Vassalboro planners review Novel Energy’s proposal, again

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by Mary Grow

Vassalboro Planning Board members again reviewed Novel Energy’s proposed community solar farm at 2235 Riverside Drive at their April 1 meeting (see the March 13 issue of The Town Line, pp. 2 and 3).

Novel representative Ralph Addonizio gave each member a copy of an application almost two inches thick. Board members found it was missing necessary information: the updated site plan did not show the expanded buffers they had required at the initial review.

Addonizio said the change was in his notes; he did not know why it had not been shown, but he could quickly have it added.

He asked whether the board could approve the application and make adding to the plan a condition for beginning work. No, they said. Board member Dan Bradstreet (who is Waterville’s Codes Enforcement Director) explained that Vassalboro codes officer Eric Currie needs an exact plan, so he can make sure work done matches it.

Board members also requested a larger copy of the site plan, which Addonizio will provide. After their quick review of the submission found no other omissions and no obvious problems, they scheduled a special meeting April 7.

Two couples who live near the solar farm site attended the April 1 meeting, but did not continue the objections to the project that dominated the March review.

Michael and Doris Lyons talked about unpleasant experiences with other solar companies. Addonizio assured them Novel Energy has never been fined or shut down for failure to comply with permits. The Minnesota-based company was started by a farming family to benefit rural populations, he said.

Neighbors Walker and Alison Thompson had no comments.

The next regular Vassalboro select board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday evening, May 6.

Vassalboro plans being set for June town meeting

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by Mary Grow

Vassalboro select board members discussed multiple on-going issues at their April 3 meeting, many related to plans for the June 2 and June 10 annual town meeting.

The only decision they made settled one long-discussed issue. Unanimously, board members voted to sell part of the tax-acquired property on Lombard Dam Road “back to the Estate of William H. Spaulding while retaining a portion of the property for use by the Town using a process for both parcels consistent with 36 M.R.S. § 943-C.”

(The state law requires municipalities to return the proceeds of any sale of tax-acquired property to the former owner or heirs, after deducting all costs the municipality incurred. Town Manager Aaron Miller has had the property surveyed; he is waiting for an appraiser’s report on its value.)

Miller had prepared a draft warrant for the town meeting. It begins at 6:30 p.m., Monday, June 2, at Vassalboro Community School, with an open meeting at which voters will discuss and decide 40 or more questions, including 2025-26 municipal and school budgets.

The meeting continues with written-ballot voting on Tuesday, June 10, at the town office, with polls open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. The current draft of the June 10 part of the warrant includes amendments to the town’s solid waste ordinance and marijuana business ordinance; approval of the school budget adopted June 2; and local elections.

Select board members April 3 discussed some budget items, though neither the budget committee nor the school board has made final 2025-26 budget recommendations.

Resident John Melrose, founder of the business consulting service Maine Tomorrow, made a presentation on the fund balance policy developed by a town committee in 2019. In sum, the policy recommended the town keep in reserve in its unassigned fund balance (formerly known as surplus) an amount equal to 12 to 16 percent of its annual expenses, in the event of a financial disaster or an unexpected major expenditure.

The amount needed varies with factors including:

— the stability of the tax base (Vassalboro’s diversified, mostly residential economy is safer than a local economy that relies on a single major taxpayer);
— the stability and reliability of state and federal revenues;
— comparable (to area municipalities’) tax rates;
— the municipal debt level (the higher the debt, the more need for an ample fund balance); and
— the overall economy and housing prices.

Select board chairman Frederick “Rick” Denico, Jr., said as the town budget increases, board members should increase the fund balance, not dip into it to cover expenditures. Melrose agreed.

Board members talked about whether to recommend funding a recreation director’s position in the 2025-26 budget; the anticipated expenditure to replace the deteriorated Dunlap Bridge, on Mill Hill Road; the adequacy of the proposed stipend account for volunteer firefighters; a request to use money from the alewife fund to match a grant for work at Webber Pond; and Miller’s request for a $2,600 camera to monitor the water level at the Outlet Dam, in East Vassalboro, so public works employees need not check it.

In other business April 3, board members unanimously appointed Tim Connelly to the Sanitary District board of trustees, to serve until June 10 elections.

Conservation commission chairman Holly Weidner asked why the commission’s funding, unlike that for other town boards and committees, is listed separately in the town meeting warrant. She pointed out that cemetery committee funds are in the cemetery committee account, the trails committee funds in the recreation account, for example.

This year’s conservation commission request for $10,650 includes $10,000 for the China-based Courtesy Boat Inspection (CBI) program that the commission will oversee and $650 for other commission expenses. Miller explained that the problem was the $10,000; select board member Chris French said if the commission hired CBI, it was a procurement that should be bid out.

