Vassalboro board approves solar energy project

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by Mary Grow

Four Vassalboro Planning Board members present at the June 2 meeting unanimously approved a solar energy project at 515 Main Street (Route 32) almost opposite Ron’s Auto Parts. (For more information, see The Town Line, May 14)

ReVision Energy, represented by Senior Project Developer, Nate Niles, and Construction Project Manager, Al Copping, plans a community solar farm on Bernie Welch’s land. The solar panels will be surrounded by a seven-foot chain-link fence; residents in Central Maine Power Company’s service area will buy shares in the output.

Planning board members found that the project meets all criteria in Vassalboro’s land use and shoreland ordinances. They added two conditions to their approval:

  • Although the state transportation department has allowed two entrances onto the highway, after construction is complete only the north one is to be used. Niles said there will be almost no traffic in and out of the area.
  • Trees to be cleared between Main Street and the fence will be replaced with shrubbery that will provide visual screening from the highway, without blocking sunlight from the solar panels.

Niles expects work on the development to begin this summer. When he and Copping made their initial presentation May 5, he said work should take two to three months, will be done during daylight hours and should not be very noisy.

Turning to the only other item on the June 2 agenda, board members decided unanimously that Lorilee Dumont can enlarge her Dunham Road building from which she runs her catering and restaurant business without board review. However, should she later want to expand the business, she would need to appear before the board.

Codes Officer Paul Mitnik explained that Dumont wants to add a deck so she can continue to seat six tables of diners while maintaining social distancing. She does not plan to add tables, he said.

The June 2 planning board meeting was in person, not virtual. It was held in the Vassalboro Community School cafeteria so that board and audience members – all masked – could sit at least six feet apart.

The next meeting should be scheduled for Tuesday evening, July 7, the first Tuesday of the month.

Becky Hapgood appointed to succeed Heath as China town manager

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New town manager Becky Hapgood. (Photo by Roland D. Hallee)

by Mary Grow

At a short June 8 meeting, China selectmen approved public notices of two informational hearings that will precede the July 14 written-ballot town business meeting, and appointed Rebecca “Becky” Hapgood to succeed Dennis Heath as town manager and to fill Heath’s other positions.

[See also: Becky Hapgood honored for 25 years service to China]

The hearings will be at 7 p.m. Sunday, June 14, in the cafeteria at Erskine Academy, on Windsor Road (Route 32 South), in South China, and at 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 30, in the town office meeting room on Lakeview Drive. Heath and selectmen will explain the warrant articles, which mostly ask voters to approve the recommended 2020-21 budget, and answer questions.

Heath said no more than 50 people will be allowed at each meeting, and they will be expected to practice social distancing. The meetings will also be available as zoom webinars in which people can participate on line and will be broadcast on the town office livestream system.

The June 8 selectmen’s meeting was an example of combining personal presence with distance participation and viewing. Heath and four of the five selectmen, all masked, sat on either side of a long table, separated by plexiglass screens down the middle. A fifth selectman joined via Zoom; and the meeting was live-streamed. Hapgood, also masked, participated from the audience.

Hapgood will become town manager on July 19, when Heath’s resignation is effective. The manager and his wife plan to return to Oklahoma to be near Heath’s mother.

Hapgood also becomes China’s treasurer and tax collector, beginning July 1 with the new fiscal year. The other positions to which she succeeds are ex officio member of all boards and committees; road commissioner; overseer of the poor; Civil Emergency Preparedness director; and public access officer. (State law requires each municipality to designate a public access officer to respond to requests for public records.)

In other business June 8:

  • Selectmen unanimously approved continuing with Purdy Powers & Company, of Portland, as China’s auditors. Heath said company employees planned to begin work in July.
  • Heath reviewed revenues and expenditures for the first 11 months of the 2019-20 fiscal years and concluded China is in good shape. Revenues have not fallen dangerously, and expenditures are where they should be with the fiscal year almost over. Property tax payments are on the same level as this time last year, the manager said, and a dramatic April decline in vehicle excise taxes was reversed in May.

