by Mary Grow

The Oct. 30 Vassalboro Select Board meeting began with a presentation on run-off control work needed to protect quality in Webber Pond, Threemile Pond and Threecornered Pond (see box).

Earlier in October, Town Manager Aaron Miller received and shared with board members draft water quality reports from the three watersheds. The multi-page reports were prepared by Ecological Instincts, of Manchester, with funding and assistance from federal, state and local governments, numerous organizations and local volunteers.

Mary Schwanke, from the Webber Pond Association, shared with select board members a single-page document listing sites for which the Town of Vassalboro is responsible that are contributing pollution to Threecornered and Webber ponds. Most are culverts that need better run-off control.

Two culverts on Cross Hill Road and two on Stone Road affect Three-cornered Pond. Five more, on Cross Hill, Seaward Mills and Crowell Hill roads and Quaker Lane, and a stream crossing and culvert on Whitehouse Road, affect Webber Pond.

Schwanke explained that the lakes already have a lot of phosphorus in their bottom soils, from years of agricultural run-off. When warmer water reaches the bottom of the lake, phosphorus is released, feeding algae and phytoplankton blooms.

The first step in improving water quality is to reduce new phosphorus inflows. Then, Schwanke said, the focus can shift to getting rid of existing phosphorus.

Drainage chain

Three-cornered Pond is at the top of a drainage chain that runs via Barton Brook into Three-mile Pond and via Seaward Mills Stream into Webber Pond. Webber Pond drains via Seven-mile Brook into the Kennebec River.

Three-cornered Pond is in Augusta; Threemile pond is shared among China, Vassalboro and Windsor; and Webber Pond is in Vassalboro.

Once the watershed reports are in final form, including action plans, they will be widely publicized.

Most of the new phosphorus comes from residential development around the lakes – individual homeowners’ gravel or paved driveways and other features that don’t absorb rainwater. Schwanke said homeowners will receive individual letters about their properties.

Miller recommended a series of town actions, in addition to road work.

He advised starting with better enforcement of local water quality ordinances. The codes officer and the planning board would play leading roles. The town could help get grants for watershed work and could support local education and training, which he and Schwanke think are important.

“It has to be people understanding that their property has an impact on water quality,” Schwanke said.

Schwanke and Miller agreed that the recommended improvements to Vassalboro culverts are probably “not out of reach, dollarwise.” Rough cost estimates are mostly under $5,000 per site.

Select board members want to find out whether photos of properties around lakes and streams could be added to tax records, to document conditions as they change.

In other business, board members decided that on Nov. 11, Veterans Day, the transfer station will be closed, along with other town services.

They approved the Vassalboro Sanitary District’s board of trustees meeting in the town office meeting room and recording their meetings with town equipment until they have their own equipment.

They accepted a bid of slightly over $3,100 to replace the sand and salt shed door, as recommended by Public Works Director Brian Lajoie.

They discussed several ongoing issues, including the 2025-26 meeting calendar for the select board and budget and school committees, which is almost in final form; the town’s personnel policy, also very close to its final form; and funding to replace the Mill Hill Road bridge.

The meeting included a lengthy executive session, after which no action was taken.

The next Vassalboro select board meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 13. Miller expects the agenda will include a review of the audit for the fiscal year that ended June 30, with auditor Ron Smith present.

Vassalboro Community School (contributed photo)

by Mary Grow

Three dozen Vassalboro residents turned out for their school board’s Oct. 28 public workshop meeting, on school safety and other topics. Board members welcomed them and invited them to come back again – and again.

Please come to our monthly board meetings, they said. Please come to our meetings with the budget committee that will start early in 2026. Want to be a substitute teacher? Please apply; we’ll do our best to accommodate your skills and schedule. Want to be a bus driver? Please apply; we’ll train you.

