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.

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.

by Mary Grow

Shoes were a major topic at the China Transfer Station Committee’s Feb. 11 meeting.

Committee member Rachel Anderson, one of the volunteers at the free for the taking building, explained that many people donate used shoes, and many of the shoes are wearable – if the right person with the right size feet comes along quickly.

Shoes not promptly claimed are apt to end up on the floor, separated and getting stepped on and grubby. A volunteer can sometimes reunite and clean up a few pairs; too many end up discarded.

Committee members proposed protective measures, like zip-tying pairs to keep them together. They suggested alternative places for donating used shoes, including Goodwill, in Waterville, and perhaps the Palermo Christian Church – they knew the church accepted donated clothing, but were not sure about shoes (see box).

More volunteers to keep the building organized would also help, they said. Transfer Station Manager Thomas Maraggio commended the Palermo resident who volunteers an hour every morning.

An inquiry to the Palermo Christian Church brought the reply that “our Exchange Shop does accept new or gently used shoes.”

The church is located at 322 Branch Mills Road, in Palermo. Its website is www.palermochristianchurch.org; telephone number is (207) 993-2636; email address is office@palermochristianchurch.org. The church also has a Facebook page.

Two broader issues discussed Feb. 11 were revisions to the draft transfer station mission statement and the preliminary 2025-26 budget.

The mission statement emphasizes recycling. Committee members talked again about the money saved on disposal costs, and sometimes earned when the price of recyclables is up, and about ways to promote and publicize these benefits to taxpayers.

(In a Jan. 23 email, Town Clerk Angela Nelson copied an invoice showing China was paid $1,741.68 for a shipment of cardboard. Accompanying comments from Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood added that China did not pay for the trucking, and 43,542 pounds, or almost 22 tons, had been taken out of the waste stream, for which the town pays trucking and disposal costs.)

Two suggestions in the draft statement are to develop alternative energy at, and for, the transfer station and to install automatic gates that would allow off-hours dumping.

Palermo representative Bob Kurek said alternative energy suggestions include solar power or an incinerator. Hapgood said a consultant had advised that the covered-over waste pile north of the station is not suitable for solar, although there might be other alternatives.

Off-hours access is forbidden by the state, so committee chairman J. Christopher Baumann deleted the proposal. Hapgood said the town office does not get a lot of complaints about operating hours.

The first draft 2025-26 transfer station budget shows a decrease, mostly because one employee who works there and in public works will be moved to the public works budget.

Committee members briefly discussed the transfer station scales. Director of Public Services Shawn Reed said load sensors and the steel support beams need replacement. Maraggio added that an inspector said the scales have been well maintained and should last another 15 to 20 years. The draft budget includes $12,000 for a scale reserve fund.

Maraggio’s list of 2025-26 projects includes creating a state-required impervious surface under the brush pile; doing additional paving; changing drainage around the recycling building; and replacing the recycling center roof.

The next China Transfer Station Committee meeting is scheduled for 9 a.m. Tuesday, March 11.