by Mary Grow

Two of the three candidates for the vacant seat on the China Board of Selectmen were separated by a single vote at the end of March 3 voting.

Town Clerk Becky Hapgood reported Janet Preston got 415 votes, Christopher Hahn 414 votes and Kevin Rhoades 299 votes. The votes were counted repeatedly, Hapgood said, to confirm the close result. If there is a recount, she hopes it can be done by March 6.

The new selectman will fill out Jeffrey LaVerdiere’s unexpired term, until China’s November local elections.

In other voting, Hapgood reported:

• In the state-wide people’s veto referendum on the new state law limiting exemptions from vaccination requirements, 407 people voted yes (to repeal the law) and 851 voted no (to keep the law).
• In the Democratic primary election, Joe Biden received 196 votes, Bernie Sanders 150, Elizabeth Warren 78, Michael Bloomberg 60, and Pete Buttigieg 11 (though he has ended his candidacy). Five other people on the ballot got fewer than 10 votes each, and two got no votes. Tulsi Gabbard is the only one of the seven still in the race.
• In the Republican primary election, Donald Trump, unopposed on the ballot, received 425 votes.

Hapgood had not had time Tuesday evening to figure total turnout; it was more than 1,260, she said, and high enough so China ran out of some ballots and had to get approval from the Secretary of State’s office to make photocopies. About 30 new voters registered and about 100 enrolled in a party during polling hours, she said.

by Mary Grow

Of the various decisions China selectmen made at their March 2 meeting, they hope one will affect every household in town.

That one is the unanimous vote to contract with Mission Broadband, a telecommunications advisory company with a goal of bringing broadband service to unserved and underserved areas. Company representative John Daugherty and China Broadband Committee spokesman Bob O’Connor explained that Mission Broadband will help China’s Broadband Committee develop and conduct a census of China residents.

“Census,” rather than survey, Town Manager Dennis Heath said, because he hopes to get answers from most town residents, not just a sample. The census will ask people what they know about broadband; whether they have it; whether they want it; and if they want it but don’t have it, whether the problem is cost, lack of access or something else.

Heath said the resulting information will be the basis for evaluating town needs and applying for grants to help expand broadband coverage. He plans to conduct the survey both by mail and on line, and hopes for many responses.

No timetable was set. Heath said developing the survey will take “a few months.” The cost of Mission Broadband’s services, he said, will be $1,900, with town office staff doing the mailing.

Another project that will affect many residents is planned Maine Department of Transportation work on Routes 32 and 137. Selectmen unanimously approved an overlimit permit for trucks working on the roads in case it is needed.

Information on planned road work can be found here: Area roads earmarked for improvements in 2020-21.

Now that the warrant for the April 4 annual town business meeting is in final form, Heath said the next voting opportunity will be June 6. Anyone who wants to propose a local ballot question needs to deliver it to selectmen before their March 16 meeting, he said.

Selectmen reviewed and approved a five-year plan for updates at the transfer station, presented by Transfer Station Committee Chairman Larry Sikora, with the understanding that it can be amended and that expenditures will be approved annually by selectmen and voters.

They questioned the need to heat the Free-for-the-Taking building, but supported adding electricity for lights and so people picking up electrical appliances can test them.

The plan proposes $28,500 in facilities improvements for the fiscal year 2020-21, less than the $50,000 in the recommended transfer station budget, Heath said.

Looking at a more immediate expenditure, selectmen approved taking $7,737.40 from the fire department reserve fund to pay Yankee Communications to install the radio repeater bought with grant money.

They unanimously approved the following appointments:

• Karen Hatch as a member of the Transfer Station Committee; and
• Ann Austin, Eric Austin, Barry Blackinton, Jodi Blackinton and Jeanne Marquis as members of the China for a Lifetime Committee.

Heath believes he has found a way to reduce town buildings’ electricity costs slightly. Selectmen authorized him to continue negotiations and sign a contract if results are satisfactory.

A recommendation from Codes Officer Bill Butler to authorize third-party inspectors for major projects (instead of leaving the responsibility with him) generated several questions. Selectmen decided they need a planning board recommendation, and they need to know whether the authorization would be a policy boards can approve or an ordinance needing voters’ action.

The March 16 China selectmen’s meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. in the town office.

by Mary Grow

China selectmen thought they approved the final warrant for the April 4 town business meeting at their Feb. 18 meeting (see The Town Line, Feb. 20).

