China select board tightens social service funding, advances budget to committee

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by Mary Grow

At their March 10 meeting, China select board members put their draft 2025-26 municipal budget in near-enough final form to forward to the town budget committee. Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood hoped to be able to schedule a budget committee meeting the week of March 17.

Voters will make final 2025-26 spending decisions at the Tuesday, June 10, town business meeting, which will be by written ballot.

One March 10 tweak reduced the proposed budget for donations to out-of-town social service agencies.

Hapgood had already recommended cutting most outside organizations’ requests, lowering the almost $32,000 requested to $25,500. Board member Thomas Rumpf moved to delete $500 for the American Red Cross, based on his experiences with the group.

His motion was approved 3-2, with board chairman Wayne Chadwick, Edwin Bailey and Rumpf in favor and Blane Casey and Jeanne Marquis opposed.

The account includes a recommended $500 (half the requested amount) for the Winslow Community Cupboard, which several people said serves China residents. When Casey asked about the China Food Pantry, Hapgood said that group makes no request for town funds.

The draft budget includes 3.5 percent COLA (cost of living adjustment) raises for town employees. Select board members endorsed the increase on 4-1 vote, with Casey opposed. Casey also voted, alone, against supporting all parts of the budget that include salaries.

Chadwick said he, too, would have opposed the 3.5 percent increase as too generous, until he saw what employers are offering to try to hire summer employees; although, he added, those jobs offer fewer benefits than working for the town.

Before tackling the budget, select board members heard two other issues.

China Village volunteer fire department chief Joel Nelson and assistant chief Ben Loubier requested an article in the June 10 warrant asking voters to appropriate money for a new truck for their department.

They need another tanker, to replace a 1990 one acquired in 2014 with an engine so old that parts are hard to find, they explained. Their application for a federal grant was denied in December.

Nelson had two price quotes for a new truck, which he prefers over a second-hand one so the department can customize it and for the warranty. Casey asked for quotes on a used one, too.

Selectmen postponed a decision for two weeks, expecting more price options.

Hapgood reminded board members the 180-day moratorium on new transmission lines through China that voters approved Nov. 5, 2024, will expire early in May.

The question was put on the ballot by petition, in response to the proposed north-south transmission line from Aroostook County that would have gone near or perhaps through China.

The goal was to give China officials time to write and get voter approval for an ordinance to regulate transmission lines. Nothing has been done.

Select board members decided they need to give China Planning Board members a specific instruction to develop an ordinance, and so voted unanimously. Before the expiration date they plan to exercise their option to renew the moratorium for another 180 days.

The planned line that triggered China’s November 2024 vote and similar actions in other towns has been shelved, but board members believe the idea remains alive, so protective measures are still needed.

The next regular China select board meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday, March 24.

Vassalboro school board gets first look at 2025-26 budget

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Vassalboro Community School (contributed photo)

by Mary Grow

Vassalboro School Board members got their first look at sections of the proposed 2025-26 school budget request at a March 4 special meeting. Finance Director Paula Pooler, Transportation Director Ashley Pooler, Technology Director Will Backman and Superintendent Alan Pfeiffer explained parts of the draft.

Pfeiffer praised Paula Pooler, who manages finances for Vassalboro, Waterville and Winslow school departments, for her hard work. The proposed budget is neither final nor complete, he emphasized. Some figures might change with additional information, and major accounts, including regular and special education for elementary-school students, are not yet ready for review.

Pfeiffer called the 2025-26 budget “one of the most challenging budgets I’ve seen so far in my career,” with inflation and other factors increasing expenses faster than usual.

One of the largest increases in the accounts reviewed at the March 4 meeting was in tuition, at that point up by almost $355,000.

The amount Vassalboro pays to send its students to high school varies every year, depending on the number of high-school students and on the schools they choose to attend. Different area high schools charge different tuition rates.

In addition, the insured value factor, the amount state law allows private schools – like Erskine Academy, in South China, popular with Vassalboro students – to charge for maintenance of buildings and grounds, is rising from six percent to 10 percent of the school’s tuition rate. This change “has caused an uproar” in other school districts that, like Vassalboro, offer high-school choice, Pfeiffer said.

Ashley Pooler summarized a projected almost $99,000 increase in the transportation account as mostly due to higher salaries and benefits. Pfeiffer and Paula Pooler praised the transponders installed in all three towns’ school buses. The new equipment lets school office personnel tell inquiring parents where their children’s buses are in real time.

