Vassalboro selectmen OK RFPs for solar energy project

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by Mary Grow

At their Jan. 23 meeting, Vassalboro selectmen unanimously approved a request for proposals (RFP) for a solar energy project for the town, including the school department and the Vassalboro Sanitary District. The RFP was prepared by the Solar Energy Project Committee; committee chairman, Selectman John Melrose, said Sanitary District and school officials were consulted.

The schedule for bidders is as follows: notices of intent to bid are due by Feb. 7; a mandatory pre-proposal meeting, RFP review and site visit are scheduled for Feb. 12; town officials must respond to any comments or questions arising from the meeting by Feb. 18; and proposals are due at the town office by 3 p.m. March 9.

The solar installation is to tie into Central Maine Power Company’s service. Bidders have a choice of four sites: Vassalboro Community School land or, with an engineer’s approval, the roof of the building; the town office lot; the North Vassalboro fire station lot; and the Vassalboro Sanitary District’s East Vassalboro property that currently contains a sand filter bed, to be discontinued when the sewer connection to Winslow is finished.

Selectmen also had a request from Michael Vashon, representing the volunteer fire department, to clarify whether town funds approved by voters to match grants the department received are to be used only for state or federal grants, or whether they can match grants from private foundations.

Selectmen voted unanimously that foundation grants can also be matched with tax dollars.

Vashon said with grants and town funds the firefighters have bought and installed new mobile radios and partly funded new portable radios. They’re saving money now for a new fire truck, at an estimated price of about $365,000.

In other business Jan. 23, selectmen renewed the liquor license for Natanis Golf Course, with course owner and Selectman Robert Browne abstaining from discussion and voting.

They told resident Michael Poulin, who would like the town’s Tax Increment Finance (TIF) policy amended, that a consultant is reviewing the policy (see The Town Line, Dec. 19, 2019).

Tom Richards, Commander of Vassalboro American Legion Post #126, asked whether town funds might be used if the post helped organize a Memorial Day ceremony. Board Chairman Lauchlin Titus and Sabins said past observances have cost $300 or less. Titus suggested Richards talk with his wife, Linda Titus, head of the Vassalboro Business Association, about past and possible future events.

Sabins said repairs to the utility room and updates to the computer system are in progress, with the computer system nearly done and more time-consuming – and therefore more expensive – than expected. Once that is finished, she said, the Cemetery Committee will be able to install a much-needed cemetery record program and hire an intern to collect information to fill it.

Voters appropriated $28,000 this year for the town’s share in the maintenance of cemeteries and public grounds and for Memorial Day expenses.

The next regular selectmen’s meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 6. They plan an initial work session on the 2020-21 budget at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 11.

China planners set to visit one proposed solar development site

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by Mary Grow

China Planning Board members are tentatively scheduled to visit the site of one of two proposed solar developments in town Saturday morning, Feb. 8, if the developers are available and the weather cooperates. The site visit is considered a board meeting and is open to the public.

At the Jan. 28 Planning Board meeting, Codes Officer Bill Butler said he expects the solar applications to be on the board’s Feb. 11 meeting agenda. Planners would like to see the proposed site in the field behind Mike Willette’s gravel pit, off Arnold Road near Erskine Academy, which has been described as an open meadow with an area of forested wetlands.

The visit is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Feb. 8, with Butler and the developers to decide where to meet.

China selectmen make budget recommendations

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by Mary Grow

China selectmen made their recommendations on Town Manager Dennis Heath’s proposed 2020-21 municipal budget at a special meeting Jan. 27, so the budget committee could review them Jan. 30. Voters will make final decisions at the annual town business meeting, scheduled for Saturday morning, April 4.

The major change Heath proposed was adding a full-time police officer, which would increase the police and animal control budget from this year’s $91,498 (of which $26,535 is designated as “police wages”) to more than $207,000.

“We can’t afford it,” was Selectman Wayne Chadwick’s immediate response, followed by a motion to leave police wages and related items at the current level.

“We can’t afford it,” was Selectman Wayne Chadwick’s immediate response…

Later, however, selectmen expressed willingness to support a proposal to put the police officer’s salary and related expenses in a separate, extra-budget warrant article with a price tag, so voters could decide on April 4 whether they want the service and are willing to pay for it.

