Vassalboro planners approve one application, in part; discuss four other items

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by Mary Grow

With only one application on their agenda, and the proposed – and long-discussed – solar ordinance forwarded to the select board, Vassalboro Planning Board members had time to consider broader issues at their April 4 meeting.

The application was from Duane Ellis, seeking to expand his building at 27 Birch Point Road, on Webber Pond. He asked to enlarge the building footprint by no more than 30 percent, on the side away from the water; and to raise part of the roof by three feet.

Planning board members unanimously approved the first part of the application.

They were unable to authorize raising the roof, because Vassalboro’s Shoreland Zoning Ordinance sets height limits in the shoreland and Ellis’s building already exceeds them. Board members advised Ellis that he can apply to the Vassalboro Board of Appeals for a variance from the height limit.

Ellis praised the helpful state Department of Environmental Protection staff member with whom he had discussed other issues on his lot.

Planning board member Douglas Phillips asked his colleagues to consider four issues: a possible new ordinance, effects of a new state law and two procedural planning board documents.

First, he asked, given the water quality problems in Webber Pond, should board members consider asking voters to adopt a Phosphorus Control Ordinance, like the one China has had since 1993?

Part of the discussion of procedures at the April 4 Vassalboro Planning Board meeting covered the timing of submission of applications. Board members agreed that anyone wanting to be on a planning board agenda must submit an application to codes officer Robert Geaghan at least two weeks in advance.

Any application to be considered at the board’s May 2 meeting should be on Geaghan’s desk by Tuesday, April 18, at the latest.

The rationale is two-fold: Geaghan can review the application in time to distribute the agenda to board members by April 25, to give them a week to consider it; and he can forward the agenda to Vassalboro’s webmaster in time to get it on the website a week before the meeting.

(A copy of the China ordinance, chapter four of the town’s Land Use Ordinance, is on the website china.govoffice.org, under the heading Ordinances, Policies and Orders.)

A reason to consider such an ordinance is that Vassalboro still has undeveloped land around water bodies; requiring management of run-off should mean new development would not worsen water quality. But, board chairman Virginia Brackett asked, would it do enough good to matter?

Brackett suggested board members start with a review of Vassalboro’s strategic plan, adopted 17 years ago this June, instead of considering ordinances individually.

Phillips said he will ask Town Manager Aaron Miller if the opinion survey to be mailed out this summer with tax bills could include questions from the planning board – like whether residents would like a phosphorus control ordinance — if members choose to develop some.

Phillips’ second issue, on which board alternate member Dan Bradstreet (Waterville’s codes enforcement officer) had information, was the recent state law allowing more than one dwelling unit on a single-family lot. Designed to help alleviate the affordable housing shortage, Bradstreet said it is now in the rule-making stage, and is to take effect in July.

Right now, he said, “nobody knows what to do.” The law is complex, confusing and in places self-contradictory; the relationship to lot size and plumbing code requirements is unclear; even Maine Municipal Association attorneys with whom he talked “can’t agree on the meaning.”

Phillips had been reviewing old planning board documents and had questions about two. He recommended that board members review application forms to make sure they are complete. And he asked about a document called planning board rules of order.

Brackett commented that her copy of the rules is “so old it’s typewritten.”

In the past, planning board members served five-year terms, instead of the present two years; and at some point there were two alternate members, instead of one.

Board members thought two-year terms all right, but agreed to ask the select board to appoint a second alternate member. Their goal is to have one more resident well informed about board responsibilities and history.

Brackett thinks Vassalboro is in a minority of Maine municipalities whose planning board members are appointed rather than elected. She and Phillips approve of appointed members. They said election risks a complete membership turnover and a lack of consistency.

The next regular Vassalboro Planning Board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday evening, May 2.

China select board to hold hearing on CRP application

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The China Select Board will host a community workshop on Monday, April 24, at 5 p.m., at the town office to gather ideas for projects that would benefit the Town of China and its residents. The hearing is part of the application process for becoming a Community Resilience Partner (CRP) through Maine’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future.

The partnership costs China nothing and would allow China to become eligible to receive Community Action Grants and other support for projects that reduce carbon emissions, help us to move toward clean energy, and steer us to becoming more environmentally, socially, and financially resilient. The effects of climate change can have negative consequences on public health, roads and bridges, natural resources, and our overall long-term resilience as a community.

