Vassalboro nomination papers deadline is April 12

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In preparation for Vassalboro’s June 3 annual town meeting and June 11 local elections, signed nomination papers for positions on the board of selectmen and the school board are due at the town office by noon Friday, April 12.

Selectmen are scheduled to review the proposed warrant for the June 3 open meeting at their April 18 meeting and to sign the final warrant at their May 2 meeting.

If residents intend to put a question on either ballot by petition, the signed petition must be in the town office by the respective deadline.

Selectmen to ask MDOT for new sidewalks

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by Mary Grow

Vassalboro selectmen decided at their April 4 meeting to ask the Maine Department of Transportation (MDOT) to include new sidewalks in North Vassalboro as part of the Route 32 (Main Street in North and East Vassalboro villages) rebuilding project.

Lauchlin Titus and John Melrose voted yes; Robert Brown abstained. Only Titus lives on Main Street (North Vassalboro), and the sidewalk no longer reaches his house.

The reason for hesitation is that although the MDOT will pay for the sidewalks, the town is obligated to plow and sand them. The same rule applies to the existing sidewalks, which are at least 50 years old, audience members said, and have not been a high priority for maintenance.

Melrose, a former MDOT commissioner, said state law allows the state to plow sidewalks when a town doesn’t and to bill the town – but he never heard of the state invoking the law. Later in the evening, he told Budget Committee members that as far as he knows, no other Maine town has turned down state-funded sidewalks.

Before voting to sign the agreement promising to maintain state-provided sidewalks, Titus asked, “Can we in good faith sign something that says we’ll maintain them when we know we might not?”

Reasons for including new sidewalks are that state highway officials and some residents think curbed sidewalks are safer for pedestrians than a paved shoulder, and if Vassalboro decides after the Route 32 project is done to add them, the town will pay construction costs.

Since the project is scheduled for two or three years in the future, Titus said town officials have time to decide whether winter maintenance should be done by the town public works crew or contracted out.

North Vassalboro residents also raised again the issue of increased Vassalboro Sanitary District (VSD) fees.

The VSD needs money to complete its connection to the Winslow-Waterville sewage disposal system. Users have proposed a town meeting warrant article asking taxpayers for money; selectmen declined to add the article and advised on the procedure for putting an article before voters by petition.

Two other funding sources are in the works. Melrose said a decision should be made soon on a state Department of Environ­mental Protection grant; and Titus and Town Manager Mary Sabins said part of Vassalboro’s Tax Increment Finance (TIF) money is likely to be recommended for the VSD by the time the Budget Committee finishes pre-town-meeting deliberations. Almost $300,000 in TIF money has gone into the expansion project already, Titus said. When a resident said Sanitary District officials told him the district’s client list is not public information, Sabins suggested filing a Freedom of Information Act request.

In other business April 4, selectmen agreed to create a small working group to join discussion of rearranging the transfer station. Interested residents should contact town office staff.

Sabins said selectmen agreed to add to the June warrant an article concerning a solar array to generate electricity, without designating a location.

They asked her to seek legal advice on what new arrangement, if any, the town should seek concerning the Riverside fire station, currently used under an old agreement by which it would revert to the lessor – deceased, town officials believe – if the Riverside Hose Company no longer needed it.

Selectmen followed their April 4 regular meeting with an April 8 budget workshop. Melrose proposed three topics: reconsidering the appropriation for solid waste hauling in the transfer station budget; considering additional uses for TIF funds; and making the Public Works Department request for money for grader repairs more flexible, since the grader’s condition and therefore what to do about it are unknowns.

After more than an hour’s discussion, selectmen voted unanimously:

  • To recommend $10,000 less for solid waste hauling, based on the contract price for the service and manager George Hamar’s updated information on the number of trips;
  • To ask Sabins to find out what kinds of town activities and projects are eligible for TIF money; and
  • To ask Sabins to draft a town meeting warrant article asking voters to appropriate money for grader analysis, with anything left over to go toward paving as much as possible of the town garage driveway.

Sabins presented a new proposal, to share membership with China in ITN (Independent Transportation Network), at a cost of $1,000 to $1,250 per year. The organization relies on volunteer drivers to provide rides to senior citizens, with, apparently, freedom for participating towns to set some of their own rules and standards.

