by Mary Grow

Much of the China selectmen’s Jan. 7 meeting was devoted to discussion of public works and the transfer station.

Town Manager Dennis Heath and public works employee Shawn Reed announced that Gary Cummings is leaving this week after 18 years of service to the town. Heath showed selectmen the certificate of appreciation to be presented to Cummings.

Board members unanimously authorized purchase of a new roll-up door for the lower level of the transfer station hopper building, replacing a 25-year-old door Reed said is beyond further repair. The cost is just under $7,000.

They authorized Heath to get a second price quote on a new generator for the town garage on Alder Park Road to power the diesel pump, lights and doors during power outages, and to buy the lower-priced.

Reed asked for a plug in the sand shed so the town’s portable generator could be used to power that door when needed.

He told selectmen the new Ventrax tractor is here and “looks good.”

Board members and Reed held a lively discussion of the relative merits of salt and sand for winter road maintenance. Reed said the town crew uses salt; the contractor responsible for one route uses sand, because his trucks are not calibrated to measure salt distribution.

Salt is expensive to buy, hard on vehicles and potentially damaging to China Lake, selectmen said. But, Reed said, money is saved in the spring when sand doesn’t have to be swept off roads and dug out of ditches. He believes salt makes safer roads, too, except when the temperature is too low for it to take effect.

In other business, selectmen postponed action on Heath’s proposal to change the Thurston Park II Committee to the Parks Committee and give it jurisdiction over the town forest behind China Primary School, as well as over Thurston Park. Selectman Irene Belanger wanted the current committee to consider the change.

Heath said China’s 2019 town business meeting is scheduled for Saturday, April 6. Voters will be asked to approve the municipal budget for 2019-2020.

The manager was dismayed to learn from RSU (Regional School Unit) #18 Superintendent (and China resident) Carl Gartley that school officials cannot begin budget work until the state legislature sets state funding in April or perhaps later. The manager suggested selectmen ask China voters to move post-2019 town business meetings to June.

According to the China website, the next selectmen’s meeting is Monday evening, Jan. 21. The town office will be closed that day for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

by Mary Grow

CHINA — Almost three hours of discussion with three lawyers and one assessor left China’s Board of Assessment Review members informed about assessing the value of a community solar farm, but not ready to make a decision on whether the one in China is assessed fairly.

The community solar array is located on Three Level Farm on Route 32 North. After assessor William Van Tuinen valued it, developer ReVision Energy appealed, claiming overvaluation resulting in overtaxation.

Van Tuinen’s illness prevented his reviewing the appeal. It was therefore deemed denied. The presumptive denial brought the issue to the Board of Assessment Review at a Dec. 18 meeting.

ReVision chief counsel and director of development Steve Hinchman and attorney Kristin Collins represented ReVision. Van Tuinen spoke for himself, and attorney Amanda Meader represented the town’s interest.

After presentations and discussion, board members accepted member Sheri Wilkens’ recommendation to postpone a decision. Their next meeting is scheduled for Thursday evening, Jan. 10. Meanwhile, it was suggested both parties and any board members who so choose prepare brief summaries of main points and positions.

Discussion revealed disagreements over five issues.

The first is how to determine the initial value of the project, and the related second is the proper method of calculating ongoing value and depreciation. The third is whether property taxes should be related to income investors derive from the project. The fourth is what value, if any, remains at the end of the project’s lifetime, and a subsidiary issue is how to define the end of the lifetime.

Van Tuinen and Hinchman said there are three ways to establish value: by looking at prices for which similar projects have sold, irrelevant in this case because no one in Maine has bought or sold a community solar farm; Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model, which Van Tuinen used with modification; and construction costs.

Hinchman analyzed construction costs at length, pointing out the additions to materials and labor in the form of costs like leasing land, getting permits and organizing the solar farm’s owners’ group.

He argued that Van Tuinen had failed to depreciate the value of the solar farm fast enough, pointing out how quickly solar technology becomes obsolescent. Van Tuinen replied that the DCF method covers obsolescence.

Hinchman further argued that the tax Van Tuinen calculated amounted to more than 13 percent of income generated; the correct tax should not exceed five percent, he said. Starting with a five percent tax, Hinchman calculated an assessed value of less than $91,000; Van Tuinen’s figure is around $275,000.

Van Tuinen objected, asking for evidence of Hinchman’s claimed ceiling and saying ReVision “presented the tax they’d like to have” and tried to work backward to set it.

Hinchman also claimed Van Tuinen’s residual value is too high, because used solar equipment is worthless. After 20 years he expects the expense of removing the solar panels would equal any resale value, so the solar array should be valueless after 20 years.

ReVision’s lease runs for 30 years with the option of two five-year extensions, and Van Tuinen said the ReVision website claims 40 years of energy generation.

by Mary Grow

At a brief Dec. 21 meeting, China selectmen agreed unanimously to re-advertise the position of codes enforcement apprentice, offering more hours, to try to attract more candidates.

Town Manager Dennis Heath told board members the original search for a person to work limited hours at a comparatively low rate brought four applications. The two people he considered best qualified declined the position; Heath concluded the town was proposing “too many constraints to get quality.”

He recommended, and selectmen approved, offering a 24-hour-a-week position, which would qualify the new person for benefits, with hours likely to increase with the new fiscal year beginning July 1, 2019. Selectmen agreed to let Heath negotiate a pay rate.

Heath said current codes officer Paul Mitnik intends to retire at the end of calendar year 2019. The new person is expected to acquire the necessary certifications to succeed him.

In the only other business Dec. 21, selectmen decided not to buy an extended warranty on the town’s new Ventrac tractor.

The next regular China selectmen’s meeting is currently scheduled for Monday evening, Jan. 7, 2019. Heath said he intends to have a draft 2019-2020 budget ready for review.

by Mary Grow

The three China Planning Board members present at the Dec. 11 board meeting voted unanimously to forward proposed revisions to the town’s Land Development Code to selectmen and to recommend selectmen put the revisions on the warrant for the March 2019 town business meeting.

Planners need more time to work on two other sets of changes that might also be presented to voters in March, amendments to shoreland zoning standards to bring town requirements into conformity with state standards and revisions to the list of definitions in the Land Development Code.

Codes Enforcement Officer Paul Mitnik recommended the Land Development Code changes primarily to eliminate inconsistencies between different sections. The proposed amendments to definitions, too, are primarily to make them consistent and clear.

Board members asked Mitnik to draft language for revising the shoreland guidelines. They discussed draft definition changes, approving some and postponing final action on others.

Board members intend to hold a public hearing next year to explain any changes that will appear on the town meeting warrant.

Because the next regular planning board meeting date was Dec. 25, board members skipped it and scheduled their next meeting for Jan. 8, 2019.