Technology and health services accounts are among smaller budget lines with less influence on the total budget. Paula Pooler said the health services budget is down slightly, due to personnel changes. Principal Ira Michaud praised new school nurse Kasey Paquette, calling her “amazing” and “fantastic.”

Paula Pooler identified some of the expenditures that will be reimbursed by state funds. Nonetheless, she warned, the final draft of the 2025-26 school budget will likely cause sticker shock.

School board members were scheduled to continue the budget discussion during their March 11 regular monthly meeting.

VASSALBORO: Getchell’s Corner folks object to planned solar farm

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by Mary Grow

A dozen residents of the Getchell’s Corner area in western Vassalboro came to the March 4 Vassalboro Planning Board meeting, mostly to voice opposition to a planned solar farm in the area.

After the hour and a half discussion of the preliminary application for the solar farm, to be developed by Minnesota-based Novel Energy, another area resident, David Theriault, brought his separate question to the board’s attention.

Novel representative Ralph Addonizio explained the proposed development on Tyler Cain’s property on the east side of Riverside Drive, south of Getchell’s Corner Road. Much of his presentation described how the solar farm will meet criteria in Vassalboro’s town ordinances.

He discussed tree buffers to block residents’ views of the solar panels; the absence of traffic, noise, lights, odors or other disruptions to the rural area; the fence around the solar panels with ground clearance to let small animals pass underneath; planned maintenance (minimal); the lack of impact on municipal services; and the creation of a fund to pay for decommissioning when the project reaches the end of it 25-to-30-year life.

Addonizio promised no unnecessary removal of existing trees, pointing out that protecting trees and promoting solar power “sorta goes hand in hand with being green.” In sum, he said, Novel’s development will be “a good neighbor.”

Audience members were not persuaded.

Frank Getchell, after whose family the area is named, invited planning board members to come and see how beautiful the proposed site is now. It doesn’t need “a field full of junk,” he said.

Susan Higgins said she already has an extensive and attractive view and does not want to look instead at a wall of trees hiding solar panels. Michael and Doris Lyons also objected strongly, with Doris Lyons showing board members photos on her phone.

Higgins asked board members whether there is any way to make a town-wide plan that controls and limits location of such developments. Board chairman Virginia Brackett replied that updating Vassalboro’s strategic plan, approved by voters in June 2006, is the select board’s responsibility.

As the discussion wound down, Brackett suggested Addonizio’s final plan include more buffering on the north and east sides of the solar farm. Addonizio intends to submit a final application at the April 1 planning board meeting.

Assuming local approval in April, solar panels will not appear immediately. Addonizio said after Novel gets its state and town permits, the next step is to order supplies and components. Getting ready for construction he expects will take 10 to 12 months, during which, he said, constantly-evolving technology may lead to plan changes.

Theriault’s unrelated question was whether a former fire pond behind the old Masonic Hall,, on Dunham Road counts as a pond with a shoreland district that would limit land use.

Theriault is considering buying the former Masonic Hall and the adjacent former Methodist Church and tearing them down – after years of neglect, both are too dilapidated to be restored, he said. He would like to construct new buildings on the property.

Codes Officer Eric Currie said a nearby creek is on shoreland zoning maps, so it has setback requirements. The pond he said is on Google maps, but not on the town shoreland map.

Therefore, Brackett said, Theriault can ignore the pond, or can fill it in. She advised him to have the property surveyed before building on it.

The next regular Vassalboro Planning board meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 1.

Vassalboro select board discusses upcoming work at Webber Pond dam

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by Mary Grow

Vassalboro select board members’ March 6 meeting included updates on several ongoing issues and continued review of the proposed 2025-26 municipal budget, now in draft number four. A joint meeting between the select board and the budget committee is scheduled for Tuesday, March 18 (time undetermined as of March 9).

The major topic of the pre-budget discussions was again this summer’s planned rebuilding of the fishway at the Webber Pond dam (see the Feb. 27 issue of The Town Line, p. 2). Matt Streeter, from Maine Rivers, reported on on-going discussions about traffic diversions during the work, showing photos illustrating the size of the project and the need to close the road beside it.

Preliminary plans now include rebuilding a small section of the private McQuarrie Road to eliminate a blind spot, he said. Responding to a concern from two weeks earlier, Fire Chief Walker Thompson said Vassalboro fire trucks can get to residences.