The next regular China selectmen’s meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Monday, June 22.

Maine International Film Festival (MIFF) still on at new venue

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In response to social distancing requirements and in the interest of public safety and health, the Maine Film Center (MFC) will present the 2020 Maine International Film Festival (MIFF) in a new, modified format. The 23rd annual MIFF will be held July 7–16 with in-person screenings held exclusively at the Skowhegan Drive-In Theater in Skowhe­gan, Maine. The twenty-third annual celebration of Ameri­can independent, international, and classic film will showcase nine feature films, comprised largely of World, North American, and East Coast premieres, as well as a program of Maine Shorts. Additional feature and short films will be made available for ticketed online streaming via the festival website, MIFF.org.

“We’re elated to be able to host a terrific lineup of films this summer, in spite of the difficulties that movie theaters across the country have experienced over the past several months,” said Mike Perreault, Executive Director of MFC. “While the festival may not exhibit the same number of films as in past years, we’re confident that our 2020 MIFF program will reflect the world-class cinema that our patrons and community have come to appreciate. We’re especially grateful that our partners at the Skowhegan Drive-In have agreed to host MIFF23. This all-too-rare kind of venue will be a great place for audiences to have a unique experience and enjoy movies from a safe distance.”

“While we’d love to be able to share with our audiences all the incredible cinematic discoveries we’ve made in working on this year’s festival,” said Ken Eisen, MIFF programming director, “we are truly thrilled to be embarking on what we are sure will be an exciting, safe, and joyful version of MIFF appropriate to the current conditions.”

“It is a privilege to have the opportunity to work with Maine Film Center to maintain the continuity of the Maine International Film Festival in this moment of unprecedented challenge,” said Donald Brown, owner of the Skowhegan Drive In-Theatre. “The Skowhegan Drive-In Theatre is a unique cultural attraction from an earlier era [and] MIFF is a resource for all of Central Maine. Together this summer, they will illuminate the night!”

The complete festival lineup, including titles that will be available for streaming, will be announced in June. Passes for the Festival are available to pre-order at MIFF.org.

China selectmen act on town manager resignation; summer work

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by Mary Grow

In addition to acting on Town Manager Dennis Heath’s letter of resignation (see The Town Line, May 28), China selectmen used their May 26 virtual meeting to review bids received for summer work and award those they decided were necessary.

Heath had divided the bids into topics, as follows: materials, such as sand and gravel (one bidder); mowing, subdivided into cemeteries, ballfields and town properties (four bidders); and paving, subdivided into two categories, a per-ton price for asphalt and a price for chip seal (six bidders).

For materials, selectmen consulted Public Works Manager Shawn Reed, who said some of the bidder’s prices were “pretty decent” but others above current market prices. Board members voted unanimously to reject the bid and in future not to ask for materials bids, but let Reed shop.

For mowing, selectmen rejected bids from one out-of-town contractor, with appreciation for his interest, and awarded all three mowing jobs to low China bidder Colby Rumpf, doing business as Rumpf’s Backyard Services.

They awarded the contract for asphalt paving to Pike Industries, next to lowest bidder, recommended by Heath and endorsed by Selectman and contractor Wayne Chadwick.

Selectmen awarded the chip seal contract to All States. Heath said the process will be used on part of South Road, outside Weeks Mills village. Chip seal, he explained, lays a protective coating over a paved road that should make the paving last longer.

Reed said using chip seal has been discussed for two or three years, as he began hearing that other towns had tried it with good results. It needs to be applied on a very smooth road, he said, and China has lacked suitable roads.

Heath assured selectmen chip seal is not the same as the fog sealant that the state highway department tried in Rome in the fall of 2019, which was said to have made the road slippery and caused accidents.

The only other decision selectmen made May 26, besides the usual bill-paying, was to approve installation of a holding tank to replace a malfunctioning cesspool at a Fire Road 49 property. Codes Officer Bill Butler said he had approved; state approval is also needed.

