Nomination papers are now available for Vassalboro’s June 11 local elections. One Selectboard member and two School Board members are to be elected. Terms ending in 2019 are those of Selectman Lauchlin Titus and School Board members Jessica Clark and Kevin Levasseur.

To put a candidate’s name on the ballot, at least 25 but no more than 100 signatures of registered voters are required, and signed nomination papers must be returned to the town office by noon on Friday, Aporil 12.

The China Board of Selectmen responds to “An open letter to China residents from the town’s fire chiefs” (Letter) printed in the March 14, 2019, issue of The Town Line.

Despite any assertions otherwise, the Board of Selectmen are not attempting to control the volunteer fire departments (VFDs) in China. As was correctly noted in the Letter, these are independent nonprofit corporations, organized under the authority of the Maine statutes. They are not municipal fire departments, so their requests for funding from the Town of China are similar to requests from other nonprofit organizations, such as the Red Cross, Meals-on-Wheels, etc. The only difference is the Maine statutes have this language, “The appropriation of money by a municipality toward the support of an organized firefighting unit incorporated under Title 13, chapter 81, or Title 13-B, is prima facie evidence of official recognition.” (30-A M.R.S. Sec. 3151(3)(B)) This means that a municipality does not require a written contract with these VFDs for them to operate in the town. In addition to the annual budget requests from the VFDs and the recommended stipend amounts, the town also provides insurance coverage for all VFD facilities and vehicles, which are their corporate assets (one fire vehicle may be owned by the town).

The Maine Municipal Association includes this guidance in their legal packet on fire protection (https://memun.org/Member-Center/Info-Packets-Guides/Fire-Protection): “…the municipal budgetary authority (town meeting or town or city council) may properly inquire about what other funds are available before appropriating public monies to support a separately incorporated volunteer fire department.” This appears intended to ensure that only those funds necessary to supplement the private funds of VFDs are appropriated from taxes paid by China residents. This should not be seen as the Select Board viewing “VFD fundraising dollars as a revenue stream for the town;” rather, it is a recognition that taxpayers in the municipality have a right to ensure they are only supplementing the needs of VFDs, not acting as the only funding source for their operations.

The Board of Selectmen does not have the authority to approve the annual budget; that is a function of the Annual Town Business Meeting, where the taxpayers decide on the budget. The Select Board and the Budget Committee deliberate independently and make their respective recommendations to the taxpayers in the annual warrant articles. It was during these deliberations that the Select Board saw what they viewed as “double-dipping” by the officers of the VFDs. In the VFDs’ report of how the mid-fiscal-year stipends were distributed at the end of 2018, the Select Board saw that one VFD paid out $3,720.00 to five officers and $1,310.00 to the other 11 members.

This department has a current fiscal year allocation for stipends of $8,360.80, meaning there is now $3,320.80 available for end-year stipends. This revealed a difference of understanding about how the stipends were to be distributed. The Select Board believed it was a set stipend for four officers in each VFD (chief, $1,000; assistant chief/captain, $500, lieutenant and secretary, $250 each) and the remainder was to be distributed to the other volunteers based on the level of participation. The VFD chiefs believed the officers should receive the set stipend and then share with all the other members in the remaining stipend money according to their participation in calls. This is where the Select Board and VFD chiefs are differing, and that is why the Select Board asked the town manager to present an alternative stipend plan, to stop the double-dipping (chief, $1,000; two officers, $500 each; $300 calculated for each additional volunteer).

The Select Board has requested for several years that the VFDs supply an annual corporate financial statement, just as they do with all other nonprofit corporations requesting town funds. The quarterly reports that the town manager receives from the VFDs help to show how the town’s funds are spent, but do not help the Select Board see whether the amount appropriated each year is the amount necessary to supplement the VFDs’ private funds for their operations and administration. This is not about “reducing VFD operations budget allocations,” but about keeping VFDs accountable to taxpayers.

Since August 2018, the VFDs have had a standing invitation with a spot on the Select Board meeting agenda to communicate with the Select Board about their activities. To date, none of the VFDs has participated in a Select Board meeting for other than a budget deliberation. We do not have a similar invitation for other nonprofit corporations that the town provides funding to, but we realize that the VFDs provide a vital service to our community, and we want to keep the door to communication open.

