EVENTS: Vassalboro Methodist Church to hold yard and plant sale

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A yard and plant sale will be held at the Vassalboro United Methodist Church, at 614 Main Street, on Saturday, June 7. Two antique church pews like the ones pictured here will be among the items for sale. (contributed photo)

The Vassalboro United Methodist Church (VUMC) is holding a “Yard and Plants Sale” on Saturday, June 7, 9 a.m. – 2 p.m., on the same day as the Vassalboro town-wide yard sales. Good quality items of all kinds will be available, including two church pews removed from the sanctuary earlier this year. The antique pews were moved in 1988 from the old East Vassalboro Methodist Church, on Bog Road, to the VUMC Methodist church, at 614 Main Street.

There will be indoor and outdoor/garden plants for sale as well as some gardening items and more! Donations of perennials and annuals for the plant sale would be appreciated, as would yard sale items except no clothing is needed. PLEASE do not drop off anything at the VUMC without pre-arranging by calling (207) 873-5564 or email info.vumc@gmail.com. Lunches including a grilled hot dog, chips and a drink will be available for as long as supplies last for a suggested donation of $5.

Guided tours of the church sanctuary will also be available, which holds many historic items from the 19th century North and East Vassalboro churches – including the pews in use and seven stained glass windows. This is also an opportunity to see the newly installed VUMC lift/elevator.

Follow this and other services and events on the Vassalboro United Methodist Church Facebook page.

Vassalboro planners approve one application for addition to cottage

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by Mary Grow

Vassalboro Planning Board members approved the only application on their agenda at a brief May 6 meeting.

Keith and Lise Marlowe had applied for an addition on the back of their cottage, at 148 Park Lane, in the Three Mile Pond shoreland zone. Architect Tobias Gabranski, from Bath, and builder David Tyrol, from Vassalboro, explained the plans.

The only other topic was a brief discussion of the junkyard on Riverside Drive (Route 201), in which the property is in violation of conditions past planning boards imposed.

The three board members present – acting chairman Paul Mitnik, Douglas Phillips and Marianne Stevens – found the application met ordinance requirements and unanimously approved the permit.

The only other topic was a brief discussion of the junkyard on Riverside Drive (Route 201), licensed and operated by Olin Charette and/or his son. Mitnik and Stevens pointed out ways in which the property is in violation of conditions past planning boards imposed.

The most serious violation, in Stevens’ opinion, is lack of adequate access for fire engines, which are supposed to be able to use either of two gates and to drive around the entire inside area.

Codes Officer Eric Currie intends to consult Fire Chief Walker Thompson and to review files on the Charette property.

The next regular Vassalboro Planning Board meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 3.

Vassalboro local election slated for June 10

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by Mary Grow

Vassalboro town clerk Cathy Coyne reports the following candidates for elective office have qualified for the June 10 local ballot.

For one three-year position on the select board, incumbent Frederick “Rick” Denico, Jr.

For two three-year positions on the school board, incumbents Jessica Clark and Amy French.

For a one-year term on the Sanitary District board of trustees, Ericka Roy.

For two two-year terms on the Sanitary District board of trustees, Lisa Miller and Donna Daviau.

Vassalboro local elections will be held Tuesday, June 10, with polls open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., in the town office building, at 682 Main Street, between East and North Vassalboro.

Vassalboro cemetery committee continues talks on trees

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by Mary Grow

Four members of the Vassalboro Cemetery Committee met April 28, mostly to continue discussion of who’s in charge of tree removal in cemeteries. In the audience were Holly Weidner, chairman of the conservation commission; Frederick “Rick” Denico, Jr., chairman of the select board; and, until he had to leave for another engagement, Town Manager Aaron Miller.

Since last fall, the cemetery committee and the conservation commission have been discussing which body has jurisdiction over trees growing in Vassalboro’s 27 (at least) cemeteries.

The five-page draft document Miller prepared traces the debate to March 2024, when, he wrote, a crew cutting trees in the Methodist cemetery on Bog Road,in East Vassalboro, at the cemetery committee’s direction, unknowingly cut a tree planted under the Project Canopy program.

Weidner said the tree was actually just outside the cemetery; Project Canopy trees are required to be on public land, like the road right-of-way. Because it was cut, she said, the conservation commission did not apply for a 2025 project canopy grant, being unable to certify the town had taken good care of earlier trees.

Cemetery committee member David Jenney recognized, and regretted, the need to “cut a lot of handsome trees” in order to “protect monuments honoring the dead”; although, he added, the trees will eventually die anyway. Denico pointed out that even a healthy tree can be blown over in a windstorm.

Miller said his document, titled Trees and Stones: A Balancing Act in Vassalboro Cemeteries, was intended not as an ordinance or even a policy sheet, but as a summary with recommendations, to guide future decisions. It begins with a description of the problem and a reference to other Maine towns’ experiences; discusses funding, perpetual care and town obligations under state law; summarizes local responsibilities; and ends with a list of recommendations.