Enrolled partners are paired up with a regional coordinator who then helps develop future project ideas and apply for both state and federal grants to fund those projects. Some ideas batted around include: fixing the South China boat landing, sidewalks in China Village, rides for senior citizens, and digitizing town office records. What do you think?

Robyn Stanicki, of Kennebec Valley Council of Governments (KVCOG) is assisting China with the Community Resilience Partnership application process and will be at the workshop to answer questions, help us brainstorm, and prioritize. Please come share your ideas. If you cannot attend but would like to submit your ideas, please contact select board member Janet Preston at Janet.Preston@ChinaMaine.org.

For more information on Maine’s Community Resilience Partner program, please visit this link: https://www.maine.gov/future/climate/community-resilience-partnership.

China select board approves final warrant for business meeting

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by Mary Grow

Early in a series of unanimous decisions at their April 10 meeting, China select board members approved the final version of the warrant for the June 13 town business meeting.

The warrant has 32 articles. The one they did not previously approve asks voters to appropriate up to $43,000 from unassigned fund balance for a new fireproof storage vault for municipal records. It is now approved, and the whole warrant is ready for voters.

Copies of the warrant and of the two ordinances voters are asked to approve or reject are on the town website, china.govoffice.org.

Another unanimous vote adjusted fees at the transfer station. Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood explained that there are two changes:

  • Instead of being charged individually, bulky items, like pieces of furniture, will count as demo debris and be charged by weight; and
  • The fee for discarding passenger-car tires will increase from $4 each to $5 each.

Hapgood said China’s transfer station is not supposed to take out-of-town waste except under contract (as with Palermo). In the past, China accepted other towns’ recyclables, because disposing of them was slightly profitable. Prices have gone down and profit has disappeared.

Select board members voted unanimously to stop accepting recyclables from any towns except China and Palermo.

Recycling in-town materials does save money, Hapgood said, because it takes things out of the waste stream; getting rid of waste costs more than getting rid of recyclables.

The manager recommended board members ask codes officer Nicholas French and his part-time assistant, Dwaine Drummond, to update the list of penalties for land use violations and present it to select board and planning board members for their review.

Select board members agreed, and Hapgood said she would see if a draft could be available for the April 24 board meeting.

By additional unanimous votes, board members approved three expenditures:

  • They authorized Hapgood to sign a contract with the Maine Department of Public Safety to provide law enforcement dispatching for the next fiscal year (July 1, 2023 – June 30, 2024), at a cost of $49,089.24, money Hapgood said is already budgeted.
  • They agreed to buy portable traffic lights for use at road construction sites (so the public works crew can fix roads, instead of holding stop signs) for $48,960 from Northeast Traffic Technologies of Plymouth, Massachusetts; and to spend not more than $13,000 for an enclosed trailer to move the signs. The trailer will come from a local vendor, Hapgood said in a later email.
  • They accepted another one-year contract with attorney Amanda Meader, whose hourly rate Hapgood said will increase by 8.11 percent. Other towns pay their lawyers more than China does, the manager added.

Hapgood and, in their bi-weekly reports, other town officials announced pending events that include, in chronological order:

  • On Monday, April 17, China municipal departments will be closed for the Patriots’ Day holiday.
  • On Saturday, April 22, at the public works garage just west of the transfer station on Alder Park Road, household hazardous waste take-back day, 8 a.m. to noon (preregistration required). Information is available in a hand-out at the transfer station and in the April 7 issue of “China Connected.”
  • On Saturday, April 22, at the transfer station, drug take-back day, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
  • On Monday, April 24, at 5 p.m. in the town office meeting room, a public meeting to learn about and collect ideas for resiliency projects in China, with Community Resilience Coordinator Robyn Stanicki, of the Kennebec Valley Council of Governments; followed by a select board meeting.
  • Monday, May 1, is the deadline for applications for money from the Doris L. Young Scholarship Fund. Information is on the town website, under the heading Town Clerk, which is under Administration, which is under Town Departments.
  • Monday, May 8, at 6 p.m. in the town office meeting room, public hearing on June 13 warrant articles, followed by a select board meeting.
  • The annual Regional School Unit (RSU) #18 budget meeting and vote will be held Thursday, May 18, at 6 p.m. at Messalonskee High School Performing Arts Center in Oakland.

