China TIF committee spends lots of time on legal issue of remote meeting policy

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by Mary Grow

Members of China’s Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Committee spent much of their Aug. 23 meeting trying to understand the state-required policy on board and committee meetings that are not entirely in-person.

Pre-Covid, Town Manager Becky Hapgood explained, the state right-to-know law assumed, and required, that when a board or committee met, members and the public were in the meeting room interacting face to face.

During the pandemic, emergency provisions allowed remote meetings. The emergency has expired, and the legislature has passed a law returning to almost the pre-Covid normal. However, there are now two exceptions, Hapgood and TIF Committee member Jamie Pitney explained:

— An entire board may meet remotely in an emergency, like a pandemic or a blizzard; and
— A member, with notice to the chairman who in turn notifies as many other members as possible, may participate remotely in case of “illness or temporary absence that causes a board member significant difficulties in travel.”

The Maine Municipal Association distributed information to municipalities that Hapgood said repeated the legislative wording and said that each separate board and committee must adopt the policy, or something similar enough to be legal.

A member participating remotely who qualifies for one of the exceptions to personal attendance is counted as part of the quorum and may vote, Hapgood said. If the TIF Committee did not have a remote meeting policy and a renewed shut-down prohibited in-person meetings, the committee could not meet.

Qualification to participate remotely was the issue. There was consensus that someone who tried to Zoom in because he or she did not feel like driving to the meeting, or because he or she had child-care responsibilities at home, did not qualify.

When TIF Chairman Tom Michaud is spending the winter in Florida, there was agreement he has difficulty traveling to a meeting in the China town office. But, Pitney, pointed out, Michaud chooses to go to Florida; so maybe he should not be allowed to participate remotely.

Committee members debated a hypothetical case: a committee member calls the chairman to say he or she has to work late, either can drive to the meeting but is unlikely to arrive before it adjourns, or can Zoom in from the office. They did not decide whether the situation authorized remote participation.

Despite the lack of clarity, TIF Committee members adopted the policy on a 6-0 vote.

They spent less time on tax increment financing business. Hapgood said the state Department of Economic and Community Development has not yet approved the amended TIF program local voters adopted at the June 8 town meeting, so no money has been disbursed under it.

No accurate fund balances are available, because the audit for the fiscal year that ended June 30 is not finished.

The causeway project is done and paid for, Hapgood said, except for one minor step that cannot be done until late in the fall. She updated board members on the single outstanding loan from the Revolving Loan Fund that is part of China’s TIF.

Michaud’s wife Marie has resigned her secretarial duties; when no one volunteered to replace her, Michaud proposed members take turns preparing minutes, starting with himself. He also asked for a vice-chairman to run meetings when he is unavailable. James “J. J.” Wentworth was elected unanimously.

The next TIF Committee meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday, Sept. 20.

CHINA: Town receives two bids on Lakeview Drive lot

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by Mary Grow

China selectmen had two bids on the town’s Lakeview Drive property to review at their Aug. 30 meeting.

Voters at the June 8 town meeting authorized them to sell the almost 40 acres of land on the east side of the road opposite The Cottages at China Lake. A group called People’s Park, led by Lindsey Harwath and others, promptly organized to raise money to buy the lot for a park.

At their Aug. 16 meeting, selectmen voted to contract with Lucas Adams, of Adams Realty, in China, to handle the sale. Town Manager Becky Hapgood signed the contract last week, and Adams attended the Aug. 30 meeting to discuss the two offers.

Confidentiality considerations prevented Adams and the selectmen from sharing all details with the audience. Adams said one bid was $10,000 from a group planning a park; the other was $80,000 from someone whose tentative plan is to split the lot and sell part of it to the People’s Park organization.

Earlier, Adams had valued the land at between $80,000 and $100,000, and selectmen had settled on $90,000 as their base price. Adams said he had had other inquiries, but so far no other offers, he thinks because much of the lot is wetland.

After discussion, selectmen voted 4-1 to authorize Hapgood to make a counter-offer to the higher bidder, negotiate with him, her or them and sign relevant documents.

Selectman Janet Preston, a supporter of the park plan, voted no. Her earlier motion to accept the lower bid was not seconded.

