by Mary Grow

China Codes Officer Paul Mitnik recommended and selectmen, at their July 24 meeting, accepted guidelines for monetary penalties for ignoring the state’s Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code (MUBEC) requirements.

Mitnik’s major problem – which he said is infrequent – is that contractors or homeowners fail to call him for the inspections MUBEC requires at different stages of a building, like the foundation, the framing and the insulation.

When Mitnik finds a violation has occurred, the law empowers him to take down enough of the new construction to do the inspections. He prefers not to use this option, he said; he is more likely to ask questions to try to determine if the work was done to code and to ask selectmen to approve a consent decree with a monetary penalty.

The guidelines are intended to make monetary penalties more consistent. The maximum Mitnik recommends is $500 for an uninspected foundation; the minimum, no fine at all if he can do an after-the-fact inspection, for example for a garage with framing still visible.

If Mitnik believes the violation is deliberate he can double the penalties; and some penalties, notably the $100 for ignoring a stop-work order, are imposed every day of the violation, rather than being one-time. Board members unanimously approved the guidelines.

In other business July 24, selectmen unanimously accepted the higher of two bids for the woods truck formerly used by the Weeks Mills volunteer fire department, $3,500 from a Madison resident.

On a 4-1 vote, with Ronald Breton opposed, they pre-approved an additional tract in Thurston Park for selective timber harvesting, conditional on the Thurston Park II Committee recommending the additional work. The committee and the selectboard previously approved cutting in four areas, totaling about 39 acres; the new area, as shown on a map distributed at the meeting, appears to be about five acres.

The map indicates that the work is about half done. Income from the harvest will go into a fund to support park expenses.

Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Committee member Tom Michaud told selectmen the committee asked three engineering firms for designs for a replacement bridge on Causeway Road at the head of China Lake. He hopes to have designs before the selectmen’s Aug. 7 meeting.

Selectmen unanimously appointed Dawn Castner a member of the China for a Lifetime Committee.

They signed the annual state road certification form, promising that $54, 200 in state road funds will be used for capital improvements. Town Manager Daniel L’Heureux said China annually spends several times that amount on paving and other capital expenditures.

by Mary Grow

China selectmen approved, barely, Town Manager Daniel L’Heureux’s recommendations on replacing two town trucks with new ones.

At the July 10 selectboard meeting, L’Heureux said he had two bids on a tandem-axle plow truck and three on a one-ton single-axle plow truck. He recommended the following:

• An International tandem-axle, at a price of $125,000, minus $55,000 for trading in the 2008 tandem-axle, plus $78,995 for plow equipment to be provided by Howard P. Fairfield.
• An International single-axle for $71,000, minus $25,000 trade-in, plus $55,500 for plow gear, also from H. P. Fairfield.

Selectman Ronald Breton said he talked with the mechanics who maintain China’s truck fleet and on the basis of his conversations wants to trade in a 2015 truck that he said the mechanics said is underpowered and already rusting, not the 2008 that he called “the best truck the town has.”

Breton had invited Bill Bickford or one of his employees to the July 10 meeting, but no one was able to come.

L’Heureux replied that as town manager responsible for spending tax dollars, he considered financial factors over the life of each vehicle in making his recommendation. In general, he said, he tries to trade in a vehicle at about 10 years old to maximize value and avoid major repair costs.

Selectmen met July 10 in the old town house beside the town office. The idea was not a total success; although board members enjoyed looking at historic items before the meeting opened, they found the building too warm and, after dark, too mosquito-infested for comfort.
Contributed photo

The 2008 truck, he said, is at its peak for trading in; in another year, it will lose value, down time will increase and repair bills will mount, especially as outdated equipment becomes more expensive to work on or replace.

The 2015 truck was adjusted after the town bought it and now is “plenty strong enough to do the plowing that we do,” the manager said. It is also more fuel-efficient than an older truck.

Selectmen voted 3-2, with Joann Austin, Irene Belanger and Chairman Neil Farrington in the majority and Jeffrey LaVerdiere joining Breton in opposition, to accept the manager’s recommendations.

In other business, L’Heureux said road repaving is likely to start by mid-August. Work is to be done on Dirigo, Hanson and Bog roads and Parmenter Terrace. The manager said owners of two private roads piggy-backed on the town’s paving bid to get the lower price associated with a larger contract; the road owners will pay for the work done on their roads. Selectmen authorized the manager to sign necessary documents to complete two voter-approved actions: purchase of land adjoining town-owned land around the town office; and transfer of the former portable classroom, now stored on the town’s Alder Park Road property, to the South China Library Association, which will pay the cost of moving it.

L’Heureux said Jack Lord has designed a septic system for the first former portable classroom, set up near the town office as a future emergency shelter, and he has quotes for doing the work. Selectmen also plan a new well to serve the emergency shelter and, they hope, the town office. The current well is contaminated from the salt pile that stood behind the town office for many years; selectmen hope to find better water elsewhere on the enlarged property.

Selectmen appointed Robert Batteese a member of the Revolving Loan Fund Committee. L’Heureux plans to advertise for a secretary for the budget committee and members of the bicentennial committee that Farrington heads.

Farrington said he intends to add internet service and a handicapped ramp at the town-owned former Weeks Mills schoolhouse and use it as bicentennial headquarters.

At Farrington’s suggestion, selectmen met July 10 in the old town house beside the town office. The idea was not a total success; although board members enjoyed looking at historic items before the meeting opened, they found the building too warm and, after dark, too mosquito-infested for comfort.

The next China selectmen’s meeting is scheduled for Monday evening, July 24.

by Mary Grow

The three board members at the China Planning Board’s June 27 meeting unanimously approved the only application on their agenda, allowing Keith Knowles to enlarge his heating, ventilation and air conditioning equipment business at 1097 Route 3.

Knowles said the small addition on the back of the building will provide more office space. He plans to increase the office staff from three to four people. Two abutters who attended the meeting expressed no objection to Knowles’ application.

Board members canceled the meeting that would have been Tuesday evening, July 11, because Codes Officer Paul Mitnik will be on vacation the week of July 3 and would not have time to process any applications that come in. The next regular meeting will be Tuesday evening, July 25, unless an urgent application requires an earlier special meeting.

Tom Michaud and Ralph Howe suggested two items for a future agenda: whether an Airbnb, a use not specifically mentioned in town ordinances, should be treated as a commercial operation, and how planning board activities can better be announced and explained to town residents.