Wiedner replied bidding would be pointless, because no one else offers the service. Nor, she said, should CBI be listed as one of the outside agencies town voters fund annually.

Denico suggested finding a place for the commission in the warrant article that includes the administration account.

“Then we’re changing some accounts around” in the computerized bookkeeping system, Miller said resignedly.

Denico asked him to go ahead if the rearrangement is simple, skip it if not.

The final business of the evening was a brief discussion with cemetery committee chairmanj Savannah Clark, who had waited through two hours of other business, about the disagreement between members of her committee and the conservation commission over cutting trees in town cemeteries.

Last fall, Miller proposed having an arborist survey cemetery trees and mark ones needing removal. At their March meeting, cemetery committee members asked that work done in two cemeteries be redone with clearer markings (see the March 27 issue of The Town Line, pp. 2-3).

Clark said her committee members recommend no trees in cemeteries. Even healthy ones can be blown down in storms; damaging or destroying gravestones wastes volunteers’ time and wipes out evidence of town history.

Denico pointed out that the cemetery committee, not the conservation commission, is in charge of town cemeteries.

The next regular Vassalboro select board meeting is scheduled for Thursday evening, April 17.

China budget committee, select board meet over 2025-26 budget

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by Mary Grow

The article in the warrant for China’s June 10, 2025, annual town business meeting that was not recommended by the budget committee on April 2 (see related story, p. 3) came back at April 7 meetings of the budget committee and the select board.

Six of seven budget committee members met first to reconsider their April 2 vote. The reworded article, numbered Art. 14, that Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood gave them asked voters to raise and appropriate not more than $770,000 from TIF (Tax Increment Financing) money, in accordance with the third version of China’s TIF program that voters approved in November 2024.

There was agreement that budget committee members did not intend to recommend voters allocate no money for TIF projects for the 2025-26 fiscal year. The April 2 committee majority objected specifically to the appropriation for the China Broadband Committee, intended to fund a cooperative program with Direct Communications and its Unity-based Maine subsidiary, Unitel.

Broadband committee chairman Robert O’Connor and member Jamie Pitney explained from the audience that until Unitel succeeds in getting a federal grant, the plan remains in limbo and no China money will be invested.

After half an hour’s wide-ranging discussion, budget committee members reversed their April 2 decision and voted 5-1 to recommend voters approve Art. 14. Timothy Basham, Taryn Hotham, Jo Orlando, Jane Robertson and Michael Sullivan were in favor; chairman Brent Chesley was opposed, on behalf, he said, of absent member Kevin Maroon.

An early item on the agenda for the select board meeting immediately following the budget committee meeting was an article-by-article review of the town business meeting warrant.

The June 10 warrant includes four questions dealing with town ordinances.

By mostly unanimous votes, select board members recommended voters approve each article – except Art. 14. Chairman Wayne Chadwick and member Jeanne Marquis voted to recommend the article; Edwin Bailey and Blane Casey voted not to; and Thomas Rumpf abstained. Rumpf is president of the China Four Seasons Club, which annually applies for and receives TIF funds for trail maintenance.

During the rest of the meeting, select board and TIF committee members continued discussion at intervals, with Pitney borrowing Hapgood’s office to work on revisions to Art. 14.

Much of the discussion was over how to explain that the $770,000 was in two parts: a request to raise and appropriate $265,000 in 2025-26 TIF funds, and a request to reallocate to broadband $505,000 that had previously been set aside for other projects, like, Pitney said, the discontinued revolving loan fund and job training program.

The result was a rewritten Art. 14 asking voters a) to raise and appropriate $265,000 in TIF funds for purposes listed in the TIF document; and b) to approve expenditure of not more than $505,000 previously raised and appropriated for the TIF program.

This article was recommended by select board members on a 4-0-1 vote, with Rumpf again abstaining, with thanks to Pitney.

The June 10 warrant includes four questions dealing with town ordinances. Select board members unanimously recommended approval of all four.

Art. 30 asks voters to repeal China’s ordinance Prohibiting Retail Marijuana Establishments and Retail Marijuana Social Clubs in town. State law has made it unnecessary, Hapgood said.

Art. 31 asks voters to approve amendments to three sections of China’s Land Use Ordinance. The article says a copy of the ordinance is posted with the warrant and an electronic version is on the town website, chinamaine.gov, under the Elections tab.

Art. 33 asks voters to repeal China’s quorum ordinance for special town meetings, because, Hapgood said, the town attorney says it violates state law.

Art. 34 asks if voters will amend the town’s Budget Committee Ordinance. The major proposed change is to restore a seven-member committee, instead of the five-member committee in the current ordinance.

A public hearing on the warrant for the June 10 meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m., Monday, May 5, in the town office meeting room. That evening’s select board meeting will begin at 5:30 p.m.

