking area at the bottom of the hill, also on the left, Smith said.

Residents interested in joining the Thurston Park Committee are invited to contact the town office or to email thurstonpark@outlook.com.

The next Thurston Park Committee meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 16, in the portable building.

Town of Fairfield to host public workshop on park development

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Mill Island Park

As part of a planning process to re-envision Fairfield’s waterfront and downtown assets, the Town of Fairfield’s Economic and Community Development Committee (FECDC) is inviting the public to participate in a community input and planning workshop to provide feedback on the redevelopment of Mill Island Park. The Park, which features remnants of the historical United Boxboard and Paper Company at the northern tip of Mill Island, offers expansive views of the Kennebec River.

“Mill Island Park’s unique geography, combined with its rich history as a manufacturing and industrial site, highlights the Town of Fairfield’s recreational, historical, and educational assets, in addition to its expansive waterfront,” elaborates Fairfield Town Manager Michelle Flewelling. “Inviting the community to participate in the workshop will allow the Economic and Community Development Committee to create redevelopment initiatives geared towards improving access to the waterfront while highlighting Fairfield’s growing and proximal downtown.”

Mill Island Park is owned and maintained by the Town of Fairfield, where recent beautification has included removing brush and restoring access and view corridors of the Kennebec River from the western and eastern waterfronts of Mill Island Park. A survey recently conducted by FECDC examined six areas throughout the Island Park, dubbed “zones”, to determine where improvements and redevelopment should be prioritized by the municipality.

Garvan Donegan

“Inviting the community to provide critical perspectives into a planning process is a fundamental aspect of community planning and economic development initiatives, leading to more comprehensive and innovative ideas that celebrate a municipality’s unique assets,” states Central Maine Growth Council Director of Planning, Innovation, and Economic Development Garvan Donegan. “FECDC’s role in shaping the future of Fairfield’s waterfront development echoes a sentiment of municipal pride while actively planning improvement initiatives to shape the Town’s short- and long-term strategies for growth.”

Scheduled for Tuesday, January 31 at 6:30 p.m., the public input session will take place at the Fairfield Community Center Gymnasium, located at 61 Water Street, in Fairfield; a snow date for the event is scheduled at the gymnasium for Wednesday, February 1, at 6:30 p.m. Residents and interested parties are invited to provide feedback, recommend improvements, and engage with committee members and town staff.

Northern Light Inland Hospital receives national award

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Recognized as a leader in the healthcare industry

Northern Light Inland Hospital announced that it has been named a 2022 Human Experience (HX) Guardian of Excellence Award® winner for Clinical Quality by Press Ganey, a global leader in healthcare experience solutions and services. This award is part of Press Ganey’s annual ranking of the top hospitals and health systems in the country, according to performance in patient experience.

As a winner of the Press Ganey HX Guardian of Excellence Award®, Inland Hospital is in the top 5 percent of healthcare providers in the last year and is one of only seven hospitals nationwide to receive the clinical quality recognition. Twelve clinical measures from 2021 data were used to calculate the award including care from the emergency department, outpatient services, care related to pregnancy and related conditions, stroke, and blood clots. Press Ganey works with more than 41,000 healthcare facilities in its mission to reduce patient suffering and enhance caregiver resilience to improve the overall safety, quality, and experience of care.

“By putting their patients and workforce first each and every day, Inland Hospital is demonstrating their unwavering commitment to their employees and to the communities they serve,” said Patrick T. Ryan, chairman and chief executive officer, Press Ganey. “The caregivers at Inland have inspired us with the compassion, empathy and human connection they bring to the clinical healthcare setting. We are honored to partner with them as we celebrate their achievement.”

“We are excited to receive this recognition and very proud of everyone at Inland who goes above and beyond to deliver the highest quality of care possible,” said Nick Chobanian, MD, senior physician executive and vice president of Medical Affairs at Inland Hospital. “It takes a skilled clinical team dedicated to each patient and their individual needs, using excellent communication that engages patients and families in their care. Great teamwork helps us deliver the best medical outcomes.”

To learn more about Inland Hospital, visit northernlighthealth.org/Inland. Find more information on the award and Press Ganey at pressganey.com.

China planners review suggested ordinance amendments

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by Mary Grow

China Planning Board members discussed suggested ordinance amendments and the town’s 2020 comprehensive plan at their Jan. 10 meeting.

The ordinance amendments came from the select board, in the form of a proposed revision of Chapter 9 of the Land Use Ordinance, which is titled “Appeals.” Select board member Brent Chesley prepared the changes and presented them at the Jan. 3 select board meeting. The full board forwarded the document to the planning board.

Accompanying the proposed amendments was a print-out of an email from select board member Janet Preston to codes office Nicholas French in which Preston expressed her opposition to some of Chesley’s recommendations.

Planning board members pointed out that amending ordinances is their job, not the select board’s. “This is a backwards process,” co-chairman Toni Wall said.

By unanimous votes, they asked select board members to send them a document explaining why they want the planning board to revise Chapter 9 and providing reasons for specific changes they’d like planning board members to consider.

Planning board members’ intention is to consider amendments and, if they agree some are needed, draft them; present them to a public hearing for residents’ input; and forward the resulting document to the select board.

Board members briefly discussed other ordinances that might need updating, mentioning the Phosphorus Control Ordinance and the provisions governing home occupations, before considering review of the town’s comprehensive plan.

China’s current plan is available on the town website, china.govoffice.com.

Near the beginning of its 170 pages, it directs the planning board to “dedicate one meeting a year to review of progress on implementation of the plan.” The board should also keep “a checklist of action steps that have been accomplished, those in progress, and those due to be addressed” and suggest amending proposed actions if needed.

The planning board should send its updated checklist to the select board annually, preferably at the beginning of annual budget discussions (in case suggestions require new expenditures).

Planning board members intend to reread the plan before their next meeting, focusing on the recommendations, which begin on p. 136 in the on-line version.

Board member Walter Bennett suggested commercial solar development, or perhaps renewable energy development generally (including windmills), as a topic that should be added. He considers solar farms visible from public roads incompatible with several of the plan’s goals, like preserving China’s rural character and protecting scenic vistas.

Wall shared her proposed 2023-24 planning board budget request, totaling $9,622.82. Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood said in an email that the 2022-23 budget is $5,000, of which almost half has been spent so far. The fiscal year ends June 30.

The next China Planning Board meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 24.