VCS has new gadgets, costing almost nothing…for now

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Vassalboro Community School (contributed photo)

by Mary Grow

Vassalboro Community School (VCS) has lots of new technology for students and staff – and so far, the gadgets have cost town taxpayers almost nothing. But there may be big bills down the road, as things wear out and need repair and replacement.

That was the gist of the message Will Backman and David Trask gave Vassalboro School Board members at their Oct. 19 meeting.

Backman, Director of Technology for the former Alternative Organizational Structure (AOS) £92 that served, and many of whose staff still serve, Vassalboro, Waterville and Winslow schools, and Trask, teacher and Technology Systems Administrator at VCS, summarized past, present and planned future technology at the school.

In the old days, VCS owned a few computers that were wheeled on carts from one classroom to another. Now, every student has a personal laptop – and headphones, Trask added, so students no longer need to bring their headphones from home.

There are five 3D printers, all but one purchased with grant money. Opportunities for online and remote learning have multiplied.

Asked if students spend all their time staring at screens, the men said no – computer use varies with grade level and with different subjects.

Typing is inherent in the curriculum, Trask assured board member Jessica Clark, from third grade on up. And, he added, many students become competent on a keyboard on their own.

Looking to the future, Trask and Backman advised:

  • “Funding to sustain upkeep and replacement of all this new technology.”
  • “Fixed and mobile makerspace(s)” for everyone to use, and more integration of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) in all grades and subjects.
  • Professional development to expand teachers’ use of technology, and higher expectations for students’ technological literacy.
  • A full-time “instructional technology support and data management” staff person.

Trask said currently he, and VCS, are unusual: he is both a classroom teacher and the technology manager, while many other schools have a technology teacher and a separate technology support staff.

Another report to board members, from Superintendent Alan Pfeiffer, said that in-school construction is almost done, after delays due to supply bottlenecks; and the generator that is a major step toward making the school building an emergency shelter should arrive early in November.

Director of Finance Paula Pooler said the 2021-22 budget is on track so far. She received an unexpected $22,000 from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) for the food program, which she hopes will continue to pay for itself.

She and Food Service Director John Hersey said as far as they know, the State of Maine will pick up the tab after the federal funds that allow free school meals expire next year.

On the Vassalboro school website, vcsvikings.org, an Oct. 21 letter from Pfeiffer reminds parents to fill out the Economic Status Form. These forms, originally applications for free or reduced-price meals, are still essential in determining how much federal money VCS receives for different programs, Pfeiffer explained.

Pfeiffer expressed appreciation to Pooler and the other staff members at the former AOS central office who have added federal programs to their usual workload over the last 20 months. Pooler said the amount of money flowing through her office has almost doubled, from around $40 million a year pre-pandemic to around $78 million now, with a more-then-corresponding increase in required documentation.

Pfeiffer also thanked Trask for his service as president of the Vassalboro Education Association and introduced his successor in the position, first-grade teacher Stacey Feyler.

Board members approved appointment of librarian/media specialist Melora Norman as director of the Gifted and Talented Program. Pfeiffer said it will be revived, after a pause caused by a lack of applications and by the impact of the pandemic.

Principal Megan Allen updated board members on VCS’s anti-bullying and social/ emotional health programs, the latter being run cooperatively with the Maine Department of Education.

Half a dozen parents of VCS students attended the meeting to again object to and ask questions about the school’s mask mandate. They also had questions about pool testing, which they said has become “cool” among students, and about quarantine requirements.

One parent, who identified herself as an employee at another school, said pool testing “really does work.”

Another letter from Pfeiffer on the opening page of vcsvikings.org, dated Oct. 12, provides information about pool testing.

The next Vassalboro School Board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday evening, Nov. 16.

VASSALBORO: Officials, residents present ideas for future town improvements

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by Mary Grow

Vassalboro select board members, Town Manager Mary Sabins and other residents presented ideas for future town improvements at the select board’s Oct. 21 goal setting session.