Streeter praised the crew who will be rebuilding the fishway as experienced and skilled, used to working close to older structures like the Webber Pond dam.

He plans to continue discussions and to report again in two weeks.

David St. Pierre, vice-president of the Dam Road association, was still concerned about the dam and bridge. If something does go wrong, he asked whether the town would pay for repairs, or whether the full cost would fall on local residents.

Select board chairman Frederick “Rick” Denico said the answer would depend on the situation, including whether whatever needed fixing was due to the dam’s age or a direct result of the fishway project and how much money was involved.

In other business not directly related to next year’s budget:

— Town Manager Aaron Miller and board members discussed continuing questions related to the tax-acquired property on Lombard Dam Road, part of which they would like to keep for potential future transfer station needs.
— Board members agreed with Miller that the town insurance policy should be expanded to cover committee members and other volunteers – sports coaches, people who repair cemetery stones or maintain town trails – in case someone is injured. Miller proposed increasing the draft budget to cover the $2 per person cost he quoted.
— Board members unanimously appointed Michael Cayouette as Vassalboro baseball commissioner.

The hour-long budget discussion included Miller’s recommendations for adjusting to tariffs imposed by the Trump administration; a new proposal for town office staffing; and another discussion of funding to replace Dunlap Bridge on Mill Hill Road.

Miller recommended increasing amounts budgeted for next year’s fuel in several accounts. Vassalboro has signed 2025-26 fuel contracts, but the contracting company is not entirely firm on honoring prices if tariffs raise its costs, he said.

For the town office, Miller has repeatedly urged adding a part-time person who would cover lunch hours and fill in if needed when a regular staffer is on vacation or out sick. Board member Chris French suggested increasing the community program director’s position to full-time and adding town office substituting to the job description.

Miller was noncommittal until he has time to consult the people involved.

Last summer’s federal grant that would cover a generous part of the expensive Mill Hill Road project is now in doubt, Miller and board members fear, leading to consideration of alternatives, including using Vassalboro’s TIF (Tax Increment Financing) fund.

At the Feb. 20 meeting, board members asked Miller to ask the town’s attorney whether they can repeat on the June 2 open town meeting warrant the same question about using TIF money that voters rejected in November 2024. Miller said the attorney had not yet answered.

The next Vassalboro select board meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m., Thursday, March 13, in the town office meeting room. The agenda includes continued budget discussions.

The Thursday, March 20, select board meeting is to be preceded by a 5:15 p.m. meeting of the transfer station task force, according to the calendar on the town website.

WINDSOR: Long discussion takes place about Long Pond Acres

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by The Town Line staff

At their February 11,2025, meeting, the Windsor Select Board heard from Town Manager Theresa Haskell that she received a letter from Delta Ambulance confirming the $35 per capita fee imposed on the town for ambulance service.

Also, Dan. West sent an invoice to the town for $100. This is for his appointed secretary duties for the planning board meeting on January 6. Broken down, it is $75 for the service and an additional $25 for doing agenda preparation for the planning board’s February 3, 2025, meeting.

A water test was conducted for the town office on January 28. The test results have not come back yet. Not PFAS test was done at this time. There will be more discussion as to whether a PFAS test will be done in the future.

Select board members approved the PSAP contract, as written, and authorized Haskell to sign the contract, which includes an fee increase.

In personnel changes, the board approved a motion to remove Thomas Leonard as a planning board alternate, and appointed Carol Chavarie as planning board chairman. Leonard was removed for missing numerous planning board meetings, and several attempts to contact him have failed. Nancy Fish was appointed to the planning board.

Matthew Taylor handed out a packed for the select board to review and spoke with the select board at length regarding the Long Pond Acres Subdivision. Questions were raised regarding the right of way and the fire road. Taylor, as well as other lot owners, said Taylor is looking for more clarification. Taylor collected information after meetings with Greg Feltis, assistant Codes Enforcement Officer, Carol Chavarie, planning board chairman, and Theresa Haskell, town manager. Following much discussion, the select board will send information to the town attorney for review and request the planning board draft a letter by February 28, 2025, for all property owners and abutters so Taylor can take to his meeting stating the town is having the town’s attorney investigate further.

