by Mary Grow

China select board members voted unanimously at their Dec. 5 meeting to spend $2,000 a year for the next two fiscal years to join a communication system called TextMyGov.

As the name implies, TextMyGov will let residents send texts to China municipal officials and departments at any time and to get a reply. It also allows town government to send information to residents who sign up.

Spencer Frandsen and Jon Myers, joining the Dec. 5 select board meeting remotely from their Logan, Utah, headquarters, explained and illustrated how the system works. Following Frandsen’s directions, select board members whipped out their cellphones, texted a demonstration phone number and a suggested phrase and got a reply.

“Look at that! That is amazing! That is really cool!” board member Janet Preston exclaimed as she read her screen.

The system has three components. Residents can send a question and get an answer from the site the town has set up, which can cover many topics – town office hours and other schedules and deadlines, for example.

Residents can report an issue, like a tree down in the road, at any time, and get a reply saying the report has been forwarded to the appropriate official or department.

Town officials can broadcast notices and messages, routine or emergency, to everyone who has signed up for the service.

Frandsen said TextMyGov has been in business since 2019 and has just over 500 clients, including 10 or 12 Maine municipalities, not all fully set up yet.

It typically takes from 30 to 45 days to set up a new system, Frandsen said. TextMyGov provides free training to employees, and will repeat training as new staff members need it.

Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood estimated the training would take an hour or hour and a half a week. Learning should be simple for employees accustomed to computers.

At board member Blane Casey’s suggestion, the $4,000 for two years’ service will all come from the current fiscal year’s contingency fund, so there will be no impact on the 2023-24 budget.

After the first two years, Frandsen said, contracts are annual. So far, he said, TextMyGov has not raised its fee; should it have to, he is willing to limit annual increases by contract to no more than five percent.

Board members made other decisions on varied topics at the Dec. 5 meeting.

Tom Alfieri and Danny McKinnis from China Rescue attended to follow up on select board members’ Oct. 24 discussion with Delta Ambulance executive director Timothy Beals (see the Oct. 27 issue of The Town Line).

Beals explained that inadequate and delayed insurance payments fail to cover rising costs, so Delta needs to start charging municipalities. He proposed a contract with the town to start in January 2023 and to be funded from the 2023-24 budget.

Alfieri sympathized with Delta’s need to begin charging for services. “Ambulance service in general is a losing business,” and “Emergency work does not pay the bills,” he said.

Alfieri offered suggestions for things to include in the contract. Select board member Brent Chesley suggested Alfieri and McKinnis review and offer advice on the contract when Delta presents a draft; other board members approved the idea, and the rescue representatives accepted.

Chesley raised another issue, suggesting two changes in the Appeals Ordinance that is part of China’s Land Development Code. Hapgood added a third; Preston suggested asked planning board members for their input. By consensus, Chesley was authorized to develop revisions.

Hapgood announced that the town foreclosed on three properties for unpaid taxes. Board members voted unanimously to follow the usual procedure of giving the former owners another 60 days to redeem the properties by paying all taxes due.

The manager gave board members an update on more than a dozen Land Use Ordinance violations currently under review and about to be reviewed.

Board members continued review of town policies, approving a few changes and postponing some policies for more information.

Hapgood relayed Town Clerk Angela Nelson’s reminders that dog licenses need to be renewed by the end of the year, and that 2023 hunting and fishing licenses are now available.

The next regular China select board meeting is scheduled for Monday evening, Dec. 19.

by Mary Grow

China Planning Board members spent their Nov. 22 meeting discussing procedural issues.

The longest discussion was over cancelation of the scheduled public hearing on Bryan Mason’s application to convert a shipping container on his property at 1144 Route 3 to a solventless hash lab (see The Town Line, Nov. 3, p. 2).

At the board’s Oct. 25 meeting, Mason explained he intends to make hash oil from marijuana plants and sell it to companies that use it to make consumer products. He does not intend to make such products himself, nor to do retail business from his property.

Codes officer Nicholas French considered the application was for a change of use, which needs planning board approval. Board members agreed, and scheduled a Nov. 22 public hearing to give neighbors (and others) a chance to comment.

French emailed on Nov. 21 that town attorney Amanda Meader considered the proposed business a home occupation, which can be approved by the codes officer without board action. Therefore Mason withdrew his application and the hearing was canceled. Mason’s attorney had talked with Meader, French said at the Nov. 22 meeting.

Board members objected on two grounds. Based on consistent past practice, they think decisions about commercial marijuana businesses should be subject to planning board review; and they think the town attorney’s opinion should not have overruled the decision to hold a hearing that they had already made.

They therefore asked French to talk again with Mason, with the goal of getting the application resubmitted and the hearing rescheduled.

Planning board co-chairman James Wilkens was re-elected to that position, sharing with Toni Wall. Wall succeeds Scott Rollins, who was not a candidate for re-election to the board.

Board members reviewed the town’s Planning Board Ordinance and the Remote Participation Policy (which select board members reviewed the evening before). The latter describes when a board member can participate in a meeting remotely rather than attending in person.

Planning board members agreed that when winter weather made driving potentially dangerous, they would cancel a scheduled meeting, unless an agenda item were urgent enough to require meeting remotely.

