Windsor board addresses projects, school concerns and community safety amid crime rise

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by The Town Line staff

During the May 23 Select Board meeting, Keith Hall of Public Works reported that winter sand supply is on track, while the schedule for paving work remains uncertain. Local officials are also working on cost-saving measures in collaboration with Marvin Clark.

Transfer Station authorities praised local composting initiatives, with Sean Teekema announcing the rollout of a composting survey. Windsor Fair Association representatives are set to discuss compost site matters in a future meeting, and resurfacing works for the Transfer Station roadway are also in the pipeline.

A vacancy for an Animal Control Officer position will be advertised on the town website and local office, while the Cemetery Sexton reported four recent burials and outlined plans for Veterans Remembrance Day. Dwight Tibbetts is planning a fundraising event, and Joyce Perry suggested changes to the town website to highlight the town’s need for cemetery land.

Local school district RSU #12 will have a budget meeting on May 24, 2023. A resident brought up the concern of using Windsor School as a voting location, noting its disruption to students and proposing changes. The Select Board will consult Superintendent Howard Tuttle to address these issues.

During public comment, residents raised issues about cemetery plot sales and concerns over increased crime rates in the area. The Select Board approved Warrants #51 and #52 and granted several requests from the town manager, including CMP pole placement and safety grant proceedings.

The meeting concluded with a brief executive session to discuss personnel matters.

Windsor select board approves major road construction contract

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by The Town Line staff

At its May 9 meeting, the Windsor Select Board approved several major decisions in its recent meeting, including the awarding of road construction and mowing contracts, and acknowledging a resignation of an Animal Control Officer.

The select board, chaired by Ray Bates, accepted a bid from Maine-ly Paving Services, LLC, of $267,692.50 for up to eight major road construction and paving projects in the fiscal years 2023 and 2024. The bid was one of five returned from the six requests for proposals that had been sent out.

A bid from Pierce Works LLC for $4,800 for a single mowing service was also approved. Brush cutting will be charged separately at a rate of $4,000 per mile. The exact areas for brush cutting will be determined at the discretion of the Public Works Supervisor, Keith Hall.

Kim Bolduc-Bartlett, the town’s Animal Control Officer, announced her resignation, effective June 1, 2023. The town plans to advertise for a replacement on its website and at the Town Office.

The board approved Warrants #49 and #50, and it reviewed the Warrant and Notice of Election Calling for the Regional School Unit #12 Budget Validation Referendum.

The Household Hazardous Waste Collection Day was hailed a success. The cost of the collection amounted to $3,735.55, but the expense for the Town of Windsor was only $500. The board expressed interest in conducting the event again next year.

Additionally, a proposal was made to update the Recycling and Dump Ordinances, and the idea will be explored further by the Transfer Station Committee.

Public Works Supervisor Keith Hall reported on various updates, including road and culvert repairs, and ongoing collaboration with the Town of Vassalboro Public Works Department.

The Town Manager, Theresa L. Haskell, reported on various items, including the approval of a motion to convert an inactive Bridge Statement Savings Account into a two-year Certificate of Deposit, and an update on the Central Maine Power (CMP) Section 80 Project.

Vassalboro planners approve two site review applications

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The new Oak Grove Foundation building will be located behind the historic Oak Grove Chapel, pictured.

by Mary Grow

Vassalboro planning board members approved both site review applications on their June 6 agenda.

Kassandra Lopes has a permit to run a retail store in one of two existing buildings Raymond Breton owns on the east side of Main Street, in North Vassalboro; and the Oak Grove School Foundation has a permit for a new building behind the historic Oak Grove Chapel, on Oak Grove Road, near the Riverside Drive (Route 201) intersection.

Lopes said she is currently selling clothing and displaying art works, her own and those of other, mostly local, venders. She seldom has more than half a dozen people in the building at a time.

Board members have reviewed and approved new uses of the building frequently – five times, Breton said. Lopes said she plans no changes to the building or the landscape.

The Oak Grove Foundation’s building is to have two main purposes: it will provide a meeting room for the foundation’s board and a “caretaker’s cottage,” a home for someone who will be designated the Oak Grove Chapel caretaker.

Foundation spokesmen Jody Welch and Susan Briggs and contractor Lance Cloutier explained that the project includes a new leachfield and a new well.

They plan to use existing parking spaces. Welch said should they occasionally need more parking, they and the adjacent police academy have an informal agreement that each can use the other’s lot for overflow parking.

The new building will include a kitchen and bathrooms that can be used when there are functions in the chapel. Be­cause the chapel is listed as a historic building, planners did not want to add modern facilities there, Welch explained.