Most other changes in the proposed budget are internal moves or rearrangements of expenditure requests.

For example, Heath proposes making Town Clerk Rebecca Hapgood, Transfer Station Manager Tim Grotton and Public Works Manager Shawn Reed salaried rather than paid by the hour, because, he said, they work as managers. He and selectmen agreed on recommended salary levels that would be approximately equivalent to the three percent increase recommended for China’s hourly workers.

The town manager moved requests for money for the China Lake Association, the China Region Lakes Alliance and stipends for volunteer firefighters and rescue personnel into the article funding community support organizations, raising that request considerably while reducing planned use of Tax Increment Finance funds and the fire and rescue budget lines.

Overall, Heath said, if budget committee members and voters agree with the selectmen, the 2020-21 municipal budget will have a minimal effect on the tax rate. The municipal budget includes the annual county taxes; the school budget is separate and was not part of the Jan. 27 discussion.

According to the budget summary for the current fiscal year in the town report for the year ended June 30, 2018, the municipal budget was less than 33 percent of overall spending; the county tax was less than 5 percent; and the school budget was just over 52 percent.

The budget committee meets at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 30, in the town office meeting room to review the selectmen’s recommendations for 2020-21 spending.

CHINA: Discussions continue over conflict of interest

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by Mary Grow

At their Jan 21 meeting, China selectmen, assisted by town attorney Amanda Meader, continued their discussion of conflict of interest as it relates to budget committee members who are also volunteer fire department members. They added an expansion of earlier discussions of reporting requirements for fire departments spending town funds. Neither issue was resolved.

As at the special Jan. 7 meeting (see The Town Line, Jan. 16), board Chairman Ronald Breton insisted that a budget committee member who is also a fire department member, or has a family member in one of China’s three departments, must recuse himself from any discussion of stipends, donations or other individual reimbursement, under whatever name, for firefighters. He named Budget Committee Chairman Robert Batteese and members Kevin Maroon and Tom Rumpf as those affected.

According to China’s Administrative Code of Ethics, no appointed or elected official can take any part in a decision on an item “in which he or she or a member of his or her immediate family has a financial or special interest, other than an interest shared by the public generally.”

Breton challenged Batteese, the only one of the three named budget committee members present, to declare himself in conflict and recuse himself from any committee discussion. Batteese refused, repeating, as he said on Jan. 7, that he has been in both positions for many years.

“I’m much more interested in keeping the taxes down than in the few dollars I get,” he said.

“That’s not gonna happen,” Batteese, a China Village department member, said, because individual stipend amounts are not public information.

Batteese asked whether the selectmen were in conflict when they voted to add to the 2019 town meeting warrant a request to increase their annual stipends, which voters approved. Meader replied that since only selectmen can approve the meeting warrant to be sent to voters, sometimes they must be exempted from conflict of interest rules. The voters make the final decision, she emphasized.

The attorney added that she regrets the whole “difficult conversation,” which in her view is not about local people “honorably serving your community for a few bucks,” but about possible future problems or current issues in the wider world.

Since Batteese declined to state a conflict of interest, Breton made a motion for the selectboard declaring the three budget committee members cannot vote on anything involving funds to individual firefighters, based on state law and China’s Administrative Code of Ethics. Donna Mills-Stevens seconded the motion so it could be discussed.

Breton insisted the issue was conflict of interest, not the money involved, although when Mills-Stevens called the $40,000 proposed for stipends a “very small part” of the total budget, he disagreed.

Breton voted in favor of his motion, Wayne Chadwick voted against it, and Mills-Stevens and Irene Belanger abstained. Breton demanded reasons for the abstentions. Mills-Stevens said she was confused by the emphasis on one budget item; Belanger agreed.

The motion having failed, selectmen turned to other business before returning to a related issue: when fire department treasurers submit quarterly reports on how they’ve spent town money, Breton said stipend recipients’ names should be listed.

“That’s not gonna happen,” Batteese, a China Village department member, said, because individual stipend amounts are not public information.

