Northern Light Inland Hospital welcomes new members to board of trustees

/0 Comments/in , /by

Northern Light Inland Hospital is pleased to welcome the following community members to the Waterville hospital’s board of trustees.

Kelly Huggins, CPA, MBA, from Belgrade, is a certified public accountant and Tax director at One River CPAs in Oakland and has held similar positions in tax accounting since 2011. She earned her Master of Business Administration and Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Thomas College. Huggins is also a board member with Waterville Creates!. She enjoys kayaking around the Belgrade Lakes region with her family.

Bert Languet, CFP, MBA, lives in Belgrade Lakes and has been a certified financial planner with Golden Pond Wealth Management, in Waterville, for 28 years. Languet is president of the Belgrade Lakes Association, Class of 1988 gift chairman for Colby College, is a co-founder of the Maine Pond Hockey Classic. He is past president of the Augusta Kiwanis Club and has served on many local boards. He received his MBA from Thomas College and his BA from Colby College, both in Waterville.

Tonya Philbrick-Labbe is from Sidney. After retiring from the State of Maine Department of Health and Human Services, she started a second career as a product owner for Gainwell Technologies. She is a valued thought leader in Child and Family Services. Philbrick-Labbe received her associate degree from Mid-State College in Applied Science and a BS in Business Management from Thomas College, in Waterville. She is the treasurer, membership chairman, and grant writer for the Sidney Trail Riders Snowmobile Club.

Katie Spencer White, from Brunswick, serves as the president and CEO of the Mid-Maine Homeless Shelter and Services and was appointed by Governor Janet Mills to serve on the Maine Statewide Homeless Council. Prior to her work in nonprofits, she was a lawyer in the United Kingdom (UK)where she focused on the higher education, healthcare, and charities sectors. She holds a BA in Women’s Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz; Postgraduate Diplomas in English Law and Legal Practice from the University of Law (UK) and Staffordshire University (UK); and a Master of Science in Nonprofit Management, as well as a Doctorate in Law and Policy, both from Northeastern University, in Boston, Massachusetts. Spencer White and her family enjoy visiting the coast and trails of Maine.

Catherine Kimball, DO, continues her almost 25-year board membership with Inland. She is a retired family medicine physician with Northern Light Primary Care in Waterville. Kimball was a beloved local doctor throughout her nearly 40-year healthcare career; also serving as chief of staff of Inland Hospital for more than 20 years. Kimball, from Waterville, was president of the American Academy of Osteopathy and as a national and local leader, helped strengthen and promote osteopathic care and Inland Hospital for decades. She is an avid knitter.

Select board gets 2024-25 budget ready for budget committee review

/0 Comments/in , /by
by Mary Grow

Vassalboro select board members spent most of their March 7 meeting continuing to discuss the 2024-25 town budget, getting it in shape for budget committee review.

The Vassalboro Budget Committee is scheduled to meet Tuesday evening, March 19, Town Manager Aaron Miller said.

Select board members suggested a few more changes. They and Miller still await answers to some of the questions raised at earlier meetings, like an opinion from the town’s auditor on how some money can be rearranged (see the March 7 issue of The Town Line, p. 3).

Road work for next year was again a major topic. Public works department staff provided information on needs for equipment, paving and other work and discussed preferred ways to meet them.

Vassalboro nomination papers available

by Mary Grow

Nomination papers for Vassalboro elective officials are now available at the town office.

Two positions are open this year: Christopher French’s term on the select board and Jolene Clark Gamage’s term on the school board end. Town Clerk Cathy Coyne said as of March 11, both French and Gamage were circulating nomination papers for re-election, and Burton Miller was circulating papers for the select board position.

Members of each board serve three-year terms.

Signed papers must be returned to the town office by 5 p.m. Tuesday, April 16, with 25 signatures of registered Vassalboro voters, for candidates’ names to appear on the June 11 ballot.

The draft municipal government budget after the March 7 meeting, plus Miller’s estimate of the Kennebec County tax, totals $3.872 million, an increase of more than $300,000 over the current year.

In other business March 7, select board members approved spending up to $6,000 from unappropriated ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) money to finish paying for two additional heat pumps at the town-owned former East Vassalboro school building, now the Vassalboro Historical Society headquarters and museum.

Miller and board member Frederick “Rick” Denico, Jr., said they are still waiting for information on what, if anything, can be done to help Vassalboro Sanitary District (VSD) customers as they face another rate increase April 1.

