CHINA: Consultant advises select board on fire department compliance

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by Mary Grow

CORRECTION: The headline on page 2 of the October 21, 2021, issue of The Town Line may have been misleading. In no way, shape or form was the consultant intended for fire department compliance. The presenter, Lynn Gilley Martin, of Fire Service Compliancy Associates, offers municipalities advice on compliance with state labor laws and regulations for each town department. It was an editing error. The original article follows:

In addition to acting on the sale of town-owned land on Lakeview Drive (see The Town Line, Oct. 14, p. 3), China Select Board members heard a variety of reports at their Oct. 12 meeting.

A new one was from consultant Lynn Gilley Martin, of Fire Service Compliancy Associates, who said she works with, but not for, the state Department of Labor. Her specialty is offering municipalities advice on compliance with state labor laws and regulations.

She makes sure each town department is informed about required programs and trainings for employees, both initial and annual; and about maintenance and inspection records for facilities and equipment, monthly and annual.

Martin showed board members an 8.5-by-11-inch public works manual that appeared to be close to three inches thick, and told them the corresponding manual for a fire department is even thicker.

Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood had gotten in touch with Martin about adding China to her clients. China employees are obeying regulations, Hapgood said, “but we could do it better.”

She and board member Wayne Chadwick agreed that carefully documented adherence to regulations ought to lower the town’s insurance costs.

Board members unanimously approved taking $3,650 from their contingency fund to contract with Martin for a year. In return, the town gets assistance that includes copies of department manuals and an annual consultation.

Hapgood intends to forward information to China’s three volunteer fire departments.

Because the meeting agenda was long, Hapgood emailed the monthly reports from town department heads instead of reading them. They included the following information:

  • Town Clerk Angela Nelson said as of Oct. 13, new voters must register in person. Oct. 28 is the deadline for requesting absentee ballots and for voting early for the Nov. 2 election.
  • Dog licenses for 2022 have been available since Oct. 15, Nelson said. The fee is $6 for a spayed or neutered dog and $11 for an unaltered dog.
  • Public Works Director Shawn Reed reported he already bought cutting edges for town snowplows for this winter. The price increased 56 percent over last year, he said, and he was warned they “may become difficult to obtain” later in the year.

The next China Select Board meeting will be about 6:30 p.m., Monday, Oct. 25, in the portable building behind the town office. It will follow a 5:30 p.m. recognition party for Irene Belanger, who is retiring from the board in November after 42 years of service to the town.

CHINA: Medical marijuana retail store approved

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by Mary Grow

China Planning Board members have approved Miguel Rivera’s application to open a medical marijuana retail store in the former Knowles Mechanical Building, at 1097 Route 3.

They have scheduled a Nov. 9 public hearing on Jayson Mortimer’s application to open an automobile repair garage, at 86 Vassalboro Road.

Board members began their Oct. 12 meeting with a discussion of Rivera’s application, followed by a short public hearing.

Neighbor Steve Belden wanted to make sure Rivera would not grow or process marijuana in the building, creating an odor. Rivera said the building would be for retail sales only.

After discussion of wetlands on the back of the property, parking, lighting, signs and other topics, planning board members reviewed the ordinance criteria and voted unanimously that Rivera’s plan meets all of them. They added one condition: he needs to provide a letter from the Weeks Mills fire chief saying the property meets fire safety requirements.

Planning board Chairman Randall Downer reminded Rivera that the permit is subject to appeal for 30 days.

Mortimer explained his plan to do automobile repairs and inspections in the existing garage on his property. He does not intend to house junk cars; work will be indoors, minimizing noise and other possible disturbances; he plans no new outside lighting.

Codes Officer Jaime Hanson told Mortimer what additional information he should submit. Because the proposal is for a new business, board members voted unanimously to hold a public hearing before acting on the permit application.

The next China Planning Board meeting is scheduled for Oct. 26, but Mortimer said he would not be available that evening. The public hearing is therefore scheduled for Tuesday evening, Nov. 9.