We are hopeful that the chiefs, officers, and members of the VFDs will see that we don’t want to control how they operate, but we do want to do our job to protect the taxpayers of our town. That is what we were elected to do and we will not back away from that responsibility. We want the stipend money to be shared fairly among the members of the VFDs. We commend the VFDs and their members for the work they do to provide firefighting services, and we look forward to moving past this unfortunate disagreement.

by Mary Grow

Vassalboro Budget Committee members absorbed much information and many opinions at their March 5 and March 7 meetings, though they are well short of overall budget figures needed to begin making recommendations to voters.

The total budget for the current (July 1, 2018, to June 30, 2019) fiscal year is somewhat under $10 million. The school budget, which is not yet determined for 2019-2020, is somewhat under $8 million, of which almost $3.7 million comes from local funds. Vassalboro’s share of the 2018-2019 Kennebec County budget is $325,000 and change, with the 2019-2020 assessment also undetermined as of early March.

Questions budget committee members discussed at their two early-March meetings include whether to repair the town grader, buy a second-hand replacement or ask Road Commissioner Eugene Field to lease a grader as needed; whether to replace the police cruiser; additional staffing and possible redesign at the transfer station; and town employees’ salaries.

Last year’s future capital expenditure summary describes Vassalboro’s 1991 grader’s condition as good. At the March 5 meeting, Selectman Lauchlin Titus updated: “It’s still a four-letter word, but the word is ‘junk.’”

Field thinks repairs possible. He recommends committing at least $20,000 to have the grader examined and tested; if it is repairable, he expects at least another five years’ work from it. He said he found one used grader, a 2005, for $80,000; he does not support buying a new one at $280,000 or more.

Vassalboro has only 2.2 miles of unpaved public roads that need annual grading. However, Field said, he and his crew use the grader for shoulder work after paving and as the reserve vehicle in case a plow truck breaks down in mid-storm. Graders are not readily available, he said; if he had to rely on leasing he might not find one when needed.

Discussion of the grader, planned 2019 paving and deteriorating culverts led several people to share accounts of towns elsewhere whose officials have discontinued or dead-ended roads when they could not afford maintenance or a replacement bridge.

Field also requests funding for a new small truck. Asked at the March 7 meeting whether the truck or the grader is more important, he said he needs both.

Police Chief Mark Brown wants his 12-year-old cruiser replaced. He recommended buying a new one, preferably an all-wheel-drive SUV prewired for lights and siren, over three years. The estimated annual payment would be about $13,000. At this early stage in the budget process, his proposal appears to have support.

If he does not get a new vehicle, Brown said, the repair budget needs a generous increase, because the current one keeps having problems – it’s “nickel and diming the town to death.”

Transfer Station Manager George Hamar said he would like a full-time assistant. He has worked alone for a year, having to skip training classes and find a substitute if he is ill.

Town Manager Mary Sabins is considering seeking a new employee qualified to divide hours between public works and the transfer station.

Selectman John Melrose proposes a $5,000 appropriation to get a traffic engineer’s suggestions about changing the traffic pattern at the transfer station to make it safer.

Sabins presented her salary recommendations for current town employees and for any new hires. At this stage, the only firm figure in that area is Sabins’ contractual two percent raise.

The budget committee’s job, as re-elected Chairman Rick Denico reminded members March 5, is to advise voters on selectmen’s and school board members’ recommended expenditures for the new fiscal year. “We can work with the numbers, but we can’t change policy,” he said.

Later in the meeting, budget committee member and former Police Chief Richard Phippen wanted to talk about the selectmen’s policy on policing, which emphasizes community policing and leaves monitoring for speeders mostly to county and state law enforcement. Phippen said residents want as much speed control as possible; Denico repeated policy is not the budget committee’s job.

Policy and priorities, resident Holly Weidner suggested, should be considered at one or more public meetings in the fall, well before the pre-town-meeting budget crunch. Denico referred her to the 2014 Capital Expenses Committee reports on the town website as a starting point, and Selectman Robert Browne invited her to bring concerns to a selectmen’s meeting.

The budget committee canceled scheduled March 12 and March 14 meetings, because Sabins will be out of town – in Washington, D.C., representing Maine in her capacity as Maine Municipal Association President, Titus said approvingly. They also canceled a March 19 meeting because they had talked March 7 with most of the people invited March 19.

Their next meeting is currently scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday, March 21, after that evening’s selectmen’s meeting. Expected attendees include representatives of the volunteer fire department; a Cemetery Committee representative to explain a request for money for software; and any social service agencies whose requests are new this year.