South China and Weeks Mills fire chiefs Dick Morse and Bill Van Wickler, respectively, also objected. Morse thought his department was filling out the quarterly form as Town Manager and Town Treasurer Dennis Heath requested. For example, he said, the line for vehicle repairs reports a total spent, but not individual amounts for tires or nuts and bolts.

Breton said without names being listed, the town treasurer can be fined, jailed or both for failing to require proper itemization of taxpayers’ money.

Heath, who had been following the meeting via livestream as he continues to recover from a broken ankle, joined on speakerphone. He said that he does not need to know how stipends are calculated or how many hours each recipient puts in, but does need each name and the amount the person received. Because the stipends are an individual benefit from public funds, the treasurer needs a public record, he said.

Breton recommended selectmen, Heath and the three fire chiefs schedule a joint meeting to seek clarification and consensus. No action was taken on the suggestion.

In other business Jan. 21, resident Anita Smith talked about a planned timber harvest in the China School Forest behind China Primary School, to begin in February. Smith and Elaine Philbrook have been overseeing the forest for years.

Smith is working with forester Harold Burnett, of Two Trees Forestry, in Winthrop, and Tyler Reynolds Forest Products, of China. She expects timber sales will bring in less than $4,000.

Proceeds from the last harvest in the late 1990s were set aside in an account for town forest maintenance, grant-matching and related purposes. Smith would like money from the February harvest to go into the same account.

After some confusion over whether she was asking permission or informing selectmen of the next step in an ongoing plan, selectmen unanimously voted approval.

Selectmen appointed Trishea Story as budget committee secretary until the next local elections in November and Sandra Isaac to the China for a Lifetime Committee.

Their next regular meeting is scheduled for Monday evening, Feb. 3. Before then, they were scheduled for a Jan. 27 review of the proposed 2020-2021 budget in advance of a Budget Committee meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 30.

Maine Sci-Fi & Fantasy Nerd Festival comes to central Maine

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“Who ya gonna call?” The Ghostbusters were sighted at the first ever Maine Sci-Fi & Fantasy Nerd Festival, held in Fairfield, on January 26. (photo by Mark Huard, Central Maine Photography)

Hundreds attend the first ever “Nerd Super Bowl”

by Mark Huard

Emilee Feyler, 9, of Winslow, left, and Mikayla Achorn, 9, also of Winslow, with Elsa from Frozen. (photo by Mark Huard, Central Maine Photography)

The first ever Maine Sci-Fi & Fantasy Nerd Festival invaded Central Maine on January 26, at the Community Center, in Fairfield. About 250 fans gathered to share their love of cosplay, comics, games, and all things nerdy.

Costume-goers included Spider-Man, a giant Wookiee, Batman, an Ice Princess, Captain America, Wonder Woman and so many more.

Vendors were all about the event with tables filled with fantasy books, pottery, dice, dungeons and dragons, toys, woodworks, clothing and jewelry. GameStop provided video games, while many other activities dotted the place, one being a very popular padded weapons arena that included light up Star Wars-like laser swords.

Central Maine Photography grabbed many cool pictures of all the various festival attendees and even kids were dressed in elaborate sci-fi outfits. Also present were the Ghostbusters, a white armored trooper, and even a blue female elf character.

People really seemed to love what was being hailed as the Nerd Super Bowl put on by Michael Huard, who is a fantasy author himself.

There are plans for another next year, an event bigger and even more exciting.

Trenton Clark, right, of Oakland, with Chewbacca of Star Wars. (photo by Mark Huard, Central Maine Photography)

At left, Preston Schneider, 8, left, and Quincy Schneider, 5, both of Madison, with Batman. (photo by Mark Huard, Central Maine Photography)

China selectmen expect long budget meeting on January 27

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by Mary Grow

China selectmen will start their Monday, Jan. 27, special meeting at 5 p.m. in the town office meeting room. The purpose of the meeting is to review and make recommendations on the 2020-2021 municipal budget; members chose the early starting time because they expect a long meeting.

The budget committee is scheduled to review the selectmen’s recommendations on Thursday, Jan. 30, beginning at 7 p.m., in the town office meeting room.

Vassalboro board members get first look at proposed 2020-21 budget

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by Mary Grow

Vassalboro School Board members got a first look at parts of the proposed 2020-2021 budget at their Jan. 14 meeting.

