Vassalboro recreation committee, selectmen talk about reorganized programs

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by Mary Grow

Members of Vassalboro’s Recreation Committee joined Vassalboro selectmen at their June 24 meeting to talk about a reorganized, post-pandemic recreation program, policy changes needed, town ballfields and related topics.

Town Manager Mary Sabins said she attended the recreation committee meeting earlier in the week at which committee members discussed issues to be brought to selectmen.

In the past, the committee has had a single chairman who received a small stipend. Talk of hiring a recreation director has so far gone nowhere because of cost considerations.

Sabins referred to Brian Stanley, who attended the selectboard meeting, and Becky Jenkins, who was not present, as the committee’s two point people. Stanley had a list of concerns and questions selectmen discussed, with assistance from committee members Mary Presti and Melissa Olson.

The first issue was providing security cameras at the ballfields, to deter or identify unwanted users. Selectmen and committee members came up with numerous options they will explore.

Committee members are also concerned about parents who smoke while their children play. Joe Presti said state law bans smoking in children’s recreation areas; his wife asked if the committee therefore cannot designate a smoking area.

Dogs are a lesser problem. Committee members asked about liability if a dog present during recreation-sponsored activities were to bite someone.

Stanley and Presti said ballfield signs banning smoking and dogs were stolen months ago.

The committee owns a gazebo, bought by the prior director as an auxiliary refreshment building. Current members said they do not share her purpose and have no plans to use the structure. They will send Sabins more information as they debate whether it could be part of the proposed streamside park on Route 32, should be returned if possible or might have another use.

The main financial issue Stanley mentioned was easy to resolve. Committee members want to save money by buying equipment and supplies at a variety of different places. They proposed a committee credit card; Sabins suggested instead opening committee accounts with more suppliers, and Presti promised an updated list of the places they shop.

Selectman Chris French asked Stanley to keep track of the hours he and Jenkins spend on recreation program business, to give selectmen an idea of hours and compensation for a future paid director.

One advantage of a paid director would be that he or she would presumably work for more than one year, providing continuity for the program. Presti suggested amending the committee by-laws to provide for directors elected for staggered multi-year terms, instead of a year at a time, would have the same benefit.

The director Sabins envisions would provide programs year-round for residents of all ages. Recreation committee members have lots of program ideas, Presti said; they need someone to implement them.

Their summer program, listed on the town website, includes three movie nights beginning at dusk at the ballfields. Twelve was presented June 25; Sonic is scheduled for July 16; and Jumanji: Next Level is scheduled for Aug. 13.

In addition to the recreation program discussion, selectmen heard an update from Codes Officer Paul Mitnik, with supplementary comments from Fire Chief Walker Thompson, on an ongoing construction project at the former church on Priest Hill Road, in North Vassalboro.

As the fiscal year drew to a close, selectmen reappointed board and committee members for 2021-22 and approved the additional lists of appointments made by Sabins and other town officers. French declined to be reappointed to the Conservation Commission.

Now that voters have approved Vassalboro’s Marijuana Business Ordinance, selectmen need to set licensing fees for existing marijuana businesses in town. After discussing the wide range of fees other area towns charge, and the amount of time they estimate Mitnik, Sabins and other officials will need to administer and enforce the ordinance, they postponed a decision to their July 15 meeting.

Mitnik said the deadline for owners of existing businesses to apply for a town license is Aug. 7, 60 days after voters approved the ordinance. He has developed an application form and notified those who need to apply.

Mitnik, who retired for the third time this spring, only to be rehired when his successor left after a week and a half, is working only two days a week. Sabins said she had received one application for the position so far.

The next regular Vassalboro selectmen’s meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday, July 15.

On Thursday, July 1, the town office staff host a public retirement party for bookkeeper Jean Poulin; residents are invited to stop in that afternoon. Selectmen agreed on an appropriate retirement gift.