The next China selectmen’s meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Monday, June 8. As of May 26, Heath and selectmen plan an open meeting in the town office meeting room.

Vassalboro awarded safety enhancement grant

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Officials for the Town of Vassalboro are pleased to announce that they have been awarded a Safety En­hancement Grant by the Maine Muni­cipal Asso­cia­tion Workers Compensation Fund in the amount of $1,512.77.

The Ed Mac­Donald Safety Enhancement Grants and Scholarship Grants provide financial assistance to members of the MMA Workers Compensation Fund to purchase safety equipment or services to assist in reducing the frequency and severity of workplace injuries. The grant programs are designed to prevent injuries and improve workplace safety our Maine employees. The reduction in employee injuries also benefits the taxpayers by lessening lost hours at work, cost of claims and potential overtime expenses for employees who might have to fill in for injured co-workers.

The Maine Municipal Association has been awarding Safety Grants to members of the Workers’ Compensation fund since 1999. The Ed MacDonald Safety Enhancement Grants and Scholarships are an example of a successful partnership that has been preventing workplace injuries by bestowing more than $5 million in the funding of 3,938 Safety En­hancement Grants and 489 Schol­arship Grants. Together we are building safe communities.

For more information about Maine Municipal Association Risk Management Service programs, including Safety Enhancement Grant eligibility and applications, please visit www.memun.org and click on the Risk Management Services link, or call 1-800-590- 5583.

Vassalboro selectmen cancel May 28, 2020 meeting

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by Mary Grow

Vassalboro selectmen have cancelled their May 28 meeting for lack of agenda items. Their next meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday, June 11, as an in-person meeting in the town office meeting room.

The meeting includes a public hearing on the Vassalboro Sanitary District’s application for $166,000 from Tax Increment Financing (TIF) funds for the sewer pipeline project.

Garvan Donegan of the Central Maine Growth Council is scheduled to report recommendations for future use of TIF funds, which to date have supported the Sanitary District’s sewer connection to Winslow and the Alewife Restoration Initiative (ARI), the project intended to permit alewives to migrate into China Lake.

China planners approve second solar development

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by Mary Grow

China Planning Board members have unanimously approved a second solar development by SunRaise Development LLC, this one on land leased from Daniel Ouellette on the south side of Route 3 (Belfast Road), near the China Area Wash and Dry.

The May 19 virtual planning board meeting began with a public hearing. No one from the public had signed in to speak at the hearing, and Codes Officer Bill Butler said he received no advance comments or questions.

Board members then compared SunRaise’s application to the criteria in China’s Land Use Ordinance and voted unanimously that the project met all requirements. They added conditions duplicating those in SunRaise’s earlier permit for a larger solar project off Route 32 South (Windsor Road): no more than three buildings on the site, no mowing before mid-July without prior approval (to protect ground-nesting birds) and provision of a surety bond.

SunRaise spokesman Lisa Vickers said the Route 3 project requires cutting trees taller than eight feet along the west boundary of the property. They will be replaced by native evergreens, she said, and the planning board specified native species only.

After board members completed action on the SunRaise application, Butler had two more questions for them.

The first was whether they had seen, or wanted to see, a draft ordinance regulating what are called hobby farms, non-commercial farm activities.

Butler said about two years ago a Hanson Road resident questioned the presence of multiple farm animals, including chickens and horses, on his neighbor’s property. Butler said former Codes Officer Paul Mitnik and Town Manager Dennis Heath drafted a hobby farms ordinance; neither of the two longest-serving planning board members, Toni Wall and Jim Wilkens, remembered seeing it.

Wall, acting chairman May 19 in Tom Miragliuolo’s absence, asked Butler to send copies of the draft to current board members for future discussion.

Butler’s second issue involved Amanda Gower’s Little Learners Child Development Center, on Tyler Road. The facility has a town license for 49 children, he said; pre-pandemic enrollment was 75. It appears that 75 children will not exceed space, septic tank capacity or any other standard; but the state threatens to revoke Gower’s state license unless she is in conformity with the town license.