In addition to these pre-town-meeting activities, China select board members heard a presentation by Regional School Unit #18 Superintendent Carl Gartley, accompanied by China’s representatives on the RSU board, Dawn Castner and John Soifer.

Gartley said China’s share of the RSU budget for 2025-26 will increase by about $324,500. Much of the increase is because the insured value factor, the extra local money for private schools like Erskine Academy for facilities maintenance, has risen from 6 percent to 10 percent of the tuition rate for next year.

The superintendent shared charts comparing China with 13 other area school units. China is near the bottom in per-pupil costs, at or near the top in academic performance.

Recent improvements at China schools include generators in both buildings, Gartley said. China Primary School, which dates from the 1990s, is slated to get new windows this summer.

Replying to Chadwick’s questions, Gartley said the school department paid for most of the riprapping along Route 202 in front of China Middle School, because most of the ditch is outside the road right-of-way; and the flashing signs warning drivers to slow down when school is opening and closing have been on order for months and are expected before classes start in the fall.

Select board members also:

— Approved a TIF allocation for the current year, $3,414 for the community garden project led by James and Jude Hsiang, to be located on the lot south of the town office complex.
— Agreed to send letters supporting requests for federal funds to Sen. Susan Collins’ office on behalf of Waterville’s and Augusta’s emergency dispatch centers and Delta Ambulance.
Hapgood reported for town departments:
— All departments will be closed Monday, April 21, for the Patriots’ Day holiday, and that evening’s select board meeting will be moved to 6 p.m., Tuesday, April 22.
— Timothy Hatch has resigned from the transfer station and public works department as of March 29.
— The transfer station will host a drug take-back day on Saturday, April 26, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

China budget committee makes final recommendations

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by Mary Grow

Despite the draft 2025-26 China budget and the warrant for the June 10 annual town business meeting changing as they met, China Budget Committee members made their final recommendations at their April 2 meeting – they thought.

The draft warrant as of the end of the meeting had 32 articles. Twenty-three dealt with money matters and needed a budget committee recommendation.

The six budget committee members present voted in favor of all but one article, mostly by unanimous votes. The one dissenting vote was cast by committee chairman Brent Chesley on Art. 6, asking for $25,000 for social services expenses.

In the proposed 2025-26 social services budget, the largest item is general assistance, with $8,000 requested. The rest of the listed recipients are nine out-of-town social service agencies voters traditionally help support, plus one new one, the Winslow Community Food Cupboard.

The organization is a food bank that, supporters told budget committee members at earlier meetings, assists the China Food Pantry. The recommended donation is $500, half the amount requested. (For more information on the Winslow Community Cupboard, please see the April 3 issue of The Town Line, p. 1.)

The warrant article that budget committee members voted not to support funded China’s TIF (Tax Increment Financing) account. As rewritten on the spot by Chesley and Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood, it asks voters to appropriate $215,000 in new TIF money for next year and to transfer $555,000 previously appropriated to the China Broadband Committee for 2025-26.

Broadband committee members hope to use the money for a proposed expansion of broadband service in town, working with Direct Communications’ Maine subsidiary, Unity-based Unitel. Unitel has repeatedly applied for grants to fund the project and has not yet been successful, but has not given up (see the Feb. 13 issue of The Town Line, p. 3, for a fuller explanation).

Budget committee member Michael Sullivan argued that the original project with Unitel had two parts: running a line through China to connect Unity with Palermo, a member of the Waldo Broadband Group; plus extending service to unserved and underserved parts of China. Now, he said, the second part of the project has been dropped: it is no longer what voters expected when they approved TIF funds in the past.

Jane Robertson voted to support TIF funding; Kevin Maroon, Taryn Hotham, Jo Orlando and Sullivan voted against; and Chesley abstained.

Hapgood said later in the week that she and the town attorney agreed that the budget committee had, probably unintentionally, recommended shutting down the entire TIF program next year. Two committee members agreed and requested a special meeting, which Hapgood scheduled for Monday, May 7, before that evening’s select board meeting.

Budget committee members began their April 2 meeting with a review of the select board’s reactions to March 17 budget committee votes. At their March 24 meeting, select board members accepted four budget committee recommendations on minor expenses (see the March 27 issue of The Town Line, p, 3).

Select board members had first recommended 3.5 percent cost of living increase for town employees. Budget committee members on March 17 recommended a 2.5 percent increase. On March 24, select board members agreed on a 3.25 percent increase.

Budget committee members renewed discussion April 2, though Chesley commented on the awkwardness of airing the topic in a public meeting. Everyone agreed they did not intend to criticize town employees; the issue was finances, not personnel. Orlando said residents with whom she discussed the budget praised town staff.