Board Chairman Robert Browne summarized the three proposals that he thinks should be considered first as:

  • Surveying residents to see whether opposition to zoning is as strong as it was earlier in the century, when zoning ordinances were rejected and the state-mandated town comprehensive plan was retitled a strategic plan, including only state-required zones. Currently, Browne pointed out, town officials and voters are doing piecemeal zoning, through ordinances that regulate locations of activities like medical marijuana facilities.
  • Expanding the town recreation program in many directions, with possibilities including providing more open space for outdoor activities and perhaps building a recreation center; adding more adult activities; creating the park on town-owned land on Outlet Stream that Sabins recommends (“Mary’s fishing hole,” Browne called it); adding lighted outdoor basketball and tennis courts (another suggestion from Sabins); and hiring a new town employee whose responsibilities would include directing a recreation program.
  • Developing a financial plan with short-term and longer-term components that would let town officials continue to pay competitive salaries to employees, update equipment and deal with unexpected expenses like the Gray Road culvert, all without going into debt.
    Other suggestions included:
  • From select board members Barbara Redmond and Chris French, more control over and limits on solar development, especially on farmland. Both support solar power, but want a balance with other values.
  • From Redmond, a transition plan for Sabins’ retirement (which Sabins said she plans in mid-2024). Others said the proposal might lead to hiring a new town employee to take over grant-writing and tax work, who might also be the recreation program head and, Browne suggested, work with school officials.
  • From French, a more stringent procurement policy for town purchases, including services, perhaps with budget committee involvement.
  • From Sabins, an increase in the codes officer’s hours, now 20 a week. She gave two reasons: in the spring, building permit applications take a great deal of time; and she would like incoming codes officer Ryan Page to have more hours and benefits as an incentive to stay in Vassalboro.

She said Page has already committed to work for the town for a year, in return for his training under Paul Mitnik. Mitnik, who has retired repeatedly and returned to work when no one replaced him, hopes to retire for good at the end of December.

Sabins and audience members mentioned other issues town officials are facing.

Sabins reported the new fishway at the Outlet Dam, in East Vassalboro, was finished Oct. 20. A temporary boardwalk across the stream is to be removed, because although the bridge is sturdy, the railings are unsafe. And, she said, the dam, which belongs to the town, is leaking.

Former Town Manager Michael Vashon advised abandoning the dam. The Kennebec Water District would be highly likely to take over maintenance, he said, since China Lake is the district’s water supply.

Sabins said Matt Streeter, who managed the fishway project for Maine Rivers, will look into options for dam repairs. A new method of injecting material from the top might be reasonably inexpensive, she said.

Public Works Foreman Eugene Field said the state-owned, weight-limited Cushnoc Road bridge is a burden on the public works department. The only truck he has light enough to plow it is designated for primary use in North Vassalboro; the bridge is in the south end of town.

Field predicts the state will gradually lower the weight limit and eventually close the bridge, rather than rebuild it.

Another problem, he said, are the “terrible” sidewalks in North Vassalboro, a comment that led to discussion of the sewer manhole covers that are lower than the new pavement. Vashon called them “an accident waiting to happen” as drivers swerve toward oncoming traffic to avoid them.

North Vassalboro resident and former select board member Lauchlin Titus said a state Department of Transportation inspector told him next year, the state will add new curbing and sidewalks, and another layer of pavement.

Sabins said because the federal and state governments have created a new holiday, Juneteenth (celebrated on June 19 each year), Vassalboro’s staff handbook needs to be revised. It says staff get state and federal holidays off and lists the holidays; Juneteenth needs to be added.

Titus suggested other changes that might be considered while the topic is open. Sabins said select board members and staff need to approve all changes.

The next regular Vassalboro selectmen’s meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 18. There will be no meeting Oct. 28 or Nov. 4.

Windsor selectmen hear request for medical marijuana business

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by The Town Line staff

At the October 12 meeting of the Windsor select board, the members heard from Baylee Dresser who appeared before the body to inquire about renting a piece of property from the town to open a medical marijuana store front for sales, and seek the process to do so. He was informed by the board that Windsor is not an “opt in” town, and he would have to go through a petition type process. Dresser prepared and presented a draft for the select board to review.

In other business, the public works department reported on numerous complaints regarding the aggressive cuts on the Choate Road, where several survey and property line pins have been damaged. Town Manager Theresa Haskell responded, in the absence of Public Works Director Keith Hall, that the markers have been found and marked with orange paint, as well as having spoken with property owners.

Damage was also reported to the Central Maine Power Substation entrance on the Maxcy’s Mill Road. It looks like they are loading and unloading equipment and using a low trailer, scraping the new pavement and have tried to put back the new pavement. However, that has caused irregularities and raised bumps. Hall will contact the paving company to get a quote for repairs. Attempts to find who is responsible for the damage have been fruitless.

The revenues at the transfer station were down from last year in September ($1,621.45) and are also down for the year ($897.48).