On another issue, China’s Broadband Committee (CBC) had asked selectmen to put a question on the Nov. 2 local ballot asking voters to authorize a bond issue to build new internet infrastructure in town. By Aug. 30, the CBC’s question had been rewritten by an attorney – not town attorney Amanda Meader, Hapgood said, but a “bondwriting specialist” Meader had consulted.

Selectman Wayne Chadwick did not like the result. It sounded to him, he said, as though if voters approved the article, selectmen would have no choice but to issue the bond and go ahead with construction.

CBC members have repeatedly said that if too few residents sign up for the proposed new service the expanded infrastructure will provide, or if the grants expected to cover some of the cost do not materialize, the project will be canceled and the bond will not be needed.

Despite the evening hour, Hapgood tried to reach Meader, without success. Since the Nov. 2 ballot must be final by Sept. 3 – the day nomination papers for local elective office are due – selectmen agreed to a short special meeting at 4 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 2, expecting a clarification before then.

Hapgood said none of the ordinance amendments China Planning Board members have discussed for months will be on the Nov. 2 ballot, because she has been unable to get final copies in time.

Jeanette Smith, Chairman of the Thurston Park Committee, attended the meeting to explain why committee members want to contract with Scott Childs to do $23,350 worth of work in the park, without seeking other bids. Childs heads SD Childs and Sons Excavation, Inc., of Palermo.

Last year, she said, Childs worked on two main trails in the town-owned park in northeastern China. Heavy rains in the fall showed that ditching some sections and installing a culvert are needed, to avoid dealing with repeated damage.

Childs gave them the estimate, which includes other projects, last fall. Committee members intend to use part of the $35,000 allocated from China’s Tax Increment Financing (TIF) fund to pay him.

Meanwhile, they were told they should get at least three estimates. Committee member Steve Nelson has found no other contractor with the time or inclination to bid on the project.

Smith asked selectmen’s approval to go ahead with Childs as planned. Despite general belief in the value of multiple estimates, they approved in this case; Chadwick pointed out that this year is unusual. The vote was 4-1, with Blane Casey opposed.

Chairman Ronald Breton added that since China apparently has no policy saying when proposed expenditures are to be bid out, the board should develop one.

In other business, selectmen made committee appointments as follows:

— Cemetery Committee, Elizabeth Curtis and Jean Dempster; and
— Building Committee, for the planned addition of a storage room on the town office, Ashley Farrington, Debra Fischer, Tiffany Glidden, Sheldon Goodine, Jaime Hanson and Scott Pierz.

After the special Sept. 2 meeting, the next regular China selectmen’s meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 13.

LakeSmart designation awarded to two China Lake residents

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Bob O’Connor

LakeSmart Award to Bob O’Connor

In 1967 Bob’s father bought five parcels of property on the Lakeview side of China Lake. One of the lots is where Bob now calls home. The original camp was converted to a year around home in 1980. Bob eventually moved his family to the home full time in 1987.

You may know Bob because he has lived in China for a long time. Or, you may know him because since 1990, he has been the coordinator of the China Lake loon count, which is done on the third Saturday of July at the early hour of 7 a.m., rain or shine every year. Volunteers are assigned specific areas of the lake to ensure we count each adult and chick they see. This information is gathered on most lakes in Maine at this very early hour to help monitor the loon population in our state. Because of the initiative, people pay better attention to our loons.

We learned to stay 200 feet away from them. We keep a “no wake” speed within 200 feet of the shore because we don’t want to flood their nests and wash away the eggs! And every fisherman knows that using Leadfree tackle and properly disposing of monofilament lines protects the life of our loons.

What stands out at Bob’s lovely lakefront property is that he seldom mows. He prefers to see the native vegetation which includes flowering plants that attract the pollenating bees. He likes the natural setting. Bob mentioned that the wild plants have deep roots. I would say he is right on.

If you would be interested in having a China LakeSmart volunteer visit your lakefront property to see if you can help protect the lake, please email us at ChinaLakeSmart@gmail.com. Hope to hear from you!

Cynthia Hart

LakeSmart Award earned by Cynthia Hart

The China Lake Association’s LakeSmart Program recently awarded Cynthia Hart the LakeSmart Award. Her family has owned this lake front property for many years. It consists of a narrow strip of undeveloped land that has a very lake protective natural berm in front of the shoreline. The land slopes towards the lake. The land above the berm consists of undisturbed duff, young and mature trees, and native shrubs.