Town employees’ salaries and benefits are part of several budget accounts, notably administration, public works and the transfer station. Budget committee members recommended voters approve the select board’s recommended amounts for the relevant articles.

China’s annual town business meeting will be by written ballot again this year, as it has been since the pandemic, despite some residents’ annual requests for a return to an open meeting. A majority of select board members prefer the all-day written ballot because many more people vote than at an open meeting.

The June 10 voting will be in the former portable classroom behind the town office on Lakeview Drive. Polls will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

China road committee discusses ways to improve town roads

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by Mary Grow

China Road Committee members discussed several town roads, ways to improve them and related issues at an hour-and-a-half long March 25 meeting.

Their conclusions will become recommendations to the select board as that group considers the 2025-26 road budget.

Committee members had as background information a list of roads paved or – mostly – repaved since the summer of 2019, divided into four quadrants. Quadrant 2, in northwestern China, was due for most of this summer’s work; many of its more than 12 miles were last done in 2022.

In that area, Public Works Director Shawn Reed recommended 1.85 miles of fresh asphalt on Maple Ridge Road and 1.24 miles of chip-seal on Neck Road, south from the Stanley Hill Road intersection.

For the last three years, China has been redoing some roads with chip-seal, a less expensive method than adding a layer of liquid asphalt. Reed said he is mostly pleased with the way chip-sealed roads have held up; committee member Brent Chesley’s verdict was “So far, so good.”

The group discussed whether Maple Ridge Road is so bad it should be dug up and rebuilt, instead of just repaved.

Winslow town officials are rebuilding their part of Maple Ridge Road, Reed said. Not all of the major paving companies take on rebuilding projects.

Reed pointed out that some roads in Quadrant 3, in southeastern China, could also use work; he recommended redoing 1.66 miles on Hanson Road.

China officials plan to use a large amount of this year’s road money to rebuild and pave Town Landing Road, limiting other options.

Discussion of Town Landing Road, which leads from South China Village’s Village Street to a China Lake boat landing, focused on the need for improvements to control erosion into the lake, and to reduce annual maintenance costs. Reed foresees ditching, adding gravel and riprap and sloping the pavement, either from a higher center to both ditches or toward only one ditch.

Two unresolved issues are whether to try to create a turn-around near the lake and whether to plan on winter maintenance. Reed and Chesley favor plowing the road to ensure emergency access, even if the plow truck has to back out.

Another major project, Reed said, but not for this year, is Clark Road, which runs east off Route 32 (Vassalboro Road) and dead-ends on the west side of China Lake. It is the only remaining town-owned gravel road, and costs extra money for gravel and grading.

Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood suggested another alternative would be to ask voters at some future town meeting to discontinue the road, leaving maintenance responsibility to landowners.

Clark Road leaves Route 32 through property whose owner opposes paving it, several people said. It is named for, and provides access to, a house built by some of the Clark family who were China’s first settlers in 1773. The house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

China and Vassalboro have pooled their paving bids for some years, and Reed intends to do the same this year; he has been coordinating with Vassalboro Public Works Director Brian Lajoie. The group discussed whether China gained by combining and decided to investigate further before this time next year.

Committee chairman and town office staffer Jen
nifer Chamberlain said she expects to send out requests for bids early in April; April 17 or 18 might be the deadline to return bids.

Committee members did not schedule another meeting until select board members have reviewed their recommendations, and probably until bids come in. Reed suggested they might plan to meet quarterly the rest of this year to prepare to do something about Clark Road next year.

China TIF committee approves 11 of 13 applications

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by Mary Grow

China Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Committee members reviewed all 13 applications on their March 26 agenda. They fully approved 11.

Committee members had no objections to the other two proposals, but they could not fit one into TIF criteria, and reduced the other due to competing needs.

The rejected application was from the China Village Volunteer Fire Department. Chief Joel Nelson asked for $7,500 to replace five SCBA (Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus) bottles.

TIF Committee members commended the firefighters, but could not match the request with state and town TIF criteria, which focus on promoting economic development. Nelson argued in his application that having a fire department equipped to protect businesses, homes and infrastructure encourages development.

Nelson continues to seek other sources of funds. Grant applications have not yet been successful, he wrote.

TIF Committee Chairman Brent Chesley combined consideration of requests from the Four Seasons Club ($50,000 for trails); the Thurston Park Committee ($37,000, partly for trails, partly to improve parking and the park entrance road for better access to trails); and the Community Forest group ($4,093 for trail signs). All get grants from the same TIF account.

The Four Seasons Club’s $50,000 is a recurring request that committee members approved without discussion.

Elaine Philbrook explained the request for signs for trails in the Community Forest, east of China Primary School. “We’re trying to make it so when people go into the forest, they can come out of the forest,” she said.