In other business, Troy Thibodeau and Gery Mitchell from Clean Energy Connect were present to let the select board know what has been happening around town power lines. He said most of the large equipment has been removed from the work sites or is already on site that they need. There are only a few pieces of large equipment that will be brought in, a transaxle crane and bulldozer. The plan is to be finished work. by June 2025. They are aware of the damage being done to the roads and they are documenting it the best they can and if the public works department sees areas, to let them know so they can forecast the cost for repairs they will need for which to account.

Bill Portela spoke to the board regarding a dangerous dog situation. He says he has been walking his dog, on a leash, on the South Belfast Road, and has been attacked by two German shepherds. He showed a video of one attack, when he needed the aid of a school bus driver and a passing motorist. He read, out loud, the state statute for dangerous dogs. He believes these situations meet the guidelines for dangerous dogs. A formal letter was submitted to begin the legal process.

The next meeting of the select board was held on February 25, 2025.

Vassalboro cemetery committee talks about fiscal year

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by Mary Grow

At a short Feb. 24 meeting, Vassalboro Cemetery Committee members talked about plans for the rest of the current fiscal year and the new one beginning July 1, and about the lack of information about the past.

Chairman Savannah Clark said in December 2024, the select board authorized waiving the town procurement policy so the committee can again hire expert stone restorer Joseph Ferrannini to work in town cemeteries in the summer.

Town Manager Aaron Miller is preparing RFPs (Requests for Proposals) for two other projects, Clark said. One is hiring someone to remove dangerous trees in Farwell-Brown and Nelson cemeteries this spring; the other is hiring an arborist to assess trees in multiple town cemeteries, as a basis for an ongoing management plan.

Vassalboro select board members are reviewing the proposed 2025-26 town budget. Clark said they seem to be supportive of the committee’s request, which totaled $48,050 (the same as the current year’s budget) as of the Feb. 20 select board meeting.

The select board’s recommended budget will be reviewed by the budget committee, whose members make their own recommendations. Voters at the annual town meeting Monday evening, June 2, will make final decisions on expenditures.

Committee member David Jenney said he wished more information was available on the history of Vassalboro’s more than two dozen cemeteries. He would like to know, for example, when each was laid out and by whom and what plan the organizer(s) had in mind.

Jenney said he has some information on Cross Hill Cemetery, and old town reports are sometimes helpful. Vassalboro Historical Society records were mentioned as another resource.

Cemetery Committee members scheduled their next meeting for Monday evening, March 17.

China planners review town’s subdivision ordinance

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by Mary Grow

Four China Planning Board members spent a short Feb. 25 meeting reviewing preliminary updates and clarifications to the town’s subdivision ordinance.

Board chairman Toni Wall had suggested mostly minor changes throughout the document, and other board members recommended others. Milton Dudley proposed adding a time-line to help would-be subdivision developers navigate the document.

Codes Officer Nicholas French wants to add regulations for cluster developments, which are prohibited in the current ordinance. A cluster development, he explained, requires the same total land area for the number of houses built as a conventional subdivision; but the houses are closer together and more of the area is left undeveloped.

The result, in French’s opinion, is housing that requires less road-building and road maintenance, minimizes sprawl and preserves larger natural areas.

Wall shared copies of two Maine towns’ cluster development rules for the other board members to review. Dudley said the veterans’ housing at Togus is an example of a cluster development.

Types of changes Wall recommended included updating references to outside sources, like state regulatory documents whose titles had changed since the China ordinance was last substantively revised in 1993; and deleting phrases that give the planning board discretionary authority.

The first example of the latter she highlighted was a sentence allowing the board, “where it deems it necessary,” to require a minor subdivision to meet some or all of the more comprehensive application requirements for a major subdivision.

Cluster development regulations will be the main topic of the next discussion. Board members canceled their March 11 meeting, because at least one board member will not be available and to give themselves more time to consider the issue. Their next meeting is now scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 25, in the town office meeting room.

China’s Thurston Park committee continues planning future activities

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by Mary Grow

China’s Thurston Park Committee members continued planning future activities, undeterred by bad weather having canceled their February China Ice Days plans.

At the committee’s Feb. 20 meeting, chairman Jeanette Smith said the owl prowl scheduled as part of the Feb. 14-16 weekend events was not held. She added that she has not yet heard owls, perhaps because the cold weather has delayed mating.

Committee members discussed plans to maintain and improve trails in the park and events to schedule in warmer weather. They seek to expand handicapped opportunities, including accessible and interesting trails and parking. At their January meeting, they proposed adding a handicapped-accessible toilet.