Board members organized the meeting after they cut off a discussion of school safety at their Oct. 14 regular meeting, a discussion sparked by a September incident at Vassalboro Community School and reports on social media (see the Oct. 23 issue of The Town Line, p. 3).

Oct. 28 audience members got a two-page single-spaced list of responses to questions asked at and after the Oct. 14 meeting. During the Oct. 28 discussion, Superintendent Alan Pfeiffer explained that because of privacy laws, many things cannot be made public.

He repeatedly emphasized the importance of students’ safety to every adult in the school; the adults are responsible for the students, and many, like him, are themselves parents.

“Our duty is to care, guard and protect your kids every day,” he said, a duty that begins when the first bus arrives and ends only when everyone is home safely.

Only applause of the night

The only applause during the Oct. 28, Vassalboro School Board workshop came when a speaker identified herself as the mother of a member of the boys’ soccer team. The team won the 2025 Sheepscot Valley Athletic Conference championship.

The response sheet said that every day, school personnel face troubling situations involving students, of varying degrees of severity, including some that might have serious consequences. Pfeiffer said teachers and educational technicians are trained to deal with them; every allegation of inappropriate words or actions is investigated. It is up to staff to judge what safety measures, if any, are needed, with the superintendent having the final say.

Pfeiffer said there is a difference between a threat and a credible threat. When there is a credible threat, responses might include notifying involved parents or all parents; locking down the school; and/or notifying law enforcement or the fire department.

VCS does lockdown drills, Pfeiffer said. The response sheet said there hasn’t yet been one this year, but one will be held soon.

“If there is a high and credible risk, we’ll let you know,” he promised; but he does not intend to create unnecessary anxiety by sharing every minor incident. He advised parents to rely on three reliable sources – a robocall from the school, the school website, vcsvikings, or the Vassalboro Community School Facebook page – and not to trust rumors or on-line comments.

The superintendent reminded the audience that students are on buses or in school only about seven hours a day; for the other 17 hours, school personnel have “no control over students or their environment.”

Audience members challenged the superintendent when he said no student ever brought a gun or a knife into VCS. They asked how he could be sure, without inspecting backpacks and students’ pockets daily.

People suggested installing metal detectors at school doors and wanding backpacks.

Another suggestion was having adults as bus monitors, to make rides to and from school quieter. When an educational technician in the audience said there are not enough staff members available, a man suggested older students might serve as monitors.

One comment on the response sheet was that although the entrance doors are locked, “it appears anyone can be let in by ringing the buzzer.” The reply was that the buzzer “is connected to a monitor screen” in the office. Office staff admit people they recognize; they ask a stranger who he or she is and why he or she is there.

Pfeiffer called mental health “a huge issue” in public schools nation-wide. On the school board’s recommendations and with taxpayers’ support, VCS has two full-time school counselors, Gina Davis and Jamie Routhier, who each spoke briefly about what they do; a full-time social worker; and a full-time nurse.

A suggestion on the response sheet was that each student be screened by the counselors. The answer was, “Staff is constantly conducting informal screening”; a staff member who becomes concerned about a student investigates and involves other people as appropriate.

An on-going issue is safety as parents drop off and pick up students. The response sheet explained the procedures, which involve having staff on duty indoors and outdoors, with radio communication among them. Any time a student rides with someone different or takes a different bus, the office is informed.

Pfeiffer and board members thanked people who made suggestions. Pfeiffer listed some of the changes made since he became superintendent in 2018, including installing more than three dozen additional security cameras; redesigning the office so people working there can see the front doors; and the ongoing building update, designed to increase safety and comfort.

On a different topic, a parent questioned gaps in the middle school curriculum, like no foreign language and no social studies. School board chairman Jolene Gamage said when the last foreign-language teacher retired, the board could not find a successor. Pfeiffer plans to look into virtual programs, which he said are often shared among several schools.

Pfeiffer invited people who want a social studies teacher to attend budget meetings.