Committee members agreed that was good idea and unanimously approved the money.

They discussed with Thurston Park Committee Chairman Jeanette Smith how much of the requested money would go specifically for trails. Smith did not have an estimated cost for this year’s planned work, because the trails are not yet accessible for inspection.

After balancing approved expenditures with funds available, committee members allocated $26,307 from TIF for Thurston Park.

Other approved expenditures for the 2025-26 fiscal year are:

— For the planned China Community Garden on Lakeview Drive south of the town office complex, sponsored by the China for a Lifetime Committee, $3,414.
— For the China Broadband Committee, $10,000, plus carry-forward from prior appropriations. TIF Committee member Jamie Pitney, who also serves on the Broadband Committee, abstained on the vote.
— For the China Lake Association, $50,000.
— For The Town Line newspaper, $3,000.
— For the Four Seasons Club for fireworks during the annual China Ice Days celebration, $6,000.
— For the Town of China to hire a summer intern again, $15,000, with Lucas Adams, Karen Morin and Pitney in favor and Chesley voting against the appropriation, because, he said he doubted the intern’s value. This summer, he told Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood, he will try to spend some time observing the intern.
— For the Town of China for the annual Community Days celebration, $15,000. Hapgood said as fireworks get more expensive, she and China Recreation Committee members are considering replacing them with other, ongoing programs, like musical events or food trucks.
— For the Town of China for Kennebec Valley Council of Governments annual dues, $3,504. Pitney asked if the town still uses KVCOG services; Hapgood replied town officials find educational events and bulk purchasing useful.
— For the Town of China for Mid-Maine Chamber of Commerce annual dues, $490.

TIF Committee recommendations go to the select board, which approves annual expenditures from the fund. TIF money comes from the taxes Central Maine Power Company pays on its transmission line through China and its South China substation.

Committee members decided their work is done for now and did not schedule another meeting.

China planners debate cluster or subdivision development

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by Mary Grow

China Planning Board members spent most of their March 25 meeting arguing over whether to propose allowing cluster developments in town. Chapter Three of the current Land Development Code prohibits them.

One point of contention was whether “cluster development” is the proper name. A recognized alternative is “open space subdivision.”

In a conventional residential subdivision, available land is divided into lots that meet minimum lot size requirements (40,000 square feet in China) and a house is built on each lot. Subdivisions often have wooded buffers between houses and interior roads.

In an open space subdivision, one section of the land is divided into smaller house lots – board members and codes officer Nicholas French talked about 20,000 square feet as a minimum. The rest, perhaps more than half the total area, remains common space, which could be used for communal purposes like recreation, gardening or a playground.

Whether people who do not live in the subdivision could access the open space would depend on ordinance provisions, or on the rules of the association that homeowners established, board members said.

Whether there was a homewners’ association would depend mostly on who sold and who bought the lots. The developer might continue to manage the common area, including any shared roads, board member Dwaine Drummond suggested.

French is a proponent of open space developments. He said they would provide needed housing with less damage to China’s natural environment and rural character; minimize sprawl – avoiding “House, house, house, house,” he said, tapping the table to indicate a row of houses lining a road; minimize expensive road-building; and provide a more affordable alternative than a conventional subdivision.

And smaller lawns for homeowners to mow, board chairman Toni Wall added.

French and Wall think most China residents appreciate the town’s rural character and do not want sprawl. Adding open space development as an alternative would give planning board members another option that they think would support majority preferences.

Wall and board members Drummond and Milton Dudley mostly cited points in favor of open space development. Natale Tripodi and Elaine Mather had objections.

The first question they raised was whether apartment buildings would be included. The preliminary answer is only if the town ordinance says so, and it needn’t. French reminded board members of the new state law allowing a second residence on what used to be considered a single-building lot.

“Why do we need to solve the state’s housing crisis?” Mather asked.

French offered, “So town employees can afford houses” in or near town, citing statistics about area average incomes and housing costs.

Mather further asked for a definition of “open space” – in the ordinance amendment if the board writes one, Dudley replied – and whether adding the new option would mean the board denied future subdivision applications – no, Wall said.

Mather assumed the 1993 decision to ban cluster subdivisions was based on research. French suggested it was instead “a knee-jerk reaction to the name,” but admitted he couldn’t prove it. He and board members doubted 1993 records would answer the question.

Audience member Robert Bernheim proposed hypothetical scenarios about people sharing an open space development. Wall repeated that the answers would depend on ordinance provisions and their implementation.

The hour-long discussion ended with Wall planning to share copies of open space subdivision provisions in other Maine towns’ ordinances, in preparation for continued consideration at the next board meeting.

Also on the board’s future agendas are continued review of the entire subdivision ordinance, and development of a new ordinance to regulate high impact electric transmission lines through town before the moratorium voters approved last fall expires.