ERIC’S TECH TALK: CBC wants to revolutionize internet access in China, but will it work?

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by Eric W. Austin

The views of the author in the following column are not necessarily those of The Town Line newspaper, its staff and board of directors.

On the ballot this November is a question that has the potential to revolutionize internet access for residents of China. The question is also long, at over 200 words, a bit confusing and filled with legalese. As a resident of China, a technophile, and a reporter for The Town Line newspaper, I wanted to understand this initiative, figure out exactly what it’s attempting to accomplish, and try to find out what residents of China think about the future of local internet access.

In order to understand the issue, I attended two of the recent information sessions held by the China Broadband Committee and also sat down with Tod Detre, a member of the committee, who I peppered with questions to clear up any confusions I had.

I also created a post in the Friends of China Facebook group, which has a membership of more than 4,000 people from the town of China and neighboring communities, asking for comments and concerns from residents about the effort. Along with soliciting comments, I included in my post a survey question asking whether residents support the creation of a fiber optic infrastructure for internet access in China. (I should be clear here and point out that the question on the November ballot does not ask whether we should build a fiber optic network in China, only whether the selectboard should move forward with applying for financing to fund the initiative if they find there is sufficient interest to make the project viable. But for my purposes, I wanted to understand people’s thoughts on the goals of the effort and how they felt about their current internet access.)

My Facebook post garnered 86 comments and 141 votes on the survey question. One hundred and twenty people voted in favor of building a fiber optic network in China and 21 people opposed it. (This, of course, was not a scientifically rigorous survey, and the results are obviously skewed toward those who already have some kind of internet access and regularly utilize online platforms like Facebook.)

Before we get into the reasons why people are for or against the idea, let’s first take a look at what exactly the question on the ballot is and some background on what has led up to this moment.

The question before voters in November does not authorize the creation of a fiber optic network in China. It only authorizes the selectboard to begin the process of pursuing the financing that would be required to accomplish that goal – but only if certain conditions are met. So, what are those conditions? The most important condition is one of participation. Since the Broadband Committee’s goal is to pay for the fiber optic network solely through subscriber fees – without raising local taxes – the number of people who sign up for the new service will be the primary determining factor on whether the project moves forward.

If the question is approved by voters, the town will proceed with applying for financing for the initiative, which is projected to have a total estimated cost of about $6.5 million, paid for by a bond in the amount of $5.6 million, with the remainder covered through a combination of “grants, donations and other sources.” As the financing piece of the project proceeds, Axiom, the company the town plans to partner with to provide the internet service, will begin taking pre-registrations for the program. Although the length of this pre-registration period has not been completely nailed down, it would likely last anywhere from six months to a year while the town applies for financing. During this period, residents would have an opportunity to reserve a spot and indicate their interest in the new service with a refundable deposit of $100, which would then be applied toward their first few months’ of service once the program goes live. Because the plan for the initiative is for it to be paid for by subscriber fees rather than any new taxes, it is essential that the project demonstrates sufficient interest from residents before any work is done or financing acquired.

With approximately 2,300 structures, or households, that could potentially be connected to the service in China, the Broadband Committee estimates that at least 834 participants – or about 36 percent – would need to enroll in the program for it to pay for itself. Any number above this would create surplus revenue for the town, which could be used to pay off the bond sooner, lower taxes, reduce subscriber fees or for other purposes designated by the selectboard. If this number is not reached during the pre-registration period, the project would not proceed.

One of the problems this initiative is meant to alleviate is the cost of installing internet for residents who may not have sufficient internet access currently because bringing high speed cable to their house is cost prohibitive. The Broadband Committee, based on surveys they have conducted over the last several years, estimates that about 70 percent of residents currently have cable internet. The remaining 30 percent have lower speed DSL service or no service at all.