Butler’s question to board members was whether Gower needs to file a complete re-application for the expansion in enrollment. Board members agreed unanimously that she did. They plan to review an application at their June 9 meeting if Gower submits it in time.

Vassalboro school board approves tentative plans for rest of year

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Vassalboro Community School. (source: jmg.org)

by Mary Grow

At their May 19 meeting, Vassalboro School Board members approved plans, some tentative, for the remainder of this school year, the summer and the next school year, on topics from education to lunch prices to a new telephone system.

Many decisions assumed that students and staff will return to classrooms in late August 2020. Vassalboro Superintendent Alan Pfeiffer emphasized that he and other superintendents spend a lot of time monitoring constantly-changing state and federal pandemic information and guidelines. He hopes Vassalboro Community School (VCS) will re-open before Labor Day 2020, but he offered no guarantee.

VCS Principal Megan Allen said distance learning continues for the rest of this school year. Teachers completed parent-teacher conferences, she said. An important current project is defining parts of course content that have been short-changed by lack of classroom time, so they can be emphasized in the fall.

As the end of the school year approaches, staff have cleaned out students’ lockers and bagged the contents to be picked up. A virtual eighth-grade graduation, probably in the form of a video for students and parents to share, is scheduled for Tuesday, June 2. On Friday, June 5, the last day of classes, Allen and staff are working on arrangements for a parade that will pass as many students’ home as possible.

Allen said volunteers will continue to assemble meals to be delivered by bus through June 4. Beginning Monday, June 8, interim food service director Paula Pooler said the summer meal program will provide van delivery of meals to pick-up points.

In preparation for the hoped-for reopening, school board members unanimously approved a 10-cent increase in the full price of a school lunch, from $2.85 to $2.95, effective in the fall. Pooler explained that under the federal education department’s formula, Vassalboro should be charging $3. Vassalboro officials are allowed to reach the required level in 10-cent steps. Failure to comply would mean a reduced federal subsidy for the lunch program.

Board members accepted the recommendation to spend $20,392 for an upgrade of the phone system, including updating what Technology Coordinator Will Backman calls its brain and buying new handsets compatible with the improved brain. Pfeiffer said the money will come from the current year’s budget, specifically from anticipated savings due to the shut-down this spring.

The board approved a 2020-21 school calendar that has classes starting Wednesday, Aug. 26. Staff will hold preschool preparatory workshops Aug. 24 and Aug. 25.

Pfeiffer reported he had signed the contract to share in a solar energy project under development in Skowhegan (in which the Town of Vassalboro is also participating). Attorney Aga Dixon advised him to expect no immediate follow-up, because the project developers are waiting for other municipalities and schools to decide whether to join.

After previous discussions, board members approved buying into the solar development to reduce electricity costs. The project is currently expected to begin providing power early in 2021 and to run for at least 25 years.

Pfeiffer reminded board members that Vassalboro’s annual town meeting, at which voters will decide on the 2020-21 school budget among other items, is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Monday evening, June 22. Voters will assemble at VCS. Pfeiffer, town officials and others are planning safely-spaced seating and other precautions.

The next school board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday evening, June 16, and is expected to be a virtual meeting.

China town manager resigns

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Retiring China town manager Dennis Heath

by Mary Grow

China Town Manager Dennis Heath submitted his resignation to selectmen at their May 26 meeting, “with a heavy but grateful heart.” He asked that it become effective July 18, after the planned July 14 written-ballot town business meeting.

Heath exp­lained that because his mother in Oklahoma is in declining health, he and his wife Mary want to fulfill their longstanding commitment to be with her as her life winds down.

Selectmen unanimously accepted the resignation, with regret. They also accepted Heath’s recommendation that Town Clerk Becky Hapgood be appointed interim manager, effective July 18. They then voted to seek a legal opinion on whether they are required to advertise the position, and if there is no legal or other impediment to hire Hapgood as Heath’s full-time successor, it would become effective July 19.

