Baylor University, in Waco, Texas, celebrated nearly 1,800 graduates who received their respective degrees during summer and fall commencement ceremonies.
Among the graduates was Sarah Stevens, of South China, who received a master of science in communication sciences and disorders, from the graduate school, in August 2021.
by Mary GrowChina select board members held a short Aug. 15 meeting, followed by a tour of well-filled storage spaces in the town office building.
During the meeting, board members unanimously approved a larger-than-usual list of expenses to be paid – larger because it included the annual Kennebec County tax, which board chairman Ronald Breton said is over $544,000 for 2022-23.
For comparison, the auditor’s report in the annual town report for 2021 shows that China’s county tax was $472,622 for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2021 (not the most recent fiscal year that ended June 30, 2022), and $433,730 the previous year. The figures indicate an average annual increase over four years of between $35,000 and $40,000.
Deputy Clerk Jennifer Chamberlain led board members on the building tour, pointing out crowded storage areas. Informal discussion focused on how many documents could be digitized, eliminating the need to keep so many paper files.
China’s Municipal Building Committee is considering options for adding a new room to provide more storage space. Select board members have talked with committee chairman Sheldon Goodine at previous meetings, most recently on Aug. 1 (see The Town Line, Aug. 11, p. 2) and expect to hear from him again soon.
The next regular China select board meeting is scheduled for Monday evening, Aug. 29. A special meeting is almost certain to be held Monday, Aug. 22, with the time to be announced; and another special meeting is tentatively on the schedule for Tuesday, Sept. 6, a day later than usual because the town office will be closed Monday, Sept. 5, in observance of Labor Day.
China Cemetery Committee members and guest Kelly Grotton, whose town office duties include acting as semi-official town historian, met the afternoon of Aug. 9 primarily to hear a report from summer intern Savannah Clark.
Clark has been transferring information from China gravestones and town records to a program called Crypt Keeper Cemetery Software. She visited all but two of China’s 33 cemeteries, she said, sometimes in company with committee chairman and town office staffer Julie Finley.
Crypt Keeper records names, dates, relatives and other information for everyone buried in each cemetery. Veterans’ graves are noted, with the war in which the person served listed if known. Obituaries can be added, Clark said, for more details; and records can be updated to reflect new information and new burials.
China’s cemetery records are not yet on line, but Clark and Finley said they will be when the work is finished.
Clark said she did similar work in Vassalboro in the summer of 2021. The Town of Vassalboro website has a site on which researchers can look for people buried in the town.
Cemetery committee members also talked about work that needs to be done in China’s cemeteries. The town is responsible for almost all of them; the Chadwick cemetery on Route 32 South (Windsor Road) is maintained by a private association and two are maintained by the Society of Friends.
Cutting dead trees is an essential part of maintenance, Finley stressed; living trees are an attractive benefit, but dead ones are likely to fall and damage gravestones. Several trees were removed from Lakeview Cemetery, on Lakeview Drive.
Local forester Tim Basham sent a request to authorize removing a tree, or at least part of it, that threatens stones in the Deer Hill Cemetery.
Fences are another maintenance problem, Finley said. She has received several comments about the deteriorated fence along the front of the China Village Extension Cemetery, on Neck Road, and others need work. The Lakeview Drive cemetery fence had to be taken down to do the tree work and is replaced for now by a white rope strung between the posts.
Committee members briefly discussed wooden fences – Finley likes the appearance of white-painted wood – versus vinyl fences versus other types, like chains between posts or chainlink. Finley has had trouble getting cost estimates from fence companies, but she said vinyl appears to be expensive.
In addition to tree removal and fence repairs, which Finley recommended as priorities, Clark had compiled a list of 53 broken gravestones needing repair.
The 2022-23 cemetery budget China voters approved at their June 14 annual town business meeting was $49,500. Much of it goes for mowing, Finley said, with most-visible and most-visited cemeteries kept tidy all summer and isolated small ones mowed once a year.
by Mary GrowChina Planning Board members’ Aug. 9 meeting was only two minutes longer than their Aug. 4 public hearing on proposed amendments to Chapters 4 and 11 of the town Land Use Ordinance (see The Town Line, Aug. 11, p. 3).
They voted unanimously to forward the amendments to the select board in time for that group’s Aug. 15 meeting, with the goal of having them on a Nov. 8 local ballot for voters to approve or reject.
Other planning board members agreed with Walter Bennett’s summary: “The lack of comment [at the Aug. 4 hearing] proves we finally got it right.”
