East Vassalboro Water Co., LLC under new management

/0 Comments/in , /by

The Masse Sawmill site on Rte. 32, in East Vassalboro. (contributed photo)

Ownership of the East Vassalboro Water Company (EVWC) will officially transfer on Thursday, December 28, 2023. EVWC was established in 1914 and for 109 years has been owned and operated by four generations of the Masse – Robbins families. EVWC supplies potable water to approximately 200 persons, keeping the ratepayer in mind with each decision.

The Maine Public Utilities Commission approved the sale of EVWC on November 27, 2023. On December 28, 2023, Justin Ahmann and Marc Liechti will become the new owners of EVWC. They have purchased similar utilities and provided capital investment and strive for operational efficiencies to give the ratepayers the best value.

New payment methods and contact information will be mailed to each existing customer. Should any customer have questions please contact the new owners at: accounting@aputilities.com.

Vassalboro select board meeting draws large audience

/0 Comments/in , /by
by Mary Grow

As expected, the Dec. 14 Vassalboro select board meeting attracted a large audience – 70 or more people filled the Vassalboro Community School cafeteria, 60 or so to listen to or join discussion of the Vassalboro Sanitary District’s sewer rates.

The VSD serves about 200 customers in East and North Vassalboro. Its collected sewage goes to Winslow and from Winslow to Waterville’s Kennebec Sanitary District treatment facility.

The main purpose of the Dec. 14 discussion, select board chair Chris French said, was to hear from VSD officials. Vassalboro’s legislative representatives were invited to listen and share information on possible funding sources; Rep. Richard Bradstreet attended, Sen. Matthew Pouliot had a conflicting commitment.

Also present was Laurie A. Stevens, northern New England regional director for RCAP Solutions. Her organization, she explained, helps small towns with water and wastewater needs. RCAP Solutions is federally funded, so neither VSD nor the town would be charged for services.

VSD superintendent Chuck Applebee, who has been associated with VSD for years, provided historical background to the present financial situation.

In the 1970s, he said, Vassalboro had two choices for sewage disposal that would meet state requirements: pipe to Winslow or build its own treatment system. Desiring local control, the town built its own system in 1980 and 1981, and VSD was organized.

By 2012, the system, consisting of three sand filter treatment beds in North and East Vassalboro and miles of pipes, had two problems. The beds were past their 20-year life expectancy; and the system could not meet new phosphorus control requirements.

In December 2013 VSD trustees hired an engineer to evaluate three options. They could connect the Vassalboro system to Winslow; they could rebuild each Vassalboro bed and add phosphorus treatment; or they could create a combined system within Vassalboro and add phosphorus treatment.

All three choices were expensive, Applebee said. The trustees chose the least expensive, connecting to Winslow, at a cost of about $7.8 million. Work started in 2019 and was finished in the fall of 2020.

Project funding included $4 million in grants, an unusually high percentage for which Applebee commended district trustees. They still had to borrow money; and the main reason for the 2023 problem is that VSD is about $3 million in debt.

In addition, Winslow recently announced a 25 percent increase in the rate it charges Vassalboro.

Consequently, rates to VSD customers, which have already gone up, are slated to increase by 60 percent in January. Several residents said they cannot afford the proposed quarterly costs.

Select board members and Town Manager Aaron Miller started to look into VSD rate increases after residents raised the issue in June. French said discussions with Winslow were delayed as that town changed town managers.

Related issues raised during the hour and a half discussion included a “ready to serve” fee charged – unevenly, residents said – to people who live along the sewer lines but are not hooked up because their septic systems are working.

VSD was denied a $1 million grant from the state. Bradstreet said he is seeking more information on reasons for the denial.

Resident Tara Karczewski-Mitchell asked a list of questions compiled after a Dec. 6 community meeting. Answers established that the VSD and the Town of Vassalboro are separate entities; that VSD needs and uses all its properties, except an old sludge dump off Taber Hill Road that would need environmental testing before being put on the market; and that in Applebee’s opinion, no engineering errors on the post-2013 connection significantly affected costs.

Karczewski-Mitchell’s last question, how 200 customers can be expected to repay a $3 million debt, drew applause from the audience.

After the discussion, many residents signed a petition asking select board members to ask voters to spread sewer costs among all residents, not just sewer users. The main rationale is that keeping sewage out of Outlet Stream benefits all residents.