China planners spend time on final Solar Energy System ordinance review

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by Mary Grow

China Planning Board members ignored most of their June 22 agenda to spend time on a final review of the Solar Energy Systems Ordinance they hope selectmen will present to voters on Nov. 2 and voters will approve.

Running out of time to finish, they scheduled a special meeting Monday evening, June 28. At that meeting, they agreed, non-unanimously, on a version to forward to the selectboard.

An early (May 2021) draft of the ordinance is on the town website, www.china.govoffice.com, under the Planning Board. Board members intend to publicize their final draft after they submit it to the selectboard.

Most of the June 22 and June 28 work was grammatical; major substantive issues have been resolved. The exception, discussed June 28 and at several prior meetings, was how to treat solar panels when determining lot coverage by impervious surfaces.

The panels have two parts, the relatively small bases on which the supporting poles stand and the much larger panels themselves. Since the panels are tilted, they cover slightly less ground than their actual size.

To help control erosion, state and town regulations limit the amount of ground area on a lot that can be covered by structures with impervious surfaces. If an ordinance treats a solar panel as a structure, the area covered by panels is limited – in the Town of China, to 20 percent of the lot in rural areas and 15 percent in shoreland zones (the two areas where the draft ordinance would allow rows of solar panels).

The state Department of Environmental Protection and many Maine towns do not call solar panels structures. A solar array that covers a lot almost completely, like the one on Route 3 outside Augusta that was repeatedly referenced by planning board members, is allowed.

China Planning Board members have called a solar panel a structure. They have thereby limited the amount of ground covered by installations they have approved under existing ordinances. Solar developers have asked them to change their approach.

The draft ordinance slightly modifies previous practice by providing that the tilt of the panels be considered in determining the area covered.

Board member Scott Rollins proposed a further compromise: count only one-half of the area of the panels as structures or impervious. The change would let a developer cover up to 40 percent of a lot, board member James Wilkens quickly calculated.

Rollins made three main points:

— The ground under solar panels is covered with grass and other low plants that absorb water dripping from the panels, rather than letting it run off. A solar array thus does not cause erosion.
— Since China’s lot coverage limit is one of the lowest around (to help protect the town’s lakes, people have said at previous meetings), making solar panels follow structure regulations is an unnecessarily restrictive provision that discourages solar development in town.
— Solar is a form of renewable energy that should be encouraged.

Wilkens and board Chairman Randall Downer were primarily concerned about the appearance of a field of panels like the one on Route 3, having heard multiple negative comments.

Downer fears too little restriction on lot coverage would lead China voters to reject the ordinance. He wants it approved Nov. 2; his goal is “never [again] to have to make it up as we go along on solar applications” to match them to ordinances written for buildings.

Wilkens added that even with the restrictions, China has attracted solar projects.

Rollins’ motion to include the 50 percent rule in the draft ordinance was rejected on a vote of one in favor (Rollins) to three opposed (Downer, Wilkens and Natale Tripodi).

Downer proposed a different compromise: ask selectmen to put a second question to voters about how limited the size of solar arrays should be. Rollins did not object. He and Downer intend to work on the wording of such a question before the planning board’s July 12 meeting.

As the June 28 meeting ended, board members voted 3-0-1 to forward the ordinance to the selectboard, with Rollins abstaining.

The only other issue covered on the June 22 agenda was resident Brent Chesley’s request for a clarification of a section of the minutes from the Feb. 23 planning board meeting. Codes Officer Jaime Hanson recommended adding Chesley’s suggested explanation, and board members approved unanimously.

Vassalboro planners to meet July 6

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by Mary Grow

Vassalboro Planning Board members are scheduled to meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday, July 6, at the Vassalboro town office, with a single item on their agenda.

Peter Reny has applied to place a mobile home on the gravel pad that was the site of a former mobile home at 1100 Main Street in North Vassalboro, in the Outlet Stream shoreland zone. Reny received a permit for a new mobile home in August 2017 that has expired, Codes Officer Paul Mitnik said.