Technology Coordinator Will Backman said his preliminary budget includes an estimated $50,000 to replace the telephone system at Vassalboro Community School. Superintendent Alan Pfeiffer said the current system is 10 to 15 years old and has started breaking down – an inconvenience and potentially a safety issue.

Board members did not discuss, at this stage, whether to act, and if they do whether to buy or lease a system.

The preliminary transportation budget has a 20 percent increase over the current year, according to figures shared at the meeting. Transportation Coordinator Lisa Gadway recommends asking state approval to buy two new buses, to stay on schedule and, she hopes, save money on maintenance. There is also a bookkeeping correction that would move $35,000 to the transportation account from the special education account, she said.

REMINDER: School board survey deadline approaching

Friday, Jan. 24, is the last day to respond to the Vassalboro School Board’s survey seeking Vassalboro residents’ opinions as part of the development of a five-year strategic plan. The survey is on the school website, www.vcsvikings.org.

Gadway said Vassalboro, like most of the rest of the state, has a shortage of bus drivers; there are no substitutes available. She suggested other school personnel, including teachers, be encouraged to qualify as bus drivers.

School officials have barely started budget work; the two accounts they saw Jan. 14 add up to less than three-quarters of a million dollars. The 2019-2020 voter-approved school budget totals more than $7.5 million.

In other business, board members heard a report on plans to join with town officials in seeking solar power in town; reviewed proposed updated policies; and appointed Heather Bassett an educational technician.

The next regular Vassalboro School Board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday evening, Feb. 11.

New location for Candy Hollow in Oakland

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Candy Hollow owners Jason and Lydia Stevens pose with their children on the occasion of their relocation to 54 Main St., in Oakland. (photo courtesy of Mid-Maine Chamber of Commerce)

The Candy Hollow, in Oakland, has moved to a new location at 54 Main St.

Owners Jason and Lydia Stevens opened at their new location on December 6, 2019.

The recent ribbon cutting at Candy Hollow’s new location.

Vassalboro selectmen discuss delinquent personal property taxes

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by Mary Grow

Vassalboro selectmen started the new calendar year with a short Jan. 9 meeting that left them satisfied with most items discussed.

The main dissatisfaction is with residents who ignore the state law requiring payment of personal property taxes on business equipment, from bulldozers to computers. Town Manager Mary Sabins is investigating the merits of taking scofflaws to small claims court.

Town Manager Mary Sabins is investigating the merits of taking scofflaws to small claims court.

She learned that claims must be filed within six years. On her recommendation, selectmen wrote off almost $6,000 in older unpaid taxes.

They made no decision on whether taking people to court would be worth the time and cost. A dozen people are on the overdue list, including two whose older taxes were written off as uncollectible.

Sabins said she reminds people who owe personal property tax at intervals. Some, she said, appreciate the reminder and pay the tax; others she suspects throw away her notices.

Selectmen met in a meeting room lined with file cabinets and supplies moved from the utility room, which was flooded by a boiler malfunction just before the Christmas holiday. Repairs are expected to take another month.

Sabins explained that plumbing and electrical work are needed, as well as replacement of an unknown area of sheetrock. The town office will be closed Friday, Jan. 17, for computer system maintenance and Monday, Jan. 20, for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday; Sabins expects some of the work to be done those days.

In other business, the two selectmen present unanimously accepted Sabins’ suggestion that she apply for a bank credit card in the town’s name.

They unanimously approved two junkyard permits recommended by Codes Enforcement Officer Paul Mitnik, for Olin C. and Olin J. Charette, of Weeks Mills Garage, and Roger Pomerleau, of RAP, both on Riverside Drive.

Board Chairman Lauchlin Titus commented that with the new LED streetlights installed last fall, “We’ve got some nice savings.”

Board member John Melrose reported the Solar Array Committee plans to have a request for proposals for installing solar power in Vassalboro ready for selectmen’s review at their next meeting, scheduled for Thursday evening, Jan. 23.

CHINA: Budget draft renews conflict with fire departments

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by Mary Grow

The special China selectmen’s meeting Jan. 7, called to discuss the town conflict of interest policy and to give board members their copies of Town Manager Dennis Heath’s draft 2020-21 budget, turned out to be yet another round in the months-long argument between town officials and the volunteer fire departments.