For this reason, for those who place a deposit during the initial signup period, there would be no installation cost to the resident, no matter where they live, including those who have found such installation too expensive in the past. (The lone exception to this guarantee would be residents who do not have local utility poles providing service to their homes. In those rare instances, the fiber optic cable would need to be buried underground and may incur an additional expense.) After the initial pre-registration period ends, this promise of free installation would no longer be guaranteed, although Axiom and the Broadband Committee have talked about holding rolling enrollment periods in the future which could help reduce the installation costs for new enrollees after the initial pre-registration period is over.

What are the benefits of the proposed fiber optic infrastructure over the cable broadband or DSL service that most residents have currently? Speed and reliability are the most obvious benefits. Unlike the copper cable used currently for cable internet, which transmits data via electrical pulses, fiber optic cable transmits data using pulses of light through fine glass fibers and does not run into the same limitations as its copper counterpart. The speed at which data can be transmitted via fiber optic cable is primarily limited by the hardware at either end of the connection rather than the cable itself. Currently, internet service travels out from the servers of your internet provider as a digital signal via fiber optic cable, but then is converted to an analogue signal as it is passed on to legacy parts of the network that do not have fiber optics installed. This process of conversion slows down the signal by the time it arrives at your house. As service providers expand their fiber optic networks and replace more of the legacy copper wire with fiber optics, the speed we experience as consumers will increase, but it is still limited by the slowest point along the network.

The proposed fiber optic network would eliminate this bottleneck by installing fiber optic cable from each house in China back to an originating server with no conversion necessary in between.

Both copper and fiber optic cable suffer from something called “attenuation,” which is a degradation of the strength of the signal as it travels further from its source. The copper cables we currently use have a maximum length of 100 meters before they must be fed through a power source to amplify their signal. In contrast, fiber optic cables can run for up to 24 miles before any significant weakening of the signal starts to become a problem. Moving from copper cable to fiber optics would virtually eliminate problems from signal degradation.

Another downside to the present infrastructure is that each of those signal conversion or amplification boxes require power to do their job. This means that when the power goes out, it shuts off the internet because these boxes along the route will no longer function to push the signal along. The infrastructure proposed by the China Broadband Committee would solve this problem by installing fiber optics along the entire signal route leading back to a central hub station, which would be located in the town of China and powered by a propane generator that will automatically kick on when the power goes out. With the proposed system, as long as you have a generator at your house, your internet should continue to work – even during a localized power outage.

There’s an additional benefit to the proposed fiber optic network that residents would notice immediately. The current cable internet that most of us use is a shared service. When more people are using the service, everyone’s speed decreases. Most of us know that the internet is slower at 5 o’clock in the afternoon than it is at 3 in the morning. The proposed fiber optic network is different however. Inside the fiber optic cable are hundreds of individual glass strands that lead back to the network source. A separate internet signal can ride on each of these strands without interfering with the others. Hawkeye Connections, the proposed contractor for the physical infrastructure part of the project, would install cable with enough individual strands so that every house along its path could be connected via a different strand within the cable. This means that no one would be sharing a signal with anyone else and internet slowdown and speed fluctuations during peak usage should become a thing of the past.

Another change proposed by the CBC initiative would be to equalize upload and download speeds. Presently, download speeds are generally higher than upload speeds, which is a convention in the industry. This is a legacy of the cable TV networks from which they evolved. Cable TV is primarily a one-way street datawise. The video information is sent from the cable provider to your home and displayed on your TV. Very little data is sent the other way, from your home back to the cable provider. This was true of most data streams in the early days of the internet as well. We downloaded pictures, videos and webpages. Nearly all the data was traveling in one direction. But this is changing. We now have Zoom meetings, smart houses and interactive TVs. We upload more information than we used to, which means upload speed is more important than ever. This trend is likely to continue in the years ahead as more of our lives become connected to the internet. The internet service proposed by the Broadband Committee and Axiom, the company contracted to provide the service, would equalize upload and download speeds. For example, the first tier of the service would offer speeds of 50 megabits up and 50 megabits down. This, combined with the other benefits outlined above, should make Zoom meetings much more bearable.

