Five-hour town meeting focused on TIF, land development, first responders

Town meeting quorum was met when over 150 residents were present for the beginning of the annual meeting.
Photo courtesy of Dan L’Heureux

by Mary Grow

CHINA — China voters had three major issues to deal with at their annual town business meeting March 25: seven articles about the Tax Increment Finance (TIF) program, 10 articles about Land Development Code amendments and a new proposal to recompense emergency services volunteers.

They approved everything except one of the proposed Land Development Code changes. The meeting lasted five hours, and the by the end only about 50 of the 150 voters assembled early in the meeting were still there.

Voters rearranged the agenda to discuss the Land Development Code articles before the TIF questions. The articles were aimed at bringing China’s local ordinance into conformity with new state standards, with the focus on shoreland uses.

Former codes officer and current China Lake Association President Scott Pierz objected to most of the changes, calling the new proposals less protective of water quality and “a step backward” for China Lake. He repeatedly asked whether the planning board had considered other alternatives, rather than a simple choice between current rules and state rules, and whether there had been an independent legal review of the proposed changes.

Current codes officer Paul Mitnik offered explanations as requested. Sheri Wilkens feared the changes would create more work than Mitnik can handle in his part-time position. Her later amendment to add $20,000 to the town administrative budget for additional codes enforcement was defeated.

Voters rejected one proposed change, on a 31-41 vote with many abstentions. China’s rules will not change for measuring a non-conforming structure (one that fails to meet current requirements) in the shoreland when reviewing an application to enlarge it. After two hours’ discussion of land use, voters returned to the TIF articles, one amending China’s TIF program and six authorizing TIF expenditures. The amendment article needed an amendment: as written, it authorized selectmen to approve credit enhancement agreements anywhere in town, but they should be allowed only in TIF districts.

Meeting moderator Richard Thompson ruled the change permissible, because the document is a resolve, not an ordinance, and voters approved the amended amendment. Selectmen held a special meeting March 27 to make the change before forwarding the revisions to the state for expected approval. The revised TIF program incorporates the new Central Maine Power Company substation off Route 3 as a second revenue service. Town Manager Daniel L’Heureux told voters the original source, the expanded CMP power line, pays about $270,000 annually and the revised estimate for the substation is $80,000 a year.

The longest discussion about TIF expenditures was over the proposed causeway project, aimed at expanding boating and fishing opportunities at the head of China Lake’s east basin. Many details remain to be worked out, because, TIF Committee Chairman Amber McAllister explained, committee members did not want to spend time and money on detailed plans before voters authorized the $750,000 requested over three years.

The proposal to set aside $40,000 from China’s surplus account to compensate fire and rescue personnel for time and service got about 10 minutes’ debate before being approved by a large majority. South China Fire Chief Richard Morse repeated his department’s position that rescue personnel but not firefighters should get stipends; China Village Chief Timothy Theriault repeated his department’s position in favor of the proposal and said he has collected ideas for implementing it from neighboring departments.

Annual municipal expenditures were approved with minimal discussion. Afterward, Town Manager Daniel L’Heureux said roads to be repaved out of the $741,473 highway appropriation include Parmenter Terrace, Bog Road, Hanson Road, part of Parmenter Road and maybe part of Dirigo Road.

Miscellaneous pieces of information from town meeting discussion include:

  • L’Heureux said China got about $15,000 in income from FirstPark this year, in return for almost $38,000 as its assessment for the park. The 2017-18 assessment of slightly over $38,000 will come from the TIF fund, as did the current year’s assessment.
  • The recent decision of Oakland Police Department members to unionize will not affect the contract between China and the five members of that department who are China’s police force.
  • During the current year, L’Heureux said, selectmen used money from their $45,000 contingency fund to improve handicapped access to the former classroom behind the town office so the building could be used for November 2016 voting. The contingency request was increased to $55,000 for next year – and approved – because it has not increased for about 10 years.
  • China has no debt and no plans to incur any, the manager said. Voters applauded. • Transfer Station Committee Chairman Frank Soares said the amendments to two solid waste ordinances that voters approved in no way move toward a pay-per-bag system.
  • L’Heureux said the refund voters authorized accepting from the Penobscot Energy Recovery Company as the town transfers to the new Fiberight facility amounts to more than $17,000, with more refunds likely in 2018.

In addition to making decisions, voters heard short presentations from their state legislators, Sen. Roger Katz and Rep. Timothy Theriault; the Thurston Park II and TIF Committees; and Selectman Irene Belanger on behalf of FirstPark. They recognized China’s volunteer firefighters, rescue personnel, committee members and police force. They applauded the volunteers running China’s LakeSmart program, recipients of the Spirit of America award; Town Clerk Rebecca Hapgood after Belanger announced that the town report Hapgood and the rest of the office staff prepared earned a superior rating from the Maine Municipal Association; and Debbie Dinsmore, in absentia, for the flowers she sent to decorate the meeting room.

New books at Albion library

The following new books are now available at the Albion Public Library:

New books about Benedict Arnold’s capture of Fort Ticonderoga, on Lake Champlain, and his trip up the Kennebec River, to Québec City. Benedict Arnold’s Navy, by James Nelson; Voices from a Wilderness Expedition, by Stephen Darley. Through a Howling Wilderness, by Thomas Desjardin.

Also, Lost Villages of Flagstaff Lake, by Alan Burnell and Kenny Wing; The One-in-a-Million Boy, by Monica Wood; The Secret Wisdom of the Earth, by Christopher Scotton; Mayflower, by Nathanial Philbrick; Statesman: George Mitchell and the Art of the Possible, by Douglas Rooks; and Hey Ranger!, by Jim Burnett.