Sabins said Christopher Hahn, head of the China for a Lifetime Committee, proposed the joint project to Friends Advocating for Vassalboro Older Residents (FAVOR). Selectmen are interested but would like more information before recommending funds.

The next regular selectmen’s meeting is scheduled for Thursday evening, April 18.

2019 China town meeting: Selectmen, firemen get approval on stipend increases

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by Mary Grow

With more than $3.5 million worth of 2019-2020 expenditures up for approval, change or rejection at China’s April 6 town business meeting, voters focused on $17,700 – a $13,700 difference between the lowest and highest amounts proposed for the volunteer fire departments and $4,000 to increase the five selectmen’s annual stipends from $1,000 to $1,800.

They were generous to both parties, and approved all other expenditures as proposed.

They also approved changes to the Land Development Code recommended by the planning board. After Board Chairman Tom Miragliuolo answered one question about tents and recreational vehicles, there was no further discussion of any of the changes.

China’s three volunteer fire departments, China Village, South China and Weeks Mills, and China Rescue are private organizations, not town departments. They are funded partly by the town and partly by fund-raisers and donations.

In the warrant, selectmen recommended $171,199 for fire and rescue services and the budget committee recommended $181,499, both by unanimous votes of the members present. The difference was over how much the departments should have to offer stipends to officers and to members responding to calls.

Aware of the months-long disagreement between selectmen and fire chiefs, veteran moderator Richard Thompson emphasized in his opening explanations the need for speakers to stick to the subject and to focus on issues, not personalities. His effort was mostly successful.

After Budget Committee Chairman Robert Batteese moved the higher amount for the fire and rescue budget, resident Sheryl Peavey promptly moved a still higher figure, $188,499, which she said was the departments’ initial request.

The underlying issue is less the money than selectmen’s concern that the firefighters are jeopardizing their volunteer status, resulting in tax complications, and their insistence that the departments should account to them for expending town funds – the fire chiefs agree – and for expending their other funds, something the chiefs have objected to.

China Village Chief Timothy Theriault said since the stipends started, his department has gained five new members, South China has gained three and Weeks Mills has gained two. He believes the stipends helped.

A two-page memo from Scott Cotnoir, Director of the Maine Department of Labor, spelled out requirements for reimbursing volunteers, requirements that Theriault said the departments can meet.

South China Chief Richard Morse and Theriault said the request is likely to change in the next few years as chiefs find out how much they actually need for stipends.

After a half-hour discussion, during which several speakers commended the firefighters and resident Donald Pauley rebuked the audience for quarreling over “a piddling amount,” the $188,499 was lopsidedly approved.

Asked about the increase in selectmen’s stipends, Town Manager Dennis Heath pointed out the footnote to the warrant article saying $1,800 was slightly below the current average for selectmen in 16 towns similar in size to China. Voters approved the increase by a counted show of voting cards, 64 in favor to 44 opposed.

The budget included in the 2018 town report shows expenditures and supporting revenues in detail, from employee salaries to charitable gifts.

Heath repeatedly said before the meeting that there would – or should – be a quorum, given the number of supporters of China’s Quorum Ordinance last November, and that the meeting would be shorter than usual. He was right on both counts: 119 voters had checked in by the 9 a.m. starting time (another 30 or so came in later), and the meeting lasted less than two hours.

Before the meeting started, Selectwoman Irene Belanger announced 2019 Spirit of America awards for volunteerism to the China Four Seasons Club and Carl and Phyllis Farris.

Vassalboro school superintendent presents zero percent budget

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Vassalboro Community School. (source: jmg.org)

by Mary Grow

“I can’t remember the last time I brought a zero percent budget in,” Vassalboro Superintendent Alan Pfeiffer told budget committee members and selectmen as they assembled to review results of March 19 and March 26 school budget discussions.

He added that the proposed budget is still subject to change. Possible causes for an increase – or conceivably a decrease — include eighth-graders changing their minds about which high school they’ll attend in September, a final decision on the price of 2019-2020 fuel and legislative action affecting state school funding, minimum wages and other topics.