The Oak Grove Chapel dates from 1786, Briggs said. It was renovated in 1895. Until recently it had been used intermittently in warm weather (there is no heat) for reunions, weddings and other functions.

Welch and Briggs said construction on the new building is scheduled to start immediately. They hope the chapel will see more use.

Planning board members scheduled their July meeting for the second Tuesday evening, July 11, instead of the usual first Tuesday, which is Independence Day this year.

China and Vassalboro voting results from June 13, 2023

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Vassalboro balloting

by Mary Grow

Vassalboro Town Clerk Cathy Coyne reported the following results from the polls on June 13:

  • Vassalboro’s amended Site Review Ordinance, adding a chapter on commercial solar development and making other changes, was approved by a vote of 137 in favor to 44 opposed.
  • The 2023-24 school budget approved at the June 5 open town meeting was ratified by a vote of 158 in favor to 28 opposed.
  • Michael C. Poulin, the only declared write-in candidate for the select board, received 58 votes. Poulin will succeed Barbara Redmond, who is retiring from the board.
  • Running unopposed for re-election to the school board, Zachary Smith received 151 votes and Erin L. “Libby” Loiko received 136 votes.

China’s annual town business meeting voting

by Mary Grow

Voters participating in China’s June 13 annual town business meeting, conducted by written ballot, approved all 32 warrant articles, according to Town Clerk Angela Nelson.

Their votes funded municipal and related activities for the 2023-24 fiscal year, authorized select board members to take actions on their behalf and approved two revised town ordinances.

On a separate ballot, they approved the Regional School Unit #18 budget for 2023-24, by a vote of 230 in favor and 77 opposed.

The issue most discussed at public meetings in the first half of the year was proposed changes in the Board of Appeals section of China’s Land Development Code. Voters approved the amended ordinance by a vote of 185 in favor to 120 opposed, the closest vote of the day.

The amended Solid Waste Ordinance got 234 “yes” votes and 70 “no” votes.

The most popular expenditure was the appropriation of state snowmobile registration money to the Four Seasons Club (Art. 15), approved 285-24.

Nelson said 313 voters cast ballots.

Results were posted by mid-evening Tuesday on the town website, china.govoffice.com, under the Elections tab on the left side of the home page.

More discussion on use – and misuse — of China transfer station

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by Mary Grow

China transfer station committee members held another long and lively discussion at their June 6 meeting about the best way to make sure only people entitled to use the town’s transfer station do so.

The eligible people are residents of China and Palermo. China taxpayers support the facility; Palermo, by contract, sends an annual payment, in addition to money residents pay for the blue bags they need for their trash.

Current admission is by an RFID (radio frequency identification) tag hung from a vehicle’s rearview mirror. The problem is that some tag-holders lend their tags to unauthorized users, or keep them when they move out of town.

In the past, China used stickers attached to the vehicle. Committee members have said repeatedly that some people do not want stickers on their vehicles.

By the end of the discussion, committee members agreed they will recommend a new system. To enter the transfer station, a vehicle must have an RFID tag; and the tag must have a current-year sticker with the vehicle’s license number.

Transfer station manager Thomas Maraggio likes the RFID tags because the reader at the station makes an audible beep when a tag passes its camera. If a vehicle comes in and there is no beep, someone checks to see why not.

Adding the sticker with license number links the RFID tag to a specific vehicle.

The plan as of June 6 was to require stickers be renewed annually. The initial RFID tag would cost China residents $10, to cover the expense of buying them; Palermo residents’ tags would be free, as provided in the two-town contract. Stickers would be free for residents of both towns.

Exceptions to the policy will be developed for renters; people whose work means they regularly drive more than one vehicle (law enforcement personnel and car dealers were examples); and others who need an accommodation.

Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood intends to write up the policy for a final committee review before committee members forward it to the China select board.

Committee member J. Christopher Baumann commented a new policy will mean retraining facility users. There was consensus some people would be unhappy.

There was further consensus that some people – a minority – are already unhappy and express their displeasure by harassing staff members as they try to enforce regulations.

In other business, committee members began discussion of a request from Albion town officials to bring to the China transfer station items excluded from Albion’s curbside pick-up program, including white goods, electronics and light bulbs. The discussion will continue.

Maraggio gave committee members a progress report: the grant application for lighting in the free for the taking building was unsuccessful; the new shipping container for mattress storage is reportedly on its way; the recently installed heat pumps are working well; and the experts who recalibrated the scales predict another 10 years’ life for them.

Committee members scheduled their next meeting for 9 a.m. Tuesday, July 11.

China select board discusses how other town board members should be chosen

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by Mary Grow

China select board members’ main discussion topics at their June 5 meeting were how members of other major town boards should be chosen and how two sections of town road should be repaved.

Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood raised the first topic as an offshoot of board members’ review of proposed changes to China’s Planning Board Ordinance. She pointed out that currently China select board members are elected from anywhere in town, but four members of the planning board and four members of the budget committee are each elected from one of four districts.

Since all voters vote for all candidates, so that no board member “represents” a specific district, Hapgood questioned the value of districts.

Furthermore, she wondered whether the simpler appointment process would encourage more people to volunteer to serve on these boards. An appointed board member would not go through the signature-gathering process required for election.

Residents invited to fill out community resilience survey

China residents are invited to fill out the community resilience survey that was listed in the June 2 issue of China Connected, with an incorrect link. The correct link, https://forms.office.com/r/fSuy5raffD, is on the town website, china.gov.office.com, almost at the top of the center column.

The QR code on China Connected is correct. Copies of the survey will be available at the polls on June 13. Deadline for returning completed surveys is June 20.

Information on residents’ preferences is part of the town’s application for a community resilience grant through the Kennebec Valley Council of Governments.

The districts, select board members agreed, were initially created to promote varied views by spreading representation throughout the town. But, board chairman Wayne Chadwick said, diversity is personal, not geographic.

No action was intended or taken; the next step is consultation with budget committee and planning board members. Generally, the idea of abolishing the districts was favorably received.

Appointing budget committee and/or planning board members was less popular. Chadwick and resident (and former codes officer) Scott Pierz both said planning board members should be elected, because they have decision-making authority.

The roads discussed for repaving were Branch Mills Road and the part of the Pleasant View Ridge Road not done last year. The issue was whether the process called chip seal should be used.

First used on China’s South Road several years ago, chip seal involves a thin layer of asphalt topped with crushed rock. It is less expensive than a thicker layer of asphalt, but controversial. Motorists, and especially motorcyclists, object to the loose rock left for the first weeks after the work, and some residents have questioned how long chip seal lasts.

At their May 22 meeting, China select board members awarded the bid for summer road paving to the low bidder, Maine-ly Paving Services, LLC, of Canaan. Hapgood explained the two-step process chip sealing requires, and said if Maine-ly Paving did not have time, a second company, All States Construction, Inc., of Richmond, could fill in (at a slightly higher cost, but still less expensive than asphalt paving).

After review of alternatives, board members agreed unanimously to leave the decisions to the town manager.

In other business June 5:

  • Hapgood reported for Director of Public Services Shawn Reed that the portable traffic lights for use at road-work sites have arrived; and that an excavator had been used to removed a beaver dam causing flooding near Dutton Road.
  • The manager said more volunteers are needed to help plan and lead the annual China Community Days celebration, scheduled for Aug. 4 through 6.
  • Codes officer Nicholas French announced his resignation, effective the end of July. He and Hapgood hope a replacement will be chosen by the beginning of July for a month of training on local issues.

The town office will be closed Monday, June 19, for the Juneteenth holiday; will close at noon Friday, June 30, for end-of-year work, with a brief select board meeting that afternoon, mostly to pay final FY 2022-23 bills; and will be closed Tuesday, July 4, for the Independence Day holiday.

The next regular select board meeting will be Tuesday evening, June 20, instead of the usual Monday because of the holiday. Board members tentatively scheduled a Monday, July 3, meeting, and talked about holding it in the afternoon instead of evening.

Redmond thanked for many years of service on Vassalboro select board

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by Mary Grow

Vassalboro select board members discussed a variety of items at their June 8 meeting, the last for retiring board chairman Barbara Redmond.

Barbara Redmond

Senior board member Chris French thanked Redmond for her service, to applause from the audience in the town office meeting room. Red­mond expressed her appreciation to the town’s “small, small staff who get a lot done.”

Redmond then raised an issue on behalf of her road association members: the accumulation of “dog poop” at the Webber Pond boat landing. There was an earlier decision not to put trash cans there, fearing overuse; now, residents suggest a sign and plastic bags.

With no trash can, resident Joe Presti said, dog-walkers will leave bags all over the place. Town Manager Aaron Miller, smiling, asked if the bags should be considered a memorial commemorating Redmond’s service on the select board.

Board members and Miller will consider the issue.

The meeting began with opening of 18 bids for the tax-acquired property at 83 South Stanley Hill Road. The first one opened was from Mark Grenier, owner of Grenier Properties, in South China, for $112,000; the next highest was $83,210. Board members accepted Grenier’s bid.

Resident Amy Davidoff presented an update on broadband access in Vassalboro, a topic she has followed for the last few years. She has explored options for improvement in the parts of town that lack adequate service.

One option is cooperation with the Town of China, which is working with UniTel, in Unity, now a subsidiary of Idaho-based Direct Communications. Davidoff reported that Direct Communications intends to apply for Maine grant funds for China and is “interested in including the underserved areas of Vassalboro” in the application.