China planners to hold special workshop

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by Mary Grow

The China Planning Board will hold a special workshop meeting at 6:30 p.m. Monday, June 28, to continue editing the draft Solar Energy Systems Ordinance. The meeting will be in person in the portable building behind the town office, with virtual participation also available.

WINDSOR: Main-ly Paving Services awarded paving contract

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by The Town Line staff

The Windsor Board of Selectmen awarded the 2021-2022 paving contract to Main-ly Paving Services, LLC, of Canaan, who submitted a bid of $328,431.38, which included chip sealing, at their May 25 meeting. In all, six paving bids were submitted. All States Asphalt, Inc., of Windham, came in at $330,066.90 with chip seal and $360,118 without chip sealing. Crooker Construction LLC, of Topsham, submitted a bit of $522,043 with chip seal and Hagar Enterprises, Inc., of Damariscotta, came in at $378,313.40 without chip seal. Northeast Paving Co., of Bangor, came in at $473,620 without chip seal, and Pike Industries, of Fairfield, entered a bid of $463,089 without chip seal. The vote was 3-2, with xxxxxxxx opposed.

Cemetery Sexton Joyce Perry reported a family wanted to have a bench placed instead of a head stone that would cover within their three lots. There was much discussion since the Cemetery Committee and board of selectmen previously had said no to another request of the long-term maintenance that may be needed. Perry said she would research the different bases that coupld possibly reduce some of the maintenance.

New lighting by the Veterans Memorial will be put on hold until the removal of the vault is completed. Provost Monument, of Benton, will be contacted to add three names on the monument that were not included. The Veterans Memorial Fund now stands at $5,108.

Antoinette Turner, of The Fusion, was present to discuss her application for on premises license renewal for serving alcohol. Town Manager Theresa Haskell read that a special amusement permit may be needed to be obtained if they are to continue to have dancing or entertainment at the establishment. Haskell asked again about fixing the grass area by the cemetery fence that was dug up during winter plowing. Turner said she planted grass seeds and would be back to finish fixing the area.

In other business, the board approved, by a 4-0 vote, to complete the 2021 Ratio Declaration nand Reimbursement Application with a 98 percent Declared Ratio for an April 1, 2021 assessment date.

There was discussion on the executive order and the effect on the town office and residents. The board of selectmen agreed the social distancing signs would be removed and masks are at the discretion of the residents. Staff may choose to wear masks. The barriers will stay in place for the time being. The selectmen have decided the upstairs in the town hall is opened and available to reserve, again.

Kennebec County will be receiving money from the American Rescue Plan Act which will be used within the county to benefit all towns and cities and used per the guidelines set by the ARPA. It is not yet known the exact amount at this time. The budget committee will have to meet to decide how and where the money will be spent as it is all related to COVID-19.

VASSALBORO: Board members discuss plans for summer work

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Vassalboro Community School (contributed photo)

by Mary Grow

Vassalboro Community School (VCS) Principal Megan Allen told school board members at their June 15 meeting that holding the eighth-grade promotion celebration outdoors at the school felt right.

Officials at the China Baptist Church Conference Center, graduation site for more than a dozen years, have been welcoming and helpful, she said, “but it’s not home.”

This year, due to Covid, the ceremony was on the school grounds, livestreamed because in-person attendance was limited. School Board Chairman Kevin Levasseur said the eight-graders’ promotion was in the VCS gymnasium in 2000; others estimated the move to the Conference Center was around 2015.

After that look backward, board members mostly looked to the future, discussing plans for summer renovation work inside the building and on the grounds. A summer school will run the first two weeks in August.

Board members scheduled an open meeting to discuss spending anticipated extra state and federal money and a strategic plan for education in Vassalboro for 5:45 p.m., Wednesday, Aug. 11, at the school. They plan to invite the selectboard and budget committee and make sure interested residents are informed and can participate, virtually as well as in person.

Finance Director Paula Pooler predicted the school’s finances will be “in good shape” at the end of the fiscal year, though with two weeks’ bills still to come she could not give a specific figure.