The main reason for Pfeiffer’s draft no-increase budget is that 60 Vassalboro students are leaving high school and only 44 seniors are entering, Pfeiffer and School Board Chairman Kevin Levasseur said.

Tuition will cost Vassalboro about $1.9 million in 2019-2020, the second highest expenditure category. Running Vassalboro Community School (VCS) for students from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade is projected to cost about 3.445 million. Special education at $1.446 million is the third major expenditure category.

Tuition rates vary from one high school to another. For schools the majority of Vassalboro students attend, Waterville’s $8,969 is lowest, Erskine Academy’s $11,770 highest. Pfeiffer explained that because private schools are ineligible for state construction funding, Erskine is allowed to charge what is called an insured value factor (IVF) to finance capital improvements. State law allows a maximum 10 percent IVF, Pfeiffer said; Erskine will charge 6 percent.

If Principal Megan Allen’s enrollment statistics don’t change too much, the tuition break will continue for two more years. As of mid-March, VCS had 43 seventh-graders and 37 sixth-graders before a jump to 51 fifth-graders.

Given the effect of tuition rates on the school budget and local taxes, school board members at their March 19 meeting wondered if it is time to poll residents again on whether they would prefer the board to contract with a single high school, instead of giving students a choice. They might discuss the issue at a summer meeting.

Allen and Pfeiffer pointed to a steady decline in student enrollment. Having fewer students reduces costs, but also reduces state subsidies that are based on student numbers. As of March 26 Pfeiffer had not contracted for fuel for the 2019-2020 year because, he said, he keeps expecting a price drop, based on increased United States production.

The proposed budget includes few new items. Pfeiffer summarized them for the budget committee: a change from a half-time contracted social worker to a full-time staff social worker; floor and wall repairs in the kindergarten-grade two wing at VCS; a change from the income-based pre-kindergarten program to what he called a universal pre-k with no income limits; and a request for state funding for two new buses.

Levasseur added that the superintendent’s salary has been increased to pay Pfeiffer, theoretically Vassalboro’s one-day-a-week employee, for one and a half days, since he usually works for the town seven days a week anyway.

Much of the VCS budget consists of salaries that are governed by contracts. Allen said most staff members are in the second year of a three-year contract.

Vassalboro voters will make final decisions on 2019-2020 school and municipal budgets at the June 3 town meeting.

The budget committee’s next meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday, April 4, after a 6 p.m. selectmen’s meeting; both are at the town office. The next regular school board meeting is at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 9, in the VCS library.

China prepares for annual town meeting

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by Mary Grow

Voters at China’s Saturday, April 6, town business meeting will have 31 warrant articles to consider, fewer than in previous years.

The meeting begins at 9 a.m. at China Middle School, if a quorum is present. Selectman Irene Belanger will make the annual presentation of Spirit of America awards about 8:45 a.m., and any other presentations and speeches will be before 9 a.m., not during the meeting.

The quorum needed to open the meeting is 119 registered voters. Since more than 1,200 residents voted against abolishing the quorum requirement in a November 2018 referendum, Town Manager Dennis Heath expects no difficulty getting a quorum this year.

Voters will decide on the 2019-2020 municipal budget and on ordinance changes recommended by the planning board. The 2019-2020 school budget will be decided at a June vote.

This year’s warrant articles ask voters to approve funding for a category, like administration (Art. 3), legal costs (Art. 7), the transfer station (Art. 10) and public works (Art. 11), without listing details in the article. Redesigned articles include boards and committees (Art. 4), social services (Art. 13) and community support organizations (Art. 14).

A separate section of the 2018 town report, called Addendum Two, Annual Budget, lists the 17 boards and committees (not all requesting funds) covered by Art. 4, 13 social service groups and seven community support organizations, as well as detailed breakdowns of the other requested expenditures.

Selectmen and budget committee members disagree on two proposed expenditures, for stipends for volunteer firefighters (Art. 9) and for a pay increase for selectmen (Art. 23).

Articles 29, 30 and 31 ask voters to approve Land Development Code amendments. Each article includes a brief explanation of the changes the Planning Board recommends.