What about costs for the consumer? The first level service tier would offer speeds of 50 megabits download and 50 megabits upload for $54.99 a month. Higher level tiers would include 100/100 for $64.99/month, 500/500 for $149.99/month, and a gigabit line for businesses at a cost of $199.99/month.

Now that we’ve looked at some of the advantages and benefits of the fiber optic infrastructure proposed by the China Broadband Committee, what about the objections? A number of residents voiced their opposition to the project on my Facebook post, so let’s take a look at some of those objections.

One of the most common reasons people are against the project is because they think there are other technologies that will make the proposed fiber optic network obsolete or redundant in the near future. The technologies most often referenced are 5G wireless and Starlink, a global internet initiative being built by tech billionaire and Tesla/SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.

While new 5G cellular networks are currently being rolled out nationwide, it’s not clear when the technology will be widely available here in China. And even when such capability does become available to most residents, it will likely suffer from similar problems that our existing cell coverage suffers from now – uncertain coverage on the outskirts of town and in certain areas. (I still can’t get decent cell reception at my home just off Lakeview Drive, in China Village.) Further, while 5G is able to provide impressive download speeds and low latency, it requires line of sight with the broadcasting tower and can easily be blocked by anything in between like trees or buildings. Residents of China who currently suffer from poor internet service or cell phone reception today would likely suffer from the same problems with 5G coverage as well. Fiber optic cable installation to those residents would solve that problem, at least in terms of internet access, once and for all.

Starlink is a technology that aims to deliver internet access to the world through thousands of satellites in low-earth orbit, but it is still years away from reaching fruition and there is no guarantee it will deliver on its potential. When I spoke with the Broadband Committee’s Tod Detre, he said he applied to be part of the Starlink beta program more than six months ago, and has only recently been accepted (although he’s still awaiting the hardware required to connect). There is also some resistance to the Starlink project, primarily from astronomers and other star gazers, who worry how launching so many satellites into orbit will affect our view of the night sky. As of June, Starlink has launched approximately 1,700 satellites into orbit and currently services about 10,000 customers. The initiative is estimated to cost at least $10 billion before completion. At the moment, the company claims to offer speeds between 50 and 150 megabits and hopes to increase that speed to 300 megabits by the end of 2021, according to a recent article on CNET.com. To compare, copper-based networks can support data transfer speeds up to 40 gigabits, and fiber optic wires have virtually no limit as they can send signals at the speed of light. Of course, these upper speeds are always limited by the capabilities of the hardware at either ends of the connection.

While both 5G and technologies like Elon Musk’s Starlink hold a lot of potential for consumers, 5G service is likely to suffer from the same problems residents are already experiencing with current technology, and Starlink is still a big unknown and fairly expensive at $99/month plus an initial cost of $500 for the satellite dish needed to receive the signal. It’s also fairly slow even at the future promised speed increase of 300 megabits. As the Broadband Committee’s chairman, Bob O’Connor, pointed out at a recent public hearing on the proposed network, bandwidth needs have been doubling every ten years and likely to continue increasing in a similar fashion for the near future.

Another objection frequently voiced by residents is that the town government should not be in the business of providing internet service to residents. O’Connor also addressed this concern in a recent public hearing before the China selectboard. He said that residents should think about the proposed fiber optic infrastructure in the same way they view roads and streets. (This is a particularly apt comparison since the internet is often referred to as the “information superhighway.”) O’Connor says that although the town owns the roads, it may outsource the maintenance of those roads to a subcontractor, in the same way that the town would own this fiber optic infrastructure, but will be subcontracting the service and maintenance of that network to Axiom.

The Broadband Committee also points out that there are some benefits that come with the town’s ownership of the fiber optic cable and hardware: if residents don’t like the service they are receiving from one provider they can negotiate to receive service from another instead. The committee has said that although Axiom would initially be contracted for 12 years, there would be a service review every three years to see if we are happy with their service. If not, we could negotiate with another provider to service the town instead. This gives the town significant leverage to find the best service available, leverage that we would not have if the infrastructure was owned by a service provider like Spectrum or Consolidated Communications (both of whom have shown little interest in the near term for upgrading the China area with fiber optic cable).