Next on their schedule, chairman Scott Rollins suggested, is a return to the solar ordinance board members have discussed off and on for months, perhaps starting with a review of town attorney Amanda Meader’s comments on the current draft.
“The more we discuss it, the more we realize how complicated it is,” Bennett said. But the final ordinance needs to be clear and simple, so that voters will understand it and, if it passes, solar developers will know what they can and cannot do.
Rollins suggested yet another possible topic, review of other sections of the Land Use Ordinance to see if provisions need to be clarified.
The next planning board meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m., Tuesday, Aug. 23. Assistant Codes Officer Nicholas French said one or two pending applications might be ready by then.
Endicott College, in Beverly, Massachusetts, has announced its Spring 2022 dean’s list students. Hunter Scholz, of Augusta, a history major, is the son of Kimberly Scholz and Stephen Scholz
Hailey Hobart, of China Village, studies/education major, is the daughter of Deborah Hobart and Daniel Hobart.
Alana York, of Palermo, a business management major, is the daughter of Cheryl York and Andrew York.
Jack Sylvester
Jack Sylvester, 83, was loved by many and affectionately known as “the Mayor of China.” Every person he met was a friend to be made. He passed away Saturday, July 30, at his China Village home, surrounded by family and certain as ever in his annual conviction that “the Red Sox won’t amount to anything this year.”
John “Jack” Adelbert Sylvester was born on October 13, 1938, in Farmington, Maine, to Hugh Shorey Sylvester and Louise Stratton Sylvester, of Eustis. In 1944, the family moved from Eustis to Albion, where Jack graduated from Besse High School in 1957.
Jack and his wife, Ann, owned and operated China General Store, in China Village, for many years. The store, best known simply as Jack’s, was a gathering place and fixture of the community. Jack loved his career and had countless happy memories of his neighbors stopping by the store for a cup of coffee or a game of cribbage. One of his favorite days of the year was Halloween, when Jack would dress up and hand out chocolate milk and potato chips to all the kids who came to the store.
Jack served his community as a longtime volunteer firefighter, including as chief of the China Village Volunteer Fire Department. He was a longtime member and past master of Central Lodge #45 in China.
Jack made those around him feel like family. He was also a devoted family man. He loved his wife, children and grandchildren beyond measure and never missed a chance to spend time together. He taught them how to hunt, fish, garden, golf, work hard, have fun, be silly, treat everyone with respect, yodel and, most of all, to love and care for each other. He was looking forward to becoming a “wicked great-grandfather” this fall.
Jack is predeceased by his parents. He leaves behind his beloved wife of over 57 years, Ann; son, Christopher, and his wife, Jody; daughter, Lori, and her husband, Bob; granddaughter, Amy, and her husband, Alexander; grandson, Nathan, and his wife, Madelyn; and loyal guard dog, Roscoe. He is also survived by his three siblings, Alene Smiley, Betty Shuckrow and Robert Sylvester, as well as many other loved ones and, of course, too many friends to count.
The family so grateful for all the kind words, visits, notes and reminiscences the community has shared with Jack over the past several years. In 2020, after a stint in rehabilitation without visitors due to the pandemic, he was welcomed home with a parade down Main Street, in China Village. He was so touched, and we will never forget that.
All are welcome to join the family for a graveside service to be held Monday, August 15, at 10 a.m., at the China Village Cemetery Extension on the Neck Road. Please come as you are.
In memory of Jack, be kind to each other, sing a song, tell a joke, share a laugh and a hug. His favorite thing was to see others smiling.
In lieu of flowers, please let the family know your favorite memory of Jack or send them a funny joke, maybe one that Jack told you. Please email reminiscences to remembering.jack.sylvester@gmail.com.
For anyone who would like to make a donation in Jack’s memory, please consider donating to China Village Volunteer Fire Department, China Baptist Church or Northern Light Home Care & Hospice.
All are welcome to join the family for a graveside service to be held Monday, August 15, at 10 a.m., at the China Village Cemetery Extension, on the Neck Road. Additional parking will be available at the China Conference Center ballfield. That evening, a gathering will take place at the old store on Main St., in China, from 5 – 7 p.m., with a video presentation. More information is available on the Friends of China Facebook page.
See also: Jack’s: Where everybody knows your name
by Mary GrowChina select board members had two main items on the agenda for their Aug. 8 special meeting.
China town manager Rebecca Hapgood. (photo by Eric W. Austin)
Board members discussed the CBC request for 20 minutes and Hapgood’s request for more than half an hour. They postponed action on both.
The CBC document is a preliminary step to an agreement between the Town of China and Idaho-based Direct Communications and its local subsidiary, UniTel in Unity. It has been negotiated over several weeks with input from town attorney Amanda Meader. Board members approved it, with Wayne Chadwick dissenting, but did not vote to present it to voters.