Voters will decide on the 2019-2020 municipal budget and on ordinance changes recommended by the planning board. The 2019-2020 school budget will be decided later this spring.

Two TIF fund questions to be on warrant; assistant codes enforcement officer introduced

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by Mary Grow

After the April 6 town business meeting, China residents will vote again in June on a written-ballot warrant that already has two proposed articles.

At the April 1 selectmen’s meeting, Town Manager Dennis Heath presented two questions:

  • To see if voters will authorize selectmen to spend $150,000 to buy the lot north of the Four Seasons Club on Lakeview Drive to provide public access to China Lake, with $125,000 to come from the lake access reserve fund and the remaining $25,000 from the TIF (Tax Increment Finance) fund.
  • To see if voters will authorize selectmen to spend up to $25,000 from the town’s undesignated fund balance (surplus) for engineering plans for a new emergency services building on town-owned land on Lakeview Drive opposite the former Candlewood Camps. Voters approved up to $5,000 for preliminary studies in November 2018; Heath intends to have results on display at the April 6 business meeting.

Selectmen voted unanimously to put both proposals on a June ballot. Heath said the next day the budget committee will meet to review the questions at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 9.

The manager introduced Matt Rewa, who was finishing his first day’s work as China’s assistant codes enforcement officer. Rewa will work with CEO Paul Mitnik through 2019 while taking courses needed for certification. The plan is that he will succeed Mitnik in 2020.

Heath reported that the state legislature rejected China’s bill that would have allowed towns to opt out of collecting personal property taxes. A Maine Revenue Service employee told him there is no enforcement mechanism if towns ignore the requirement, but Heath said he believes public officials must obey the law.

Some of the selectmen would like to continue to pursue the issue. Board Chairman Robert MacFarland proposed sending a draft petition to other Maine municipalities to try to build support.

Selectmen Jeffrey LaVerdiere and Donna Mills-Stevens, who run, respectively, a general store and a farm, said the personal property tax discourages businesses.

In other business April 1:

  • Transfer Station Manager Tim Grotton said in addition to the drug take-back day, Saturday, April 27, will also be a day when the transfer station accepts discarded fluorescent light bulbs without charging a fee.
  • Grotton also said the compost pile is ready for residents to help themselves.
  • Selectman Irene Belanger said China’s public hearing on the 2019-2020 school budget will be at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 30, at China Middle School. The annual vote on the school budget is scheduled for May 16 in Oakland, she said.

The next regular selectmen’s meeting will be Tuesday evening, April 16, because Monday, April 15, is a holiday. The town office will be closed April 15.

TIF members discuss final details of revolving loan fund

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by Mary Grow

Members of China’s Tax Increment Finance (TIF) Committee and its Revolving Loan Fund subcommittee spent much of the March 25 TIF meeting discussing final details of the revolving loan fund they hope will soon be accepting applications. No final decisions were made.

The loans are intended to provide small amounts local businesspeople need when their own funds and commercial loans do not entirely cover costs of a new business or an expansion. Committee members mentioned loans between $5,000 and $25,000. Town Manager Dennis Heath said one China businessman has approached him about a small loan.

The manager, who oversees TIF finances, said $25,000 was appropriated for the loan fund in each of the first two years and $30,000 in the next two years. No money has yet been loaned out. Committee members debated whether the loan fund should continue to grow or whether at some point its funds should be reallocated to other TIF purposes.

Assisted by Kennebec Valley Council of Governments community planner Joel Greenwood, committee members also talked about what they need to do to complete defining the application process; whether they should try to meet soon after an application is received or schedule regular meetings twice or four times a year to review applications; what interest rate should be charged and whether it should be variable depending on factors like collateral offered or length of the loan; and planning to deal with delinquent borrowers.

Heath said China’s state-approved TIF plan allocates $900,000 for loans over the 30-year period of the TIF. Committee members accepted his offer to talk with state officials about amending China’s plan to allow more flexibility in allocating money among needs.

TIF money comes from taxes paid by Central Maine Power Company on its transmission line that runs north-south through China and its South China substation.

