CHINA NEWS: Chief scolds selectmen on proposed stipend article

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by Mary Grow

China selectmen met with representatives of the town’s three fire departments and China Rescue March 20 to discuss the emergency services stipends proposed in the March 25 town meeting warrant – an action South China Fire Chief Richard Morse told them they should have taken weeks earlier. Art. 20 in the town meeting warrant asks voters to appropriate up to $40,000 from the town’s Unrestricted Fund Balance (surplus) to compensate emergency services personnel according to a policy to be developed by the selectmen.

Morse said the first time he heard about the proposed stipends was when a reporter called to ask his opinion. He said making the idea public with no advance notice to the department chiefs, no plan, no basis for the amount of money proposed and no evidence of need was “not a way to move a policy forward.”

Stipends, he believes, will not help increase membership in the fire departments or China Rescue. People join from a sense of pride, a desire to be part of a well-run organization and interest in community service. They are discouraged not by money issues but by too much state-mandated paperwork and training, not all of it relevant to part-time volunteer groups.

Despite his reservations, Morse said, he held a vote: his department members do not support stipends for town firefighters, but they do for China Rescue members, who get many more calls.

Morse recommended discussion among selectmen and emergency services people and development of a plan for sharing funds before a town meeting vote.

China Village Fire Chief Timothy Theriault was more inclined to go ahead now. His department members all voted in favor of stipends except himself, he said. To support them, he researched other towns’ plans for distributing funds and came up with a preliminary plan to discuss with his China colleagues.

“We have something to work on,” he said in answer to the claim that there is no plan for spending the funds if they’re approved. Theriault cited two examples from his experience which made it clear to him that earning money is one of the incentives that lead firefighters to remain active.

He sees the stipends, if voters approve, as an experiment; if after a trial he does not have more department members or higher turnout at fires, he will oppose continuing the program. Taking this year’s money from surplus instead of from taxes is consistent with the idea of an experiment, he said.

David Herard, speaking for China Rescue, said rescue members believe money might help keep members, but is unlikely to help with recruiting new ones.

Weeks Mills Fire Chief Webb Shaw was unable to attend the March 20 meeting, but Herard said the majority of that department favor stipends.

Theriault and Morse both said they repeatedly invited selectmen to meet with emergency services people to better understand the services’ needs and were repeatedly turned down, usually on the ground that selectmen’s meetings must be public. Perhaps, they suggested, one or two selectmen could be appointed a subcommittee.

Board Chairman Neil Farrington eloquently praised emergency responders who serve the community. Art. 20, he said, lets departments decide how to divide up stipend money, and doesn’t require everyone to accept it. Since the appropriation, if approved, won’t be available until July 1, there is time to develop plans.

“Let’s give it a chance,” he urged.

Vassalboro News: Selectmen, budget committee look at initial budget

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by Mary Grow

The Vassalboro selectmen’s March 9 meeting was followed by an initial 2017 Budget Committee meeting at which major department heads presented funding requests.
Selectmen and two cemetery committee members discussed a plan to find out for sure who is buried where in Vassalboro cemeteries, a plan set back by recent denial of a grant application for the project.

Town Manager Mary Sabins and Selectman Philip Haines know of a man with ground-penetrating radar they could hire to work on the project. Board Chairman Lauchlin Titus said two area women who call themselves grave-dowsers might help. Cost of the project is estimated at $50,000. Currently, Sabins said, the town has more than $12,000 in the fund that came with the Cross Hill Cemetery when it became a town-managed graveyard plus more than $5,000 in interest from the cemetery perpetual care fund. The principal in the perpetual care fund cannot be spent, she said.

Selectmen are likely to propose asking voters to contribute to the project. They did not have an opportunity to present the idea at the budget committee meeting.
Another issue at the selectmen’s meeting was the 2016 town report. Board members unanimously accepted Titus’s suggestion that the former mill superintendent’s house in North Vassalboro be the centerpiece, and talked about some of its history. Anyone with documented knowledge about the building or any of its owners or inhabitants is invited to get in touch with Sabins at the town office.

Budget committee members spent two hours hearing presentations from Transfer Station Manager George Hamar, Public Works Director Eugene Field and Sabins on 2017-18 budget requests for solid waste disposal, road maintenance and town government.

Sabins recommends three percent salary increases for town employees, except two percent for herself.

The transfer station budget shows increases in trash-hauling costs and equipment maintenance. The latter, Hamar said, is because the town’s old backhoe, which he used to borrow from public works, has been turned over to his department. Although he adds maintenance and fuel costs, he gains convenience.
Field said the past winter depleted the supply of road salt more than usual, and he is also low on culverts. The longest discussion was over paving and – mostly – repaving town roads. Field had asked for almost $900,000; selectmen recommend less than $400,000.