China budget committee endorses 2023-24 spending articles

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by Mary Grow

At a short April 3 meeting, China Budget Committee members reviewed and endorsed proposed 2023-24 spending articles in the warrant for China’s June 13 town business meeting.

Committee members had previously discussed the proposed budget at a March 7 meeting. They still had a few questions, and on some of the spending articles a member dissented or abstained. Each proposal received at least five recommendations.

After action on the draft warrant articles, Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood and committee chairman Thomas Rumpf jointly announced that committee secretary Trishea Story is resigning: the April 3 meeting was her last. Rumpf thanked her for her service.

The China Budget Committee’s seven members include one elected from each of China’s four districts (created in June 2006 to ensure geographical variety on the committee) plus a chairman, a secretary and an at-large member, all of whom can be from anywhere in town.

Members whose terms end this year are Rumpf, Kevin Maroon (district one, northwestern China) and Michael Sullivan (district three, southeastern China). China’s local elections will be held Nov. 7.

Hapgood said because Story’s term does not end in 2023, her replacement will be appointed by the select board rather than elected. The June 2006 Budget Committee Ordinance says the appointment is to be done “within 45 days of the date of resignation.”

The ordinance adds, “If there are two or more qualified candidates, the Select Board may at their discretion hold a special election to fill the vacancy.”

China planners approve one application; postpone all others

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by Mary Grow

China Planning Board members approved one application on their March 28 agenda and postponed everything else, instead making their recommendation on the amended Board of Appeals ordinance that will be on the June 13 town business meeting warrant.

Natasha Littlefield has a permit to open a 24-hour gym and fitness center at 9 Legion Memorial Drive, in South China, in the part of the former Farrington’s store not used by Phillip and Sandra McKinnis’s Blinds by Design.

Littlefield’s application says the gym, to be named Nash’s Gym, will be staffed Mondays through Thursdays from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Fridays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Members will have keys allowing access at any time.

She plans to share the existing parking lot. Her business, like Blinds by Design, will have a security system. She intends to add lights above entrances, which she said will not shine onto neighboring properties.

Littlefield said she and the McKinnises are in agreement; she had not discussed her plan with neighbors, but can if there are problems, like noise in the parking lot at night. Board members asked her to get a letter from the fire chief attesting to emergency vehicle access and an adequate water supply, and to designate handicapped parking.

Littlefield said she would like to open Nash’s Gym by mid-May, “but probably that’s not realistic.” She plans a Facebook page and a website.

The second application on the March 28 agenda was from surveyor Adam Ellis, on behalf of Timothy O’Brien and Maine-ly Lakefront Properties, LLC, of East Sandwich, Massachusetts. O’Brien wants to divide lot number three in the Killdeer Heights subdivision, at 436 Lakeview Drive, into four separate lots.

Several nearby landowners sent letters expressing concerns about or opposition to the subdivision. Some attended the March 28 meeting.

After Ellis presented the application, board members voted that it was complete and scheduled a site walk for 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 11, to be followed by a 6:30 p.m. public hearing in the town office meeting room. Both are open to the public.

Co-chairman Toni Wall proposed postponing discussion of changes to China’s Planning Board Ordinance in favor of making a recommendation to voters on amendments to the Board of Appeals Ordinance, which is currently Art. 32 on the draft June 13 town business meeting warrant.

The ordinance is Chapter 9 of China’s Land Development Code. The version in the warrant, and recommended by a majority of the select board, deletes a section most planning board members favor and includes a provision they do not like.

Nonetheless, citing the amount of work that has gone into preparing the ordinance, planning board members voted 3-1 to recommend voter approval, with Wall, Walter Bennett and Natale Tripodi in favor and co-chairman James Wilkens opposed.

At their March 27 meeting, select board members recommended approval on a 4-1 vote, with Jeanne Marquis dissenting. The proposed ordinance is on the website, china.govoffice.com, on the select board page, which is under the heading “Officials, Boards & Committees.”

Planning board members postponed consideration of action to implement the town comprehensive plan. Amber French, one of three newly-appointed members of the comprehensive plan implementation committee, attended the meeting; Wall and Wilkens promised her a paper copy of the 170-page plan.