When we experience heavy rains, the mature trees create a canopy to shield the land from the damaging impact of fast traveling rain. A canopy will reduce soil erosion. Soil has the potential to send phosphorous and pollutants towards the lake. Phosphorus feeds algae and that can cause our lake to turn green.

With the natural berm and strong effective buffers, Cynthia Hart earns the China LakeSmart Award.

Maybe your property is already LakeSmart. Please contact us for a visit and we can find out if you too, can post a LakeSmart Award on your property. People are observational learners. Being a role model helps others to understand what they can do to protect our Lake. We can be reached at ChinaLakeSmart@gmail.com.

China budget committee urges “no” vote on broadband expansion

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by Mary Grow

China Budget Committee members recommend voters not approve the bond issue for broadband expansion on the Nov. 2 local ballot.

At the Aug. 23 committee meeting, members talked with representatives of the China Broadband Committee (CBC) before deciding to disagree with them.

The vote on a motion to add a “No” recommendation under the ballot question was 4-1, Chairman Robert Batteese announced. He, Tim Basham, Kevin Maroon and Tom Rumpf voted to recommend against the bond issue. Trishea Story dissented.

The committee majority’s main argument was that CBC members are getting too far ahead; they should wait until amounts and allowed uses of pending federal and state funds have been made clear.

One budget committee member added that the option of collaborating with other towns should be explored. Another objected on principle to town government rather than private enterprise providing broadband service.

CBC members advocate the bond issue, currently estimated at around $5.6 million, to cover most of the cost of building new broadband infrastructure town-wide. They anticipate grants will cover about 15 percent.

Having bond money would put China in an advantageous position for getting grants, because the usually-required matching funds would be available, CBC member Tod Detre said.

CBC member Jamie Pitney said there had been informal discussions about regional cooperation.

The problem with waiting for a private company to offer improved service is that China is too small to attract investors, Detre said. Pitney said CBC members have talked with Spectrum, the company currently providing internet service to about 70 percent of residents, and found no interest in upgrading and expanding. Meanwhile, Detre said, some residents have no internet access at all, and others have limited service.

When the CBC asked for proposals for broadband service at the beginning of the year, there were three responses, including Spectrum’s expensive and inadequate offer, Pitney said. Since then, CBC members have chosen to work with Axiom Technologies to provide a town-owned, Axiom-operated and maintained system funded by user fees, not tax dollars.

Story said better service is essential as needs increase, for example for education, and to attract new businesses to town. Axiom’s proposed monthly $55 fee for the lowest service tier is significantly less than she pays now, she said.

Pitney and Detre pointed out that authorizing the selectmen to apply for the bond does not mean they must do so. If too few residents sign up for the new service to provide needed income, or if grants are not awarded, selectmen need not act on the authorization.

At the Aug. 16 China selectmen’s meeting, Selectboard members decided their recommendation on the ballot question will be “Leave to the people” or similar wording, meaning that as a board they recommend neither for nor against the bond issue.

Interviews with China Lake Association leadership; Goal is to educate, re-engage membership

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New China Lake Association president Stephen Greene, left, and newly-appointed executive director of the China Region Lakes Alliance, Scott Pierz, during a recent interview. (photo by Jeanne Marquis)

by Jeanne Marquis

The China Lake Association (CLA) elected a new president, Stephen Greene, which established Scott Pierz as the president emeritus for his seven-year service. Scott Pierz will remain active with the CLA, aid in the leadership transition while his passion for lake management will be shared to a greater area as the Executive Director of the China Region Lakes Alliance (CRLA).

In an in-depth interview, we discovered what this shift will mean in terms of strengthening the stewardship of our natural local water resources, their visions for the future and the differences in their leadership styles.

What in their backgrounds has prepared them for these roles?

Scott Pierz grew up in Connecticut and graduated from the University of Maine at Orono with multiple degrees in philosophy, psychology and teaching. After teaching early in his career, he took a job with the State of Maine as one of the first program monitors of fuel assistance in the late seventies and eighties. In the mid-’80s, Pierz was the City of Gardiner’s codes enforcement officer and later that decade became Oakland’s first codes enforcement officer. After leaving that position, he became a planner with what is now the Kennebec Valley Council of Governments (KVCOG). In this position, Pierz wrote comprehensive plans and grants. One of these grants, a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) for the Town of Norridgewock gave him a job as the CDBG Director of this multi-phase project. In 1995, Pierz became the codes enforcement officer of China, serving for 19 years, where he saw first hand the direct connection between building codes and lake quality.

