China nomination papers available for November election

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by Mary Grow

China’s municipal elections for members of the select board, planning board and budget committee will be held Tuesday, Nov. 7. Nomination papers are now available at the town office; Friday, Sept. 8, is the deadline for returning signed papers to be on the local ballot.

Select board members are elected from the town at large. Some positions on the planning board and budget committee are filled by district. A map of China’s four districts is on the website china.govoffice.com, under the Planning Board subheading under the main heading Officials, Boards & Committees.

Positions to be filled this year are:

  • On the select board, two seats. Members whose terms end this year are board chairman Wayne Chadwick and Jeanne Marquis.
  • On the planning board, three seats: District One (northwestern China; Michael Brown is the incumbent); District Three (southeastern China; the incumbent, Walter Bennett, resigned this month and will not seek re-election); and alternate at large, elected from anywhere in town (Natale Tripodi is the incumbent).
  • On the budget committee, three seats: District One (northwestern China; Kevin Maroon is the incumbent); District Three (southeastern China; Michael Sullivan is the incumbent); and the chairman, elected from anywhere in town (Thomas Rumpf is the incumbent).

In addition to the positions for which candidates are needed for the Nov. 7 election, town officials are looking for volunteers to be appointed to fill vacant positions on the planning board and budget committee.

The District Four (southwestern China) planning board position has been vacant all year; an appointee would serve until the November 2024 local election. Because of Bennett’s resignation, the District Three seat is empty; that appointee’s term would run until Nov. 7, and he or she could run for election to a full two-year term, until November 2025.

Budget committee secretary Trishea Story resigned after this spring’s pre-town meeting deliberations. This position can be filled by a resident of any part of the town; an appointee would be expected to serve until the November 2024 election.

China broadband committee set to present request to select board

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by Mary Grow

China Broadband Committee (CBC) members held a short meeting Aug. 10, primarily to approve a request to select board members before that board’s Aug. 14 meeting.

CBC members’ focus is on applying for a state grant through the Maine Connectivity Authority (MCA) to extend and improve internet service to China residents. They are working through Direct Communications, an Idaho-based company that promotes rural broadband, and its local subsidiary, Unitel, of Unity, Maine.

The second round of applications is due in September. Having not been awarded funds in the previous round, CBC members hope to do better this time.

CBC chairman Robert O’Connor had drafted a letter supporting the application for select board members to sign. Committee members unanimously approved it. He also intended to ask people who signed supporting letters for the first application in the fall of 2022 to re-sign and re-date them.

O’Connor said Direct Communications will be the grant applicant, with China a proposed recipient. MCA procedures have changed, and the maps that supposedly show what areas need better service – or any service at all – have been made more detailed, he said.

Another CBC meeting is scheduled for 4 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 17, in the portable building in the town office complex, to continue grant application planning.

China transfer committee discusses rude behavior at transfer station

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by Mary Grow

China transfer station committee members continued to discuss rude behavior by a few users of China’s transfer station at their Aug. 8 meeting.

Committee chairman Paul Lucas witnessed one instance. He was 30 yards away, but could plainly hear a man who was “yelling” at station manager Tom Maraggio.

“I couldn’t believe the way he was talking to you,” Lucas said.

Maraggio and the rest of the staff are required to enforce regulations that are set by the state, the Town of China and the agreement between China and Palermo under which Palermo residents use the China facility.

Maraggio said unpleasant incidents are uncommon. The majority, but not all, offenders are Palermo residents, and the blue bags they are required to buy are often a cause.

Ever since the China-Palermo agreement was signed in 2016, Palermo residents have been required to use the bags. They, like China residents, have an RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tag on their rearview mirrors.

The current contract calls for the price of the blue bags to be adjusted annually in January. As of January 2023, an on-line site says a roll of eight 15-gallon bags costs $12.80, a roll of five 30-gallon bags $14. Apparently some people have ignored the bag requirement and get upset when they are caught.

Palermo’s two representatives on the committee had no sympathy for people who take out their annoyance on transfer station personnel. Robert Kurek, who chairs the town select board, said if Maraggio can provide names, he will talk with offenders.

