CBC decision makes it easier for consultants to prepare costs

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by Mary Grow

At their May 13 meeting, China Broadband Committee (CBC) members unanimously approved one piece of the outline of their proposed China Community Broadband Project, making it easier for their consultants to prepare cost scenarios.

The program they intend to offer will have three tiers, or service levels, providing different capacities at different prices, plus a fourth, higher tier committee member Neil Farrington named “the Tod tier” in honor of self-described geek and committee member Tod Detre. Detre admits he will want more capacity than most other users in town.

Consultants Mark Van Loan and John Dougherty, of Mission Broadband, and Mark Ouellette, President of Machias-based Axiom Technologies, the planned service provider, can use the framework to work out cost-sharing alternatives.

As at prior meetings, committee members and consultants described two broad cost categories, construction and on-going service. The plan is that the town of China will issue a bond to cover construction costs, and will own the network. User fees will cover bond repayment, plus service provided by Axiom (or in the future perhaps another company, if the network owner so decides), plus a reasonable profit for Axiom.

The May 13 discussion included the per-house connection to the network, estimated to average $1,300. Committee members considered asking householders to pay some or all of the fee; no decision was made.

Construction costs are currently estimated in the $8 to $9 million range. But, Van Loan and Ouellette agreed, any construction company will estimate for maximum conceivable needs; once its representatives survey the situation, costs are likely to come down.

Ouellette has dealt with another Maine town whose officials used taxes to fund construction. CBC members do not want to propose a tax increase.

Another issue is different rates for seasonal residents, which can be managed in multiple ways.

User fees, at least initially, will depend to a great extent on the “take rate,” how many people sign up for the new service and share the costs. Committee members talked briefly, again, about ways to provide information to residents.

Funding from grants is another possibility not yet either guaranteed or ruled out. CBC Chairman Robert O’Connor is working on a federal grant application, and got suggestions from Van Loan and Ouellette.

Ouellette said Axiom was approved for a federal subsidy program through the Federal Communications Commission a few hours before the China meeting; “I have no idea how it’s going to work.”

Ouellette said in his experience, in a town like China with established internet service providers, up to 40 percent of householders are likely to try Axiom promptly, with 70 percent choosing the lowest of the tiers. He has repeatedly said that once people see how fast and reliable Axiom’s service is, his customer base grows.

Van Loan and Ouellette offered to have updated information, based on a three-tier plus the “Tod tier” system, available within a week for committee members to review before their next meeting, scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 26.

The CBC is likely to continue to meet earlier than its previous 7 p.m., though not always as early as 4:30 p.m., to accommodate Ouellette, who explained he has family obligations in mid-evening.

China committee gets update from Fiberight

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by Mary Grow

China Transfer Station Committee members focused on various forms of recycling at their May 11 meeting, talking about China’s Free for the Taking building; regional hazardous waste disposal and alternatives; and additional recycling possibilities.

They also got an update on plans to reopen the Fiberight disposal facility in Hampden from Michael Carroll, executive director of the Municipal Review Committee (MRC). MRC consists of representatives from Maine municipalities that contracted to bring waste to the Fiberight facility, which closed a year ago. The committee owns the land on which the facility stands, has contracted to supply waste and is named on the waste permit, Carroll said.

The building in which Fiberight intended to process waste, until the company ran out of funds, is owned by bond-holders, Carroll said. Fiberight did the “configuring and dial-setting” for the process that separates and reuses recyclables; the components are off the shelf and can be used and replaced as needed by a successor.

MRC plans to have Pennsylvania-based Delta Thermo Energy (DTE) reopen the plant. Restart date remains undetermined. Meanwhile, most of China’s mixed waste is being landfilled in Norridgewock, to the dismay of local environmentalists.

China Committee Chairman Larry Sikora questioned whether DTE was the best buyer for the closed plant.

Carroll said the MRC didn’t have a choice: two other potentially interested parties dropped out. To Sikora’s questions about how thoroughly DTE had been vetted. Carroll replied, “We did our due diligence.”