There are certainly risks and outstanding questions associated with the committee’s proposal. Will there be enough subscribers for the project to pay for itself? Could another technology come along that would make the proposed infrastructure obsolete or less attractive in the future? Will proposed contractors like Axiom and Hawkeye Connections (who will be doing the installation of the physical infrastructure) provide quality and reliable service to residents long-term? Can we expect the same level of maintenance coverage to fix storm damage and outages that we experience now?

On the other hand, the potential benefits of the project are compelling. The internet, love it or hate it, has become an essential part of everyday life and looks only to become more essential in the years ahead. Having a reliable and high speed infrastructure for residential internet access is likely to play an important role in helping to grow China’s economy and to attract young families who are looking for a place to live and work.

Ultimately, voters will decide if the potential benefits outweigh the possible risks and pitfalls come this November.

Contact the author at ericwaustin@gmail.com.

More information is also available on the CBC website, chinabroadband.net.

Read all of The Town Line’s coverage of the China Broadband Committee here.

LETTERS: Voting “yes” for better internet service

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To Town Line editor and the Town of China Residents:

Joann Clark Austin

Joann Clark Austin

I feel compelled to write to the Selectmen of China, and the townspeople.

The town selectboard asked in 2017….., that’s four years ago….., for help. The Town,….we…., needed some people who understand the workings of the internet to solve our connectivity issues. For many in our town Covid has made poor internet connectivity and poor internet speeds even more apparent. The selectmen asked folks to volunteer, to work for many years, to find the best answer to internet services in China. The committee has done that. That is what we are voting on on the November ballot.

The selectmen told this generous dedicated set of volunteers they not only had to find the right answer, but that they, the volunteer committee, also had to sell the idea to us town folks (who, speaking for myself, could never have found the answers and who has so little understanding that I didn’t care to go to the three explanatory meetings they have held as requested). I did get to one.

Then last week, the selectmen would not allow the committee to use their working funds to send out a flyer supporting their proposal, while at the same time, the select board gets to put a note on the printed ballot to vote “No”, with no reason given. Selectmen should have put a “Leave to Voters” recommendation with explanations of why three of them voted to not recommend going forward. At the end of that meeting my heart just ached for the volunteer committee. Why would anyone ever volunteer again?

I discovered by chance that Consumer Reports says that a municipality doing exactly what the Broadband Committee proposes is the best way forward…. That good utility services like electricity, telephone, and now internet are (and have been since the 1940s) best accomplished in more rural areas by municipalities. And even better, if we vote “YES”, but there are not enough townsfolk signing up for the lower cost, higher speed, more reliable service, then the town can reevaluate and pull out of further implementation.

Based on what I’ve been hearing and my own poor internet service over the years, I am definitely voting yes on the November Ballot question.

from Joann C. Austin (China)

China candidates forum canceled

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Albert Church Brown Memorial Library in China Village (photo courtesy of library Facebook page)

by Mary Grow

The annual China candidates’ forum, intended to introduce candidates for local offices to voters and scheduled for Oct. 17 on Zoom only, will not be held.

Louisa Barnhart, Chairman of the Trustees of the Albert Church Brown Memorial Library that sponsors the event, announced, “Due to general lack of interest, the candidates’ forum will be canceled this year.”

LakeSmart presentation from state director slated

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Image Credit: chinalakeassociation.org

The China Region Lakes Alliance (CRLA) will sponsor a presentation by State LakeSmart Director Mary Wicklund on Maine’s LakeSmart Program, designed to help improve the health of Maine’s lake resources.

The meeting will be held Wednesday, October 20, 2021, at 6 p.m. (EST) at the portable classroom at the China Town Office Complex, and by Zoom.

All interested parties are invited to attend. For more information about LakeSmart, or to obtain the Zoom link, please contact (207) 200-8361.