Incidents are recorded on the cameras at the transfer station. Committee members discussed ways of discouraging rude behavior.

A related problem is that China and Palermo residents alike let people from other towns use their RFID tags. Committee members have discussed requiring new tags with the vehicle license plate on them and an annual sticker.

No action has been recommended, because China Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood believes both towns’ residents should pay for a new tag and Kurek thinks Palermo residents should not. Kurek suggested China take the cost of Palermo’s tags from the annual fee Palermo pays China.

The good news at the Aug. 8 meeting was a report from the Municipal Review Committee (MRC), the organization representing the towns that used the recycling facility in Hampden until it closed in May 2022.

Lucas shared copies of an email from MRC executive director Michael Carroll, who reported that Innovative, new owners of the facility, had conducted a small, successful demonstration in preparation for reopening. The demonstration used about 30 tons of solid waste from five towns near the facility.

No information is yet available on a reopening schedule. Meanwhile, China’s waste is landfilled in Norridgewock.

Committee member James Hsiang asked about promoting recycling. Maraggio replied that there is less reason to do so because prices for recycled materials are low. For many materials, shipping costs exceed revenue, to the point where recycling adds to, instead of reducing, disposal costs.

For example, he said, the price of recycled cardboard used to be $150 a ton; now it’s $40 a ton. China still recycles corrugated cardboard; he figures the town is breaking even, but not earning revenue.

Transfer station committee members scheduled their next meeting for 9 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 12.

China board finishes review of proposed town solar ordinance

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by Mary Grow

China Planning Board members finished review of the proposed town solar ordinance at their Aug. 8 meeting, so co-chairman Toni Wall could send it to select board members before that board’s Aug. 14 meeting.

Wall said she would also forward recommended amendments to the Planning Board Ordinance. Voters could be asked to approve or reject either or both amended documents in November, if select board members decide to put them on a local ballot.

Wall announced that District Four planning board member Walter Bennett has resigned, effective immediately. There are now two vacant seats, District Three (southeastern China) and District Four (southwestern China).

Any resident of either district, as shown on the district map under Planning Board (under Officials, Boards & Committees) on the website china.govoffice.com, may contact the town office to express interest in being appointed.

Planning board members approved two of the three permit applications on their Aug. 8 agenda. They found the third one unready for action.

Approved were:

  • Michael Brown’s application to reopen a general store in the 9 Main Street building, in China Village, that was for many years a general store under successive owners; and
  • Michelle Bourque’s application for the existing Busy Bee daycare associated with Grace Academy, at 363 Route 3, in South China, a primarily administrative change that required planning board action.

Brown is a planning board member. During review of his application, he moved out of his chair among board members, participated in discussion only to answer questions and did not vote.

He said he has an agreement to buy the former store building as soon as the present owner’s new house is ready. His preliminary plan is to run a butcher shop and delicatessen – not a convenience store, not a sit-down café, not immediately a pizza shop.

He will not sell gas, and the underground tanks have been removed. Proposed operating hours listed in his application are 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. seven days a week. He plans to keep the residential quarters in the back (west) part of the building, with a separate entrance.

Bourque, Grace Academy’s executive director, explained that the daycare has been licensed through the academy as long as it served only home-schooled youngsters. She wants to add public-school students and therefore needs a Maine state license, which requires a local planning board permit.

The only physical change planned is probable future addition of a fence around the playground behind the building. Operating hours will be regulated by demand.

The permit might not be used, Bourque said. She has accepted a full-time kindergarten teaching position out of town, and will open in China only if she finds qualified people to do the day-to-day work. She is proceeding with the preliminaries anyway.

Planning board members decided neither application needed a public hearing, since neither proposal was new to its neighborhood. They found both projects met all town requirements and approved them unanimously.

The third application was from Valery Flannery, who said she and her husband are selling their 166 Weeks Mills Road property. On the 5.1-acre lot are their house and garage and a separate daycare building. The daycare closed June 2, she said.