Miller has been consulting the town’s attorney. Denico said Laurie A. Stevens, northern New England regional director for RCAP Solutions, submitted a report and recommendations, but he awaits answers to follow-up questions.

Stevens attended a discussion on the problem in December 2023, where she explained that her organization helps small towns with water and wastewater needs. RCAP Solutions is federally funded, so neither VSD nor the town is charged for services.

“Still in a holding pattern, unfortunately,” Miller summarized.

Board members postponed discussion of the town’s personnel policy to their March 21 meeting. Miller said staff members have given him suggestions for changes.

The March 21 meeting will include a public hearing on revisions to Vassalboro’s Marijuana Business Ordinance.

Budget committee agrees with select board on budget items except one

/0 Comments/in , /by
by Mary Grow

Five of the seven China Budget Committee members met March 5 and reviewed the select board’s 2024-25 municipal budget recommendations, agreeing with all but one (see the March 7 issue of The Town Line, p. 3).

The $3,000 issue over which the two boards differ is a donation to The Town Line newspaper, one item in the $77,000 request for community support organizations.

At the March 4 select board meeting, board chairman Wayne Chadwick and member Blane Casey objected to China taxpayers supporting the newspaper when no other town contributes. Brent Chesley added that China provides office space in the basement of the old town house and pays for advertisements (of public hearings, for example).

Joann Austin, a member of the paper’s board of directors, replied that efforts to get contributions from nearby towns have never succeeded. Select board member Jeanne Marquis reminded board members they are required to advertise hearings, and any alternative might be more expensive; and said having the old town house used regularly is a benefit.

Chadwick’s motion to delete the $3,000 was approved on a 3-2 vote, with Casey, Chadwick and Chesley in favor and Marquis and Janet Preston opposed. A revised recommendation of $74,000 for community support organizations went to the budget committee on a 4-1 vote, with Marquis opposed.

The main discussion at the March 5 budget committee meeting was not over whether to support The Town Line, but where funds should come from. Committee chairman Thomas Rumpf advised Austin to apply for TIF (Tax Increment Financing) money.

After consideration of timing and whether to recommend an appropriation only if TIF money was not available, budget committee members voted 4-1 to recommend adding $3,000 for the newspaper back into the community support organizations budget. The majority consisted of Rumpf, Timothy Basham, Elizabeth Curtis and Trishea Story; Michael Sullivan was opposed.

Other items in this account include support for historic buildings and grants to the China Lake Association, China Rescue, the three volunteer fire departments, the two libraries and the Golden Agers group that meets weekly in the former portable classroom behind the town office.

Sullivan also voted against the recommendation of $84,220 for town boards and committee. Votes to approve the rest of the select board’s recommended budget were unanimous except when a budget committee member abstained to avoid a possible conflict of interest.

As of March 5, Hapgood calculated the select board’s recommended 2024-25 municipal budget at a little over $4.8 million, almost $160,000 less than the department requests submitted and over $360,000 more than the comparable figure for the current fiscal year.

The budget committee could not review the 2024-25 Kennebec County tax or the school budget request, because Hapgood had no figure for either.

Before the meeting adjourned, Rumpf pointed out that the town’s Budget Committee Ordinance (adopted in 2006, and referring to the latest known previous version approved in 1947) is out of date.

Select board discusses a wide variety of topics

/0 Comments/in , /by
by Mary Grow

China select board members discussed a wide variety of topics at their March 11 meeting and made three decisions (in addition to the routine ones, like approving expenditures).

Without dissenting votes, board members:

— Agreed to apply for a Community Resilience Grant to be used for a new trail in Thurston Park;
— Accepted proposed draft ordinances for forwarding to voters in June, conditional on planning board approval when that board met March 12; and
— Accepted the revised 54-page Emergency Preparedness Plan presented by the Emergency Preparedness Committee.

Emergency Preparedness Committee chairman Ronald Morrell and member Stephen Nichols presented the emergency plan. As part of implementation, Morrell said, committee members are arranging for China firefighters and rescue members to tour facilities like the Friends Camp on Lakeview Drive.

The China schools have their own emergency plans, coordinated with the town plan, Morrell said.

The preliminary warrant for the June 11 town business meeting includes the repeatedly-discussed Solar Ordinance; amendments to Chapter 2 of China’s Land Use Ordinance, drafted by town attorney Amanda Meader to implement the 2022 state housing law known as LD 2003; and amendments to the Planning Board Ordinance.

Select board members did not put the warrant in final form. Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood said she might have a final version ready for action at the March 25 board meeting.