DTE has experience with other waste facilities, has more capital than Fiberight started with, is inheriting a building and equipment and when the transfer is final will get rights and operating manuals from the bondholders. The company’s lack of experience with the Fiberight process is not a unique problem, Carroll said, because the process is new; no one has experience with it.

Fiberight “has kind of disappeared on us,” he added. The MRC has been “keeping boots on the ground” to maintain the facility.

Proposed changes in the contract between the plant operator and MRC include giving DTE the option to buy the land, which Carroll said the company is unlikely to exercise for at least two years; and “resetting the clock” so the building lease and the waste supply agreement, now more than a year old, will start over as 15-year arrangements.

After Carroll zoomed out of the meeting, committee members turned to the selectboard’s decision not to participate in the annual hazardous waste disposal day, in Winslow, this year. Winslow charges other towns, and in recent years too few China and Palermo residents have disposed of hazardous waste to justify the cost, selectmen said.

Both the selectmen and the Transfer Station Committee members discussed ways to inform residents about alternative legal disposal places (which probably charge fees), so hazardous wastes will not be combined with mixed waste or dumped into the environment.

Sikora raised the desirability of recycling all batteries, not just big ones. Committee members Ashley Farrington and Karen Hatch think providing separate boxes for small batteries is feasible; they will look into options.

Town Manager Becky Hapgood would like to see the Free for the Taking building reopen in June, but protective measures need to be in place first. She and committee members talked about ways to limit the number of people in and around the building and to limit donations.

Hatch, who manages the building, said sometimes so much is dropped off she can’t get in the door until she rearranges things. She proposed no longer accepting clothing, because, she said, people looking through clothing spend more time inside.

Farrington suggested limiting hours, to provide time to sort items without customers; or charging a deposit that people could get back only by reclaiming items no one else had taken.

Sikora approved Hapgood’s idea that she, Farrington, Hatch and Transfer Station Manager Ronald Marois become a subcommittee to propose procedures.

Farrington has already taken on the project of analyzing information from the Radio Frequency Identification system to detect usage patterns, busy and slack times and other useful factors. Palermo resident Chris Diesch, attending at the invitation of Palermo committee member Robert Kurek, volunteered to help; her offer was accepted with enthusiasm.

The RFID system does not identify users by name. It can record how many times the same person comes in, but not who the person is.

The next regular Transfer Station Committee meeting would have fallen on election day, so members tentatively rescheduled it to 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, June 9.

Windsor selectmen work through routine agenda

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by The Town Line staff

The Windsor board of selectmen worked through a routine agenda at their April 27 meeting, approving all motions unanimously. All selectmen were present for the meeting.

Interim Transfer Station Supervisor Sean Tekeema reported to the board that the transfer station has been busy the last couple of weeks. He said large items – television sets, grills and appliances – have been coming in lately. He also suggested a stand-up sign or magnetic sign on the side of the bin for pizza boxes.

Cemetery Sexton Joyce Perry said the gates to the cemetery were open May 2. The selectmen approved lot conveyances for Jeff Stuart and Sharon Cormier, and Heidi Winslow and Jerry Rideout.

Perry also noted that large chunks of sod were dug up during winter plowing on the right of way road between Resthaven Cemetery and The Fusion. The owner of The Fusion has been contacted and repairs will be made.

Selectmen also approved warrants #43 and #44, as well as approving the 2021 town meeting warrant, as amended.

Selectmen also approved appointing Arthur Strout as the Building Official.

Town Clerk Kelly McGlothlin informed the board of candidates on this year’s ballot: Dustin Mellor for RSU #12 committee member, and William Appel Jr. and Ray Bates for board of selectmen. There are three spots available for the budget committee and one for alternate budget committee.

The board of selectmen then recessed and reconvened as the board of assessors. A request for an additional extension, if needed, on the road frontage variance was submitted by Brian Wall. The board felt there will not be a need to extend the request and unanimously denied any additional extension on the road frontage variance.