Heath, recovering from surgery for a broken ankle, was absent, leaving board Chairman Ronald Breton the spokesman for the town side. Town Attorney Amanda Meader and Budget Committee Chairman Robert Batteese were major participants in the discussion.

At issue, still, was payment of stipends to volunteer firefighters as a contribution toward their expenses.

At issue, still, was payment of stipends to volunteer firefighters as a contribution toward their expenses. In the current year’s budget, stipends were included in the fire department and China Rescue account. Town meeting voters approved a total fire and rescue budget larger than either the selectmen or the budget committee requested, specifically to cover the amount the departments sought for stipends.

Heath questions the legality of using tax money for stipends for volunteers. Over the last year and a half, he has sought opinions from the state and federal labor departments. State officials approved a plan presented by the firefighters, Heath said in a post-meeting email; federal labor officials have not replied.

The main argument Jan. 7 was over whether members of the budget committee who are firefighters, or whose family members are firefighters, will be in conflict of interest if they vote on whether to recommend voters approve stipends.

China’s Administrative Code of Ethics bars any appointed or elected official from participating in any way in deciding on an item “in which he or she or a member of his or her immediate family has a financial or special interest, other than an interest shared by the public generally.”

Attorney Meader said the wording clearly bars a budget committee member from voting on a recommendation to fund stipends if he (or she) or an immediate family member might get one, even though the amounts involved are small and even though town meeting voters approve. The point, she said, is “to maintain public trust and public confidence.”

Breton defines the situation as volunteers in a nonprofit organization getting public money, disbursed through the fire chiefs without voters knowing who gets how much.

“Benefiting the general public,” Batteese interjected.

Breton said he believes in the proposed 2020-2021 budget firefighters’ stipends are not in the fire and rescue account, but under the community support organizations account, which in the current year includes libraries, historical buildings, some lake protection work and The Town Line newspaper. However, since the budget was not handed out until the end of the meeting, his opinion was not confirmed.

Batteese said he joined the volunteer fire department soon after moving to China in 1984. He was elected to the budget committee in 1987 and has been its chairman since 1995. The committee has made annual recommendations on the town budget, including fire department funding, and he thinks there has never been a conflict.

Breton said if Batteese disagreed with Meader and found no conflict, Breton had the power to overrule Batteese. Batteese disagreed.

Budget committee member Tom Rumpf said most committee members are also fire department members or have relatives who are.

The Jan. 7 conclusions were that there should be some way to help firefighters without using the word “stipends,” even though, Breton said, everyone would know what the money was intended for; and, at Meader’s suggestion, that discussion should be suspended until the budget accounts were available. Breton promised another meeting if needed once selectmen start budget consideration.

A related, shorter argument was over whether a member of the Four Seasons Club – Rumpf is its president – could vote on a town grant to the club. He has applied for funding from China’s Tax Increment Financing (TIF) fund for trail work and an equipment storage building.

Meader said conflict of interest applies to individuals, not to organizations. Asked if Four Seasons Club members are paid, Rumpf laughed. But, he asked, would a landowner whose land value was increased by Four Seasons Club trail improvements be considered as benefiting?

On yet another related topic, Batteese objected to Heath’s proposed budget review schedule, which called for the budget committee to make recommendations on Jan. 23 and the selectmen on Jan. 30. The budget committee, Batteese said, is supposed to review and endorse or change the selectmen’s recommended budget.

In past years, selectmen have held one or more meetings to make their recommendations, often including at least one joint meeting with the budget committee; the budget committee has made it recommendations; and selectmen have had a final meeting to approve the town business meeting warrant. If the two boards disagree, selectmen either accept the budget committee figure or put both recommendations in the warrant for voters to consider.

After an exchange of emails, on Jan. 13 Hapgood announced the following schedule: Tuesday, Jan. 21, regular selectmen’s meeting (moved from the usual Monday due to the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday); Monday, Jan. 27, special selectmen’s meeting to discuss the 2020-2021 budget; Thursday, Jan. 30, budget committee meeting; and Monday, Feb. 3, regular selectmen’s meeting. The budget committee meets at 7 p.m., the selectmen at 6:30 p.m.