The selectmen’s March 9 list includes part of Taber Hill, Cross Hill and Cushnoc roads, Holman Day Road, Webber Pond Extension, Mill Hill and more of the Hunt Road. Titus said they deleted the Nelson Road and town buildings’ parking lots from Field’s list to save money.

Budget committee members asked questions, but made no decisions. Their next meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 21. Sabins plans to invite representatives of two social service agencies applying for town funds for the first time and one whose budget request has been cut, and to notify other out-of-town agencies of the meeting. Also scheduled to attend are Police Chief Mark Brown to talk about replacing Vassalboro’s 2007 police car and a representative of Vassalboro Rescue to discuss that budget request.
On Thursday, March 23, selectmen will again meet an hour earlier than usual, at 6 p.m., leaving time for a 7 p.m. budget committee meeting.

Rumble strips to be installed on Rte. 3

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By next November, most of Route 3 through China should be a bit noisier – and a lot safer.

Stephen Bodge, of the Maine Department of Transportation, spoke with China selectmen at their March 6 meeting about the plan to install center-line rumble strips in the heavily-traveled road in late September or October.

The installation is part of a state-wide project aimed at reducing head-on collisions. Rumble strips pay off, Bodge said; Maine has been adding them for 11 years, and studies comparing the 10 years before and after a road is treated show that head-on collisions decrease by 40 percent and fatalities resulting from head-on collisions decrease by 90 percent.

The only complaints the department receives have been about noise, Bodge said. Procedures to minimize the problem include leaving gaps at intersections, in passing zones and in front of hotels, motels, campgrounds and anywhere else “where people pay to sleep.”

CHINA NEWS: Three topics on agenda for March 20 meeting

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by Mary Grow

Monday, March 20, will be a good evening for China residents to gather at the town office to get information on three different topics, two related to the March 25 town business meeting.

The selectmen’s meeting that evening will be preceded by a 6 p.m. public hearing on proposed amendments to the town’s TIF (Tax Increment Financing) program. The amendments, to be accepted or rejected at town meeting, include adding new areas in town as potential development areas; adding the Central Maine Power Company substation on Route 3 as a new revenue source; and extending the program to 30 years instead of 20 years.

At the 7 p.m. selectmen’s meeting, board members have invited the chiefs of China’s three fire departments and China Rescue to talk about the proposal on the town meeting warrant to appropriate funds to compensate emergency personnel.

Town Manager Daniel L’Heureux has invited a representative of Redzone Wireless, of Rockland, to the March 20 meeting to talk about potential service in town.

China Village fire chief Timothy Theriault attended the March 6 selectmen’s meeting. He told selectmen when he polled his department, all but one member – the chief himself – favored the proposed compensation.

Theriault said his main objection was lack of a plan for distributing funds if voters approve the money. Now he has learned that there will be a plan and supports the idea, which selectmen presented as a way to encourage more people to join the fire departments and the rescue unit. Based on personal experience, he believes “money’s going to make a difference,” he said.

At the March 6 meeting and in anticipation of the Redzone presentation, selectmen appointed a three-person Broadband Committee, consisting of Tod Detre, Robert O’Connor and Raymond Robert. Detre and O’Connor, and audience member Lee Pettengill, talked knowledgeably about the possibilities of competition among internet service providers for China residents’ business.

The March 6 meeting began with a proud demonstration of China’s new police vehicle by officers Michael Tracy and Tracey Frost. The 2017 all-wheel-drive Ford Explorer, plainly marked as the Town of China’s, has front-and rear-facing radar and a state-of-the-art light bar whose multi-colored flashing lights can be turned into a steady white beam to illuminate an accident scene.

Frost said the vehicle gets about 18 miles a gallon and probably can go 140 miles an hour. “It won’t with us in it,” Tracy joked. A grant plus the trade-in for the previous police truck completely paid for the Explorer, which Frost and Tracy expect should last the town 10 years or more.

In other business March 6:

  • Selectmen appointed Toni Wall to the China for a Lifetime Committee and appointed board members Irene Belanger and Ronald Breton to the Regional School Unit #18 cost-sharing committee, which Belanger said is beginning its work over again. The same two selectmen represented China on the prior cost-sharing committee.
  • Theriault, who is also a state Representative, said the bill he introduced to charge Kennebec Water District customers a fee to help with China Lake clean-up is dead for this legislative session. However, he said, it had two useful consequences: the water district is again supporting the clean-up effort financially, after a lapse, and water district customers have been educated about where their water comes from.