The assessors adjourned and reconvened as the board of selectmen.

The fire department completed an application for a grant in the amount of $2,879 for equipment and is requesting for half of the amount of $1,439.50 to be reimbursed from the Forestry Fire Reserve account to the fire department. The assessors approved the request, and then unanimously voted to allow town treasurer, Theresa Haskell, to request the payment from the Forest Fire Reserve Account, payable to the fire department.

A CMP pole permit was approved for the Greeley Road.

Selectmen William Appel Jr. read a letter from MMTCTA congratulating Town Manager Theresa Haskell on her recertification of tax collector and certification as treasurer.

The minutes of the April 13 meeting were amended to read as, “Andrew Ballantyne made a motion to approve the proposed Employee Manual update”.

Animal Control Officer Kim Bolduc-Bartlett said the town may receive a bill for a cat that had to be taken to Lewiston to be euthanized.

The next regular meeting of the board of selectmen was scheduled for May 11, at the Windsor Town Hall.

Vassalboro library, town-sponsored rec coordination gets conditional interest

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by Mary Grow 

At their May 13 meeting, Vassalboro selectmen talked about coordinating Vassalboro’s town-sponsored recreation program with the Vassalboro Public Library, with library Director Brian Stanley expressing conditional interest.

The recreation program, which focuses mainly but not entirely on organizing use of the town ballfields in East Vassalboro, is run by a director, who receives a modest stipend, and a committee. Leadership changes often – not surprising, selectmen said, because as children age out of the program, their parents also move on.

John Melrose, chairman of the selectboard, said the president and treasurer of the library’s board of trustees are willing to explore options. No commitments have been made, and Melrose, who will leave the selectboard after June 8 local elections, is handing the issue to the next board.

Barring unexpected events, that board’s members will be incumbents Robert Browne and Barbara Redmond and Christopher J. French. French is the only candidate for selectman on the June 8 local ballot.

Selectmen reached no conclusion on another issue, where (if anywhere) to hold fireworks in September as part of Vassalboro’s 250th anniversary celebration. Possibilities they discussed included a town-funded display, somewhere, or a contest among private displays.

Yet another undecided issue was how Vassalboro can spend federal funds allocated to the town, or its share of the Kennebec County allocation. Town Manager Mary Sabins said only specific purposes are eligible, and she is not sure Vassalboro can meet any of the criteria.

For example, money could be used to “make whole” businesses damaged by the pandemic, if a Vassalboro business can show damage. Expansion of broadband service or water or sewer systems are also possibilities, but with limitations.

Addressing his fellow board members, Melrose said, “You guys have an unusual problem. You’re going to receive $435,000, and you need to figure out if there’s anything you can spend it for.”

Selectmen did make a decision on one agenda item: they should try to develop a new town ordinance to govern mass gatherings, like the requested music festival in July 2022 that Sabins told them about at their April 29 meeting (see The Town Line, May 6, 2021, p. 8).

Town Attorney Kristin Collins had provided a copy of Readfield’s ordinance as a guide. Redmond volunteered to work with Sabins and Collins to adjust it to Vassalboro.

In other business, Melrose thanked Road Commissioner Eugene Field and the public works crew for installing a dock off Monument Park, in East Vassalboro. Sabins said East Vassalboro resident Holly Wiedner, who asked for a safe place for fishing, called the town office to express her appreciation.

Sabins said School Superintendent Alan Pfeiffer will work to find money in the school budget to help the town pay for the generator that will make the school usable as an emergency shelter. The sole bid for installing the generator, accepted by selectmen at the April 29 meeting, was over $6,000 more than available funds.

Board members agreed the town auditor should be invited to the June 10 selectmen’s meeting to review the audit for the year ended June 30, 2020. Melrose proposed the presentation, on principle, not because he saw any problem, he said.

The next two regular Vassalboro selectmen’s meetings are scheduled for 6:30 p.m., May 27 and June 10, in person at the town office.