Bennett asked about resuming work on a commercial solar ordinance – another topic for a future meeting, the co-chairs said. He also questioned, for the second time, whether the Dollar General store, on Route 32, in South China, is ignoring an obligation to maintain its parking lot.

Codes officer Nicholas French said he will check records for Dollar General’s permit.

Vassalboro select board gets legal advice on marijuana business ordinance amendments

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by Mary Grow

Vassalboro select board members got lots of legal advice at their March 30 meeting from attorney Stephen E. F. Langsdorf, of the Augusta law firm Preti Flaherty.

Joining the meeting virtually, Langsdorf answered questions from board members and Town Manager Aaron Miller about possible amendments to the town’s Marijuana Business Ordinance, and about dealing with occupied mobile homes on which the town has foreclosed for unpaid taxes.

Former codes officer Paul Mitnik raised the marijuana ordinance issue: he would like to eliminate the exemption for medical growing operations using less than 1,000 square feet. Langsdorf said since the state allows the exemption, the town should, too, even if it contradicts the stated goal of the ordinance, which is to prevent new medical marijuana operations in Vassalboro.

The attorney further advised that town officials do background checks on license applicants even though state officials do them, too; that the reference to “adequate disposal” of waste in the ordinance be left unspecific, to allow for case-by-case examination; that the codes officer not enter growers’ enclosed premises without permission (or a court order if necessary); but that a Knox Box to allow emergency entry is a “sensible” requirement.

Select board members postponed further consideration of ordinance amendments.

Later in the meeting, Miller told select board members the town foreclosed on four properties. One the owner has redeemed.

Three under discussion include two mobile homes on leased lots. Langsdorf said they are treated as personal property, not real estate, and summarized ways town officials should deal with them.

The other major discussion March 30 was with Lauchlin Titus and John Melrose about new heat pumps at the town-owned Vassalboro Historical Society building, formerly the East Vassalboro schoolhouse. Titus and Melrose explained what they had done about getting bids and cost estimates. Select board members agreed by consensus they will continue the process.

The Efficiency Maine program is expected to cover part of the cost; select board members intend to take the town’s share from American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. Voters at the 2022 annual town meeting authorized the board to accept and spend ARPA money.

In other business March 30:

  • Select board members extended the moratorium on new commercial solar projects approved last fall by another 180 days, after deciding they have authority to cancel the extension if town meeting voters on June 13 approve the proposed ordinance amendment governing such developments.

The proposed amendment would become Section XI of Vassalboro’s Site Review Ordinance. It is titled “Performance Standards for Commercial Solar Energy Systems.” A copy of the proposed amended ordinance is on the town website, Vassalboro.net, under the heading “What’s New in Vassalboro” in the center of the first page.

  • Board members appointed Matthew Pitcher to the town Conservation Commission.
  • They voted unanimously and without discussion to close the transfer station on April 9, Easter Sunday.
  • They opened bids on waste hauling and asked Miller to organize the figures in a spreadsheet for their next meeting. The current hauling contract expires in August; representatives of two bidders at the meeting said their prices would still be good then.

Select board members intend to join school and budget committee members for a discussion of the 2023-24 school budget, scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday, April 6, at Vassalboro Community School. The next regular select board meeting is scheduled for Thursday evening, April 13.

Vassalboro school officials explain budget proposal to school board

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Vassalboro Community School (contributed photo)

by Mary Grow

Vassalboro school officials – primarily Superintendent Alan Pfeiffer, Principal Ira Michaud, and Special Education Director Tanya Thibeau – led school board members through the proposed 2023-24 budget at a March 29 workshop meeting.

Board members raised some questions during the workshop and were encouraged to send more as they reviewed the figures and explanations. The board is scheduled to meet again at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, April 6, at Vassalboro Community School (VCS), before a joint meeting with budget committee and select board members at 7 p.m.

As of March 29, the proposed 2023-24 school budget was a little over $9 million, with state and school revenues providing more than $5 million and the remaining almost $4 million requested from local taxes.

Pfeiffer shared two pieces of good news. Vassalboro’s state allocation went up by about $115,000 when state education officials recalculated, he said; and the increase in insurance, budgeted at 10 percent, will be no more than six percent (a saving of at least $44,000 from the March 29 total; final figures are due April 7).