Also under consideration is making some trail sections usable by mountain bikers.

Smith raised a new issue: now that the town-owned lot south of the town office building is to house the relocated ice rink and the new community garden, is there still room for the planned dog park? (Recreation Committee chairman Martha Wentworth proposed the dog park that China select board members first discussed at their July 1, 2024, meeting.)

Smith intends to ask Wentworth about building the dog park in Thurston Park. Many local people already walk their dogs there, committee members said.

Another new project, with which China Historical Society member Tim Hatch is helping, is finding names of people who lived in the park decades ago. Hatch said he is checking 19th-century maps of the town for names of former residents whose homes are marked only by cellar holes.

More trail signs are needed. Smith said she visited a company from whom she hoped to order some and found it had closed. Discussion of alternatives included mention of an Oakland company.

Committee members again discussed the problem of improving the southern access to the park over neighbors’ opposition (see the Jan. 23 issue of The Town Line, pp. 2 and 3). The Haskell family uses for a driveway the south end of Yorktown Road (which the town discontinued years ago, maintaining a right of way).

Committee member Scott Monroe recommended continuing to try to talk with the Haskells, with approval from Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood. Smith thought she might be able to get a legal opinion supporting the town’s right to use the road, at a cost the committee’s fund from past timber sales could cover.

The next Thurston Park Committee meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday, March 20, in the portable building in the town office complex. Committee members agreed their April meeting should be a workshop, to include repairing picnic tables and benches.

China select board, budget committee, town employees hold long meeting

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by Mary Grow

China select board members, joined by some budget committee members and several town employees, held a long four-part meeting Monday evening, Feb. 24.

They started at the public works garage on Alder Park Road, where Director of Public Works Shawn Reed introduced them to the large trucks, all wearing their plow gear this time of year, that live there.

Reed explained each vehicle’s advantages and disadvantages as he requested a replacement truck in the 2025-26 fiscal year.

The group then viewed a smaller truck in the old town garage in the town office complex before adjourning to the town office meeting room for the bulk of the select board meeting.

Reversing a split decision Feb. 10 (see the Feb. 13 issue of The Town Line, p. 3), select board members voted 4-1, with Blane Casey still opposed, to recommend buying a new plow truck next year, at a cost expected to be slightly under $300,000. Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood said about that amount is now in the truck reserve fund.

Reed recommends selling one of the old trucks after the new one arrives.

Select board members’ longest discussion was with Robert O’Connor and Jamie Pitney, of the China Broadband Committee, over the proposed agreement with Unitel for expanded broadband service in China (another topic discussed at the Feb. 10 meeting).

Unitel proposes a new main line running from its Albion office through China to Palermo, to connect with the five-town Waldo Broadband Corporation. A second phase of the project would expand service to parts of China currently underserved or unserved.
Board Chairman Wayne Chadwick repeated his refusal to approve a project that involves China investing money — $370,000 in TIF (Tax Increment Financing) funds – without a firm guarantee that un- and underserved China residents will be served within a reasonable time.

Pitney and O’Connor provided as much information as they could. Because some of the project funding depends on a federal grant, they, too, expressed uncertainty, about whether the grant program would exist and whether Unitel would be awarded one.

The grant is called BEAD, which stands for Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program. Select board members voted unanimously to sign a letter supporting Unitel’s grant application. They took no action on the draft agreement with Unitel.

In a series of unanimous votes, select board members:

— Approved rules, procedures and membership fees for the planned community garden on the Lakeview Drive lot south of the town office. The document is on the town website, chinamaine.org, under two headings: Officials, Boards, & Committees, subheading China for a Lifetime Committee; and Community, at the bottom of the list.
— Authorized the Community Forest Committee to apply for a grant from the Portland-based Libra Foundation, for $4,093, for locally made trail signs for the forest behind the China schools.
— Revised the town’s building permit fee schedule, reducing one fee and increasing two others to better reflect the codes officer’s time.
— Appointed Jane Robertson budget committee secretary.

The third part of the select board meeting was a preliminary review of part of Hapgood’s draft 2025-26 municipal budget. The manager briefly summarized proposed changes in the first five (of 12) accounts.