Board members approved one appointment, Carol Kiesman as Curriculum Coordinator. They accepted three resignations: Donna Bolduc, Title 1 Educational Technician for many years; Victor Esposito, Jobs for Maine Graduates Teacher; and Sarah Page, displaced from kindergarten by covid-induced changes and moving to a kindergarten position elsewhere.

Referring to Esposito as “the legend of JMG for 20 years,” Superintendent Alan Pfeiffer said he “will still be around,” and the program will continue under new leadership.

The post-local-elections meeting began with re-elections of Levasseur as board chairman and Jolene Clark-Gamage as vice-chairman. Board members formally adopted the $8,313,609.72 2021-22 school budget approved at town meeting.

Committee members plan, as usual, not to hold a regular meeting in July. They scheduled their next meeting for Tuesday evening, Aug. 17, and authorized Pfeiffer to issue contracts in the interim, so they will not miss a good employee.

China planners continue work on two draft ordinances

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by Mary Grow

China Planning Board members continued to work on two draft ordinances at their June 15 meeting. The proposed new Solar Energy Systems Ordinance they decided is almost in final form. The proposed additional section of the shoreland ordinance, governing shoreline stabilization projects, is barely started.

Board members reversed an earlier decision to have the Solar Energy Systems Ordinance include its own definitions. Instead, definitions specific to the ordinance will be added to Chapter 11, on definitions, in China’s Land Use Ordinance.

Kevin Corbett and Scott Anderson, of SunRaise Investments, the New Hampshire solar development company with two recent projects in South China, asked planners to reconsider their decision to count solar panels as impervious surfaces for the purpose of calculating lot coverage.

China’s ordinances limit lot coverage, as one part of controlling run-off from developments. The draft ordinance counts solar panels as impervious, but allows adjustments for their tilt.

Corbett and Anderson argued that the rainwater that drips off the lower edge of each panel is not like the sheet of water that runs off a building roof or a paved driveway; run-off from solar panels falls onto the grass below and is absorbed on site.

The state Department of Environmental Protection does not count solar panels as structures, nor do most other Maine towns, Anderson and Corbett said.

Planning board members were not sympathetic, though they agreed to rediscuss the question at their June 22 meeting.

Toni Wall said the vegetation under the panels might take a long time to grow after they were installed. Chairman Randy Downer said counting panels as structures limited the area that could become mostly panels; he has heard many comments about the large solar array off Route 3 east, of August.

Board member James Wilkens said China’s lakes that are vulnerable to run-off and residents’ concern about the appearance of the landscape justify regulations that are more stringent than the state’s.

The proposed shoreline stabilization ordinance will also be on the agenda for the June 22 board meeting, scheduled for 6:30 p.m., in the portable building behind the town office.

The only non-ordinance issue presented June 15 was a question from Codes Officer Jaime Hanson: do Mike Marchetti and Iris Savernik need planning board review of their proposed changes on Fire Road 19? Planning Board members said yes; the lots are part of a subdivision, and board approval is needed to change a subdivision.

China Broadband Committee discusses ways to distribute fact sheet

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by Mary Grow

China Broadband Committee (CBC) members spent most of their June 17 meeting discussing ways to distribute a flyer publicizing their plans for expanded and improved broadband service in town.

The draft one-page handout introduces the proposal and invites interested residents to sign up for follow-up information via email.

Board members scheduled a public informational meeting for 4 p.m., Sunday, July 11, at a location to be determined. They hope it will be both an in-person and a virtual meeting, to allow everyone interested to participate one way or the other.

Before and after July 11 they plan to make the flyer available everywhere they can think of – as part of the informational mailings from the town office, included with the tax bills, as an insert in The Town Line, distributed at any organization meeting, church or fire department or community event that will accept copies, perhaps handed out at local businesses if allowed.

Committee members’ schedule calls for presenting a proposed referendum question asking selectmen to approve a bond issue to one of the first two August selectboard meetings, which should be Aug. 2 and Aug. 16. If selectmen approve putting the question on the Nov. 2 local ballot, voters will decide whether to borrow funds to build new internet infrastructure.