Vassalboro News: 3-year lawn care contract awarded to Attention to Detail

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by Mary Grow

Vassalboro Public Works Director Eugene Field told selectman at their March 2 meeting that Darrell Gagnon’s work mowing town recreation fields and lawns around town buildings has been very satisfactory. Selectmen voted unanimously to renew Gagnon’s contracts for three years after the current year, Town Manager Mary Sabins reported after the meeting. Gagnon will be paid $15,600 in 2018 and again in 2019 and an additional $200 in 2020.

Field also joined in a discussion of 2017 road paving priorities as selectmen prepare to present their draft municipal budget to the town budget committee. The first budget committee meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday, March 9; topics committee members hope to cover include funding for the transfer station, public works, paving and town administration.

Selectmen again discussed conversion of Vassalboro’s streetlights to LED lights and asked Sabins to inform the budget committee that the idea is under consideration.

Other actions at the March 2 meeting, Sabins said, included:

  • A decision to advertise the 1984 fire truck for sale.
  • Agreement to let residents take the woodchips accumulated at the transfer station as the result of a vehicle accident at no charge, to get rid of the pile.
  • At board Chairman Lauchlin Titus’s initiative, a direction to the manager to inform the town attorney that the town intends to seek reimbursement for legal fees incurred in defending against “frivolous cases” filed by a resident.
  • Two more requests to Sabins, recommended by planning board member Douglas Phillips: to ask the Maine Municipal Association if it is appropriate for the school board to fill vacancies without advertising them and to look into arranging for Vassalboro residents to have use of a document-shredding service.
  • Scheduling the summer selectmen’s meetings for July 13 and Aug. 10, both Thursday evenings.

The next regular Vassalboro selectmen’s meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday, March 9, an hour earlier than usual to accommodate the budget committee meeting at 7 p.m.

CHINA NEWS: Land development issue to go before voters

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by Mary Grow

Proposed changes to China’s Land Development Code, presented as a single article in November 2016, now make up articles 46 through 55 in the March 25 town business meeting warrant. The meeting begins at 9 a.m. – if there is a quorum – Saturday, March 25, at China Middle School.

Planning board members, who unanimously endorsed passage of the articles related to land use regulations at their Feb. 28 meeting, hope dividing the questions will make them easier to understand and will allow people to reject specific provisions they dislike while approving others.

Board members plan to attend town meeting to answer voters’ questions. Codes Officer Paul Mitnik has prepared an explanatory handout, which is on the town web site, listed on the left of the main page under the title “Ordinance Revisions March 25, 2017 Annual Town Business Meeting.” Mitnik’s document starts by listing the changes covered in Art. 46 that are required for China’s ordinance to conform to minimum state standards. These changes deal with clearing vegetation and trees, docks and similar structures, campgrounds and signs.

Art. 47 deals with expansion of non-conforming structures. A non-conforming structure is a building in the shoreland zone that does not meet ordinance requirements, usually because it is too close to the water or on a lot that is smaller than the ordinance allows or lacks required water frontage.

Art. 48 deals with seasonal conversion, the change in use of a shoreland building from a seasonal camp to a year-round residence. Mitnik’s explanation says the change, if approved, would repeal China’s current rules and rely on the state’s seasonal conversion regulations to issue or deny a conversion permit. State rules, he wrote, require an adequate septic system; current town rules add lot size, water frontage and building setback standards.

Art. 49 asks voters to add a new section to the ordinance, conforming to but not required by state regulations, allowing exceptions to limits on clearing in the shoreland.

Art. 50 would repeal local regulations on timber harvesting and replace them with statewide standards.

Art. 51, Mitnik explains, makes it clear that water-dependent uses, like fishing or boating, on town or public land do not need to meet water setback standards. If approved, one effect of the change would be to remove any question of the legality of the proposed boardwalk at the head of China Lake’s east basin. The boardwalk is part of the Tax Increment Finance Committee’s recommended project for which Art. 8 in the warrant requests funding.

Art. 52, Mitnik wrote, proposes a rewritten version of conditional use standards (requirements for opening or significantly expanding a business). Currently the Land Development Code requires an applicant to prove a project will not have a list of undesired effects, negative wording the planning board has worked on revising.

Art. 53 deals with signs. If adopted, Mitnik, wrote, the new version grandfathers signs existing in 2010, exempting them from all requirements “except turning off lighted signs at night and digital signs from 10 PM to 6 AM.”