She invited select board members to send a letter of interest to UniTel. The letter would not obligate Vassalboro in any way; but it would let Direct Communications engineers evaluate Vassalboro’s needs, she said.

French and Redmond authorized Miller to send the letter of interest. Board member Frederick “Rick” Denico, Jr., was not present June 8.

The two board members also authorized Miller to pursue a community resilience grant, through a state program designed to help municipalities reduce emissions and otherwise combat or adapt to climate change.

Miller gave updates on three issues from the board’s May 25 meeting (see the June 1 issue of The Town Line, p. 3).

  • He had a meeting scheduled June 14 with people from the state Department of Transportation and the Vassalboro Sanitary District to talk about manhole covers in Main Street, in North Vassalboro.
  • State revenues paid to local school districts are based on two-year-old figures, so a valuation increase in 2023 will have no immediate impact on state funding for the Vassalboro school department.
  • Vassalboro’s year-end budget still looks good, “pretty much where we thought we would be.”

The next regular Vassalboro select board meeting is scheduled for Thursday evening, June 22. The town office will be closed Monday, June 19, for the Juneteenth holiday.

VASSALBORO: Voters have two written ballots on June 13

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by Mary Grow

Vassalboro’s annual town meeting did not end after voters acted on 38 articles Monday evening, June 5. They have two written ballots on Tuesday, June 13, with polls open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the town office.

One ballot is for local elections, for one member of the select board and two members of the school board.

For select board, there are only blank lines. Michael C. Poulin, of Vassalboro, is a declared write-in candidate. Incumbent Barbara Redmond is retiring.

For school board, incumbents Erin L. Loiko (“Libby”) and Zachary Smith seek re-election. There are two blank lines if a voter wants to write in someone else instead of one or both of those listed.

Instructions for write-ins are printed on the ballot.

The other ballot contains warrant Articles 39 and 40.

Art. 39 asks if voters want to approve the 2023-24 school budget that was adopted June 5. This school budget validation referendum has been standard in many Maine municipalities for years.

Art. 40 asks if voters want to amend Vassalboro’s Site Review Ordinance. If a majority approve, they will add to the ordinance a new Chapter XI titled “Performance Standards for Commercial Solar Energy Systems.”

The ordinance with proposed amendments is on the Town of Vassalboro website, under “What’s New in Vassalboro,” after several other items; it immediately follows the announcement of new Facebook and Instagram pages.

In the draft, the new section covers pages 18 through the top of 22. It sets out standards for building, operating, maintaining and decommissioning commercial solar farms.

Approval of the amended ordinance includes numerous lesser changes outside Chapter XI. Some complement the provisions dealing with solar farms – for example, chapters after XI are renumbered, and new definitions of “commercial solar energy system” and “solar energy system” are proposed.

Other changes clarify procedures or correct past omissions. For example, voter approval would add a requirement that a site plan application include the names of abutting property-owners. It would add definitions of multiple terms not specific to Chapter XI, like “buffer,” “property line,” “residential structure” and “setback.”

Windsor town office closed for voting June 13

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The Windsor Town Office will be closed on Tuesday, June 13, due to voting being held at the Windsor Elementary School.

Oakland creates new TIF district to support downtown revitalization

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Garvan Donegan

Encompassing 37.27 acres, the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development has approved a newly designated Downtown Tax Increment Finance (TIF) district within the Town of Oakland. The new district will allow the municipality to stimulate investment, encourage business expansion and retention, attract new businesses, and boost beautification initiatives while supporting the Town’s growing vibrancy.

“This newly-created TIF district will make a lasting impact in the Town of Oakland by making the downtown more investable, safer, more pedestrian-friendly, and directly aligns with the town’s vision of supporting business development and retention,” said Oakland Town Manager Ella Bowman. “I want to thank the municipal staff and town council who have worked to help advance this initiative, the Oakland Downtown Redevelopment committee for their dedication to this initiative, who was a key driver behind the project, and all the residents and community groups who voiced their support.”

Plans for TIF funding realized from the district will be utilized to support infrastructure, business growth, facade improvements, marketing the downtown, expanding and improving area trail connections, and more. Funding will also be leveraged to secure additional investment and incentivize business recruitment and retention in the district.

“Oakland is driving impact and support for residents, businesses, and remote rural workers through this project, incentivizing investment, cultivating new business attraction, and ultimately contributing to the overall economic well-being of the town and region,” said Central Maine Growth Council Director of Planning, Innovation, and Economic Development Garvan Donegan. “This newly-approved TIF district will create the necessary conditions to support economic development along Main Street and downtown revitalization in the Town of Oakland as a whole.”