Haskell presented a Department of Transportation letter for the 2022 Maine DOT Pavement Preservation Project which states that Route 17 will be paved from Augusta to Jefferson. The town manager’s concern was that it would be a problem if this occurred during the time of the Windsor Fair. She will forward that concern to the DOT.

Several suggestions were made regarding the distribution of the ARPA funds from the federal government. One idea is to use the funds to purchase radios for the Windsor Volunteer Fire/Rescue Department, to replace old analog radios with digital. Also suggested was purchasing personal protective equipment throughout all departments. The process to disburse the funds would come in the form of a warrant at town meeting.

Haskell reported the collection of 2022 real estate taxes are coming in at a 52.79 percent rate, with 394 accounts paid in full, and the 2022 personal property taxes being paid at an 87.13 percent rate. In all, 21 accounts have been paid in full.

China committee considers options for added town office space

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by Mary Grow

Members of China’s Municipal Building Committee (MBC) spent their Oct. 28 meeting again considering options for additional space at the town office, primarily for storage of town records.

MBC Secretary Terry DeMerchant’s minutes say Chairman Sheldon Goodine and Codes Officer Jaime Hanson provided measurements on space needed and suggestions for providing it.

Committee members considered issues like whether the new space should be a separate building or an addition to the present building; whether town office staff need work spaces in the records storage area; and whether a third furnace should be part of the plan.

They decided they should have a report to the China select board by the end of November, so their proposal can be considered early in the preliminary discussions of the 2022-23 budget.

The next MBC meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 18. Goodine and Hanson will continue to refine their proposals and share new drafts with the rest of the committee before the meeting.

China broadband infrastructure report off the radar

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by Mary Grow

China select board members spent much of their Oct. 25 meeting discussing the recent report on China’s broadband infrastructure, an issue that is at least temporarily off the radar after voters on Nov. 2 defeated a request to allow selectmen to borrow money for broadband improvements.

In other business Oct. 25, select board members authorized Codes Officer Jaime Hanson to take necessary action to correct a violation on Hanson Road, within budget constraints. Hapgood is to monitor costs.

Hapgood and Brent Chesley, successful bidder on the Lakeview Drive property a majority of board members sold at their Oct. 12 meeting, said the closing is not expected until the second week in November.

The next regular China select board meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 8.

CHINA: Rumpf succeeds Batteese as budget committee chairman

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Newly-elected budget committee chairman Thomas Rumpf succeeds Robert Batteese, who has held the position since 1993, with a one-year break in 1994 when Norman Dwelley was elected.

Batteese said he accepted election as budget committee secretary in 1987. Fairly new in town then, he “figured it would be a good way to meet other citizens and get a first-hand view on how the town government functioned.”

“I have always felt that China was more than a small town and should offer good services for its citizens,” Batteese said. He therefore supported creating the Public Works Department and building the transfer station as a successor to the town landfill.

He also favored China’s investing in FirstPark, the Oakland business park supported by a number of local municipalities. Granted, he said, the promised financial return has not materialized; but he still considers it was “a responsible action to collaborate with many other communities to try to improve employment opportunities.”

On a contemporary issue, Batteese said he recognizes the value of good internet service in China, but did not support the bond issue on the Nov. 2 ballot, “because I felt it was premature before we know what surrounding communities will be doing with all the funding that is becoming available in the next few months.”

Batteese said, “I am proud that citizens have had the confidence to re-elect me to serve so many years. I am also pleased they have generally agreed to accept budget committee recommendations when they differed from those of the Select Board.”

He declined to run for re-election this year, he said, because he “decided it was time for a younger, more energetic person to take my place.”

Batteese is satisfied that Rumpf is willing to head the committee, calling him “a very diligent member in reviewing financial reports and asking pertinent questions.”

Rumpf’s election creates a vacant budget committee position in District 2, the northeastern part of China, which he has represented for the last half-dozen years. Selectmen are authorized to fill the vacancy until the November 2022 election.

* * * * * *

China’s transfer station opened in the fall of 1991, after almost five years of planning and setting aside money, according to town reports. Closing the landfill on the site was started and completed promptly.

The origin of the Public Works Department is harder to date. In the late 1900s China was buying trucks, although still hiring contractors to plow snow. Discussion of building the sand and salt shed began around 2000.

FAIRFIELD: Picchiotti, Lawrence win council seats

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Looking south down Main St., in Fairfield. (Internet photo)

Unofficial election results according to Town Clerk Christine Keller, for the town of Fairfield are as follows:

State referendum question #1: An initiative to ban the CMP transmission line: 984 Yes, 623 No, 11 Blank.