The annual town meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m., Monday, June 7, in person, at Vassalboro Community School, with decisions on Articles 1 (election of a moderator) through 37 (the final school budget article). The meeting continues at 8 a.m. Tuesday, June 8, with written-ballot voting on Articles 38 through 41. Polls close at 8 p.m.

The warrant for the June 7 and 8 town meeting is on the Town of Vassalboro website, www.vassalboro.net, after several other items in the center column, under the heading “Town Meeting and Election Information.”

Controversy over China Police Department heats up

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The following is a reprint of a letter sent to the Morning Sentinel writer Greg Levinsky, from China Police Chief Craig Johnson, provided to The Town Line by Chief Johnson.

Dear Greg:

China town manager’s April 30 letter on China policing.

I find the matter discouraging and dispiriting. However, I do not want this issue to seem like or turn into a political matter. The China Police Department is currently allotted up to 26 hours of coverage a week. The China Police Department is a part-time agency. We have a total of five officers, each of which are certified by the Maine Criminal Justice Academy as full-time law enforcement officers and each one is a law enforcement veteran. Two of our officers are Advisors to the Chief (Chief Michael Tracy and Sgt. Jerry Haynes of the Oakland Police Department). Our law enforcement training is continuous and up to date. The understanding between the department and the town is that we will cover as many hours as possible each week up to 26 hours.

In January of 2021 I received an email from the town manager and learned that she was asked to look into the cost of 40 hours a week coverage from the sheriff’s department. I also learned the town already had an initial meeting with Sheriff Mason. Although, I was told that no final decision had been made, however, there were three options:

  1. Keep China Police Department as it is;
  2. Add a 40-hour chief and keep part-time hours;
  3. Disband and hire KSO for 40 hours a week.

After receiving this email I became concerned about hiring anymore officers to provide more coverage up to the allotted 26 hours. I didn’t and don’t feel it would be appropriate to hire more officers with the departments existence being in jeopardy. It wouldn’t be fair to the officers or the taxpayers, should we have to disband.

Chief Johnson’s response was:

I believe the Town of China, its residents and its police officers have quite a vested interest in the China Police Department. I have personally devoted a great deal of time and effort into updating equipment, updating the Standard Operating Procedures, establishing China P.D.’s own IMC reporting system and doing police work for China, all while representing the town. Also, I speak with people / residents all of the time whom are glad to see that China has its own police department. Additionally the C.P.D. 2021 / 2022 budget proposal provides up to 66 hours a week coverage.

This past week I received a letter dated April 30, 2021, from the town manager, which is attached.

Town manager explains proposed police budget for 2021-22

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China town manager Rebecca Hapgood. (photo by Eric W. Austin)

by Rebecca J. Hapgood
Town Manager
Town of China, Maine

The Select Board in conjunction with the town manager spent many meetings over three months reviewing the options for police services for China. All meetings were open to the public. The prior town manager proposed in the prior fiscal year to grow the part-time police force to a full-time department with one 40-hour a week officer and several part-time officers filling the 26 hour a week part-time role.

“We are not defunding the police. There is no ill will and no dislike or distrust of our police. Our officers are an asset to our community when they are available.”
– Rebecca Hapgood, China Town Manager

Both the Select Board and the current town manager reviewed this option as presented in January of 2021 by China Police Chief Johnson. We also asked Chief Johnson for a budget for only a 40-hour a week position. Additionally, we spoke with the Kennebec Sheriff’s Office (KSO) to explore costs on contracting for one full-time 40-hour a week deputy who would work the hours and days we wanted above what is already provided in our county taxes.

The original presentation to the Select Board included this option, because it was less than the cost presented by Chief Johnson. After additional information was presented by KSO like the costs the town would assume to “buy out” an officer from another department to fill this role, I opted to change course. I researched the option of providing police services by KSO at an hourly cost.