Art. 54 deals with other minor changes, mostly for consistency within the ordinance. Art. 55 amends definitions in China’s ordinance to match state guidelines and adds a definition recommended at a planning board hearing before the November 2016 vote.

CHINA NEWS: Voters to consider ordinance changes

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by Mary Grow

At the March 25 town business meeting, China voters will decide on replacement or amended ordinances on three different topics, cemetery management, solid waste disposal and land use.

Article 34, dealing with the 1985 cemetery ordinance and a proposed replacement, is new. Solid waste and land use ordinance changes are being presented again after voters rejected them in November 2016.

Under Art. 34, voters are asked to repeal the 1985 Cemetery Administration and Maintenance Ordinance and replace it with the longer China Cemetery Ordinance.

The 1985 ordinance states its purpose is to create a three-person board of trustees appointed by town selectmen to be in charge of administering and maintaining town cemeteries. The trustees are to appoint a superintendent and determine his pay; sell lots and accept trust funds for maintaining lots and other monetary gifts; and under the selectmen’s supervision spend cemetery funds.

The superintendent has “authority to supervise all burials, interments, disinterments, maintenance and care of public cemeteries.”

The proposed replacement ordinance vests authority over town cemeteries in the town manager and a cemetery committee of at least three people appointed annually by the selectmen. The committee is responsible for spending cemetery funds. A superintendent appointed by the town manager with the selectmen’s approval is to “superintend the digging of all graves, the burial of all bodies from said cemeteries, or from place to place in said cemeteries.”

The ordinance specifies that remains must be in a casket and a cement vault, with no more than one casket and up to three cremains in each plot. The selectmen set lot prices and regulations.

The ordinance would allow regulated hours of access, and contains a list of activities prohibited in cemeteries, including consuming intoxicating beverages, disorderly conduct, hunting, vandalism, letting pets roam at large and failing to pick up dog feces.

The proposed amendments to the Solid Waste Flow Control Ordinance and the Solid Waste Disposal Ordinance are in warrant articles 44 and 45. Major changes, repeated from November, include:

  • In the Flow Control Ordinance, substitution of the planned Fiberight facility for the Penobscot Energy Recovery Company’s Orrington facility as the destination for the town’s combustible and biodegradable waste, and addition of a definition of “volunteers.”
  • In the Solid Waste Disposal Ordinance, allowing disposal of out-of-town waste in accordance with agreements signed by the selectmen, like the agreement with Palermo that came into effect Jan 1. The revised ordinance also changes the transfer station days of operation from Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday to Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday. Authority for selectmen to make that and future schedule changes was and still is in the ordinance; selectmen have already changed the days, effective in early December 2016.

Solid Waste Disposal Ordinance provisions that have been reworded without changing their meaning include:

  • the attendants’ authority to ban anyone who does not comply with the ordinance or with their orders, to reject hazardous waste or waste not separated as the ordinance requires and if necessary to call for police assistance;
  • the requirement to obtain and display a decal from the town office; and
  • mandatory recycling of metal, newsprint, magazines and cardboard.

HCCA receives lead poisoning prevention grant

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Healthy Communities of the Capital Area, serving southern Kennebec County, is delighted to have received a Lead Poisoning Prevention grant from the State of Maine Health and Human Services to reduce lead poisoning in Augusta and Gardiner. The grant, recognizing the interconnected nature of communities, provides support for a coalition with representatives from the cities of Augusta and Gardiner, landlords and organizations serving young families. This group will collaborate on ways to reduce childhood exposure to lead, and educate the public on best lead poisoning prevention practices. For more information, and to become involved, contact Project Coordinator, Karen Tucker at ktucker@mcd.org or 207.588.5012.

Planners to discuss possible land use changes

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by Mary Grow

China Planning Board members intend to spend the first half hour of their next several meetings talking about possible changes in town land use ordinances and board procedures, and to begin hearing applications at 7 p.m.

The board meets at 6:30 p.m. the second and fourth Tuesday of each month, with the next meeting scheduled for March 14.

At their Feb. 28 meeting, members discussed potential topics for their workshop-type discussions, including the board’s mission and responsibilities; the criteria for granting conditional use permits for new businesses; and the standards for measuring compliance with the criteria.

When Tom Michaud proposed adding teeth to the ordinance by, for example, setting specific noise limits for a business, Milton Dudley expressed a preference for minimal rules aimed at issues like protecting water quality in China Lake. Chairman James Wilkens added the need to protect everyone’s peaceful enjoyment of his or her property, citing references in the current ordinance to protection from noise, odors, dust, glare and other annoyances.

