by Mary Grow

China Transfer Station Committee members and Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood continued discussion of pending changes at the China facility at a Nov. 12 meeting.

Station manager Thomas Maraggio said the new building to cover the sandpile available to China residents for winter driveway sanding is almost done. He plans to post informational signs on it.

One sign will direct people where to put “hot loads,” defined as “loads of solid waste that are on fire, smoldering, or are potentially flammable by spontaneous combustion.” Disposal of hot loads is illegal, “but we get ’em,” Maraggio said.

“Common sense is not all that common,” observed committee chairman Christopher Bauman, saying he was quoting Will Rogers.

E-cigarette cartridges are also unacceptable at the transfer station, Maraggio said. The state Department of Environmental Protection defines them as hazardous waste.

Hapgood said China has received a grant to pay for a new baler that will let the transfer station accept #1 plastic for recycling. It should be in operation early in 2025; there will be publicity.

Maraggio shared an updated five-year plan for the transfer station and an updated fee schedule. Committee members recommended by consensus the select board approve the fee schedule.

Hapgood said 2025 transfer station stickers will be available beginning Dec. 1 at China and Palermo town offices and at the transfer station with presentation of a valid vehicle registration in China or Palermo. The charge is $2. Transfer station users will have until the end of January 2025 to update their stickers.

The next transfer station committee meeting is scheduled for 9 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 10, at the China town office.

by Mary Grow

In response to China voters’ Nov. 5 approval of a moratorium on new power transmission lines through town, three representatives of Central Maine Power Company (CMP) attended the Nov. 18 select board meeting to ask about local concerns.

Katie Yates, program manager, community relations, emphasized that as of now, the company does not plan to run any new power lines through China. The discussion was entirely preliminary, in case CMP does develop a plan.

Select board member Jeanne Marquis, who helped collect signatures to put the moratorium on the local ballot, listed concerns she heard. They include negative effects on farming; disrupting “legacy properties” that a family has owned for generations; blocking scenic views; reducing adjacent and nearby property values; and using herbicides in the China Lake watershed.

Residents have “a lot of fear about their property” and want to be treated fairly, she summarized.

Yates and her companions offered two reassurances. First, they said, if CMP were to run another line through China, it would be in an existing corridor. And second, CMP uses minimal herbicides, usually in spot applications.

The company does not routinely notify abutters before using herbicides, Yates said. New select board member Thomas Rumpf agreed: he owns land abutting a CMP corridor and has never been notified, he said.

However, he added, he believes the company has been doing more cutting and relying less on chemicals in recent years. When he identified himself as president of the Four Seasons Club, the CMP group thanked him for providing trails that help them get to their lines.

Also at the meeting was China resident James Hsiang, for the China for a Lifetime Committee. He proposed creating a China community garden and offered a more detailed plan if select board members were interested. They were, and Hsiang is scheduled to return at either the Dec. 16 or the Dec. 30 meeting.

Hsiang said as proponents gauged local interest, they collected 280 signatures, and a dozen people volunteered to help. The planned site is the town-owned Lakeview Drive lot south of the town office.

In updates on the storage vault to be added to the town office building, select board member Blane Casey said he has been helping prepare contracts for each aspect of the work. His plan is to have requests for bids out immediately; bids due back early in December; and decisions at the Dec. 16 select board meeting.

Planning Board chairman Toni Wall said from the audience the board has scheduled a public hearing on the vault application for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 26.

The Nov. 18 select board meeting was the first for newly-elected members Edwin Bailey and Rumpf. The five members elected Wayne Chadwick board chairman and Jeanne Marquis board secretary.

Water level on China Lake not yet achieved

by Mary Grow

China Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood received two inquiries from residents about the China Lake water level, which they said was unusually low. In response, she queried Vassalboro town manager Aaron Miller and Kennebec Water District Water Quality Manager Robbie Bickford in a Nov. 16 email.

In his Nov. 18 reply, Bickford said the current level at the outlet dam in East Vassalboro is 26 inches below the spillway. The goal of the annual fall drawdown is to bring the level down to 30 inches below the spillway.

Bickford said the goal had not been achieved “in the past couple years.” Vassalboro dam managers intend to achieve it this year, he said.

In other business:

— Board members unanimously authorized taking another $450 from the fire department reserve account to pay for the South China Volunteer Fire Department’s air compressor. They had previously authorized using up to $9,000; the total cost was $9,450, Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood said.
— Hapgood and board members thanked former board member Brent Chesley for his service. Board members unanimously appointed him to the road committee, the budget committee and the appeals board.
— Board members approved an amended fee schedule at the transfer station, and an amended agreement with Albion, whose residents may dispose of specific things in China.
— They reapproved five municipal policies, two unchanged and the other three, Hapgood said, with non-substantive changes, like updating the title of the town website.

Hapgood reported China has been awarded a Cybersecurity grant, in the amount of $139.52. It is intended to provide a review of China’s cybersecurity, with a report and alerts, and training webinars for Hapgood.

Hapgood’s name is on the ballot for election to the Municipal Review Committee (MRC), the group representing towns that used the former Hampden trash facility. She explained she was talked into being listed due to a shortage of candidates; she is willing to serve if elected. Board members voted for her.

China municipal services will be closed Nov. 28 and 29 for the Thanksgiving holiday. The next regular select board meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday, Dec. 2.

The Nov. 4 China select board meeting began with a short presentation recognizing retiring member Janet Preston.

To applause from the audience and board members, Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood gave Preston a certificate in appreciation of her service to the town, and later a bouquet of flowers.

Fellow board members thanked Preston. “We didn’t always agree, but it’s been a pleasure,” Blane Casey said, and chairman Wayne Chadwick concurred.

Preston, who was first elected in 2020, said it has been “an honor to serve the people of China,” and an interesting experience. But, she said, she looks forward to having more time with her grandchildren.

by Mary Grow

Federal and state emergency management funds will reimburse the Town of China to cover partial clean-up costs after the Dec. 17-21, 2023, storm that left roads and roadsides littered with fallen trees and other debris.

China Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood shared an Oct. 28 letter from the Maine Emergency Management Agency saying payment of $46,292.54 had been approved, and a check would be sent “within the next few weeks.”

The town’s share of this part of the clean-up is $5,143.61, 10 percent. The federal government is paying 75 percent and the state 15 percent.

The work is described as removing 214.5 cubic yards of “vegetative debris” the storm left in and along roads and rights of way and transporting it to a disposal site.