The amount to be borrowed is not yet known. Committee members applied for a state planning grant to hire Hawkeye Connections, of Poland, Maine, to evaluate existing infrastructure — telephone poles, for example — and determine construction costs.

Marc Ouellette, President of Axiom Technologies, the CBC members’ choice to provide broadband service, expects grant awards will be announced Wednesday morning, June 23. After discussion of members’ conflicting commitments, the next CBC meeting was scheduled for 3 p.m., Wednesday, June 23. It will be virtual, live-streamed.

CBC members applied for a $7,500 state grant, to be matched by $2,500 in local funds. The local funds are expected to come from the Tax Increment Financing (TIF) fund, which as of the June 8 town meeting includes expanded broadband service as an allowable expenditure.

China selectmen decide to maintain inactive local police department

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by Mary Grow

Much of the China selectmen’s June 21 business was following up on voters’ decisions at the June 8 town meeting. All but one selectboard vote was unanimous; two items were postponed.

Police services generated the longest discussion. Voters approved a $34,000 police budget for 2021-22, to fund a contract that would provide 10 extra hours a week of service from the Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office (KSO), in addition to China’s share of county policing.

Selectmen agreed they should de-activate, but not eliminate, the China police department, which currently consists of five part-time officers, four with full-time jobs with other departments.

Town Manager Becky Hapgood explained that a China police officer will need to submit a report in January 2022; and if selectmen disbanded the local department and later wanted it back again, starting over would require paperwork.

She estimated the cost of maintaining the department on paper, with the men doing nothing but filing the required report, should be less than $1,000. Selectmen agreed having the local force remain an option while they tried the KSO arrangement was a good idea.

They voted unanimously for the additional deputy sheriffs’ work, 10 hours a week (on average) at $60 an hour, plus maintaining an inactive local department. Later, they re-appointed three local police officers, Jordan Gaudet from KSO and Michael Tracy and Jerry Haynes from the Oakland Police Department.

On a related issue, they signed the two-year dispatching contract with the State Police postponed from their previous meeting (see the June 17 issue of The Town Line, p. 3).

On June 8, voters approved the revised Tax Increment Financing (TIF) document, called the Second Amendment. Hapgood reported that town office staff are finishing paperwork to send it to the state for approval.

Selectmen authorized six disbursements from TIF funds, some made possible by the June 8 revisions, all within the budgeted amounts that were part of the approval, all recommended by the TIF Committee (see the June 17 issue of The Town Line, p. 9).

The appropriations are as follows: $37,500 for the China Region Lakes Alliance; $12,500 for the China Lake Association; $30,000 for the China Four Seasons Club; $10,000 for the China Broadband Committee to contract with its consultant; $30,000 for Maine Rivers for the Alewife Restoration Initiative (ARI); and $35,000 for the Thurston Park Committee.

Votes were unanimous except for the Broadband Committee appropriation, which Selectman Wayne Chadwick opposed. Hapgood said the consultants’ contract has been revised so that any expenditures over the $10,000 will need separate written approval. The selectmen’s vote included authorization for her to sign the contract.

In two other town meeting follow-ups, selectmen authorized Hapgood to sell the old grader by sealed bid – probably in July, she said. For the sale of the about 40-acre lot on the east side of Lakeview Drive, they approved her plan to solicit expressions of interest from real estate agents in town.

Agenda items postponed, on Hapgood’s recommendation, were discussion of FirstPark and an appointment to the Board of Appeals.

After voters rejected funding for FirstPark for 2021-22 (thereby returning it to the higher 2020-21 amount), selectmen agreed to investigate withdrawing from the Oakland business park. Hapgood said she has a copy of an attorney’s letter on the complexity of withdrawal, and advice from China town attorney Amanda Meader. She recommends waiting to see what the town of Rome does.

There are vacancies or pending vacancies on several town boards, Hapgood said. She plans to advertise all of them and therefore asked selectmen to postpone action until she presents a group of new nominees.