Highlights:

— Board members agreed unanimously the administration account will not include a suggested $11,000 to create the position of part-time recreation director. Hapgood said $10,500 was approved in the 2023-24 budget, but the town was unable to hire anyone for the position.
— By another unanimous vote, board members agreed the boards and committee budget will not include stipends for themselves.
— They deleted from the public safety account a proposed increase in the hours Kennebec County sheriff’s deputies serve the town, from eight to 10 a week. Chadwick commended the officers for their work, but considered coverage adequate.
— In the proposed solid waste budget, Hapgood said hauling costs have been reduced, because “The fabulous transfer station people make sure the loads going out are full” and therefore less numerous.
Board members favor starting a reserve fund to replace the transfer station scales, though they did not decide on an initial amount.

Preliminary consideration of the rest of the budget was postponed at 8:10 p.m., 10 minutes past Chadwick’s unofficial deadline. Board members considered holding a budget workshop later in the week, but were unable to find an evening everyone would be available. Extra budget meetings in March are likely.

The evening’s fourth and final meeting was a separate one, as select board members reconvened as the board of assessors. They unanimously accepted two recommendations from the town assessor on abatement requests, denying one and approving the other.

The next regular China select board meeting is scheduled for Monday evening, March 10.

Webber Pond dam main topic at select board meeting

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by Mary Grow

A main business item on the Feb. 20 Vassalboro select board agenda, a discussion of planned enlargement of the fishway at the Webber Pond dam, turned into a discussion of movement for people, not fish.

The 2009 fishway “has been so successful that it’s now undersized,” Maine Rivers Executive Director Landis Hudson summarized. Project Manager Matt Streeter explained a detailed plan to rebuild the fishway in the same place, but wider, deeper and longer.

(Hudson and Streeter are familiar with Vassalboro: Maine Rivers headed the 2017-2022 China Lake Alewife Restoration Initiative [ARI] that opened Vassalboro’s Outlet Stream to alewife migration from the Kennebec River to China Lake.)

The work needs to be done between July 15 and Sept. 30, by federal regulation of work done in the water, Streeter said. It will require big machinery, which will be left on site overnights and weekends.

To make room for parked machinery, the plan includes closing the entrance to Dam Road from Webber Pond Road. Streeter described the planned 3.5-mile detour for residents on the southwest side of Webber Pond via Hannaford Hill and McQuarrie roads.

Three audience members objected strongly. Not to the bigger fishway; they said that’s a good idea.

But more traffic on McQuarrie Road is a bad and dangerous idea, they said. The road is narrow; they were especially concerned about a steep pitch where it’s impossible to see oncoming traffic.

They asked Streeter about alternatives, like moving the machinery nights and weekends or installing a temporary bridge to provide a new entrance to Dam Road.

Fire Chief Walker Thompson said he checked McQuarrie Road recently and thought emergency access would not be a problem.

Area resident and former select board member Barbara Redmond and present board member Chris French wondered about the town’s right to close private roads without residents’ permission. Board Chairman Frederick “Rick” Denico, Jr., asked if Maine Rivers could prepare a supplemental plan showing roads and elevations.

Streeter and Thompson offered to meet with affected residents. Redmond said if a meeting is scheduled, she will help publicize it.

In addition to the fishway, Streeter said discussions with the Webber Pond Association led to planned new dam gates, electrically operated, that will be easier to manage and will allow greater control of the pond’s outflow.

In other business Feb. 20, select board members settled one issue and decided another is not urgent.

— After another brief discussion, they voted unanimously to accept transfer station fee increases that Manager Adam Daoust proposed in December 2024, to take effect July 1, 2025.
— Town Manager Aaron Miller said the Secretary of State’s office will not be able to evaluate the suitability of the town office for state voting until fall. The issue is whether the space can be arranged to meet ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) requirements.

Board members decided they can hold the June town meeting at Vassalboro Community School and June elections – which are local only ­– in the town office, as in past years, and worry about November’s voting place later.

The Feb. 20 select board agenda included the proposal to amend Vassalboro’s TIF (Tax Increment Financing) document to allow TIF money to help pay for replacing Dunlap bridge on Mill Hill Road.

Voters rejected a Nov. 5, 2024, referendum question asking them to add environmental improvement projects to authorized uses of TIF money, by a vote of 1,200 in favor to 1,338 opposed.

Select board members have been considering a revised question for this spring’s open town meeting. French proposed submitting the November 2024 question again, believing when board members have an opportunity to explain it, voters will approve it.

Miller said he would consult with the town’s attorney.

The next regular Vassalboro select board meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m., Thursday, March 6.