In other business at the Dec. 14 meeting, select board members:

— After a quarter-hour discussion, voted unanimously to close the transfer station all day Sunday, Dec. 24; and voted 2-1, with French opposed, to close it at noon Sunday, Dec. 31.
— Unanimously approved revised cemetery rules.
— Agreed they should meet in person with a representative of the only engineering firm that bid on redesigning the transfer station (see the Dec. 7 issue of “The Town Line”, p. 3).
— Postponed action on a policy on public comment at select board meetings; installing a generator at the town office (and perhaps the North Vassalboro fire station); and considering changes to Vassalboro’s TIF (Tax Increment Finance) ordinance and to land use regulations.

Miller reported that Delta Ambulance had sent notice of a substantial fee increase for 2024, from $15 per resident to $25 per resident. French translated it as increasing the town’s payment from about $65,000 to about $107,000.

Miller said he had asked Delta officials to organize a meeting with representatives of the towns it serves.

The next regular Vassalboro select board meeting is scheduled for Thursday evening, Dec. 28.

Vassalboro Sanitary district topic of meeting

/0 Comments/in , /by
by Mary Grow

The Dec. 14 Vassalboro select board meeting will be in the Vassalboro Community School cafeteria, instead of the town office, beginning at 6:30 p.m.

Town Manager Aaron Miller said the change is to accommodate the large crowd expected because of the first agenda item, “Discuss Vassalboro Sanitary District.”

The main issue is that sanitary district fees are stressing the budgets of residents of East and North Vassalboro. The district is in debt, mostly because of its recently-completed connection to the Winslow-Waterville system. Additionally, Winslow sewer rates have gone up.

At a Dec. 6 community meeting, some three dozen residents discussed information they hope to gain Dec. 14. They developed a list of questions to put to town and sanitary district officials and to Vassalboro’s state representatives, Senator Matthew Pouliot and Representative Richard Bradstreet.

Also on the Dec. 6 select board agenda are Vassalboro’s Tax Increment Finance District; local implications of a new state law on affordable housing; providing a generator at the town office (see the Nov. 23 issue of The Town Line, p. 3); proposed updates to cemetery rules; and engineering services for a new transfer station building (see the Dec. 7 issue of The Town Line, p. 3).

China awarded waste diversion grant for transfer station

/0 Comments/in , /by
by Mary Grow

China has been awarded a $$14,440.57 state Waste Diversion Grant for improvements at the transfer station.

Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood said the bulk of the money is to be used in the compost area, expanding the compost pad and adding bins. The rest will cover installation of solar lights in the free for the taking building.

Hapgood commended transfer station staff member Chayenne “Cj” Houle for putting “a lot of time and effort” into the grant application.

Houle said China will add $4,820 in local funds, for a total project cost of $19,260.57. The work must be finished by Dec. 1, 2024; Houle said she intends to begin immediately collecting information on building permits, materials and state requirements and expectations.

Mark A. King, Organics Management Specialist in the Maine Department of Environmental Protection’s Division of Materials Management, sent Houle notice of the award on Dec. 5. He wrote that of 11 applicants, seven, including China, received all they had requested and three others received partial funding.

China broadband group told why grant request denied

/0 Comments/in , /by
by Mary Grow

Three members of China’s Broadband Committee met Dec. 7 to hear first-hand about failure to get a state grant this fall and future possibilities (see the Dec. 7 issue of The Town Line, p. 3).

Jayne Sullivan, of local Direct Communications subsidiary UniTel, led the discussion. She explained that the Maine Connectivity Authority (MCA), the grant-awarding body, had an advisory group’s recommendation not to fund China’s project under the 2023 Connect the Ready program.

The MCA board is scheduled to meet Dec. 12, Sullivan said.

But, she said, “It’s not over ‘til it’s over.” There is more state money available, which MCA board members might allocate to Connect the Ready, perhaps giving China a second chance in the near future.

Until the MCA board decides what to do with that money, Sullivan recommended CBC members postpone decisions.

The next round of grant applications Sullivan expects will involve a different model and different mapping of broadband service areas, though she does not yet have details.

UniTel and Direct Communications intend to continue to “fight for China,” Sullivan promised.

Committee members scheduled another meeting for 4 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 4, agreeing to cancel it if they have no further information by then.