Chadwick objects to the whole expansion project, which is intended to provide service to China residents who are “unserved or underserved” – have no internet service or service that is inadequate by state standards.
Many of the areas in town mapped as unserved or underserved are fire roads leading to lakes. Chadwick therefore defines the expansion as “a taxpayer-subsidized internet system for some of the wealthiest people in this town.”
Janet Preston
Janet Preston, who represents the board on the CBC, and Jeanne Marquis disagreed, pointing to the rural areas that would also gain new or better service.
While broadband expansion goes back only a few years, the status of the piece of shoreland in front of The Landing goes back decades, and Hapgood is tired of hearing it debated. Her proposed solution is a Nov. 8 warrant article asking voters to transfer the land to The Landing, LLC, new owners of the restaurant.
Jeanne Marquis
The main road used to go along the shore. When it was moved away from the lake, the legal status of the strip of shoreland was never determined – did it belong to the state, the town, abutting landowners?
Its size and shape are also undetermined, and one topic select board members discussed was whether it should be surveyed, and if so when and at whose expense.
Meanwhile, the town is not collecting taxes on this piece of shorefront.
Attorney Meader, joining the discussion virtually, said she is quite sure the town never owned the land; she thinks it is probably part of the abutting Landing lot. She recommends a quitclaim deed, under which the town surrenders any interest it might have, rather than a warranty deed, by which the town would guarantee the new owner a clear title.
Her opinion led board member Blane Casey to question whether voters should be asked to give away something they don’t own anyway. He had additional questions about the undefined bounds, wondering whether the town really owns the nearby boat landing and how abutters would react.
Chadwick asked what would happen if voters refused to convey the land.
Board Chairman Ronald Breton asked Hapgood and Meader to continue discussion, including the possibility of a boundary survey.
Select board members did three things:
Board members will have two and perhaps three more chances to decide what to ask voters on Nov. 8. Regular meetings are scheduled for Monday, Aug. 15, and Monday, Aug. 29. Hapgood said there might be a special Aug. 22 meeting to set the 2022-23 tax rate, if assessor William Van Tuinen can solve computer problems in time to provide the needed information.
by Mary GrowChina Planning Board members held an Aug. 4 public hearing to explain changes in the town’s land use ordinance that are expected to be on the Nov. 8 local ballot.
At five minutes, the hearing might be the shortest on record.
Four residents were in the audience: Brent and Cathy Chesley, who attend most planning board meetings and were well informed on the draft ordinance; Amber French, wife of assistant codes officer Nicholas French; and The Town Line reporter Mary Grow.
Board member James Wilkens, taking the gavel in the absence of Chairman Scott Rollins, called the hearing to order, explained its purpose and invited questions. When there were none, he closed the hearing.
Those present agreed that planning board members had done a good job of satisfying concerns expressed by the Chesleys and others at a March 22 discussion of the ordinance revisions.
The proposed changes to chapters two and 11 of the land use ordinance are on the town website, china.govoffice.com, with a notice in the center of the page referring viewers to them. Planning board members have asked select board members to submit them to town voters on Nov. 8.
After the hearing, Rollins emailed that the ordinance to govern solar arrays on which board members have worked intermittently for more than a year will not be ready for a November vote.
The next regular planning board meeting was scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 9.
by Mary GrowChina select board members spent a long Aug. 1 meeting going over a long agenda, with board member Janet Preston presiding in the absence of Chairman Ronald Breton.
Ongoing issues included the proposed local fireworks ordinance; broadband expansion; the planned town office addition; using American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money to help residents pay fuel bills; and town office hours.
Select board members disposed of the fireworks ordinance relatively quickly. They voted 3-1, with Jeanne Marquis dissenting, to drop the idea and stay with state law.
Sheldon Goodine
Select board members and Sheldon Goodine, chairman of the Municipal Building Committee, talked at length about the need for more storage space at the town office. As board member Wayne Chadwick pointed out, the original suggestion of a small room for storing permanent records has expanded into a sketch plan for a larger room with work space.
Goodine said the new proposal is based on his interviews with town office staff, who told him what they see as space needs.
The initial cost estimate, very rough, was less than $200,000. Goodine offered an equally uncertain estimate of $300,000 for the larger building. The price assumes the building does not include a second-story meeting room that was discussed at an earlier select board meeting, and that Goodine thinks is not a good idea.