Hapgood advised planning board chairman Toni Wall that, according to Meader, the planning board should hold a public hearing on the additions to Chapter 2 of the Land Use Ordinance, but not on the other two items. That hearing is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday evening, March 26.

All proposed warrant articles must be submitted to the town office by Friday, April 12, Hapgood said. The select board will hold a public hearing on the entire warrant; that hearing is not yet scheduled.

Board member Janet Preston, who represents the board to the Kennebec Valley Council of Governments (KVCOG) shared again results of a 2023 survey of China residents’ priorities for a Community Resilience Grant.

Board members said the China Lake Association already has grant money for the top priority, erosion control at the South China board landing. They were unenthusiastic about the second priority, providing transportation for senior citizens (Preston suggested buying an electric car and hiring a driver).

The third priority was building a planned new trail in Thurston Park, the town-owned recreation area in northeastern China. Board members voted to apply to KVCOG for a grant for that project.

Board chairman Wayne Chadwick, seconded by Brent Chesley, had one objection to the whole process: they wish grants would help fund maintenance of existing facilities, instead of providing new ones for local taxpayers to maintain.

“You got to look at the whole picture, not just the initial cost,” Chadwick summarized.

In other business March 11, Morrell told select board members boat trailers parked at the east end of the causeway by the boat landing hang out into the roadway, sometimes interfering with traffic.

At the west end of the causeway, he said, boaters park in the church parking lot, especially during bass tournaments on China Lake. They are welcome, except on Sunday mornings and when the church is hosting a wedding or other event.

Morrell would like a system to make people aware they are using church property, and with tournaments to require advance notice. Select board members could see no way the town could help, but they offered individual suggestions, from posting signs to arranging to have vehicles towed away.

Hapgood said public services director Shawn Reed hopes the public works crew will have time to put in the docks at the boat landing by April.

The manager listed dates to remember: a select board meeting at 6 p.m. Monday, March 25; a road committee meeting at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, March 26; a planning board meeting at 6:30 p.m. March 26; a board of appeals meeting at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, March 28; and the second half of 2023-24 property taxes due by the close of business at 4:30 p.m. Friday, March 29.

Albert Church Brown library receives handicapped access grant

/0 Comments/in , , /by

Albert Church Brown Memorial Library in China Village.

by Mary Grow

The China Library Association (CLA) has received a $10,000 grant to improve handicapped access at the Albert Church Brown Memorial Library in China Village.

Librarian, Miranda Perkins, and CLA president, Louisa Barnhart, shared the news early in March.

The grant is from the American Library Association (ALA), under a program called Libraries Transforming Communities (LTC): Accessible Small and Rural Communities.

The goal is to “begin or continue projects that will improve library access for thousands of library users,” a March 4 ALA letter says. Typical projects make it easier for residents with physical or intellectual disabilities to use library services.

Gerry Boyle, speaking for the CLA’s building committee, said the money will support the trustees’ handicapped access plan, which starts with “a symmetrical handrail and half wall to the front of the building,” connecting to a platform in front of the front door, level with the floor inside.

There will be a ramp, built to Americans with Disabilities standards, on the south side of the platform and steps on the north side. “An electric door is on the wish list,” Boyle added.

Interior renovations are to include widening doors to allow wheelchair access and, in the future, a handicapped-accessible bathroom and an emergency exit with a ramp, tentatively from the south side of the ground floor.

Barnhart credited assistant librarian, Karel McKay, with helping the trustees investigate grant possibilities. McKay, Barnhart and CLA treasurer Thomas Parent developed the application; Barnhart is the grant administrator.

“We are delighted everyone will be able to access community and library services,” Barnhart said.

According to the March 4 ALA letter, the grant was part of $3.6 million the organization awarded to 310 small and rural libraries in 45 US states. The letter said 62 percent of the libraries receiving grants serve communities of fewer than 5,000 people.

Fifteen other small Maine libraries, scattered all over the state, received grants similar to China’s. This was the second round of these grants; a third round opens in the fall.

EVENTS: Waterville Seed Library to launch March 16, 2024

/0 Comments/in , , /by

The Waterville Public Library has announced the 2024 launch of the Waterville Seed Library. This entirely free public resource features 30 varieties, including tomato, pumpkin, summer lettuce mix, green beans, and more. Beginning on Saturday, March 16, 2024, while supplies last, garden seed packets can be picked up at the Waterville Public Library, at 73 Elm Street, Waterville. A free Paint a Plant Pot and Plant Basil craft program for youth will be offered on Saturday, March 16, from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m.