Board members offered two items for future meetings. Wall wants to review the town comprehensive plan and see if any actions are needed, and Walter Bennett wants to continue developing an ordinance to control commercial solar developments and prevent “solar sprawl.”

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

by Mary Grow

Four China Select Board members began their Nov. 21 meeting by electing Wayne Chadwick board chairman and Janet Preston secretary. Both votes were unanimous (with Blane Casey absent). Chadwick succeeds Ronald Breton, who did not run for re-election to the board.

Items on a long agenda included discussion with Municipal Building Committee members and engineer Keith Whittaker, of Presque Isle-based B. R. Smith Associates (BRSA); the China Recreation Committee’s request to buy a tractor; select board responsibilities; and an annual review of town policies.

Building committee chairman Sheldon Goodine said committee members and Whittaker were not clear on what select board members expect as BRSA’s current product. Everyone agreed the company should design a climate-controlled vault to store paper records that the state requires municipalities to keep forever. The questions were whether BRSA should also plan for a future addition, and if so, to what level of detail.

The vault, Whittaker said, will be entirely concrete, including the roof, with temperature and humidity controls. Chadwick and new select board member Brent Chesley said there should be a small separate mechanical room.

Whittaker said usually the concrete cube is inside a wooden building with a pitched roof.

Goodine believes within two or three years town office staff will need another addition, though not all select board members agree. Whittaker said regardless of timing, it would be useful to plan for an addition, by making electricity and heating extendable and designing the roof so another roof could connect.

He offered to do a detailed plan for phase one, the vault and surrounding building, and for not much more money a conceptual design for an addition. The conceptual design would include a rough floor plan and elevations, he said, without details.

Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood asked for a cost estimate for this two-phase project, saying if she has the information in time, the topic will be on the board’s Dec. 5 agenda.

Recreation committee chairman Martha Wentworth presented the request for a Husqvarna tractor. It would serve two purposes, she said: plowing the ice rink in the winter, smoothing the ball fields the other three seasons.

She had two bids, both lower than the committee’s budget surplus.

Hapgood and select board members discussed at length issues like liability, with volunteers operating town-owned equipment; training for those who would use the tractor, and limiting the number of users; cost of maintenance (already built into the recreation budget, Wentworth said). Wentworth’s husband, James “J.J.” Wentworth, said he expects to be one of the people who run the tractor, and to do routine maintenance.

After almost half an hour’s discussion, select board members voted 3-1, with Chadwick dissenting, to authorize purchase of a Husqvarna tractor for $8,863, from MB Tractor & Equipment, in Fairfield, with training to be provided by the dealer or by J. J. Wentworth, Chesley or another qualified local person. The price will be $140 lower if tire chains are not included; J. J. Wentworth thinks them unnecessary.

Two issues about select board members were discussed. The minor one was Classes are three hours, she was told; the next scheduled ones are Jan. 24 and Jan. 27, 2023.

Chadwick raised the other issue, whether select board members should be members of subordinate town boards and committees, and if so, how active they should be.

Chesley chairs the tax increment finance committee. He was prepared to resign, but was told he need not. Chadwick emphasized the issue is one he’s thought about for some time; discussion was not inspired by Chesley’s positions.

Hapgood’s notice from the Kennebec County Emergency Management Agency: select board members are required to be trained in their roles in emergencies.

The most difficult question was about a select board member on a committee who supports the committee’s decision to request select board action, like appropriation of town funds. When the select board hears the request, should he or she remain silent, or participate in discussion but not vote, or discuss and vote?

Preston, who is a non-voting member of the China Broadband Committee, said she thinks it is useful for her to bring committee information to the select board and to advise committee members on select board positions. Hapgood asked whether it is right for any one person to speak for a committee or board.

The manager said filling committees with select board members limits other residents’ participation; but finding committee volunteers is often difficult.

At Chadwick’s suggestion, she intends to ask the Maine Municipal Association (MMA) for an opinion.

The Nov. 21 select board meeting was preceded by a very short public hearing on the town’s Remote Participation Policy, which attracted no comment except Hapgood’s explanation of changes MMA staff recommended.

Later in the meeting, board members unanimously re-approved 10 town policies, including Remote Participation, most without change. All are on the China website, china.govoffice.com.

In other business Nov. 21, Kennebec County Deputy Ivano Steffanizzi issued a warning, especially to senior citizens: beware of scams, including telephone calls asking for money for any reason, from bailing a relative out of jail to paying advance taxes on a promised new car to donating to your local police department.

He also advised seniors – and others – to stop speeding on China’s roads.

Select board members unanimously accepted a bid from Nichols Roofing, of China, to repair the recycling building roof at the transfer station for $5,200, if Hapgood finds the company’s references are satisfactory. The manager said the building will need more work after the roof is fixed.

Board members accepted the lower of two bids for a new equipment trailer, a 2023 Reiser tilt deck for $7,951 from Scott’s Recreation, in Turner. They will sell the old trailer by bid.

Hapgood reported that Pine Tree Waste had demolished the house trailer on Chadwick Way and cleaned up the site, as agreed (see the Nov. 9 issue of The Town Line, p. 3).

Board members unanimously appointed Alan Pelletier as an appeals board member.

The next regular China Select Board meeting is scheduled for Monday evening, Dec. 5.