Question 2: Transportation bond: Yes, 1,078, No, 525.

Question #3: Maine Constitutional Amendment on Food Sovereignty: Yes, 1,020, No, 577, 21 blank ballots.

Municipal election: Fairfield Town Council – 3-year term, 2 seats: John Picchiotti, 693; Peter P. Lawrence 673; Beverly Busque, 423.

Vassalboro voters reject mass gathering ordinance

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In Vassalboro, voters rejected the proposed Vassalboro Mass Gathering Ordinance, by a vote of 615 in favor to 698 opposed. Town Clerk Cathy Coyne said she thought many people voted “no” because they did not know what the ordinance was about.

Select board members and Town Manager Mary Sabins developed the ordinance to provide town regulation for large gatherings, in response to notice of a planned country music festival in Vassalboro in July 2022.

The ordinance was the only local question on Vassalboro’s ballot.

On the three state questions, Coyne said results were:

  • Reject the CMP corridor: 848 in favor; 587 opposed; and 9 ballots left blank.
  • Approve the transportation bond issue: 930 in favor; 505 opposed; and 9 blank ballots.
  • Approve the Constitutional amendment: 920 in favor; 509 opposed; and 15 blank ballots.

Coyne said a total of 1,444 Vassalboro residents voted, a turn-out she considers good. The 2020 census put the town’s population at 4,520.

China broadband initiative defeated, 876-547; Chadwick, Marquis win seats on select board

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Wayne Chadwick on the left, Jeanne Marquis on the right.

by Mary Grow

China voters had one referendum question and annual elections on their Nov. 2 local ballots.

The referendum question asked whether voters would authorize, but not require, select board members to borrow money to finance expanded internet infrastructure in town. Town Clerk Angela Nelson reported they said no, by a vote of 547 in favor to 876 opposed, with 62 ballots left blank.

The only contested election was a four-way race for two two-year terms on the select board. Voters re-elected Wayne Chadwick with 789 votes and elected Jeanne Marquis with 579 votes. Brent Chesley received 417 votes, Peter Foote 396.

In uncontested races, Natale Tripodi was re-elected the alternate member of the planning board, with 971 votes. Budget committee District 2 representative Thomas Rumpf was elected the committee’s chairman with 998 votes, and Kevin Maroon was re-elected to the District 1 Budget Committee position with 1,060 votes.

There were four positions with no candidates on the ballot. For one, China’s representative to the Regional School Unit #18 Board of Directors, Thomas Jamie Bachinski received 42 write-in votes, and Nelson’s report indicated that he is elected.

Town office staff will get in touch with residents whose names were written in for the other positions, one on the budget committee and two on the planning board, to ask if they are willing to serve.

China voters approved all three questions on the state ballot, as follows:

  • Question 1, the citizens’ initiative to reject the Central Maine Power Company corridor: yes, 845; no, 631; 11 ballots left blank.
  • Question 2, the transportation infrastructure bond issue: yes, 951; no, 521; 15 blank ballots.
  • Question 3, the Constitutional amendment establishing a right to food: yes, 916; no, 551; 20 blank ballots.

Nelson said a total of 1,487 ballots were cast in China. The 2020 census showed the town’s total population as 4,408.

These fish have been waiting 200 years for this moment

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The Maine Rivers team at the location of the new fishway constructed at the head of Outlet Stream, from left to right, Landis Hudson, executive director; Matt Streeter, project manager; and Nate Gray of the Maine Department of Marine Resources. (photo by Eric W. Austin)

by Eric W. Austin

It’s been more than 200 years since an alewife has successfully made its way, under its own power, from the ocean and up the Sebasticook River to Outlet Stream before arriving at China Lake, but all that’s about to change. After nearly seven years of hard work, oceans of red tape, scores of harrowing town meetings, contentious public debate and skeptical property owners, the Maine Rivers team has succeeded in their efforts to bring a fish back to China Lake.

To understand the momentous nature of their success, we must travel back in time to examine the problem they were attempting to address when they first conceived of this project back in 2014.

As European settlers moved up the New England coast and into Maine’s interior in the 1700s, they naturally established communities along the state’s abundant water sources. Beyond their use as fresh water for crops and consumption, fast-moving rivers and streams provided a source of power for the growing lumber and agricultural industries. As a result, dams popped up everywhere. In Vassalboro alone, there were six dams along Outlet Stream, the egress for most of the water in China Lake.