Their real estate agent suggested the Flannerys get advance approval to subdivide the property, in case a potential buyer wanted to rent multiple housing units.

Sorry, board co-chairmen Wall and James Wilkens said, “we can’t do that: we need to approve a specific application for a specific plan, not a concept. Should future owners choose to subdivide, they would need to apply to the board.”

The next regular China Planning Board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday evening, Sept. 12.

CHINA: Town appoints new codes officer; rec. committee member

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Discuss holding in-person town meetings, pre-pandemic

by Mary Grow

China select board members faced a long and varied agenda for their Aug. 14 meeting. They settled some items and postponed others for more discussion.

They unanimously approved the appointment of Zachary Gosselin, of China, as the new codes enforcement officer and health officer. Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood, who has been filling the codes enforcement position since Nicholas French left, expressed thanks to French for continuing to answer questions long-distance, and to others who have assisted her, especially deputy clerk Tammy Bailey.

Also appointed was Kevin Freeman as a member of the town recreation committee.

Select board members had planned to consider a November local ballot to present ordinances prepared by the planning board, a new solar ordinance and an amended planning board ordinance. However, Hapgood had not received the expected drafts for them to read.

Board members therefore postponed action to their Aug. 28 meeting. The ordinances will need review by the town attorney and approval by the select board to go to voters on Nov. 7; the deadline for warrant articles is Friday, Sept. 8.

Select board member Janet Preston reminded the others that they previously talked about asking voters whether they prefer the annual town business meeting in the spring to be an open meeting, as in pre-pandemic days, or a written ballot. She and Hapgood will discuss preparing an opinion survey for the polls Nov. 7.

Robert O’Connor, chairman of China’s broadband committee, gave select board members a letter supporting China’s application for a state grant to expand broadband access and asked them to sign it. They voted unanimously to do so.

O’Connor collected letters of support last fall, before an unsuccessful grant application, and is asking writers to re-sign and re-date them. The deadline for the next application is Sept. 14; awards are to be announced Nov. 17.

China residents who support China’s application for a grant in Cohort 2 of the Maine Connectivity Authority’s “Connect the Ready” program are invited to write letters addressed to China Broadband Committee and send them by email to bob@mainebob.com or by the postal service to Bob O’Connor, China Broadband Committee, 8 Great Oak Ln, South China ME 04358.

Another Aug. 14 select board decision was unanimous approval of the contract with Travis Mitchell for repairs and painting for the town office and associated buildings on Lakeview Drive, postponed from the July 31 board meeting (see the Aug. 3 issue of The Town Line, p. 3). Since the July 31 discussion, Hapgood and Mitchell had added more painting to the contract. Should other changes be needed, Hapgood and Mitchell said they and China Director of Public Services Shawn Reed will continue to work together.

Mitchell was the only bidder for the building repairs, and Hapgood said no one had submitted a bid to build the planned storage vault on the south side of the town office. She, select board members and building committee chairman Sheldon Goodine discussed reasons and options.

Reasons, they agreed, were mostly that local contractors have all the work they can handle, and this summer’s weather has not helped them keep to schedules. A lack of employees is another problem.

Board members will decide at their Aug. 28 meeting whether to seek bids for the foundation soon and the building early in 2023, or to postpone the whole project to 2023. They expect whenever the work is done, the cost will be higher than projected months ago.

Hapgood reported that China’s senior citizens’ fuel fund, which used federal ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funds to help senior residents pay fuel bills, needs to be renewed if it is to continue. So far, she said, $36,500 has been spent; $38,500 is left.

Board members supported continuing the program. Hapgood will check with the town attorney to see whether they can renew it or whether voter approval is required.

The manager said the town needs to change its website company. Board members accepted her recommendation to change to A2Z Computing Services, in Oakland, Maine, which she said does the Town of Albion’s website, among others.

Summer intern Bailee Mallett and staff members have been working on a new town logo, Hapgood reported. Select board members chose their favorite from samples she shared; Mallett will continue refining the logo.