Pierz explained this connection, “Essentially, the knowledge I gained through my codes enforcement career with various communities, along with planning and grant writing experience, have formed the foundation of my education about municipal land use and lake ecology.”

Stephen Greene’s career has also extensively prepared him for the role as CLA president. Greene is a 1973 graduate of the University of Maine at Orono (UMO). Prior to continuing on to law school, he worked industrial construction jobs in Portland, Maine. In 1979, he graduated from the New York Law School and was admitted to the New Jersey Bar. For the next four years, Greene served as an assistant prosecutor for the Hudson County (NJ) Prosecutor’s Office and tried over 20 jury criminal cases during his tenure.

Greene was an associate attorney with Ravin, Sarasohn, Cook, Baum­garten & Fisch , Roseland, New Jersey, during 1983 to 1990 and an associate attorney with Schwartz, Tobia & Stanziale, Montclair, New Jersey, from 1990 to 1993. At these firms, he conducted civil business litigation, including some bench trials and appellate work.

After 1993 until his 2018 retirement, Greene served as Vice President and General Counsel with G&W Laboratories, Inc., South Plainfield, New Jersey, a pharmaceutical manufacturing firm.There he was responsible for all legal matters involving the company, such as FDA, mergers and acquisitions, corporate compliance, and litigation. During his tenure at G&W, he volunteered for and performed pro bono legal work for non-profit organizations under the auspices of the Pro Bono Partnership.

Green mentioned two lessons he learned in his career that he will apply in his new role as CLA president. The first is to always rely on the facts to determine a sound decision. The second lesson is to find the common ground between people’s positions.
How did Pierz and Greene develop their connections to China Lake?

Pierz has lived on China Lake since 1981. Through his 40 years of watching sunsets over the lake and hearing the calls of the loons, he feels a deep connection to the lake. He saw through his work how the lake is the heartbeat of the surrounding area and what happens within the 26 square mile watershed area surrounding the lake impacts the water quality.

Greene also has a long relationship with China Lake. He first visited the lake with his wife, Margo Rancourt Greene, who he met at the University of Maine at Orono as students. China Lake had been an integral part of her family’s life and that continued as Stephen and Margo Greene raised their own children. In 2010, the Greene’s converted their camp into a year-round residence to get more enjoyment from the lake and, now in retirement, spend the majority of the year there.

Greene explains how his passion for the lake turned into concern, “My wife and I remember very well the purity of the China Lake in the 1970s, as well as the heartbreaking changes over the next two decades. We couldn’t abandon China Lake with our deep roots here, and decided we would do something to make a difference. We joined CLA many years ago and got involved. Margo with LakeSmart and me now with the CLA board and presidency. I have been absorbing information from friends in the community, scouring regional news sources and local journalism, including The Town Line, as well as listening to non-profit groups with similar missions as the China Lake Association.”

What does Scott Pierz’s move to the China Region Lakes Alliance as their Executive Director mean to China Lake?

Pierz told us, “ My father instilled in me a nature to participate and give time, to dedicate time, to my community and that’s a community with a capital “C.” That still drives me. I’ve got more to give. There’s more to do. So that’s why I’m making the move to the China Region Lakes Alliance to continue the core programs that have been offered not only to China, but to expand them within the region, and that’s my goal.”

The CLA and CRLA will continue their strong relationship. As the executive director, Pierz will expand the core programs to serve the regional lakes – Webber Pond and Three Mile Pond – that connect with China Lake. These programs are LakeSmart, Courtesy Boat Inspection Program (CBI), Youth Conservation Corps (YCC), and the Gravel Road Rehabilitation Program (GRRP). The strategy behind this organizational shift is that China Lake will be better protected when the surrounding bodies of water are also protected.

What does Stephen Greene see as the future and the greatest challenges ahead for the CLA?