Currently, our police budget provides 26 hours of coverage from our three part-time officers. Each of these officers have other full-time employment and only work for China after their regular jobs. Often, there are matters for which we would like coverage during the day. From July 2020 to April 2021, the three officers have worked a combined average of 22.81 hours each month not including the last two weeks which totaled 3.13 hours of service out of the 52 budgeted hours of service.

We are not defunding the police. There is no ill will and no dislike or distrust of our police. Our officers are an asset to our community when they are available. Our goal is to provide the community with the coverage it demands.

The Select Board thoughtfully and meticulously considered the options while keeping your tax dollars in mind. If the budget is passed on June 8 as proposed, we would defer the China Police for a year which would allow us to restart the program in the future, if the proposed option does not meet our needs. The proposed police option for $34,000 provides up to 10 hours of coverage from KSO officers. Prior police budgets amounts were $39,795 for the 2019-2020 fiscal year and $40,561 in the current fiscal year. If you have any further questions, please ask. Our website www.china.govoffice.com has the sample ballot and other information under the Elections tab.

China selectmen unanimously support CBC program

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by Mary Grow

At their May 10 meeting, China selectmen followed up on their April 29 meeting with China Broadband Committee (CBC) members (see The Town Line, May 6) by voting unanimously to support the CBC program, without yet committing any town money.

The vote encourages CBC members to continue working with their consultants from Mission Broadband, Johan Dougherty and Mark Van Loan, and the president of the potential town broadband supplier, Mark Ouellette of Machias-based Axiom Technologies. They have two main projects: refining estimates of costs to expand and improve broadband services, and explaining the proposed service to residents and enlisting them as customers.

The next official step is the June 8 annual town business meeting. Art. 16 on the warrant asks voters if they want to approve revisions to China’s Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Program. The revisions include adding broadband service as eligible for TIF money and authorizing funds.

If voters approve, CBC members intend to ask selectmen’s approval to use part of the appropriation for the 2021-22 fiscal year that starts July 1 to pay Mission Broadband to continue assistance.

The next request CBC members will have for selectmen, in the summer, is to put on the Nov. 8 local ballot a bond issue to finance construction of the bigger fiber optic network that will make improved and expanded service possible.

Selectmen repeatedly said they are not committing to the bond issue at this stage, because cost projections are incomplete. They are waiting until Mission Broadband representatives and Ouellette develop more definite figures, and until they see how many China residents sign up to share the costs of bond repayment and ongoing services.

Three CBC members attended the May 10 selectmen’s meeting remotely. They answered questions and said they are satisfied with the selectmen’s vote.

The CBC meets virtually at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 13. The meeting is listed on the town website with other meetings to be live-streamed.

In other business May 10, Town Manager Becky Hapgood reported on upcoming events and deadlines, including:

– Regular selectmen’s meetings are scheduled for 6:30 p.m. May 24, June 7 and June 21 and a special end-of-fiscal-year meeting Wednesday, June 30. The time for the June 30 meeting is to be determined. The town office will close at noon June 30 to let staff finish end-of-year bookkeeping.

– Regional School Unit (RSU) #18’s annual budget meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday, May 20, at Messalonskee Performing Arts Center, in Oakland. This meeting is when voters from the five member towns (Belgrade, China, Oakland, Rome and Sidney) vote on the 2021-22 school budget.

– China’s annual town business meeting will be by written ballot Tuesday, June 8, with polls open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. in the former portable classroom behind the town office. The annual school budget validation vote will be held at the same time. China’s local elections are held in November, not in June.

– Absentee ballots for the China meeting are available from the town office until June 3. Absentee ballots for the school budget validation vote will be available May 21, after voters approve the budget. The secure dropbox for returning ballots is in place in the town office dooryard.

– The town office will be closed Saturday, May 29, and Monday, May 31, for the Memorial Day holiday. It will also be closed all day Tuesday, June 8, so staff can help with voting.

Pre-election information is on the town website, www.china.govoffice.com.