 

Project Learning Tree workshops at China school

China School’s Forest will be hosting two Project Learning Tree Workshops for adults in April. Each workshop will feature hands-on activities and lesson ideas for kids ages K-8. Both workshops will begin with a short introduction to Project Learning Tree and then we will head out into the forest for interactive sessions with trained facilitators. Lessons are interdisciplinary including connections to children’s literature and language arts activities. If you are an educator (formal or informal), community volunteer, scout leader, naturalist, natural resource professional, land trust member, homeschooling parent or just want to learn some great ways to teach kids about the forest, this workshop is for you. Workshops are rain or shine so come prepared for the weather. Sign up by April 8. Space is limited to 20 participants per workshop, FMI – Contact Anita Smith at 968-2255 or chinaschoolsforest@gmail.com.

Visit them on facebook at China School’s Forest – China, Maine.

Cost is $50 per participant and includes the Project Learning Tree K-8 activity book with 96 lessons, opportunities to network with resource professionals, tour the award-winning China School’s Forest and gain new skills to make nature learning fun.

Location: China Primary School, 763 Lakeview Drive, China, ME 04358.

Workshop 1 – Thursdays, April 13 and 27 (must attend both sessions) from 3 p.m. – 6 p.m.
Workshop 2 – Saturday, April 29 from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. Bring a bag lunch and drink.

 

Kennebec Initiative aims to reduce child abuse and neglect in the county

The Kennebec Valley Community Action Program (KVCAP) was awarded funding from the Maine Children’s Trust to implement a three-year pilot project charged with preventing child abuse and neglect in Kennebec County. This is the second round of funding for these prevention grants. Grants have also been awarded to the child abuse and neglect councils in Somerset, Franklin, Androscoggin, Penobscot and York counties.

Kennebec County rates in substantiated child abuse and neglect have been on the rise in the last year. Babies under the age of one are by far the age group most affected by child maltreatment in Kennebec County as well as across the state. Identifying risk factors such as substance abuse, domestic violence, and poor mental health is vital in order to develop responsive prevention strategies that support families throughout the entire county.

In partnership between DHHS and the Maine Children’s Trust, KVCAP will lead the Kennebec Initiative. A local community group will be established and will include key community stakeholders and people who work with children and families throughout the county. This group will focus on identifying gaps in programs and supports for families and select relevant evidence-based prevention strategies. Members will engage in a strategic planning process that will ultimately help coordinate and enhance child abuse and neglect prevention services in this region.

For more information about the Kennebec Initiative, please contact Lanelle Freeman at 207-859-1577 or lanellef@kvcap.org.

 

CHINA NEWS: TIF meeting brings explanation of changes

by Mary Grow

The March 20 public hearing on proposed amendments to China’s TIF (Tax Increment Financing) document brought both explanations of the changes and a more nuanced view of the whole TIF process.

Voters at the March 25 town meeting, scheduled for 9 a.m. at China Middle School, will accept or reject the proposed amendment, a three-page document with an addition and a map, when they act on Art. 5 in the 56-article warrant.

Assessor William Van Tuinen said four changes are proposed.

1) China’s TIF, initially created in 2015, would be extended from 20 years to 30 years.
2) The new Central Maine Power Company substation off Route 3 would become an additional revenue source. Taxes from the expanded CMP power line, the original TIF revenue source, bring in about $260,000 a year, according to Town Manager Daniel L’Heureux. He estimated earlier this month the substation would add about $60,000 annually.
3) Additional areas in town would be available for economic development, as shown on the map. They include an area on Route 3 around the former Fairpoint building; a small parcel on the northwest corner of the intersection of Routes 202, 9 and 137 north of China Village; the newly acquired town land on Lakeview Drive opposite the former Candlewood Camps; and an area around Branch Mills dam.
4) Selectmen would be authorized to enter into credit enhancement agreements, under which an entrepreneur is encouraged to open or expand a business in a TIF area by promising a partial or full rebate of the additional taxes generated by the project. Van Tuinen emphasized that such partial tax relief is not an entitlement; selectmen decide when it would be in the town’s interest.

The point of a TIF, Van Tuinen said, is to shelter the additional property valuation created by new development, making it not count toward the state’s valuation of the town. The advantage is that the higher a town’s valuation in the state’s eyes, the more it contributes to county taxes and the less it receives in state aid to schools and state revenue sharing.

Were China not to have a TIF, for the first two years the entire taxable value of a new development would go into the tax base, perhaps lowering taxes for everyone. However, when the state caught up with the new value in two years, higher county taxes and lower state aid would offset 65 to 70 percent of the gain.

South China resident Richard Morse argued that having the full value of the new taxes for two years and up to 35 percent afterward was useful, and China should not have a TIF. He called the program “a confusing bureaucratic mess that nobody can understand very well,” a characterization with which L’Heureux sympathized.

However, the manager said, the program is competitive. If other towns have TIFs and China does not, China’s valuation, in the state’s eyes, rises in comparison to theirs, and China pays more and gets less. For example, he said, Augusta has $149 million in valuation protected under the TIF program, shifting a larger share of the county tax burden to the other Kennebec County municipalities.

“If you don’t play the game, you’re on the losing end,” the manager concluded.

Morse, unconvinced, said he thinks lower taxes are more important than the projects on which voters will decide whether to spend TIF money, citing specifically the TIF Committee’s planned fishing platforms and other improvements near the boat landing at the head of China Lake’s east basin.

Articles 6 through 11 in the town meeting warrant ask voters to approve proposed expenditures from China’s TIF funds.

CHINA NEWS: Chief scolds selectmen on proposed stipend article

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

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

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

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

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.