Wayne Chadwick
Chadwick suggested minimizing the need to store paper by digitizing more records. Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood said she will explore possibilities. Her initial reaction was negative, because, she said, digitizing would cost money and staff time, and some state departments require paper records.
A building committee meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 11, for additional consideration of the smaller option.
Discussion of an ARPA-funded subsidy program for residents’ fuel bills led to Preston’s request to Hapgood develop draft guidelines. Topics should include whether to set income guidelines, and if so how low; residency requirements; minimizing red tape; defining required evidence to support information; and whether to pay residents directly, or fuel companies.
Hapgood offered several alternatives for shortening the hours the town office is open. The current 47.5 hours a week is one of the longest in Maine, she said.
Because of the long hours, staff members are not all there at the same time. Those trying to do office work are frequently also on counter duty and have to keep shifting from one task to another. Shorter open hours would make staff work more efficient by minimizing interruptions.
Hapgood’s information included analysis of busiest and least busy hours – for example, she said, Wednesday is almost always a slow day, and the first and last Saturday mornings are usually much busier than other Saturday mornings.
After discussing sundry alternatives, select board members voted 3-1, with Chadwick dissenting, that effective Sept. 1, the China town office will be open from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday; and from 8 to 11 a.m. the first and last Saturday of each month. It will be closed Wednesdays.
In new business, Kennebec County Sheriff Ken Mason, accompanied by County Commissioner Patsy Crockett, explained why he unexpectedly raised the charge to China for “special details” (covering special events) from $65 per officer per hour to $85. There were two reasons, Mason said, that were not anticipated at the beginning of the year: increased fuel prices, and a “well-deserved and overdue” raise for deputies.
(A Kennebec Journal article said the raise is 9 percent.)
Mason said the goal is to break even on special details, so that county taxpayers will not pay for individual towns’ service. Select board members expressed appreciation for the county’s law enforcement services.
Hapgood urged select board members to support more codes enforcement in town, specifically looking into past ordinance violations that have fallen through the cracks as China has had five codes enforcement officers in 14 years.
She said resident Dwaine Drummond is already working on back issues as a consultant. On her recommendation, select board members approved carrying forward unspent money from the fiscal year that ended June 30 to pay Drummond for part-time work.
They also appointed him assistant codes enforcement officer.
Hapgood, who is currently China’s codes officer in addition to her other duties, commended town office staff member Tammy Bailey for her help with codes enforcement paperwork.
Jeanne Marquis
Other appointments were assistant codes officer Nicholas French as building official and local health officer and select board member Jeanne Marquis as China’s representative to the Kennebec Regional Development Agency (KRDA), operator of the FirstPark business park, in Oakland. Blane Casey volunteered to be Marquis’s alternate and was scheduled to be appointed at the board’s special Aug. 8 meeting.
In other business, Hapgood reported two bids for the police cruiser China no longer needs. Board members unanimously accepted the higher, $30,001 from the Town of Wiscasset.
The town schedule includes:
The China Lake Association leadership team, from left to right, Secretary David Preston, Vice President Eric Lind, and President Stephen Greene. (photo by Jeanne Marquis)
The China Lake Association (CLA) annual meeting was held Saturday morning on July, 30, 2022, in the China Middle School, on Lakeview Drive, in China, Maine. The meeting was both a celebration of the alewives return to China Lake and a tribute to the 50-year anniversary of the Clean Water Act.
Senator Susan Collins, Senator Angus King and Congresswoman Chellie Pingree sent video statements to the annual meeting congratulating the association’s positive impact on China Lake and supporting the work ahead to maintain the water quality. Senator Collins expressed that maintaining fresh water lakes such as China Lake is an important investment in our future. Senator King mentioned the connection the Muskie family personally had with China Lake owning a camp on its shore.
Pingree stated, “It was our fellow Mainer, Senator Ed Muskie, who wrote the clean water act half a century ago. Since then, it has been directly responsible for restoring and maintaining waters across the nation including right here in China Lake. Senator Muskie would be proud to see how much progress all of you at the China Lake Association have made to restore and protect the lake’s water to continue implementing the provisions of the Clean Water Act.”
The annual water quality report for China Lake was presented by Robbie Bickford, Water Quality Manager of Kennebec Water District (KWD). According to Bickford, “The results of the testing indicate China Lake is maintaining a steady state with a slight improvement in water quality over the past 10 years.” The full report can be found in the KWD newsletter which can be accessed here on ChinaLakeAssociation.org.