In narrow vote, selectmen agree to sell Lakeview Drive property for $65,000

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by Mary Grow

By a 3-2 vote, China selectmen have sold the 39-acre lot on Lakeview Drive to China resident Brent Chesley, for $65,000.

Eight bids had been submitted by the selectmen’s Oct. 12 meeting. They ranged from $10,000 to $75,000.

The $75,000 offer was from Nikolette Alexander, of South China, who reportedly planned a residential development. Her bid was conditional on the lot being appraised at that figure.

Now that the previous subdivision permit has expired, realtor Lucas Adams has revised the property’s value downward, from an early estimate of $80,000 or more to $55,000 or more.

Chesley told selectmen he would not hold his offer if they reject it in favor of another that falls through. The board has already had one buyer withdraw, after learning the subdivision was no longer valid.

Asked what he would do with the land, Chesley said he has no plan yet. After the closing, which will be November 19 if feasible, he said he might talk with the People’s Park organization whose members want the property made into a public park.

Irene Belanger, Blane Casey and Janet Preston voted to accept Chesley’s offer. Belanger and Preston favor a park over a subdivision; Casey believed Chesley’s offer was the safe one, given the condition on Alexander’s offer. Chairman Ronald Breton and Wayne Chadwick were opposed.

Board members differed in defining their responsibility to townspeople. The town meeting warrant article authorizing the sale says proceeds will go into a fund to lower the tax rate in the following fiscal year, suggesting an obligation to accept a high bid.

Lindsey Harwath, Chairman of the People’s Park organization, and board member Preston said that residents who had expressed opinions heavily favored making the area into a public park, with minimal development; and selectmen should listen to the people. Also, they said, a visible roadside park would attract people and thus generate income for nearby businesses.

Transfer station: Proposed fee increase postponed to November meeting

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by Mary Grow

China Transfer Station Committee members made progress on their Oct. 12 agenda items, while postponing decisions to their Nov. 9 meeting, mostly to give them time to collect more information.

They approved by consensus Palermo representative Robert Kurek’s methodology for calculating a new fee for the disposal bags Palermo residents use. They need updated information and more options on sources for the bags (bought by the Town of China, sold to Palermo people) to decide what the fee should be.

Any cost increases for Palermo will take effect April 1, 2022, as the contract between the two towns calls for six months’ notice.

Committee members endorsed the draft vision and mission statements proposed by the Visioning Subcommittee. The subcommittee will schedule a meeting to continue refining the documents.

Part of the future planning calls for new equipment and improvements to the facility. Transfer Station Manager Ronald Marois said work has started on a new pad intended to store refrigerators; he said it will be large enough for other similar items.

Marois recommended that the committee endorse a request to China selectmen for a new front-end loader, the top item on the list of proposed new equipment.

The one now in use is old, and, he warned, if it breaks down this winter, the transfer station will be hobbled and the public works employees will be unable to load sand and salt trucks.

Committee members were supportive, but took no formal action.

Two facilities improvements also got unofficial support. Marois wants a cover over the pre-crusher near the present mixed-waste hopper, to protect the controls and to avoid adding rainwater and snow to the outgoing loads of trash. Karen Hatch, who runs the Free for the Taking building, asked for electricity and heat.

Ashley Farrington volunteered to see whether the transfer station addition would need an engineer. Committee members amended Hatch’s request to electricity and lights, suggesting a small electric heater would be enough to keep the small building warm; Farrington will get a cost estimate.

Looking beyond the local transfer station, committee member Mark Davis expressed frustration with the failure to open a successor to the Fiberight recycling facility in Hampden. China has a contract to use the facility, which has been closed for more than a year; without it, trash is being landfilled in Norridgewock, an option Davis opposes.

Committee Chairman Larry Sikora said the last he heard, the Municipal Review Committee (MRC), the body representing towns that used the Hampden facility, had three parties expressing interest in reviving it.