In other business, select board member Jeanne Marquis said she attended a Palermo select board meeting at which residents discussed ways to minimize effects of, or perhaps block, the proposed LS power line, planned to bring wind-generated electricity from northern Maine to Coopers Mills. One suggestion, she said, was a town vote on a power line moratorium.

One of two proposed routes for the line would go through Albion, China and Palermo. Information is not yet available on when a final route will be chosen.

Board members took no action. As board chairman Wayne Chadwick pointed out, the issue is two-sided and complicated: people don’t want power lines cutting through their back fields and woods, but they do want power, especially renewable energy.

Kennebec County Sheriff’s deputy Ivano Stefanizzi repeated his usual warnings – beware of scams of all sorts, and don’t speed unless you want a ticket – and added another: don’t leave your car unlocked in the driveway, especially with the keys in it. Several cars have been stolen locally in recent days, he said.

China Lake Association vice president Eric Lind reported that the Maine Department of Environmental Protection has conditionally approved the association’s application for a 319 grant (named for the authorizing section of the federal Clean Water Act) to help improve China Lake’s water quality. He commended Hapgood for writing a supporting letter saying the local match would be in kind, not in money, and praised Bruce Fitzgerald for heading up projects.

The next regular China select board meeting is scheduled for Monday evening, Aug. 28. Hapgood hopes the agenda will include, in addition to questions postponed from the Aug. 14 meeting, the commitment of 2023-24 local taxes.

Page appointed China LPI

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At a short special meeting Thursday, Aug. 3, China select board members appointed Ryan Page the town’s licensed plumbing inspector (LPI).

The next regular China select board meeting is scheduled for Monday evening, Aug. 14. Comments on the South China boat landing are due at the town office by Friday, Aug. 11 (see The Town Line, Aug. 3, p. 3).

WINDSOR: Daycare for RSU #12 employees ready to open

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by The Town Line staff

At the July 18 meeting of the Windsor Select Board, Windsor Elementary School Principal Heather Wilson reported that she is very excited about the daycare that will be opening at the school for RSU #12 employees. The daycare would accommodate ages birth to five years old. The board then voted unanimously to instruct Codes Enforcement Officer Arthur Strout to inspect a site for a holding tank installation at the school’s daycare future site.

Wilson also reported four new hires at the school: one ed tech, one secretary, one physical education instructor and one support specialist.

Public Works supervisor Keith Hall reported much damage on town roads from downed trees. The Greeley Road, in particular, will need more work. Washouts have also been a problem and are being addressed.

Select board member Ray Bates brought forward the discussion of the Choate Road Bridge. Town manager Theresa Haskell reported that according to records, the last inspection was made in 2020, and found the bridge overall in fair condition. Since it is a state owned bridge, Hall said he would reach out to the Department of Transportation, in China, to see if the bridge can be assessed or if they have any recommendations moving forward.

The daycare would accommodate ages birth to five years old.

In other business, Haskell reported there has been only one application for the vacant animal control officer position, and that it is from a person who does the same for other surrounding towns.

  • A short conversation was brought up about an anonymous community member, who was not present at the meeting, who was concerned that perhaps they were being too friendly or lenient with their land, and they aren’t quite sure what they should do about it. They indicated they had allowed a person to stack some wood on their property for several years. They were fine with the arrangement. However, now the person has placed a portable shed on the property which the owners disagree with. They are not sure how to proceed. The select board recommended seeking legal advice.
  • Haskell informed the board she received a letter from Efficiency Maine indicating special funding opportunities for towns in upgrading their heating, cooling, ventilation, lighting and refrigeration systems. Select board member Tom McNaughton said he would assist Haskell in looking into this opportunity.
  • Haskell raised the possibility of resurrecting the conservation committee. She said she would like to see a five member panel. Several residents have expressed interest in becoming a member of the board. The town will also reach out to see if other residents would be interested.
  • Select board member William Appel Jr. indicated that his son Emmett is looking for some volunteer hours and would be willing to clean up at the boat landing on Savade Pond. The board expressed that would be greatly appreciated.

The next board meeting was scheduled for August 1.