Selectmen appointed ballot clerks for the June 8 election. They appointed Thaddeus Barber as a member of the Recreation Committee.

Ronald Breton, chairman of the selectboard, reported that he and Hapgood have started conversations with Palermo selectmen over the contract under which Palermo residents use China’s transfer station. The 33-year contract was signed in 2016 (Breton’s first year as a China selectman, he said).

Hapgood reported for other town department heads, including:

– Public Works Manager Shawn Reed, who has been “continually battling the beavers” in the vicinity of Evans Pond on Hanson Road; and
– Police Chief Craig Johnson, who said he and his staff had put in 15 hours in China during the month of April.

Breton commented that the budget for police services allows up to 26 hours a month, when the part-time officers have time.

Selectmen unanimously approved a resolution condemning discrimination against Asians and Pacific Islanders. Hapgood said the item was on the agenda at the request of the Waterville City Council, whose members passed it last month and are encouraging area towns to follow suit.

VASSALBORO: Two solar farm requests to fill June planners’ agenda

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by Mary Grow

Vassalboro Planning Board members ended up with a single application to review at their May 4 meeting. The previous week, Board Chairman Virginia Brackett reported that Sebago Technics had postponed continued review of their application for a solar farm off Cemetery Street.

Brackett said she did not know why Sebago representatives were not ready to appear May 4. Their application is tentatively scheduled for the June planning board meeting.

New (and returning) Codes Officer Richard Dolby expects Sunvest Solar might also be ready for a June 1 presentation on their project on Webber Pond Road. Board members agreed two solar farm applications would fill up the June agenda.

The application reviewed and approved at the May 4 meeting was from Renee Zohar Fischman and Mathew Williams, to reopen the marijuana grow facility in an existing building at 1776 North Belfast Avenue (Route 3).

Action was delayed repeatedly. First, board members had trouble finding copies of the application Fischman and Williams had given previous Codes Officer Paul Mitnik before he retired at the end of April. After Fischman sent the documents, there was another pause as Brackett tried to determine whether anyone was viewing the virtual meeting and wanted to make comments.

“This meeting is going well,” Brackett remarked as board members waited for an answer from the meeting facilitator, David Trask, Vassalboro Community School’s Technology Systems Administrator.

Fischman said she has owned the Route 3 property since September, and she and Williams have been licensed medical marijuana caregivers since January. They intend to abide by state regulations as well as town ordinances.

Board members agreed the application to resume the operation was in order, because it had been closed for less than a year. Once they had necessary documents, they found the project meets all criteria in Vassalboro’s ordinance, and approved it unanimously with three conditions:

  • Fischman and Williams will maintain an adequate odor mitigation system to meet the tenth criterion in the ordinance, which requires the operation not to “adversely affect the use and enjoyment of abutting property as a result of noise, vibrations, fumes, odor, dust, glare, or other cause.”
  • They will send Dolby copies of their state caregiver licenses for town records.
  • The board approval applies only to the marijuana grow facility and does not include the adjoining lot, on which Fischman and Williams plan a modular home and new septic system. For those, they will need appropriate permits from Dolby.

Fischman and Williams plan no changes to the building exterior, access driveways, landscaping or other external factors except addition of motion-activated security cameras and lights on the building. The lights will be down-facing and should not interfere with neighbors or traffic on North Belfast Road or Whitehouse Road, Williams said.

VASSALBORO: No comments during marijuana ordinance hearing

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Probably the shortest in town history

by Mary Grow

A dozen residents attended the Vassalboro selectmen’s April 29 public hearing and board meeting, but not to talk about the proposed “Town of Vassalboro Marijuana Business Ordinance” that was the hearing topic.

Selectboard Chairman John Melrose opened the hearing and asked for audience questions and comments. After less than half a minute with no reactions at all, he closed the hearing, making it probably the shortest on record in the town.

Voters will accept or reject the ordinance by written ballot on June 8. It is posted on the town website, in the central section.