Davis suggested China ditch MRC and contract to use the waste incinerator in Orrington run by Penobscot Energy Recovery Company (PERC), until, he further suggested, China builds its own waste incinerator.

Kurek and Sikora advised checking the contract with MRC and looking into PERC costs before considering a change. Marois added that the PERC incinerator is already well supplied.

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

OPINIONS – Question #1: A diabolical scam to gain more control

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by Sheldon Goodine
South China resident

A lot of questions and confusion about question #1 have come to my attention, so I’m going to try to dissect the wording and give you my take on it. I do this under my by-line, The way I see it, and not by any legal or expertise on my part.

Question #1: “Do you want to ban the construction of high-impact electrical transmission lines in the upper Kennebec Region”…. Fair question, but it should stand alone for an up or down vote. Question: What are the high impact of the transmission line? Why did the writers of the question want to expand it to include Future Construction for Politicians to have control and to require the legislature to approve ALL other such projects anywhere in Maine…? Do you not see what is happening? The legislature can and will make a correlation, that a new project is like question #1.

We continue, “not only in the upper Kennebec Region, but the entire state of Maine, ‘both retroactive to 2020’.” Now we see the beginning of retroactivity power and a precedent will be established giving the legislature retroactive power to 2014….So now the authors want to go backward seven years to give the legislature the power to pick and choose where and when to apply this new law as they see fit.

We continue: “To approve by a two-thirds vote such projects using public land….” Do you believe they will stop at public lands and not to private lands. I think they will stop at nothing.

You must ask yourself, which part of this double barrel question will harm the state of Maine and its citizens the most over many years. To me it’s just a diabolical scam for the legislature to ride on the coattails of a very controversial subject that they believe will be approved and will give them more power that they want.

The way I see it the CMP corridor will be nice when completed, giving access for animals to feed and for recreation. In a few years it will look like it will always be there, but power to the legislature will go on a long, long time. I’ll be voting NO and hope informed citizens will see the harm in one vote for two questions found in Question #1.

China group cancels fall WindowDressers workshop

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by Eric W. Austin

The China for a Lifetime Committee has announced they will not be moving forward with a WindowDressers workshop this fall. Current uncertainty regarding conditions around the COVID-19 pandemic as well as low participation were the reasons for the cancellation.

WindowDressers is a volunteer-led, community initiative that aims to build low-cost window inserts to help reduce residential heating costs. The program is sponsored by the nonprofit WindowDressers organization based out of Rockland.

In an email sent to committee members, chairman Christopher Hahn wrote, “My recommendation is that we not go forward with a Community Build or measuring this year. Taking into account the responses I received from most of you regarding the survey from WindowDressers and the continued COVID-19 trending in Maine and the uncertainty regarding the twists and turns of the pandemic, I feel a greater obligation to help people stay safe than to reduce the heating costs for a handful of people in the area. I am not minimizing that issue but with the contagiousness of the Delta variant and the established fact that vaccinated individuals can asymptomatically transmit the more deadly variant to unvaccinated individuals, I would be horrified to learn that one of our recipients contracted the virus from our event.”

Participants who had planned to order inserts from the China workshop this year may be able to process their orders through other community builds. WindowDressers will work with them to accommodate any orders already received. Anyone still hoping to order inserts should sign up on the WindowDressers website at https://windowdressers.org/insulating-inserts/.

According to a community survey conducted by the China for a Lifetime Committee in 2017, 12 percent of local residents struggle to sufficiently heat their homes. The planned WindowDressers workshop was one way the committee hoped to address this need. The committee was working in concert with a number of other local groups as well as several residents of Vassalboro who had participated in a previous workshop.

The committee plans to continue its work supporting local residents in line with its mission to “develop initiatives that improve the quality of life for residents of China, South China, Weeks Mills, and Branch Mills.” To this end, they created a China Volunteer Program (CVP) several years ago to assist community members in need. They can be reached through their email address at ChinaforaLifetime@gmail.com or through the Friends of China Facebook group. More information about the committee can also be found at their website, chinaforalifetime.com.