The superintendent said the school budget has not increased substantially in four years, despite increasing costs, and warned that the situation can’t last forever. Unlike many others, Vassalboro school department has no debt, he added.

Pfeiffer expressed appreciation to Finance Director Paula Pooler and her staff for many hours of work on the budgets for Vassalboro and its former partners, Waterville and Winslow. Vassalboro continues to save money by sharing staff with the other two towns.

Plans for 2023-24 include adding two VCS staff members. Pfeiffer and Michaud propose a second school counselor, and Thibeau recommends hiring an educational technician to work in the resource room with students who need extra help.

Pfeiffer made two points about staffing. First, he said, students are still dealing with effects of covid, and more than usual need individual attention. Second, special funds, like the 2020 federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, are contributing; when CARES funding ends, board members will need to decide whether to add money to the budget or reduce services.

CARES-funded personnel are aware that their employment may end when the CARES program ends in 2025, he said.

Board members are already looking ahead to future needs. Director of Maintenance and Grounds Shelley Phillips summarized building work discussed at the March 2 board meeting: repointing and cleaning the exterior brickwork, replacing the roof over the gymnasium and the cafeteria, replacing curbing along driveways and parking lots and air-conditioning the third floor.

Board member Jessica Clark asked Michaud about his long-term plans. The principal promptly replied that he would like VCS to offer an alternative education program, for students who don’t do well in regular programs, especially older students (grades six through eight).

Alternative education programs are aimed at integrating formal education and job skills, and often include an outdoor or environmental component. The example Michaud gave was a course led by an arborist, who would teach students about trees and also show them why they need reading, writing and math skills to succeed in the profession.

After the April 6 budget discussion, the next regular Vassalboro school board meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 11, at the school. It will be on the second Tuesday of the month, a week earlier than usual, because the week of April 17 is school vacation week.

China and Vassalboro planning boards subcommittee continues work (April Fool’s story 2023)

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by Mary Grow

China and Vassalboro planning board members have created a joint two-town subcommittee to draft a new ordinance that, with voters’ approval, would be identical in each town.

Its working title is “An Ordinance Prohibiting Any More Town Ordinances or Ordinance Amendments Until the Year 2050.”

China’s planning board has five members – there are supposed to be six, but one position has been vacant since last fall. Vassalboro’s has five, plus one alternate member.

After a friendly discussion, each board chose two members for the subcommittee, with the agreement that tie votes will be decided by a coin toss.

They further agreed that subcommittee members will not be named and, at risk of violating several state statutes, subcommittee meetings will not be publicized, even to the other board members.

The drastic plan was adopted because both boards’ members have spent months writing, debating and rewriting new or amended town ordinances.

China planners have worked on a commercial solar ordinance off and on for more than two years and still do not have a satisfactory draft. Their recent project has been a review of amendments to the section of the Land Development Code dealing with the Board of Appeals.

After months of long and lively meetings, Vassalboro board members recently forwarded a commercial solar ordinance to the select board, whose members will decide whether to present it to voters at the June town meeting. In addition, planners have repeatedly considered amendments to the town’s Marijuana Business Ordinance.

As a step toward providing background and direction for the subcommittee, all members of both boards replied, anonymously, to a questionnaire prepared by board chairmen:

  • Without exception, board members welcome input from officials and residents as they work on ordinances. “We’re here because we volunteered, not because we think we know everything,” one member commented.
  • However, all but two board members questioned the accuracy of some of the information they get. “You shouldn’t believe it just because you found it on the web” was another comment.
  • All 11 board members consider a public hearing the proper forum to receive suggestions, and all 11 wish more residents would attend public hearings.
  • All 11 welcome evidence submitted in letters and emails; comments were both positive and negative. One board member said the person submitting a written comment had more time to think about it; another said written comments cannot be debated as readily as those presented in an open forum.
  • Board members unanimously think having the town’s attorney review a draft ordinance is essential. “Better a bill for services today than a lawsuit tomorrow,” one wrote.
    — Seven of the 11 board members said voters’ rejection of an ordinance would discourage them from trying to write or amend any other ordinances, however desirable. None would resign his or her board seat if an ordinance were rejected.
    — Despite voting to establish the new subcommittee, nine of the 11 disagreed with the statement that “[My town] has too many ordinances.” Two added comments to the effect that not everyone will avoid harmful actions without ordinances and laws; a third said, “No such thing as too much paperwork, even in the computer age.”