The Waterville Seed Library provides community members with the resources to grow healthy, sustainable food at no cost. The seed library helps to reclaim seeds as a public resource and fosters a culture where local growing knowledge is easily shared. In concert with the Waterville Public Library’s purpose and mission, we celebrate human diversity in our community and strive to be inclusive and accessible to all.

The Waterville Seed Library is made possible through a partnership with the Colby Office of Civic Engagement, Waterville Public Library, FEDCO Seeds, and Johnny’s Selected Seeds. Special thanks to the Colby Office of Civic Engagement and the Ohanian-Szostak Fellows for Civic Leadership for project funding and support.

China & Vassalboro presidential primary results

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

China Town Clerk Angela Nelson reported the following results from Tuesday’s primary election.

Two hundred and two Democratic votes were cast, with Joseph R. Biden, Jr., receiving 164, or 81 percent. Dean B. Phillips got 19 votes; declared write-in candidate Stephen P. Lyons got 17; and two ballots were left blank.

On the Republican side, 461 ballots were cast, 358 (78 percent) for Donald J. Trump. Nikki R. Haley got 91 votes (20 percent). Trailing well behind were Ron DeSantis with four votes; Vivek G. Ramaswamy with three; blank ballots and write-ins with two votes each; and Ryan L. Binkley with one vote.

Nelson called the 663 votes “a lower than normal turnout for China,” but, she said, “it was a nice steady flow all day.” Unexpected visitors included Secretary of State Shenna Bellows and a reporter from Channel 6 News, who stood outside the polling room under an umbrella.

* * * * * *

Vassalboro town clerk Cathy Coyne reported 523 presidential primary ballots cast in that town, 367 Republican and 156 Democratic.

Donald J. Trump got 284 Republican votes (77 percent), followed by Nikki R. Haley with 80 (22 percent) and Vivek G. Ramaswamy with two. There was one blank ballot; no one voted for Ryan L. Binkley or Ron DeSantis.

Joseph R. Biden received 128, or 82 percent, of the Democratic votes. Dean B. Phillips received 14, and there were 14 blank ballots. No Vassalboro voter chose Stephen P. Lyons.

China GOP to caucus

There will be a Town of China Republican Caucus on Thursday March 14, 2024 at 6:30 p.m. The purpose of a Maine Republican town caucus is to elect delegates and a delegation chairman to the Maine Republican State Convention to be held April 26 and 27, 2024; to elect representatives to the Kennebec County Republican Committee; to elect the officers of the Town of China Republican Committee; and to review and ratify bylaws for the town committee. Republican candidates for state and local offices present will be given an opportunity to speak. Any registered Republican voter in the Town of China can participate. The caucus will convene in the portable building behind the town office at 6:30 p.m.

China select board reviews, amends 2024-25 budget

/0 Comments/in , /by
by Mary Grow

China select board members spent another two hours March 4 reviewing and amending their draft 2024-25 town budget, in preparation for a budget committee meeting to be held March 5.

They recommended reductions in several accounts. Board chairman Wayne Chadwick expects a hefty tax increase and wants to minimize spending as much as possible.

However, board members realize that prices of many commodities and services essential to running the town have risen. For example, transfer station manager Thomas Maraggio told them the bill for changing the hydraulic oil in one of his machines is now $2,000.

Reductions agreed to at the March 4 session included:

— Eliminating Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood’s proposed new position of community recreation director and reducing the copier account by $1,000, saving $23,800 in the administration budget;
— Reducing the amount suggested in the public works budget for road sand and salt by $20,000;
— Deleting a $3,000 contribution to The Town Line newspaper; and
— Deleting a $100 contribution to the Maine Public Broadcasting Network.

Chadwick said select board members will review the budget committee’s recommendations before preparing a final budget to be submitted to China voters at the June 11 annual town business meeting.

Vassalboro select board continues 2024-25 budget discussions

/0 Comments/in , /by
by Mary Grow

Vassalboro select board members continued discussion of the draft 2024-25 town budget at a special Feb. 29 meeting, focusing on two topics.

Holly Weidner, of the Conservation Commission, joined a wide-ranging discussion of protecting water quality in Vassalboro’s lakes (see the Feb. 29 issue of The Town Line, p. 3).

With Brian Lajoie from the public works department present, board members continued discussion of that budget section, considering next year’s priorities and longer-term needs, like replacing trucks as they wear out.

The select board holds a regular meeting at 6:30 p.m., Thursday, March 7. Board chairman Chris French intends continued budget consideration to be among the items on the agenda.