Hapgood, participating in the virtual meeting, said she would be honored to accept the position.

Heath was hired to succeed Daniel L’Heureux in mid-May 2018 and became town manager when L’Heureux retired June 30, 2018.

VASSALBORO: Open town meeting planned for June 22

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by Mary Grow

Vassalboro officials plan to hold an open town meeting at 6:30 p.m. Monday, June 22, at Vassalboro Community School (VCS), believing they can do so safely and within state guidelines.

Town Manager Mary Sabins said consensus was reached after many email and personal discussions among selectmen, town office staff, VCS technology coordinator David Trask, School Superintendent Alan Pfeiffer and two attorneys with whom Sabins consulted. Selectmen unanimously approved at their May 14 meeting.

Written-ballot local elections are scheduled for Tuesday, July 14, at the same time as state primaries and referenda. Vassalboro polls will be at VCS, not in the town office as usual.

Discussion of the open meeting focused on conforming to state safety regulations to protect everyone involved. The current plan has the meeting moderator at one end of the VCS gymnasium flanked by socially-distanced staff and officials, facing spaced chairs, with no more than 50 people in the room.

The cafeteria would be set up to accommodate a separate gathering of up to 50 more people. Trask said setting up a two-room sound system would be no problem. Various ways to convey messages from people in the cafeteria to the moderator were proposed.

What if 101 people show up, Trask asked. “That’s gonna be a problem,” Sabins replied.

No one wants to discourage voters from attending the meeting. Selectmen think some residents may be hesitant about joining a crowd; and Sabins said she believes there is only one potentially controversial agenda item, the proposal to buy a new fire truck.

Town office to re-open

Town Manager Mary Sabins said at the May 14 selectmen’s meeting that the Vassalboro Town Office is scheduled to reopen to the public on Monday, June 1, with appropriate protective measures for staff and members of the public.

The May 14 discussion covered how to check voters in safely – perhaps by setting up plastic-shielded check-in desks outdoors, Trask suggested – and how to let them out at the end of the meeting while observing distancing. With four separate doors, the exodus from the gym would be comparatively easy, Trask said.

The other main topic May 14 was the planned fishway at the China Lake Outlet Dam in East Vassalboro. Matt Streeter, Manager of Maine Rivers’ Alewife Restoration Project (ARI), displayed on-screen detailed plans for the project that will let alewives complete their annual migration from the Sebasticook River into China Lake.

The fishway that lets the small fish swim upstream in the spring will be along the east bank of the stream, with access for construction over the Cates property, Streeter said. In the fall, out-migrating fish will exit through a tilting weir close to the west bank.

The fishway will not interfere with the town’s managing the dam to control China Lake water levels in accord with state regulations, Streeter said.

Streeter’s presentation covered the fishway itself and related topics like run-off control during construction and protection of archaeological resources if any are found.

Sabins and selectmen were concerned about the town’s responsibility to maintain the fishway. Streeter said the wooden baffles that are its main feature should last 10 years or so; replacing them is a simple and inexpensive bit of construction. He offered to provide spare baffles the town could store until needed.

The Department of Marine Resources has primary responsibility for opening and closing the gates that control entrance to the fishway and the weir, depending on water and fish flows, Streeter said. He agreed it would be helpful if town public works staff were also knowledgeable.

The Outlet Dam is not intended to host people watching alewives; the viewing area will be at Box Mills dam in North Vassalboro. Streeter and selectmen talked about at least a sign, and if necessary a fence, to keep people away from the stream.

ARI spokespeople have said they intend to have the Outlet Dam fishway built in the summer of 2021.

Vassalboro selectmen have cancelled their regular May 28 meeting due to lack of agenda items.  Their next regular meeting is scheduled for Thursday evening, June 11.

UPDATE: This article has been updated from the print version to show the May 28 meeting has been cancelled.