Michaud and Wilkens both live near Parris and Catherine Varney, whose controversial application to use their barn commercially for wedding receptions and similar events is now before Superior Court.

Codes Officer Paul Mitnik wants an ordinance that has measurable standards that he can enforce.

Board members said that in the fiscal year covered in the pending town report, they reviewed 13 permit applications and approved 12, contrary to what they believe is a public perception that the board never lets anyone do anything.

The other topic discussed briefly at the Feb. 28 meeting was the March 25 town meeting. The planning board is presenting again the proposed Land Development Code amendments that voters rejected in November, this time as 10 separate questions.

Wilkens said people ask him why they’re being asked to vote again on the same things. Mitnik said some of the changes are required by the state.

Board member Tom Miragliuolo said splitting the question into 10 parts was a significant change.

The board voted unanimously to recommend that voters approve the amendments, which appear as articles 46 through 55 in the March 25 town meeting warrant.

China voters asked to decide on $3.5 million warrant

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by Mary Grow

China voters will decide on almost $3.5 million in proposed expenditures at their March 25 town business meeting, scheduled for 9 a.m. at China Middle School on Lakeview Drive.

Of the total, about $1.59 million is to come from real estate and personal property taxes; about $853,000 is requested from the Development Program Fund or TIF fund; more than $262,000 will come from the town’s Unrestricted Fund Balance (UFB), commonly called surplus; and more than $740,000 for the highway budget will come from a state grant and excise taxes.

Town Manager Daniel L’Heureux told selectmen and budget committee members that voters will not increase their tax rate if they approve proposed spending. However, the municipal budget is only part of the total budget; taxes also contribute to the school budget, which voters will act on in June, and the Kennebec County budget.

Not all of the money requested March 25 will necessarily be spent. For example, selectmen are asking permission to spend up to $55,000 from surplus to match grants if the town receives any (Art. 36) and another $55,000 for unexpected expenses and emergencies (Art. 38).

Most of the proposed expenditure requests appear every year – town administration, solid waste disposal, road maintenance, fire, police and rescue services, insurance. As usual, costs for insurance have increased. This year, the transfer station budget is also higher because Palermo residents are using it, but L’Heureux expects Palermo’s annual contribution and per-bag fee will offset the higher costs.

The one new expenditure request is in Art. 20, which asks voters to appropriate up to $40,000 from surplus to compensate emergency services personnel. Conceived by Selectman Neil Farrington as a possible way to gain new members for China Rescue and the town’s three volunteer fire departments, the proposal is supported unanimously by the budget committee.

The March 25 warrant includes six separate requests to spend TIF money, in articles 6 through 11. The money comes from taxes paid by Central Maine Power Company (CMP) on its expanded power line through town. L’Heureux said the revenue is about $260,000 annually, and the TIF fund now stands at about $337,000.

Art. 5 asks voters to amend the current TIF agreement to extend it from 20 to 30 years and add a second revenue source, the new CMP substation off Route 3. L’Heureux expects the substation will add about $60,000 a year to the TIF fund. If voters approve Art. 5, they will also increase the areas of town available for economic development with TIF money. L’Heureux said TIF-eligible areas will include the recently-acquired subdivision off Lakeview Drive opposite the former Candlewood Camps; two previously designated Pine Tree zones, the FairPoint property on Route 3 and the former Gazelle property at the intersection of Routes 202, 9 and 137; and land at the base of Branch Pond.

Expenditures proposed to town meeting voters are as follows:

Art. 6: $8,000 toward the town administration budget for TIF-related work, $38,169 for China’s FirstPark fee, $15,000 for the China Region Lakes Alliance, $2,500 for China Community Days, $500 for Mid-Maine Chamber of Commerce dues and $5,000 toward compensation for a bicentennial events coordinator.

Art. 7: Up to $50,000 for engineering and planning work associated with economic development projects selectmen might plan and propose to voters.

Art. 8: Up to $750,000 for three fiscal years (July 1, 2017, to June 30, 2020) for the causeway project at the head of China Lake’s east basin.

Art. 9: Up to $25,000 to establish a revolving loan fund to assist town businesses, managed by the Kennebec Valley Council of Governments.

Art. 10: Up to $20,000 for ARI, the Alewife Restoration Initiative aimed at bringing alewives back to China Lake.

Art. 11: Up to $40,000 for trail and entrance improvements at Thurston Park, the town-owned preserve in northeastern China. China’s TIF committee and budget committee recommend voters approve all the TIF articles