WINDSOR: Transfer station, town hall rentals top agenda

/0 Comments/in , /by
by The Town Line staff

At their November 21 meeting the Windsor Select Board was informed on a number of activities at the transfer station.

Town Manager Theresa Haskell reviewed in length the solid waste ordinance draft. Updates and changes were made. Haskell also noted the transfer station committee is discussing using stickers, again. More information will be available later.

Haskell then reviewed the Windsor recycling pamphlet. Updates and changes were also made to the pamphlet.

Haskell also reviewed the town hall policy with the select board. She would like to get suggestions from the select board on how to make the rules clearer to residents when using the town hall. Haskell noted it is a cost to the town when emergency response is needed. Haskell made note of an example: the heat sensors in the town hall are very sensitive. When fogging devices are used, they set off the heat sensors. The fire department will respond. The town pays a fee to each firefighter who responds. It is printed in the rules tha fogging devices are not to be used, but people still use them. A suggestion to revise the policy to charge a fee to residents for non-emergency calls might help cut down on some of these calls.

A question has come up about whether a minor could ride along with the town’s plow truck. There was discussion about minor or adult riding along in the public works vehicles, and how it would affect insurance and what waivers would or should be signed by the driver and rider. More information and discussion will follow.

In other business, Haskell reported the transfer station revenues were up for October from last year by $1,481.25, making the total for the year at $3,953.

There have been three applications received for the part-time transfer station attendant position. Interviews will take place after the holidays.

The select board also voted on a plan that would limit the hours Tim Coston, a public works driver and laborer, would spend covering at the transfer station. That would allow Coston to get rest for his role plowing and sanding the town roads. Haskell said other people will be available to cover at the transfer station.

The next meeting was scheduled for December 5.

VASSALBORO: Auto junkyard permits approved by select board

/0 Comments/in , /by
by Mary Grow

The two Vassalboro select board members at the Nov. 30 meeting approved six 2024 auto junkyard permits, after a public hearing that drew no comments.

Codes officer Jason Lorrain said he received renewal applications from six of seven residents listed as junkyard operators. He found no complaints on record; he inspected the premises; and he recommended select board members approve the applications.

Those approved are: Stanley Garnett, North Belfast Avenue; Robert Parise, Riverside Drive; Voit Ritch, Route 3; Dale Clement, Taber Hill Road; Bill Pullen, South Stanley Hill Road; and James Cogley, Main Street.

Lorrain said he had not received applications from 2023 junkyard licensee Olin Charette or auto hobbyist Robert Dore. Board members said the two could apply in time for a second hearing at either of the December select board meetings; whoever did would be charged for a second round of notices.

The other major agenda item Nov. 30 was opening requests for proposals for engineering services to design a new building at the transfer station. Town Manager Aaron Miller said he sent emails inviting 21 Maine engineering firms to submit proposals; he received one reply, from SENDERS science, engineering and construction in Camden.

Board chairman Chris French and member Michael Poulin agreed not to accept nor reject the bid, but to refer it to the transfer station task force, which Miller said was scheduled to meet the following week. They asked Miller to ask some of the other firms why they had declined to respond.

The request asked engineering firms to provide information on “permitting, design and cost estimates for a 60-foot by 80-foot transfer station building.” Task force members are interested in either “an open-ended Quonset steel building or a steel-pole barn structure.”

Select board members intend to discuss the issue at their next meeting, scheduled for Dec. 14.

They had planned a workshop session on local issues immediately following the Nov. 30 meeting, but with Frederick “Rick” Denico, Jr., absent, they skipped it.

China broadband group looks into expanded access

/0 Comments/in , /by
by Mary Grow

The China Broadband Committee (CBC) will meet at 5 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 7, in the portable building behind the China town office to talk about next steps to expand internet access, after being denied a Maine Connectivity Authority (MCA) grant.

CBC members have been working with the Maine subsidiary of Idaho-based Direct Communications, the former Unitel in Unity. After the MCA’s grant committee met at the end of November, Jayne Sullivan, of Direct Communications notified CBC chairman Robert O’Connor that China’s application had scored high, but not high enough to get funds.

Sullivan surmised the rejection might have been because “there is too much area in the town that did not qualify for funding,” that is, area that, by state definitions, is already adequately served.

The purpose of the Dec. 7 meeting is to consider next steps as Sullivan and China committee members continue to work toward expanded internet access throughout the town. Sullivan mentioned remaining state funds as one possibility.