The Nov. 5, 2024, vote imposed a 180-day moratorium on such transmission lines, with the select board authorized to add one 180-day extension.

The March 25 meeting began with a five-minute public hearing on proposed amendments to Chapters 2 and 11 of China’s Land Development Code. Wall explained that the purpose of the amendments, which will be submitted to town voters in June, is to finish deleting references to timber harvesting. Regulating timber harvesting has been transferred from the town to the state Bureau of Forestry.

There were no comments from the public or board members on the proposed changes. They are available for review on the town website, chinamaine.org, under Officials, Boards & Committees; under that heading, under Planning Board; and under that subheading, “proposed edits” for the two chapters.

The next scheduled China Planning Board meeting is at 6:30 p.m., Tuesday, April 8. After the March 25 meeting, Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood reported the board had agreed to skip a scheduled April 22 meeting, so that the China select board can meet that evening (the regular select board meeting would be Monday, April 21, the Patriots’ Day holiday).

Vassalboro budget Committee begins work on 2025-26 FY

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March 18 meeting

by Mary Grow

Vassalboro Budget Committee members began their first 2025 meeting on March 18 by re-electing Peggy Schaffer committee chairman. Town Manager Aaron Miller summarized some of the budget highlights, and Vassalboro Historical Society members explained part of their request.

Committee members then reviewed the first nine accounts on their budget sheets.

They quit at 9 p.m. as they reached the recreation budget, expecting a long discussion on that topic to start their March 25 meeting.

The committee was presented with Miller’s budget draft number six. Select board members had reviewed the prior drafts, which changed slightly based on their recommendations and as more and updated information became available.

The Vassalboro Historical Society asked for and received $5,000 for the current year; the 2025-26 request is for $10,000.

The additional money, spokesman John Melrose explained, would let the organization again hire a part-time curator, whose job would primarily be to continue digitizing town records so they will be available on line. Melrose talked about the numerous and varied records and other resources the society has and the need to make them more widely available.

Because Vassalboro owns the former schoolhouse that is the society’s headquarters and museum, the town pays building maintenance and repair expenses. In the past, town funds have not covered operating expenses.

After the historical society discussion, major accounts reviewed included administration, public works, solid waste, road work and paving, the volunteer fire department, public safety, ambulance service and capital improvements.

As of March 18, the administration request for 2025-26 totaled $666,836, up barely over $37,000 from the current year. Major discussion topics included increases in technology, which Miller explained as mostly updates of antiquated systems and changes that would keep the town office operating during power outages.

The March 18 public works request stood at $637,269, a decrease of well over $10,000 from the current year. The main reason is that new public works director Brian Lajoie is lower on the pay scale than his predecessor was.

For the transfer station, the March 18 draft totaled $404,198. The increase of almost $27,000 was mainly in projected disposal fees and hauling costs. Select board member Chris French explained that higher hauling costs are recommended in anticipation of the reopening of a Hampden recycling facility, which is farther from Vassalboro than the Norridgewock landfill currently taking the town’s waste.

Road work costs were projected at slightly over $545,000, a decrease of almost $25,000 from the current year.

The Vassalboro fire department’s request for $111,849 was more than $15,000 over the current year. The largest requested increases were in stipends for the firefighters and Chief Walker Thompson’s much-discussed request for a $5,000 stipend for assistant chief Bob Williams.

The public safety request for more than $103,000 represented an increase of almost $4,600 over the current year, mostly for mileage for the animal control officer and dispatch fees.

As expected, Delta Ambulance’s fee per resident rose, increasing the town’s 2025-26 bill to almost $147,000.

For capital improvements, discussed at length by both select board and budget committee members, the March 18 recommendation stood at just over $366,000. The increase over the current year would be a little over $239,000. Select board chairman Frederick “Rick” Denico Jr., pointed out that the 2024-25 capital reserve budget was the lowest since the 2020-21 fiscal year.

Committee members also reviewed the smaller budget request for first responders, an increase of $905 to a little over $18,000.

The price of electricity was discussed as several town departments were reviewed. Electricity is not a large budget item, but committee members had questions about the consistent increases and whether Vassalboro is benefiting from its membership in a community solar farm.

They continued the discussion on March 25.

March 25 meeting

by Mary Grow

Vassalboro Budget Committee members resumed their review of the draft 2025-26 town budget on March 25, with Town Manager Aaron Miller’s seventh draft in front of them. They spent the first half hour talking inconclusively about the recreation program and another 20 minutes on the fire department’s request.

From the summer of 2022, recreation was headed by Community Program Director Karen Stankis. She resigned in March.

Before select board members created and voters funded Stankis’s position, town-sponsored recreation was youth sports, with a volunteer commissioner for each sport and the group maintaining Vassalboro’s ball fields on Bog Road and coordinating activities.