Heath and committee members see two ongoing community-wide projects eligible for TIF funding, snowmobile trails managed by the China Four Seasons Club and the annual China Days celebration. One-time projects so far include the causeway work at the head of China Lake’s east basin, now beginning its third year, and perhaps a future application to provide a building in the China School Forest behind China Primary School.

Pending work at the head of the lake includes applying for a state permit to improve the small parking area across Causeway Street from the boat landing, now that Susan Bailey has agreed to sell it to the town; putting the final coat of paving on the new bridge; and designing and building improvements to the shore between the bridge and the boat landing.

If the parking area is approved, Heath expects it will make China eligible to seek a state grant to improve the boat landing. Also, he said, Central Maine Power Company will be changing China’s streetlights to LEDs and adding lights, including one or more along the causeway.

Committee members scheduled their next meeting for Monday evening, May 6, skipping the usual last Monday of the month because Heath said selectmen will meet Monday evening, April 29.

Wiand to receive official send off on campaign tour

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Fred Wiand, Democratic presidential candidate.

Fred Wiand announces his campaign tour send off, Saturday, April 6, 1 p.m., at the China Lake boat landing at the north end of China lake. Fred is a Democratic candidate for president in 2020.

In addition to numerous issues that need solutions by either revamping or initial action, one focus will be solving global warming/climate change and rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement on Inauguration Day. Subsequently, he will have a panel of experts meet and forward a framework of action within the first 60 days in office. First steps will then start within 30 days after. This will be part of short term actions that will lead to long term solutions to global warming/climate change.

“We must not allow the threshold of global temperature rise to be exceeded,” Wiand stated. “If we exceed the threshold we will not be able to stop and then reverse the runaway temperatures that a vast majority of scientists believe will end life on our Earth as we know it.”

That doesn’t mean that other current and new issues will be overlooked, he stressed. For instance, universal healthcare, tax reform, infrastructure, campaign finance (He will not accept PAC money.) immigration, DACA, gun safety, #Me-Too and LGBTQ will be addressed. “Government shutdowns will not happen,” he emphasized. According to Wiand, his administration will be to serve the people, all the people, all the time. His administration will be transparent, honorable and press friendly. He will have press conferences and the press will be treated civilly.

“Truthful information will be made available for the public during dignified meetings,” he concluded.

Wiand invites supporters to attend the send off as he starts his extensive campaign tour down the east coast, then heads west.

Heath explains redesigned town meeting warrant

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by Mary Grow

CHINA — Town Manager Dennis Heath explained the revised town report and redesigned town business meeting warrant to two dozen residents at an informational session held March 24 at the library in China Village. The 2018 town report is in four sections: the usual lists of officials, overdue taxes, deaths and marriages and information on town organizations, followed by three addenda: a 43-page audit report for the fiscal year that ended June 31, 2018; Heath’s summary and explanation of the budget proposed for the fiscal year that begins July 1, 2019; and the warrant for the April 6 town business meeting.

The town business meeting begins at 9 a.m. Saturday, April 6, at China Middle School, if the 119 voters required for a quorum are present. Pre-meeting presentations and notices are scheduled to begin about 8:40 a.m.

Heath said he started budget preparation in October 2018, working with heads of town departments to develop a budget that would meet their needs without raising taxes for municipal services. The school budget and the Kennebec County budget requirement are outside the town’s control. Summarizing some of the changes, Heath said:

  • China will need about $400,000 less for road work because two major culvert replacements were finished last year, with some of the money coming from taxes;
  • The public works department will have an additional full-time employee so that no snowplowing will be contracted out and routine vehicle repairs can be done in-house; and
  • Expenses have been made clearer by assigning costs to appropriate individuals and departments, instead of having, for example, a separate warrant article lumping all insurances.

The result is elimination of 13 accounts, reduction of the April 6 warrant to 31 articles (there were 43 articles in 2018) and, Heath promised, a meeting that will last less than five hours.

Copies of the report are available at the town office and other public places in town. The manager encouraged voters to read it before the meeting so they will understand for what they are voting.

The budget committee and the selectboard agree in their recommendations on all but two warrant articles, including the major expenditures for administration, public works and the transfer station.