The water quality discussion began with a recap of plans to continue the Courtesy Boat Inspection (CBI) program.

Weidner corrected the previous report: inspectors have not found invasive plants on boats about to be launched in area lakes. The number of non-invasive plant fragments declines, she said, as inspections make more boaters aware of the need to clean watercraft thoroughly when they move from one water body to another.

The state requires sponsors of bass fishing tournaments and similar events to provide their own boat inspectors, she added.

Town Manager Aaron Miller said a recent meeting with interested parties affirmed the agreement that the CBI program will continue, overseen by the Vassalboro Conservation Commission, with the China Region Lakes Alliance (CRLA) hiring inspectors.

Weidner said Vassalboro had a watershed management plan from 2005 to 2015, prepared with help from the Kennebec County Soil and Water Conservation Commission. Towns with watershed plans, like neighboring China, are eligible to apply for water quality improvement grants.

Watershed Management Plan

In a post-meeting email about the 2005-2015 watershed plan, Holly Wiedner said it was named the Webber Pond Watershed Management Plan. It covered the drainage areas of three water bodies: Webber Pond, which is wholly in Vassalboro; Three Mile (or Threemile) Pond, shared among Vassalboro, China and Windsor; and Three Corner (or Three Cornered) Pond, in Augusta.

Select board members expressed interest in learning more about the prior plan and why it was allowed to lapse.

Proposed public works projects include reorganizing access to the fuel pumps at the town garage, which are used by multiple town departments; buying a skidsteer and a trailer to move it, and updating other equipment; and saving up money to add a storage building on the public works lot on Bog Road.

The skidsteer will let Vassalboro keep its commitment to the state to plow North Vassalboro sidewalks after the state transportation department rebuilds them, probably this summer. The new machine will have other uses year-round.

For the new building, Lajoie and board members plan what they described as a 50-by-50-foot pole barn with metal sides and roof. Lajoie said it would probably sit on a paved area. Board members will not have a firm price until they solicit bids.

After another discussion of paving costs, board members agreed tentatively to leave the 2024-25 paving budget at the current year’s $453,300. French insisted on using $100,000 left in the current account (mostly because the price of asphalt was lower than projected) for next year, to lower the impact on local taxes.

French’s proposal was approved after a discussion of how to manage the transfer to keep the auditors happy.

Miller reported one town project is done: adding surveillance cameras at town buildings was completed Feb. 29, when the transfer station’s cameras were installed.

The manager assured Weidner the final version of the proposed 2024-25 budget will include information voters need to evaluate it, like what roads are proposed for repaving. Board members talked briefly about varied funding sources, including appropriations from the alewife fund (income from the annual alewife fishery) and the Tax Increment Financing Fund (TIF, taxes on the gas pipeline running through Vassalboro).

China planners refer solar ordinance back to town attorney

/0 Comments/in , /by
by Mary Grow

China planning board members prepared for future action on two issues on their Feb. 27 agenda.

After considering questions about the draft Solar Energy Systems Ordinance raised at the Feb. 26 select board meeting, they referred the document back to town attorney Amanda Meader, asking her to recommend different language for one section.

Select board member Brent Chesley called the section confusing and misleading. Everyone realizes Meader charges for her time, but, planning board member Michael Brown opined, “It’s worth a little more money to get it right.”

Board members scheduled a March 12 public hearing on the application for a community solar farm in a gravel pit off Windsor Road (Route 32 South) (see the Feb. 22 issue of The Town Line, p. 3). Project managers Nick Lacasse, of Perennial Sand Pit Solar, in Hallowell, and Andrew Johnston, of Freeport-based Atlantic Resource Consultants, were present.

Board chairman Toni Wall thanked them for providing a complete application by “sending mega-materials” and updates that board members requested at their Feb. 13 meeting. Lacasse and Johnston replied to board member Elaine Mather’s questions about one document in the lengthy application.

Wall said it is likely the board will act on the application on March 12, after the hearing.

Codes officer Nicholas French said there are tentatively two other items on the March 12 agenda: continued review of Chris Harris’s application for a subdivision off Route 3 (see the Nov. 2, 2023, issue of The Town Line, p. 3); and an application for timber cutting in a resource protection zone off Lakeview Drive.

French said he continues to remind residents running small businesses from their homes that they need a home occupation permit. The application process is simple and not expensive, he said.

The March 12 planning board meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m., either in the town office meeting room or in the former portable classroom behind the office building. Wall said the public hearing will be early on the agenda.