The new subcommittee is scheduled to begin meeting early in April, with the goal of presenting a draft ordinance to the respective planning boards by June. The anti-ordinance ordinance could appear on China’s and Vassalboro’s Nov. 7 local ballots.

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If you think this proposed ordinance is an excellent idea, The Town Line is sorry to disappoint you: you just read our annual April Fools Day story.

IF YOU BELIEVED THIS STORY, YOU ARE AN APRIL FOOL!

Vassalboro school board discusses buildings & grounds

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Vassalboro Community School (contributed photo)

by Mary Grow

Vassalboro School Super­intendent Alan Pfeiffer doesn’t know yet how much larger next year’s school budget will be compared to this year’s, but he expects an increase.

One item on the school board’s March 21 agenda was continued review of sections of the draft 2023-24 budget (see The Town Line, March 16, pp. 8-9). Board members discussed the school health program and building and grounds maintenance.

They scheduled a budget workshop Wednesday, March 29, at Vassalboro Community School (VCS). If they have enough information from the state education department and other sources, they hope to review the entire budget.

Pfeiffer reported March 21 that fuel prices had been determined, and he and Director of Maintenance and Grounds Shelley Phillips are pleased. The school department has locked in Dead River Company’s low bids: heating oil at $3.07 a gallon (10 cents over the current year, and they had feared at least a dollar increase); diesel fuel at $3.11 a gallon; and the small amount of propane needed at $1.74 a gallon (slightly less than this year, Pfeiffer said).

The total building and grounds budget Pfeiffer and Phillips shared with school board members is over $577,000, an increase of more than $31,000 (5.8 percent) over the current year. Higher wages and associated benefits account for much of the increase.

Phillips presented details on building maintenance plans. Two ongoing projects are replacing worn-out plumbing fixtures and replacing fluorescent lights with LED (the acronym stands for light-emitting diode) lights.

She told board members three major projects are pending in the next two or three years. The 31-year-old school (still referred to as “the new building,” she commented) needs its exterior brickwork cleaned and repointed and the gymnasium roof replaced; and curbing along driveways and parking lots needs replacing.

During discussion of the much smaller health budget, Pfeiffer commended new school nurse Megan Sutherburg and former nurse Mary Ann Fortin. Fortin, he said, subs when necessary and came in for several days to help during an outbreak of influenza.

An early highlight of the March 21 meeting was Principal Ira Michaud’s report on the VCS Pi Day celebration. Students competed to recite from memory the most digits of the number pi (which begins 3.14159 and goes on indefinitely).

Michaud reported, using adjectives “amazing” and “astounding,” that the runner-up in the contest was fifth-grader Serena Lacroix, who recited 130 digits and was disappointed: she’d done 150 in practice. The winner was sixth-grader Adrian Souza, who recited 187 digits correctly.

Winners were allowed to throw a pie at either the principal or the math teacher. His report included a photo of fifth-grade math teacher Lorraine Kingsbury and himself garnished with whipped cream.

The principal looks forward to scheduling other student competitions, like a spelling bee and a geography bee.

He also praised school counselor Gina David for holding Bubble Day to celebrate the first day of spring. Students blew bubbles on the playground; Michaud reported some called it “the greatest day at school they had ever had.”

Michaud summarized recent professional development programs, including one shared with Regional School Unit (RSU) #18 staff at the invitation of RSU #18 Superintendent Carl Gartley. The majority of teachers who attended said they would welcome more such cooperative programs; Michaud hopes some can be scheduled.

In other business, school board members unanimously approved the revised board handbook they have worked on for some weeks, subject to a replacement for the outdated cover photo. Pfeiffer plans to have the handbook on the VCS website, vcsvikings.org, and to distribute paper copies to public places in town.

After the March 29 budget meeting, the next regular Vassalboro school board meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m., Tuesday, April 11, in the VCS library. If another budget meeting is needed, it will be held as soon as possible after March 29.

Vassalboro budget committee asks broad question about needs and costs

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by Mary Grow

The Vassalboro budget committee’s March 21 meeting with select board members began with – and sometimes reverted to – a broad question about what townspeople want for their town and how much they are willing to pay.