Vassalboro planners deny resident permit to expand year-round home

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by Mary Grow

By their Aug. 1 meeting, Vassalboro Planning Board members had much more information on the application they postponed at their July meeting, from town records and from the applicant.

Peter Tomasz applied for an addition to his year-round home on Three Mile Pond. After discussion, board members unanimously denied his application, because they found the project failed to meet two requirements of the town’s shoreland zoning ordinance.

The house is about 20 feet from the high-water mark, within the current 25-foot setback. Such a non-conforming building is “grandfathered” and can continue to be used, but with limits. One is that it cannot be expanded more than 30 percent from its footprint in 1989; another is that no additions are allowed less than 25 feet from the high-water mark.

Board member and former codes officer Paul Mitnik had found a 1983 tax card (specific 1989 information is not always readily available, he commented). After discussion of when additions had already been made and much calculation of percentages, board members determined that the addition Tomasz designed would add more than 30 percent and therefore is not allowed.

They also found that part of the addition would be inside the 25-foot water setback; that, too, is not allowed.

Tomasz said a smaller addition was a lesser problem than moving farther from the water, which would make connecting the addition to the existing house difficult. When he left the meeting, he intended to see if he could develop a revised plan and submit a new application.

Board members had no other business. Their next regular meeting night is Tuesday, Sept. 5.

Mitnik said Vassalboro codes officer Robert Geaghan has submitted his resignation, effective in October. Geaghan was on vacation Aug. 1; Mitnik expects he will be at the September and October planning board meetings.

PALERMO: Hager Ent. chosen to pave two town roads

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by Jonathan Strieff

Palermo town council members, Bob Kurek, Ilene McKenny, and Pam Swift met July 27 to vote on bids for three 2023 paving projects, gather comments from community members concerned about the proposed LS Power transmission line , and offer updates on several ongoing municipal projects.

Thursday’s meeting began with the reading of bids from four contractors responding to the towns request for paving two sections of Banton Road and one section of Level Hill Road. Hager Enterprises Inc. was chosen unanimously without discussion. The council also voted unanimously without discussion to approve the minutes from the previous meeting and to accept warrant #15 to pay the municipal bills.

The majority of the meeting was spent gathering comments from the nine community members in attendance concerning the high-voltage transmission proposed by Missouri based LS Power to cross several Waldo County towns, connecting King Pine Wind in Aroostook County to the existing substation in Coopers Mills. Many expressed fears about how the electricity would interact with the aging Buckeye Petroleum distilled gas pipeline already present along the proposed route, as well as the risks posed by the blasting and drilling of ledge that would be necessary to complete the project. Others expressed concern about the impact of trucks and heavy machinery to posted and dirt roads along the route. One attendee encouraged those present to voice
their opposition at the Public Utilities Commission public meeting on September 23, while another participant claimed the PUC had already, “released all management authority,” of the project over to LS Power.

The council agreed to consider circulating a petition for a special town meeting to vote on new land use ordinances that could make the proposed route less cost effective to pursue.

The ongoing municipal business discussed included procedural changes to selling tax-acquired property. A new legislative package passed in Augusta stipulates towns must now contact the previous owner and list the property with a realtor for six months before putting it out to bid. Towns must also repay the previous owner any amount over the assessed value when the property sells.
The council also shared updates to the status of Waldo County Broadband Corporation. The 501c3 corporation was formed to act as a public utility to bring high speed internet to the towns of Palermo, Liberty, Montville, Searsmont, and Freedom without affecting the tax base and without going into debt. Unfortunately, promised funding from the state never materialized, leaving the corporation to act in an advisory role, negotiating an Internet Service Provider owned solution
with either Great Works Internet or Unitel.

The council also spoke to the draw down of Branch Mills pond ahead of dam work expected to start on July 31, changes to mooring guidelines in Sheepscot Lake and the creation of a Harbor Master position, delayed reimbursement from FEMA for road damage from rain storms this summer, and the need to obtain an FCC license for the fire and rescue radio operating at the town office.