Stankis oversaw most of the maintenance and coordination tasks, and expanded activities to include residents of all ages.

Youth sports commissioners, Michael Cayouette and Michael Phelps, discussed the program with budget committee members.

Cayouette asked whether they plan to recommend a new director. Meanwhile, he said, he cannot get approval to use Vassalboro Community School facilities for planned baseball clinics; Stankis used to coordinate with school personnel, and he does not qualify as an “accountable person.”

Miller said he will find out what town officials are qualified to oversee town activities at school facilities and try to get Cayouette in.

Cayouette said the number of Vassalboro youngsters in town sports programs has declined; many join Augusta or Winslow programs instead.

Select board member Chris French said with Stankis’s resignation, the select board needs to decide whether to continue her position, decrease the program back toward its pre-2022 focus or perhaps expand it still more. No decision has been made.

The preliminary 2025-26 budget includes funding for a part-time director, Budget Committee Chairman Peggy Shaffer said.

Discussion will continue among select board and budget committee members and sports commissioners.

Vassalboro Fire Chief Walker Thompson repeated his request for a $5,000 stipend for assistant chief Bob Williams. He listed the many administrative-type things Williams handles: overseeing vehicle inspections and maintenance, dealing with insurance company representatives and the state fire marshal’s office, representing Vassalboro’s department at meetings when Thompson is unavailable, assisting with town responsibilities like inspecting solar arrays and marijuana growing operations.

Thompson said Williams put in 389 administrative hours last year and put 3,138 miles on his personal vehicle.

The chief reported that since Jan. 1, 2025, Vassalboro firefighters have responded to 49 calls, compared to 21 by the same time in 2024. They get stipends for responding to calls (and for required truck checks, but not for activities like training and department meetings), he said.

Asked if the budgeted amount for 2025-26 firefighters’ stipends, $25,000, is sufficient, Thompson replied if the call volume stays up, “Probably not.”

Budget committee members made no recommendations on the fire department budget request.

They continued with brief discussions of other accounts, including:

— The Vassalboro Public Library request for $74,000. Committee member Douglas Phillips pointed out that the town now pays so much of the library’s expenses that it has become “almost a town library” instead of a private organization.
— Utilities, listed as street lights and hydrants, including discussion of whether the town is billed for more hydrants than it uses.
— A return to the Vassalboro Historical Society request discussed a week earlier. Select board member Michael Poulin said the proposed $10,000 curator seemed to have changed from an archivist to a program director. Budget committee member William Browne said this organization, like the library, is moving toward becoming a town entity.

Budget committee member Douglas Phillips urged the group to try researching on line – a lot of information has been made available, he said.

The total amount Vassalboro taxpayers can expect to be billed in 2025-26 remained unknown as the March 25 meeting ended. Two major accounts, the school budget (always higher than the municipal budget) and the Kennebec County tax, were undetermined.

As of March 30, the Vassalboro School Board had not set a time for continued budget review, after a partial review at their March 4 meeting (see the March 13 issue of The Town Line, p. 3). School board and budget committee members were scheduled to meet at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, April 3, at the school.

Money was a main topic at China select board meeting

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by Mary Grow

Money was a main topic at the March 24 China select board meeting in several different ways, from fairly big items (including review of budget committee recommendations related to the June 10 town business meeting warrant and proposed future expenditures) to the price of trash bags for Palermo residents using China’s transfer station.

The latter, Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood reported, will increase from $2.60 to $3.00 for a 33-gallon bag, effective April 1.

The China Budget Committee, meeting March 17 (see the March 20 issue of The Town Line, p. 3), disagreed with the select board on four proposed June 10 expenditures.

The major change was a recommendation to increase town employees’ salaries by 2.5 percent next year, instead of the 3.5 percent select board members had recommended.

At the March 24 meeting, Hapgood read a letter from another town employee advocating for the higher increase and added her comments, and a third employee watching the meeting on line chimed in.

After three-quarters of an hour’s debate and several failed votes on different suggested increases, select board members went with a recommendation for a 3.25 percent increase, on a 4-0-1 vote, with Chairman Wayne Chadwick, Blane Casey, Jeanne Marquis and Thomas Rumpf in favor and Edwin Bailey abstaining.

Hapgood said after the meeting that the pay issue will again be on the budget committee’s agenda at their April 2 meeting. If budget committee members do not agree with the select board, she said, the June 10 town meeting warrant will say the budget committee voted not to recommend all expenditure articles that include employee salaries.

Budget committee members on March 17 further advocated cutting from the list of social service organizations a $500 donation to Northern Light Home Care and Hospice, because of the impending closure of Waterville’s Inland Hospital; adding back in the $500 donation to the American Red Cross that the select board had deleted; and increasing the PFAS fund by $1,000 to cover a new pump that Hapgood said is needed soon.