Green responded, “The CLA has been and continues to be a vibrant, effective and constant organizing voice for China Lake protection and restoration. The campaigns it conducts and programs it supports for environmental education, science-based research, watershed surveys, YCC, LakeSmart, boat inspectIons and gravel road restoration have been instrumental in reducing and slowing the phosphorus load to the lake. … As was pointed out in our recent annual meeting, the greatest threat may be the epic task of solving the lakebed phosphorus load.”

Green sees his initial calls to action are to educate, re-engage the membership, and recruit the younger generation to get involved to preserve the lake for future generations. “We owe it to our children to do all we can to secure that destiny.”

Prize Vegetable Contest & Children’s Best-Decorated Fruit or Vegetable Award

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Branch Mills Grange #336. (photo courtesy of the Kennebec Journal)

The Branch Mills Grange (20 Branch Mills Road) is hosting two agricultural contests during the Palermo VFD’s picnic, a Prize Vegetable Award and Children’s Best-Decorated Fruit or Vegetable Award, each with cash prizes! Children aged one through 12 are welcome to decorate a fruit or vegetable in their favorite style – they want entries with flair (googly eyes welcome).

Registration is on Friday, August 20, and Saturday, August 21, from 3 – 6 p.m., at the Grange. Prizes will be awarded on Sunday, August 22, during the Palermo Volunteer Fire Department fundraiser.

Pauleys celebrate 65th anniversary

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Don and Christa Paula celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary on August 19, 2021. This photo was taken on their 50th anniversary near Mt. Blanc, in Switzerland.

Don and Christa Pauley, of South China, are celebrating their 65th wedding anniversary on August 19, 2021. They were married in Raymond on August 19, 1956, and moved to South China in 1958 after Don’s active duty in the U.S. Army. They bought their home on China Lake in 1960. Don served on all town boards over a span of 20 years with the exception of the planning board. He is the last of the original three-man board of selectmen.

Christa was gifted with a powerful lyric soprano voice and gave of her talent to so many weddings, funerals and the great adult variety shows for Erskine Academy in the 1960s through the 1980s. Don was her accompanist and gave of his time to accompany the Erskine Academy Chic-a-Laca student shows and the adult Boosters of Erskine Academy (BEA Club) variety shows during those same years. Don retired from Brown and Pauley Fluid Power Engineering Company that he and his good friend, Bill Brown, founded when he retired in 1999 at age 65.

2021 Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) at work

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Members of the 2021 Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) work on a China LakeSmart project. From left to right, Beck Jorgensen, YCC Director Sage Hapgood-Belanger, and Ryan Tyler. The YCC and China LakeSmart are operated by the China Region Lakes Alliance (CRLA) and CRLA Executive Director Scott Pierz. (photo by Rebecca Hapgood; text by Scott Pierz)

China planners review documents submitted to selectmen

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by Mary Grow

China Planning Board members used their Aug. 10 meeting for final reviews of documents they submitted to China selectmen ahead of the Aug. 16 selectboard meeting.

Both are proposed ordinance changes that need voter approval: an amendment to the shoreland zoning section of the town Land Use Ordinance to bring China regulations into conformity with state rules; and the Solar Energy Systems Ordinance, a new section of the Land Use Ordinance to guide planning board members as they review future applications for new solar developments, individual and commercial.

Planning board members hope selectmen will put the proposed ordinance changes on the Nov. 2 local ballot for voters’ action.
However, by the time selectmen got to the request, two hours into their Aug. 16 meeting, no one argued with Chairman Ronald Breton’s postponing it to the Aug. 30 selectmen’s meeting.

Codes Officer Jaime Hanson reported at the Aug. 10 planning board meeting that he continues to be very busy. In addition to reviewing permit applications, he is monitoring two properties that are not in compliance with town ordinances and four that are categorized as dangerous buildings.

The owner of one cluttered and rodent-infested property has made progress on cleaning it up – his “only positive response” to neighborhood complaints about such situations, Hanson commented.

Planning board members intend not to meet Tuesday, Aug. 24, unless Hanson gets an application or something else requires their attention. Without any immediate new business, their next regular meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 12.

China selectmen set tax rate at 14.40 mil

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by Mary Grow

China selectmen have set the tax rate for the current fiscal year, after a presentation by Tax Assessor William Van Tuinen at the Aug. 16 Selectboard meeting.