The manager reminded selectmen of their special end-of-year meeting at 4 p.m. Wednesday, June 30. The town office will close at noon June 30 so staff can complete paperwork.

The town office and transfer station will be closed Saturday, July 3, and Monday, July 5, for the Independence Day holiday. The next regular selectmen’s meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 6, instead of the usual Monday evening.

Jean Poulin, Vassalboro’s bookkeeper for 15 years, to retire on July 2

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Jean Poulin

by Mary Grow

Jean Poulin estimates more than $94,000,000 have passed through her ledgers since she became the Town of Vassalboro’s bookkeeper on Sept. 11, 2006 – a position from which she is about to retire.

The money came to the town from local tax payments, excise taxes, state revenue sharing, income from investments, occasional state or federal grants and miscellaneous other sources.

It went out, every two weeks (plus a state payment the odd week), to pay town employees’ salaries and to cover other town expenditures, from thousands of dollars to support the school department to a few dollars for some essential item for the town office, the public works department or the transfer station.

Vassalboro selectmen meet every two weeks, and every meeting includes approval of two warrants, the payroll warrant and the accounts payable warrant. (Warrant, in this context, is the list of checks; it is not the same as a town meeting warrant, which is the list of articles to be voted on.)

Poulin explained that for payroll, employees turn in time sheets; Town Manager Mary Sabins double-checks them; Poulin prints checks or does a direct deposit, as appropriate. Payroll amounts are quite consistent from week to week, she said, except when the public works drivers put in overtime for plowing snow and at the end of the fiscal year, when longevity bonuses are added for qualified employees.

For the accounts payable warrant, Poulin gets bills by mail, email and hand delivery, from town department heads and from venders. Department heads include an explanation of the expenditure and information on which line in the budget it should be drawn against.

Again, Sabins reviews the list that will go to the selectboard; Poulin prepares the checks; and selectmen review and approve both warrants.

The Maine Motor Vehicle Department wants its share of registration fees every week, Poulin said. She prepares a separate warrant for the department and notifies selectmen when it is ready for the required single signature. Usually, she said, a selectboard member stops at the town office promptly.

Poulin’s daily duties include a sweep and deposits. The sweep involves transferring money newly received, over the counter or on-line (tax payments or vehicle registrations, for example), out of Vassalboro’s checking account, which earns no interest. She then deposits it in the interest-earning money market account.

Sweeps work both ways, Poulin said: when it’s time to pay bills, she transfers enough from the money market to cover the checks she needs to write.

There is more paperwork – daily reports on tax collections, vehicle registrations and other topics, quarterly reports to the federal government and the state government, reviews with the firm through which the town invests, reviews with the auditor.

Another part of her job is assisting patrons at the counter in the town office while another employee is out sick or on lunch break.

Poulin is a Vassalboro native and Cony High School, in Augusta, graduate. After earning an associate’s degree in business and accounting from the former Kennebec Valley Technical College, in Fairfield, Poulin worked at Sebasticook Valley Hospital, in Pittsfield, before getting married, moving to Florida for a while and then returning to central Maine.

Poulin jokes that she got her Vassalboro job through a fair – but not a job fair. At Windsor Fair in 2006, she ran into a long-time Vassalboro friend, Michael Vashon, who was then town manager.

Vashon was looking for a bookkeeper and invited Poulin to submit a resume. Within a few days, he hired her.

She’s enjoyed her job, she said, both the work and especially her colleagues over the years. She likes figures for their definiteness. “If it’s not right, you’ll find it,” she said.

She has one big plan for retirement, though: “Not to get up every morning and drive to Vassalboro.” Instead, she intends to use unscheduled time to enjoy her grandchildren and her flower garden, and she and her husband plan a few relaxing days on the coast.

Poulin’s last day in the Vassalboro town office will be July 2. Her successor will be Melanie Anderson, most recently Benton town clerk. Poulin said she and Anderson plan to work together for a few days as June winds down.