Budget committee member Dallas Smedberg raised the question, in terms of whether the budget committee should endorse proposed spending recommended by the select board, or should emphasize fiscal responsibility and suggest a smaller budget.

Specifically, Smedberg said, he had reservations about the 6.5 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) recommended for town employees (and did not like the wage scale with automatic two percent annual increases, if job performance was satisfactory, that select board members adopted last year).

He wondered if the town’s new program director (the job title was changed from recreation director) was moving too fast; if the library really needed more town support to expand its activities and hours; if the police chief needed more hours, or if Vassalboro even needed its own police department.

Committee members Douglas Phillips and Donald Breton shared Smedberg’s concerns. As discussion proceeded, select board and budget committee members expressed varied opinions.

Town Manager Aaron Miller proposed including a questionnaire with 2023-24 tax bills seeking residents’ input on these and perhaps other town questions. Information would be too late to influence 2023-24 budget recommendations, but could help guide next year’s discussions.

For town salaries, Smedberg suggested a two or three percent COLA. Phillips feared employees would expect six percent annually, forever.

Miller had collected figures from other Maine towns; some were giving employees more than 6.5 percent, some less. His concern is retaining employees; select board chairman Barbara Redmond and member Frederick “Rick” Denico, Jr., remembered the difficulty of finding them in the first place.

Budget committee member Frank Richards cited another organization that adopted a pay scale similar to Vassalboro’s. It’s too recent for a complete evaluation, he said, but there is a full staff for the first time in three years, and morale and productivity are good.

Denico and budget committee member Philip Landry pointed out that Vassalboro’s location between Augusta and Waterville means local residents have many job choices.

Program Director Karen Hatch asked to have her hours increased from 20 to 30 a week. Phillips said he was “impressed” by her planned programs, but would like more specifics; and he wondered how much oversight she gets.

Landry commented that the recreation budget request, $65,898, is smaller than the library’s, and the program has more oversight and town control. (Hatch is a town employee.)

Redmond added that Hatch is working her full hours now, and warm-weather outdoor sports programs haven’t started. The recreation program used to be almost entirely youth sports; Hatch is developing activities for all ages.

What next, Smedberg asked, a recreation center with a full staff? Budget committee chairman Peggy Shaffer and Redmond said they had seen comments about a community center.

When discussion reached the proposed library budget, budget committee member Michael Poulin pointed out that this year’s requested increase was the second in two years – after no increase for at least a decade. At a previous meeting, library officials said they planned no more major changes.

According to figures Miller compiled, the library budget was $35,000 for fiscal year 2021-22 and $60,500 for the current — 2022-23 — fiscal year. The request for 2023-24 is $71,000.

Richards said director Brian Stanley’s innovations were attracting families with young children, and new working families were a benefit to the town.

Phillips recommended library officials do more fund-raising. Redmond said they intend to, now that the decline in Covid allows fund-raising events. Stanley said at an earlier meeting he plans to add a part-time staff member responsible for grant-writing.

Phillips also suggested a select board member be added to the library’s board of trustees. Miller and Redmond said town officials get library financial and program reports.

Regarding police chief Mark Brown’s request for additional hours, Denico and Redmond said Brown already works more hours than he is paid for.

Breton suggested contracting for policing with the Kennebec County sheriff’s office (KSO) and the state police for coverage, and dispensing with a local department. Redmond said the state police are “backing off on rural coverage.”

China and one other town contract with KSO, she said. The cost is $85 an hour; and at present KSO does not have enough staff to accommodate Vassalboro.

The current public safety budget, which covers the police department and the animal control officer, is $86,426. The select board recommendation for 2023-24 is $102,188. More than $10,000 of the requested increase is Brown’s salary and benefits, and another $6,000-plus is for dispatching fees. There is a decrease in the animal control officer’s line.

Miller presented preliminary estimates for non-tax revenues for 2023-24. They include vehicle excise taxes, state revenue sharing, federal funds, fees paid at the town office for licenses and other services and other items.

Budget committee members decided that if the school budget is ready in time, they will meet Tuesday, April 4, with school officials at the school. In any case, they are scheduled to meet at 7 p.m., Thursday, April 6, at the town office to make final recommendations.