China’s 2022 application for funding was rejected at the beginning of 2023. Since then, however, mapping of service areas has been improved and MCA has amended parts of its grant program, leading to a new submission in September 2023.

Sullivan said that an application from the Waldo Broadband Corporation had received a favorable recommendation and will be presented for funding at the Dec. 12 MCA board meeting. WBC consists of the towns of Freedom, Liberty, Montville, Palermo and Searsmont; they, too are working with Direct Communications.

Read past coverage of Broadband initiatives in China here.

Planners approve Novel Energy Systems for solar development

/0 Comments/in , /by
by Mary Grow

At their Nov. 28 meeting, China planning board members unanimously approved Novel Energy Systems’ application for a solar development, probably a community solar farm, on the section of Parmenter Hill Road known as Moe’s Mountain.

The application was first discussed at the board’s Sept. 26 meeting (see the Oct. 5 issue of The Town Line, p. 2). A public hearing was held at the Nov. 14 meeting (see the Nov. 23 issue of The Town Line, p. 2).

Board members’ questions and requests for clarification covered buffers around the development, run-off controls, proposed lighting (only over a sign with emergency numbers), noise, traffic and other disturbances (after construction is complete, none) and other topics related to the 15 criteria a development must meet under China’s ordinances.

Approval came with several conditions, mostly routine (like requiring a letter from the appropriate local fire chief saying the project has adequate emergency access). Novel representative Ralph Addonizio accepted all without objection.

Board members required Novel to provide the town a copy of the state’s approval of the project’s decommissioning plan, and to notify China’s codes officer of the construction supervisor’s name when that person is chosen (probably in the spring, Addonizio said).

After the final vote, board co-chairman James Wilkens reminded Addonizio that there is a 30-day appeal period. None of the neighbors who testified and asked questions at the Nov. 14 hearing attended the Nov. 28 meeting.

In other business Nov. 28, board members postponed discussion of two pending town ordinances. They intend to review another version of a solar ordinance before their next meeting; and to talk with select board members about draft revisions to China’s Planning Board Ordinance, probably at the Dec. 4 select board meeting.

Wilkens announced that codes officer Zachary Gosselin resigned and Nicholas French has returned to the position.

The next planning board meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 12. Wilkens canceled the second December meeting, which would have been Dec. 26; no one objected.

China select board discusses land use in town

/0 Comments/in , /by
by Mary Grow

China select board members’ Dec. 4 meeting included two discussions related, in different ways, to land use in town, with a lot of unanimous votes on other topics in between.

Board members again considered proposed changes to the town’s Planning Board Ordinance, with planning board co-chairman Toni Wall joining from the audience. Select board members unanimously approved three provisions, two of them changes.

— They want planning board members to be appointed, not elected.
— They want to abolish the four planning board districts and have all five regular members and one alternate member appointed from anywhere in town.
— They want to continue having planning board members serve two-year terms (with re-appointment always possible).

Other ordinance revisions were also suggested, and might be discussed at the planning board’s Dec. 12 meeting.

A revised ordinance will need voter approval in 2024. Select board members will decide whether to add a local ballot on March 5 with the state presidential primary, or to include a vote on the ordinance at the June 11 town business meeting.

Select board member Janet Preston raised the second issue near the end of the meeting. She had done research on conserved land in Maine towns that are comparable to China in various ways and found that, on average, these towns have 12 or 13 percent of their land conserved, often for public recreation, compared to less than one percent in China.

Fellow board members asked for a more specific study, for example looking at only town-owned public land, so that state parks would not skew the figures. Preston said she will continue to work with the idea.

In other business Dec. 4:

— Select board members reviewed four bids for summer mowing and unanimously awarded the contract to Bruce Danforth, of Embden, low bidder at $25,000.
— They unanimously approved renewing the agreement giving Albion residents limited use of China’s transfer station, to supplement Albion’s curbside pick-up program for 2024.
— Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood presented eight town policies, some for renewal and some for re-approval with minor changes. Board members unanimously approved all policies as presented. (Town policies are on the China website, china.govoffice.com.)
— Hapgood presented a tentative timeline for development of the 2024-25 municipal budget and related actions in preparation for voter decisions.

The next China select board meeting will be Monday evening, Dec. 18. The first two meetings in January 2024 will be Tuesday, Jan. 2, and Tuesday, Jan. 16, since those weeks begin with Monday holidays.