The new rate Van Tuinen recommended and selectmen approved is 14.40 mil, or $14.40 for each $1,000 of taxation. The rate for the year that ended June 30, 2021, was $14.90 per $1,000, selectmen said.

Van Tuinen warned property-owners not to expect lower bills, however. Tax bills depend on the value he has assigned to property multiplied by the tax rate; and because house prices have risen so dramatically, he increased building valuations by 16 percent.

He used building values for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2020. Since house prices have continued to rise, another upward revaluation is likely in a year.

Van Tuinen explained that by state law, an assessor needs to keep valuations close to market prices. If the difference gets too large, the state penalizes the town, by reducing various state financial contributions.

China is expected to spend more than $9.5 million in the current fiscal year, with more than half going to the school budget. By Van Tuinen’s figures, a little under $7.1 million will come from property taxes, the rest from other sources, including an anticipated $500,000 in state revenue sharing.

At the June 8 town meeting, voters approved a list of other revenue sources – revenue sharing was then estimated at $335,000. They also set tax due dates: the first half payment is due Thursday, Sept. 30. Town Manager Becky Hapgood expects bills will be mailed out before the end of August.

Selectmen followed up on another town meeting vote at their Aug. 16 meeting, the one authorizing them to sell the former subdivision on the east side of Lakeview Drive through a licensed real estate agent and to put the proceeds “in an assigned fund to reduce the mil rate in the fiscal year following the sale.”

After discussion, they voted unanimously that Lucas Adams of Adams Realty should handle the sale. Adams proposed a seven percent commission and, Hapgood said, he offered to work with Lindsey Harwath, head of the People’s Park organization seeking to raise funds to buy the land, and to reduce his commission if the group succeeded.

Adams valued the land at between $80,000 and $100,000. Selectmen split the difference and voted, again unanimously, to set $90,000 as a starting price.

Selectman Janet Preston asked whether the other board members had a goal for the property – did they favor the park (which she supports), or were they willing to see it become whatever a buyer wanted, even if the use did not benefit the town?

Sell it to the highest bidder, Selectman Wayne Chadwick said. He and fellow board member Blane Casey are dedicated to keeping taxes down; both reacted to the approved mil rate by commenting they need to budget more tightly this year.

Chadwick then made a third motion, to put the property on the market immediately while the market is up, rather than waiting to give the People’s Park group time to seek pledges and grants. That motion was approved on a split vote, with Chadwick, Casey and Irene Belanger in favor and Breton and Preston opposed.

Two other major items on the Aug. 16 agenda were proposed questions for the Nov. 2 local ballot.

Board members postponed action on the planning board’s requests and did not discuss the draft Solar Energy Systems Ordinance or the proposed shoreland zoning changes. (See related story, p. 8).

They debated the China Broadband Committee’s (CBC) request to ask voters to approve a bond issue for more than half an hour, discussing first whether to ask voters to weigh in at all and, after they agreed to that, whether there should be a Selectboard recommendation to approve or reject the article.

If the issue goes on the ballot, voters approve and selectmen borrow the money, currently anticipated to be $5.6 million, it would be used by Axiom Technologies to build new broadband infrastructure.

Chadwick was the only board member to vote against putting the bond issue on the Nov. 2 ballot. He thinks town government should not be in the telecommunications business.

Casey agreed with Chadwick, and Breton has strong reservations about the CBC’s plan. But both argued that after CBC members have worked so hard, they deserve a vote.

The selectmen’s recommendation on the article will be “Leave to the people,” or similar wording. Chadwick and Breton opposed that decision; Chadwick would have recommended not to approve the bond, and Breton thought selectmen should offer guidance.

“They [voters] didn’t elect us to dump it on them,” he said.

Less controversial agenda items included:

— Accepting the highest of seven bids for the old grader, $13,250 from Baker Machine, in South China;
— Reappointing Belanger as the town’s representative to the Kennebec Valley Council of Governments’ General Assembly, with Preston the alternate; and
— Renewing the license for Wildwood Pawn Inc., outside China Village.

Hapgood presented preliminary information she had collected on heat pumps for the town office and transfer station. Chadwick suggested other local venders she could contact.

The next regular China selectmen’s meeting will be Monday evening, Aug. 30.