Later, it appeared that some of the residents wanted to talk about whether John Green, who now owns Tom’s Rubbish Removal, should have a key to the transfer station. On two occasions during the winter Green was unable to dump a load of trash.

Selectmen were reluctant to give a private hauler a key to the facility, citing town liability should anything go wrong. Town Manager Mary Sabins said Green and Transfer Station Manager George Hamar have been talking, and she thinks they have resolved the issue.

Another topic of interest to some in the audience was awarding the bid to install a Kohler 250-watt diesel generator at Vassalboro Community School so the school can serve as an emergency shelter.

Sabins reported only one bid was received, from Generators of Maine, in Belgrade, for $121,250, including complete installation work. The price was $6,250 higher than the town had accumulated grant and other monies to cover.

Selectmen voted unanimously to accept the bid, planning to take the extra money from savings in other departments or from the $15,000 contingency fund voters approved at the 2020 annual town meeting.

“This is something we have to have,” said Robert Browne, known as the most conservative money person on the board.

Sabins said the Red Cross has approved the school as an emergency center. In the future, Red Cross and Kennebec County Emergency Management Agency personnel will train local volunteers to run it.

Dan MacKenzie, vice-president of Generators of Maine, wrote on the bid form that the company could start work within 154 days of the award and would try to have the generator installed by Oct. 31. However, he wrote, Covid is delaying deliveries, so he cannot guarantee the date.

Selectmen signed the warrant for Vassalboro’s June 7 and 8 annual town meeting. Board Chairman John Melrose said the Kennebec County budget has increased, mostly because of staff expansion, and Vassalboro’s share has risen by 5.6 percent. Sabins said the amount in the town meeting warrant (Art. 21), $383,911, matches the planned increase.

In response to a query from resident Tom Richards, Melrose said the state Department of Transportation has postponed plans for extensive work on Route 32, which runs from China to Winslow through the villages of East and North Vassalboro. DOT hopes to find money to repave a short section in North Vassalboro, from about the post office to about the Baptist Church.

Melrose, who is a former state Commissioner of Transportation, predicted the planned “maintenance mulch” on several other roads in town “won’t last long.”

Sabins said she had a request from an event promoter who wants to stage a July 2022 music festival featuring Waylon Albright “Shooter” Jennings, son of country music stars Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter, and Coleman “IV” Williams, Hank Williams’ great-grandson. Vassalboro has no ordinance to regulate such gatherings; selectmen decided they and probably the planning board need to discuss creating one.

The next Vassalboro selectmen’s meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday, May 13, in person in the town office meeting room.

China Recreation Committee sets rules for field uses

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Internet photo: https://www.flickr.com/photos/brendan-c/5722220187

by Mary Grow

Four of the five China Recreation Committee members met April 21 to talk about recreational field use and related topics.

They reviewed and expanded the requirements for using town-owned recreational fields near China schools and approved Thad Barber’s request for baseball and T-ball games during the month of May. They also agreed to subsidize the cost of field lights for Barber’s program, up to $750, for this one time.

Future requests to help with lighting costs will be considered, for in-town groups only, after committee members get updated information on Central Maine Power Company charges. Because of Covid, the lights haven’t been used in over a year, committee Chairman Martha Wentworth said.

Requirements and criteria for field use include:

• Proof of insurance;
• A fee for use by non-resident organizations that include non-resident participants;
• Priority in scheduling for China users;
• Fields to be left in original condition, with equipment and trash removed;
• No smoking in any form;
• No sitting on fences;
• No vehicles on the fields without town permission, except for emergency vehicles.

Committee members discussed needed work at the fields and agreed on measures to be taken as soon as possible, without interfering with baseball.

The recreation committee’s request for $31,400 for 2021-22 is included in Art. 5 in the June 8 town meeting warrant, with the subject Boards and Committees.

Wentworth plans to investigate scheduling a community movie night in August. Scott McCormac volunteered to talk with Thurston Park Committee members about possible joint projects.

The next China Recreation Committee meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 19.