Select board members agreed with the budget committee on all three items. Votes were unanimous, except that Rumpf dissented on donating to the Red Cross.

Their first monetary discussion of the evening was with China Village Volunteer Fire Department Chief Joel Nelson, who repeated and re-explained his request for a new pumper truck, at an estimated cost of $650,000 or more (see the March 13 issue of The Town Line, p. 3).

Select board members again postponed a decision, asking for more information, on used trucks – Nelson had found there are not many available – and on possible grants. The delay means the request will not be submitted to voters in June; it could be on a November ballot.

After 20 minutes’ debate over the agreement with Rent.Fun that will provide a rental stand for kayaks and paddleboards, Chadwick made a motion to authorize the town manager to sign the agreement – and was the dissenter on a 4-1 vote to do so.

The kiosk, arranged by Recreation Committee chairman Martha Wentworth, will be at the head of China Lake’s east basin, near the causeway east of China Village. Proceeds from the rentals will be shared between Rent.Fun and the town; the contract spells out finances, maintenance and repairs and sundry other details. Chadwick and other board members were concerned about how long it will take the town to earn enough to recoup its initial investment.

Hapgood had shared with board members Sheldon Goodine’s resignation as chairman of the town building committee. The fireproof vault its members planned is about to be built.

Board members debated whether the committee should be considered a one-time vault committee, or an on-going building committee tasked with recommending future changes to town properties. A majority decided it should continue as an advisory body and be asked to develop a five- or 10-year building plan, and rejected Goodine’s resignation.

Bailey was the lone dissenter; he praised Goodine’s leadership, but held the committee’s work was finished.

Other pre-town-meeting topics included review of proposed revisions to the town’s Budget Committee Ordinance, which the select board unanimously endorsed; and Hapgood’s explanation of an article that would repeal China’s June 2017 ordinance titled “Ordinance Prohibiting Retail Marijuana Establishments and Retail Marijuana Social Clubs in the Town of China.”

The marijuana ordinance, she explained, is no longer needed, because the state has taken over; state regulations now protect the town.

The March 24 select board meeting was preceded by the members meeting as the town board of assessors. In that capacity, they rejected a request from the Branch Pond Association, Inc., to be exempted from paying taxes on the Branch Pond dam.

The request said that the dam has been rebuilt, by the Maine Council of the Atlantic Salmon Federation, with a fishway added. It was valued at $30,800 in 2024; it serves no economic purpose and does not generate income; the 2024 tax bill was $360.36.

The Branch Pond Association claimed an exemption on the ground that it is a charitable organization. Assessor William Van Tuinen had reviewed the exemption letter and concluded the organization is not purely charitable, because its charter also calls for benefits to nearby landowners.

Van Tuinen recommended the exemption be denied, and the select board agreed on a 4-1 vote, with Rumpf opposed.

The next regular China select board meeting is scheduled for Monday evening, April 7.

Vassalboro cemetery committee mulls over which trees to take down

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by Mary Grow

During a short March 17 meeting, Vassalboro Cemetery Committee members decided the survey of trees in the Nelson Road Cemetery should be redone before the town seeks a contractor to take down any of them.

Committee member David Jenney said after previous discussions with cemetery committee and conservation commission members, Timothy Basham, owner of Basham Tree Service, Inc., in South China, had marked five of the seven pine trees in the cemetery for removal, as potential hazards.

Jenney was not convinced the other two pines should be left.

Committee members Jane Aiudi and Cindy Spaulding said they had trouble distinguishing Basham’s marks from other pieces of tape and flagging in the cemetery. Since residents, too, were supposed to weigh in on what trees should be removed, they recommend a clearer marking system.

Aiudi and, from the audience, conservation commission member Steve Jones wanted more information on the grading system Basham used to decide what trees should go.

Chairman Savannah Clark said she will ask Town Manager Aaron Miller about having the work redone to meet the concerns.

Committee members briefly discussed three other matters.

— Clark said select board members seem to favor adding insurance to cover town volunteers, like residents who inspect and help maintain cemeteries, in the 2025-26 budget.
— Committee members are not sure whether they are allowed to spend interest from cemetery funds, with select board approval. Apparently the auditor has said no; but Aiudi and Jenney are sure interest has been spent in the past. Clark will clarify with Miller.
— Committee member Jody Kundreskas reported that stone restorer Joseph Ferrannini, of Grave Stone Matters, in Hoosick Falls, New York, will be in Vassalboro from July 10 to July 13. Committee members will decide later where to ask him to apply his expertise.

The next Vassalboro Cemetery Committee meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday, April 21.