Bickford also provided updates on two projects Kennebec Water District accomplished this past year and are ongoing to protect water quality. KWD, with help from a grant from Project Canopy, reforested six acres on land KWD purchased in the early 1900s. Working with residents down in that area, KWD planted about 6,000 little seedlings with a mixture of black spruce, red spruce and red pine. In the fall of 2021, KWD developed a harvest plan in conjunction with a forest management plan. The goal is to achieve a mixed age, multi-species stand on all KWD land to maintain sustainable erosion control. KWD postponed last winter’s harvest until the winter of 2023 due to the warm conditions. Bickford explained that ideally the ground should be frozen during the harvest to prevent as much soil disruption as possible.
Bob O’Connor
The annual loon count was presented by Bob O’Connor, CLA board member. O’ Connor mentioned he has been counting loons on China Lake for 33 years, a third of a century. He was pleased to announce the count is up from 25 to 34. O’Connor announced another loon project in the works to help increase the loon population.
Karen McNeil, an undergraduate studying wildlife ecology and an intern for Maine Lakes, briefly presented information about the Loon Restoration Project. This project is intended to increase the loon productivity, while decreasing the mortality through establishing nesting rafts in ideal locations. Bill Powell, CLA board member is leading this initiative for the CLA and plans to launch an artificial nesting raft next year on China Lake. They are looking for more volunteers to build and monitor the raft for signs of nesting and chicks. Contact the CLA for more information about how to get involved.
Landis Hudson, executive director of Maine Rivers, made an upbeat presentation about the completion of the alewives restoration to China Lake and what this means to the regional ecology. This nearly ten-years-long project was headed up by the nonprofit organization Maine Rivers, in collaboration with the towns of China and Vassalboro, the Maine Department of Marine Resources, the Kennebec Water District, the Sebasticook Regional Land Trust, and the China Region Lakes Alliance. The China Lake Alewife Restoration Initiative hopes to reclaim the balance of wildlife in the water, air and land that existed prior to the dams construction centuries ago by restoring alewife passage. For the first time since 1783, alewives are making the trip from the ocean through the Kennebec River to China Lake to spawn. Nate Gray, a scientist with Maine Department of Marine Resources, manufactured a fish counter to get initial counts. The numbers of alewives making it through the fishways at the Box Mill Dam reached expectations.
Eric Lind, vice president of CLA, spoke about the 2022-2031 China Lake Watershed-Based Management Plan (WBMP). The plan outlines management strategies and a 10-year schedule of steps to increase efforts to reduce the external phosphorus load by addressing existing nonpoint source (NPS) pollution throughout the watershed and limit new sources of phosphorus from future development and climate change. The plan significantly reduces the internal phosphorus load through inactivation of phosphorus in lake bottom sediments, and monitors and assesses improvements in China Lake’s water quality over time.
The 2022 launch of the WBMP is the culmination of a two-year comprehensive watershed survey, performed with help from CLA volunteers in partnership with Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and technical leaders. The survey identified sources of pollution, which included an assessment of gravel roads and developed properties in the watershed. The information from the survey was used in China Lake’s ten-year watershed management plan; the plan will help the CLA qualify for federal funding grants under the Clean Water Act. The China Lake Watershed-Based Management Plan is available on the CLA website.
Why is a watershed based management plan important? As reported August 5, 2022, in the Morning Sentinel and the Kennebec Journal, North Pond, in Smithfield, in the Belgrade area, is experiencing extreme algae blooms that have diminished the water clarity to only four feet. People are advised by the state Department of Environmental Protect to limit lengthy exposure to the pea soup green water and to have no exposure when water clarity reaches only three feet. There was no watershed management plan in place for North Pond. The North Pond Association has recently received a grant to establish a plan.
The last speaker of the CLA annual meeting was Judy Stone, Colby College professor and LakeSmart Award property owner, discussing forests, buffers and water quality. Stone provided property owners with sound advice on maintaining a canopy of diverse trees and permeable ground foliage to capture and filter stormwater.
The meeting closed with a strong vote of confidence for the re-election of the current leadership team: President Stephen Greene, Vice President Eric Lind, Secretary David Preston. An opening exists for a treasurer to replace retired treasurer Elaine Philbrook. The board of directors includes Robbie Bickford, Wayne Clark, Bruce Fitzgerald, Marie Michaud, Bob O’Connor, and Bill Powell, all of whom serve with the officers as volunteers managing the business and conducting the affairs of CLA.
The China Lake Association stands for “Preserving China Lake for Future Generations Through Environmental Stewardship and Community Action.” CLA officers and directors hold monthly meetings to drive growth and development of the organization. Stephen Greene invites interested people to attend. Contact him at stephencraiggreene@gmail.com to attend board meetings, become more involved, or discuss your thoughts about CLA.