Residents criticize current South China boat landing

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South China boat launch. (photo by Roland D. Hallee)

by Mary Grow

A long, well-attended, amicable and informative July 31 discussion of the boat landing in South China Village revealed a lot of overlapping issues and a variety of opinions.

Several of the almost two dozen residents who spoke criticized the present landing, at the foot of the dirt road named Town Landing Road that runs from Village Street to the lake. The area is full of mud and accumulated leaves; vehicles get stuck in the road, or damage nearby trees as they try to maneuver with limited room; there is inadequate space to park; and run-off down the road is polluting China Lake.

The last point was emphasized repeatedly, on environmental and economic grounds – China Lake is an asset to the town in both respects.

South China fire chief Richard Morse pointed out that the problem is not new. The landing has been full of mud and leaves the 50 years he’s been in town, he said. In 2007, he thought town officials had agreed to engineer the road to divert run-off.

Select board chairman Wayne Chadwick agreed there had been pollution-control measures, like plunge-pools, installed; but the town failed to maintain them “and they’re gone.”

Opinions on improving the situation varied widely. Three options are closing the landing completely; limiting use to carry-in canoes and kayaks (and swimming); or improving the area for use by all boaters, including owners of large party boats that one person said are already being launched there.

Speakers pointed out that China Lake has two other landings, in the west basin at East Vassalboro and off the causeway outside China Village at the head of the east basin. Completely closing the South China landing was not a popular idea, however – two speakers said it would be “a shame.”

The July 31 China public discussion was intended to inform select board members; no action was expected and none was taken. Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood welcomes additional comments, written or emailed, submitted by Friday, Aug. 11.

Several people, including some who now put their motorboats into the lake from the landing, recommended limiting access to hand-carried canoes and kayaks. The advantages they cited included fewer large vehicles both on Town Landing Road and in the village, less need for parking and more compatibility with swimming.

Morse was among those who considered it unfair to make residents of southern China drive to East Vassalboro or China Village to put their powerboats in the lake. He and others who agreed the landing should be open to all types of boats suggested ways to limit pollution from the access road; recommended continuing not to publicize the landing so it wouldn’t get as overbusy as the one at the north end of the lake; and talked about the driving distance from southern China to either other lake access point.

South China resident Robert Fischer’s emailed comments suggested doing something about the “prop-killing rock” not far off-shore.

If the landing is to remain open to all boaters, the next question was the road. People referred to an engineering study done this spring and to still-uncertain boundaries of the town-owned land as they discussed parking and especially whether to pave the road.

The majority said not to pave. Among them were China Region Lakes Alliance executive director Scott Pierz and Fire Road 54 resident Wayne Clark. Clark called a paved roadway “a runway for the water to go right into the lake.”

Alternatives like what Pierz called “crushed ledge,” used in camp road rehabilitation projects, or permeable pavers were recommended.

The lone proponent of paving was Chadwick, who argued that “Dirt needs constant maintenance” or pollution will not be abated. He recommended paving sloped toward the ditch on each side with a hump at the bottom to finish diverting water. A paved road, unlike a dirt one, won’t develop ruts channeling run-off into the lake, he added.

A related issue was access to the lake for the South China volunteer fire department. When select board member Janet Preston asked Morse, who is fire chief, how often the department used the landing, Morse replied, “Whenever there’s a fire down there.” So far, he said, he can remember only one instance.

Morse said the ideal situation for his department would be installation of a dry hydrant, a major undertaking because the hydrant would need access to water under the ice in winter and shallow water extends far from shore.

Two people asked about fire department access at Jones Brook (or Turtle Brook), which goes under Village Street a short distance west of the landing. Morse said his department would consider any options.

Three points garnered near-unanimous support:

  • Something effective needs to be done soon to improve the landing, in order to protect water quality and give boaters and nearby residents a more pleasant experience;
  • Whatever is done will need to be maintained; and
  • Improving the landing and maintaining the improvements will cost money.

Greene said the China Lake Association has applied for a state grant for work at the landing. He checked before the meeting and grant awards have not yet been announced.

Select board members will continue discussion of the issue at future meetings.