Overall, he, Principal Ira Michaud and Assistant Principal Tabitha Brewer said, VCS is well staffed: there is one vacant educational technician position. Substitutes would serve short-term only, during a staff member’s illness or other emergency. Brewer added that half a dozen people have applied to become substitutes.

The Vassalboro School Board usually meets the evening of the second Tuesday of each month, with a July recess. Because the second Tuesday in November is the Veterans Day holiday, the meeting will be held Wednesday, Nov. 12, at 6 p.m., at Vassalboro Community School.

by Mary Grow

The three Vassalboro Cemetery Committee members at the Oct. 20 meeting started considering their 2026-27 budget request, without making any decisions.

Remembering suggestions from audience members during this year’s discussions of tree trimming and tree removal, they talked about adding decorative shrubs – lilacs, for example – around cemetery borders.

New plantings would require maintenance, perhaps a new category in the annual cemetery budget. This realization led to a discussion of current maintenance responsibilities, specifically what the public works department is expected to do inside cemeteries.

Board members decided they should consult with Town Manager Aaron Miller and Public Works Director Brian Lajoie; and they should finish dealing with trees before adding new plantings.

Committee chairman Savannah Clark said Miller is talking with several arborists about evaluating trees for trimming or removal, after an initial RFP (request for proposals) earlier this month brought no formal replies. She could not predict how soon an arborist would be chosen.

Jody Kundreskas reported on stonework done over the summer, mostly by herself, fellow committee member David Jenney and volunteer Bruce Lancaster. She is pleased with improvements at the cemetery on Bog Road; although, she said, one stone is so damaged it cannot be repaired.

Kundreskas and Jenney estimated they have enough tools and supplies for repairs so they don’t need to ask for major spending in that category in next year’s budget. They probably will ask again for funds to hire Joseph Ferraninni, of Grave Stone Matters in Hoosick Falls, New York, to provide expert help.

Clark plans to have a draft budget request ready for review at the next committee meeting, scheduled for 6 p.m., Monday, Nov. 17, in the town office meeting room.

Jenney, having recently reviewed his files from his years on the cemetery committee, commented that he was impressed with how much the committee has done, especially in making information available to the public through computerized records.

He praised Lancaster for his help, and resident Donald Breton for taking responsibility for putting flags on veterans’ graves for Memorial Day.

Kundreskas said she had directed an out-of-towner to the computerized records to help him find family graves.

by Mary Grow

Vassalboro voters have local questions to answer at the polls on Nov. 4, in addition to the state referendum questions.

Voting will be at Vassalboro Community School (VCS), with polls open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

In the only election this fall, incumbent Frank Richards is running unopposed for another three-year term representing the town on the Kennebec Water District board.

Three referendum questions ask if voters want to:

— Authorize using up to $19,220 from surplus to pay auditing bills for fiscal years 2024 and 2025;
— Increase the number of select board members from three to five;
— Approve amendments to the town’s Tax Increment Financing (TIF) document.

Select board members and Town Manager Aaron Miller have talked with the auditor several times in recent months. Miller blames the unpaid bills mostly on the turnover in town office staff, which led to delays in organizing financial information so the auditor could work efficiently.

Select board members have repeatedly discussed having a larger board. Main arguments in favor are that more views would be represented, and if two people were absent there would still be a quorum. The main argument against is the difficulty of finding volunteers for town boards and committees.

The proposed amendments to the TIF document, if approved, will let town officials use TIF funds for specified environmental projects in town. A copy of the document, with changes highlighted, is available for review at the town office.

In addition to the formal decisions Nov. 4, voters will find at the polls an opinion survey asking which type of town meeting they prefer, an open meeting (like the current June annual meeting, where voters assemble to discuss and vote, mostly by show of hands) or a referendum meeting (like Nov. 4, voting in individual voting booths by written ballot).

For more detailed information, see the front page of the Town of Vassalboro’s website, vassalboro.net.