Afterwards, Town Manager Dennis Heath discovered three needed expenditures that had been overlooked. The selectmen and budget committee therefore met Monday evening, Feb. 24, to approve the final, final warrant.

Both boards quickly accepted the revised figures, which added $35,500 to the amounts previously recommended. Heath explained that the figures were on the budget sheets selectmen and budget committee members reviewed, but the program that translates budget sheets into warrant articles overlooked them. Heath and town office staff spotted the omissions as they did one last warrant review.

The total municipal budget voters will approve or amend is well over $4.3 million, with the selectmen’s and budget committee’s recommended expenditures differing by a little over $2,000 and, Heath emphasizes, sources other than local taxation providing significant income.

At the Feb. 18 meeting, the other major action was approval of a new employment agreement with Heath, after a discussion in executive session. The vote to approve was 3-1, with Wayne Chadwick voting no.

Chadwick later explained he wanted more time to review the contract. He thinks it “has potential long lasting liability for the town,” and he would have liked to ask the town attorney questions about some of the clauses.

In other business Feb. 18, selectmen unanimously signed a new contract with town attorney Amanda Meader, retroactive to Jan. 1.

Heath said he used the new communications network to notify residents during a recent ice storm and during the Spectrum outage. The network has two capabilities, he said. Hyper-Reach sends messages to residents who have signed up, by the medium of their choice, all over town. Accu-Reach automatically calls people in a specific area affected by the emergency, both people who have signed up and people who have a landline with a listed number.

Selectman Donna Mills-Stevens said she has a landline but did not get any calls.

Residents who would like to sign up for emergency notifications should start by clicking on Emergency Preparedness on the left side of the town website and follow instructions under “Sign up for Emergency Alerts from the Town of China.” (Or click here to go directly to the sign-up.)

Selectmen’s seat at stake Tuesday

On Tuesday, March 3, in addition to the state primary elections and referendum vote, China holds a local election to fill the vacant seat on the Selectboard. Candidates are Christopher Hahn, Janet Preston and Kevin Rhoades. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. in the former portable classroom behind the town office.

The 2020 town business meeting begins at 9 a.m. Saturday, April 4, at China Middle School, with doors open for check-in at 8:30 a.m. A quorum of 118 registered voters must be present to open the meeting.

Revising earlier bookkeeping (see The Town Line, Feb. 6), Heath transferred expenditures for installing three-phase power at the transfer station from the contingency fund to the transfer station reserve fund. The result is that the $55,000 contingency fund, which voters authorized selectmen to spend for unanticipated expenses, has a balance of more than $46,000, instead of less than $4,000. Selectmen and budget committee members recommend voters approve the same amount for the 2020-21 fiscal year.

The manager reported progress on two ongoing projects:

• The state has donated 64 ten-foot planks to be used to upgrade the boat launch at the head of China Lake’s East basin, and the Tax Increment Financing construction subcommittee is preparing to solicit bids for work in the area.
• The Broadband Committee continues to work on plans for a town-wide broadband survey.

At the Feb. 24 joint meeting with the budget committee, after swift agreement on the revised figures, selectmen spent another half hour discussing how the warrant articles should be written.

All but five ask, “To see what sum of money…,” so-called open articles that voters can approve, decrease or increase at the town meeting. Below each article the selectmen’s and budget committee’s recommendations are printed.

The other five – for town administration (Art. 3), fire and rescue services (Art. 9), social services (Art. 13), community support organizations (Art. 14) and Tax Increment Financing expenditures (Art. 19) – ask “To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate” a specified amount. These articles are called capped; voters can approve or reduce them, but they cannot increase the stated appropriation.

Chadwick wants the five capped articles rewritten as open articles. He emphasized that he does not want more money spent, but thinks voters should have the option.

“I hope they don’t vote to raise any of them. I’d encourage people to vote lower numbers. But they ought to have a choice; it’s their money,” Chadwick said.

Breton objected to making the changes, fearing the minority who attend town meetings would increase expenditures enough to raise taxes substantially.

Budget Committee Chairman Robert Batteese observed that for the last 25 years all but one article have been open. Last year, he said, voters added $13,000 to recommended amounts – “That didn’t break the budget.”

After a sometimes acrimonious discussion among selectboard members, Chadwick’s motion to uncap the five articles failed on a 1-1 vote, with Chadwick in favor, Breton opposed and Mills-Stevens and Irene Belanger abstaining.

The next regular China selectmen’s meeting is scheduled for Monday evening, March 2.