These dams provided an important resource for growing settlements in central Maine, but they also had one major negative effect on the environment: by blocking the flow of water the dams also prevented fish from traveling between the lake and the ocean as they had been doing for thousands of years. Now, two centuries later, these dams no longer offer the benefits they once did, but they have continued to block the movement of migratory fish up and down our waterways. This has had an ecological impact on the food web in the lake and all the way along Outlet Stream to Sebasticook River and beyond.

Maine Rivers, a nonprofit group initially founded by the Natural Resources Council of Maine before becoming an independent organization in 2003, with a mission to “protect, restore and enhance the health and vitality of Maine’s rivers,” has been working with many local groups, including the towns of China and Vassalboro, the Maine Department of Marine Resources, the Kennebec Water District, the Sebasticook Regional Land Trust and the China Region Lakes Alliance, to remove these legacy dams – or build fishways around them – and free up the Outlet Stream for the return of migratory fish like river herring (alewives and blueback herring), sea lamprey and salmon, among others.

The core Maine Rivers’ team consists of executive director Landis Hudson, project manager Matt Streeter, and longtime resident of Vassalboro and Maine Department of Marine Resources’ employee, Nate Gray. I have had the pleasure of meeting with them twice before, in 2019 and 2020, to discuss their progress on this project.

“The fact that the one and only Nate Gray, who works for the Department of Marine Resources, lives in Vassalboro,” Hudson says about one of the reasons for their success. “You cannot find a person with any more expertise, connections and commitment. He’s been a leading light. Vassalboro is lucky to have him. The State of Maine is lucky to have him, and I think it’s fair to say that it’s hard to imagine a project of this scale being done anywhere else in New England.”

Over the course of the project, three dams have been dismantled, Lombard, Masse and — this year — Morneau, and three fishways have been constructed, at Box Mill and Ladd dams, and most recently, at the head of Outlet Stream.

Although Maine’s Department of Marine Resources has been stocking alewives in China Lake since the late ‘90s, the fish could not return to the lake for spawning because of blockages created by these dams along Outlet Stream and must be restocked every year. Nate Gray says he expects the lake can support about one million alewives, although that will fluctuate from year to year.

Alewives play an important role in the ecology of the lake and in the food web all along the water sources leading away from it. Their young feed on the phosphorous-rich plankton in the lake, and carry those nutrients with them back to the ocean where most are eaten by bigger fish. In this way, they serve an important role in maintaining an appropriate nutrient balance in the lake and their return should help increase water clarity over time.

One aspect of the project that doesn’t get enough attention is the work the team does after a dam is dismantled. From the head of Outlet Stream, where the team is finishing the final fishway, we traveled just up the road to the remains of Masse Dam to see how the landscape has changed over the years since it was removed.

A dam stops the flow of water and creates a pond behind it. When it is removed and the stream is allowed to proceed naturally, the pond drains and what is left is a broad, muddy patch of ground devoid of any vegetation. An important part of the Maine Rivers project has been to restore the ecology of these areas and nurture the healthy return of the original habitat. They have worked with the local Vassalboro schools, particularly the fifth and sixth graders, to plant native shrubs, trees and flowers that would have grown here before the dams were constructed.

“The more diverse the habitat, the more diverse the plants are, the greater the habitat value for insects and birds, rodents and everything else,” says project manager Matt Streeter, gesturing across the field that used to be the location of a pond behind Masse Dam.

The new fishway recently constructed at the head of Outlet Stream in Vassalboro. (photo by Nate Gray)

The Outlet Stream will also run cooler as a result of the dam removals, since standing water like the pools created behind the dams tend to heat up and carry that heat downstream. This cooler water should attract new species of fish that appreciate the colder temperatures, such as brook and brown trout. Eagles are already flocking to the newly opened waterway, which is a good sign.

And, of course, there are the alewives. Since the Department of Marine Resources have been stocking alewives in China Lake for years, they are already imprinted with the location of the lake and will return for spawning. This spring will see thousands of the fish fighting their way up the fishways in their efforts to start a new generation. (The best places to watch the alewife runs will be at either Ladd or Box Mill dams, as the fishway just finished at the head of Outlet Stream is not set up for public viewing.)

Executive director of Maine Rivers, Landis Hudson, says the expertise they have built in the team over the years of working on the project is their greatest asset. And their work is not done. “There are lots of opportunities in Maine for improving fish passage,” she says.

“There are thousands of dams around the state that are doing nothing useful,” confirms project manager Streeter.

So, let’s pause and appreciate the simple alewife. After more than 200 years, this is the moment they’ve been waiting for.