On Art. 9, fire and rescue services, the budget committee recommends$181,499 and the selectboard $171, 199, for reasons firefighters and selectmen have explained (see The Town Line, March 14, page 8, and March 21, page 1).

On Art. 23, asking voters to increase the selectmen’s annual stipends from $1,000 to $1,800, four selectmen recommend approval (the fifth was absent) and five budget committee members recommend denial (Chairman Robert Batteese was the only supporter, with one member absent).

Selectmen discuss proposed sewer fee increase with residents

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by Mary Grow

Vassalboro selectmen spent most of their short March 21 meeting talking with residents about the proposed hike in sewer fees, a topic that came up again in the following discussion with the budget committee.

More than a dozen Vassalboro Sanitary District customers came to protest the higher rates needed to fund the connection with the Winslow sewer system. When the project is completed, sewage from East and North Vassalboro will run through Winslow to the Waterville treatment facility, and the Vassalboro District will close the aged sand filter beds currently treating the villages’ sewage.

Christina O’Rourke, from North Vassalboro, and others said Vassalboro already has the highest sewer rates in Maine, before the proposed increase almost doubles them. Many of the 192 customers are behind on their bills.

The increase will cause some residents to consider moving while making their houses harder to sell, people said.

They asked for an article in the June town meeting warrant requesting tax money to help the Sanitary District. Selectmen explained the petition procedure to put an article on the warrant.

In past years, selectmen have given money from Vassalboro’s TIF (Tax Increment Finance) fund toward the Sanitary District project and toward ARI (Alewife Restoration Initiative). The TIF fund collects the tax money from the gas pipeline that runs through Vassalboro and sets it aside in a state-regulated program that allows it to be used only for economic development projects.

When the budget committee met, ARI representatives Landis Hudson and Nate Gray asked its members to continue supporting ARI, which is intended to allow alewives access to China Lake. This year’s projects are building fishways at the Ladd and Box Mill dams in North Vassalboro.

ARI has already overseen removal of the Masse dam, in East Vassalboro, and the Lombard dam between the two villages. Only the Morneau dam, which Hudson said is under discussion, and the China Lake Outlet dam, where a fishway is planned, remain as obstacles.

Alewives currently running into and out of Webber Pond are harvested each spring and sold for lobster bait. Town Manager Mary Sabins said until last year the town had been earning around $18,000 annually; last year, a higher price increased the amount to more than $25,000. Gray predicted the run into China Lake would be significantly larger, so once state officials are satisfied that it is self-sustaining, Vassalboro can expect more income.

Selectman Lauchlin Titus suggested taking funds for ARI, if voters approve them, from alewife income, leaving more TIF money for the Sanitary District.

Budget committee members also heard from representatives of the Vassalboro volunteer fire department, the Cemetery Committee and the China Region Lakes Alliance (CRLA).

Firefighter Mike Vashon said the department’s two-year reroofing project at the Riverside fire station will slightly exceed the $25,000 budgeted, judging by preliminary information. A bid opening is scheduled for Wednesday, April 3.

Vashon said the department is applying for grant money to buy new Scott air packs and a new fire truck. Some of the department’s current air packs are old enough so they could fail when a firefighter is inside a burning building, and a 38-year-old fire truck has already cost a lot of money for repairs and now needs a new radiator.

The department welcomes donations to be used as matching funds if a grant is awarded, Vashon said. The Sukeforth Foundation has already assisted.

Cemetery Committee spokesperson Jane Aiudi said the committee’s increased budget request is intended to cover tree removal, not done for the last four or five years, and purchase of a software system to inventory and maintain cemetery records. She and Sabins agree that an $8,000 system is most suitable.

CRLA President Scott Pierz presented a four-page document explaining the organization’s request for $14,000 from Vassalboro. Part of the money would support CRLA’s operational costs; the majority would fund a survey around Three Mile Pond to identify gravel roads contributing run-off into the pond, Youth Conservation Corps projects on Webber Pond and Seaward Mills Stream and the Courtesy Boat Inspectors at the East Vassalboro boat landing, whose job is to protect China Lake from invasive plants.

The next budget committee meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday, April 4, at the town office, after that evening’s 6 p.m. selectmen’s meeting.