Cemetery committee chairman Savannah Clark had added comments to the draft. Committee members made additional changes before approving it for reference to the select board.

This year’s cemetery work, including cutting trees, is scheduled to be in Vassalboro’s Nelson and Farwell-Brown cemeteries. Clark said an arborist examined trees in both and marked those to be removed.

Miller, Denico and Clark agreed that the town does enough to inform residents of planned cutting, by having the selected trees marked and by advertising meetings at which cemetery maintenance is discussed. Most Vassalboro public meetings are also broadcast and recorded.

In response to the concern about Project Canopy trees, Weidner said the conservation commission is compiling a list and map that will show everyone where they are.

Three other issues were mentioned.

— Miller said Public Works Director Brian Lajoie is consulting with state labor department personnel about getting public works employees trained to work from a bucket truck, so the town won’t have to hire someone with a boom truck.
— The manager said he is looking into insurance for the town volunteers who repair cemetery stones; he hopes to have coverage by June.
— Committee members discussed what, if anything, state law or regulations say about how deep cremains need to be buried in a cemetery.

The next Vassalboro cemetery committee meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday, May 19.

Vassalboro select board updated on first responders grant money

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by Mary Grow

Dan Mayotte, co-founder and director of Vassalboro’s First Responder unit, updated select board members on grant funds at their May 1 meeting.

Mayotte said after the Vassalboro unit was upgraded to advanced EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) status last year, part of a $17,500 state grant was used to send assistant director Josi Haskell and member Matt Olsson to advanced training school, where both earned high honors.

More money than expected is left over. Mayotte asked for and received select board approval to spend it on two more projects:

— Since the annual Maine First Responders conference has been discontinued, sending six interested members to a three-day conference in Connecticut; and
— Temporarily increasing stipends for volunteers who respond to emergency calls, a use recommended by the state grant administrator with whom Mayotte consulted.

Mayotte said he hopes to receive a larger grant later this year that he and members plan to use to duplicate the rescue unit’s advanced life support equipment. Currently, this equipment is housed at the Riverside fire station; another set at the North Vassalboro station would reduce response time.

Select board members endorsed the idea.

Board members finished two items of continuing business.

Town Manager Aaron Miller shared the latest copy of Trees and Stones: A Balancing Act in Vassalboro Cemeteries. Select board chairman Frederick “Rick” Denico, Jr., summarized the April 28 cemetery committee meeting he attended, during which the document was discussed and changes suggested (see related story).

Board members approved the document, labeling it a mission statement for the cemetery committee, and thanked committee chairman Savannah Clark for her work. Miller plans to post Trees and Stones on the town website, which has a category called “Cemeteries” listed on the main page.

The manager presented the ninth draft of the warrant for the annual town meeting June 2 and June 10, with the school board’s revised budget articles. Select board members accepted it.

Elizabeth McMahon attended the meeting to talk about the Vassalboro Public Library’s 2025-26 budget request. Library officials had requested a $3,000 increase, but both the select board and the budget committee recommend continued funding at last year’s $71,000 level.

McMahon said library officials were disappointed, but understanding. She warned that cuts in federal funding for the state library will affect local libraries; Vassalboro might have to start charging for services like interlibrary loan that are now free.

Miller said a 12-year-old home-schooler who visited his office recently was “a pretty passionate supporter” of the library’s programs.

Miller and board members reviewed a multi-page 2024-25 financial report showing where Vassalboro stands. The manager expects no major cost overruns at the June 30 end of the fiscal year.

The next regular Vassalboro Select Board meeting is scheduled for Thursday evening, May 15.

Vassalboro Cemetery Committee: Who’s in charge of trees?

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by Mary Grow

Four members of the Vassalboro Cemetery Committee met April 28, mostly to continue discussion of who’s in charge of tree removal in cemeteries. In the audience were Holly Weidner, chairman of the conservation commission; Frederick “Rick” Denico, Jr., chairman of the select board; and, until he had to leave for another engagement, Town Manager Aaron Miller.

Since last fall, the cemetery committee and the conservation commission have been discussing which body has jurisdiction over trees growing in Vassalboro’s 27 (or more) cemeteries.

The five-page draft document Miller prepared traces the debate to March 2024, when, he wrote, a crew cutting trees in the Methodist cemetery, on Bog Road, in East Vassalboro, at the cemetery’s committee direction, unknowingly cut a tree planted under the Project Canopy program.

Weidner said the tree was actually just outside the cemetery; Project Canopy trees are required to be on public land, like the road right-of-way. Because it was cut, she said, the conservation commission did not apply for a 2025 project canopy grant, being unable to certify the town had taken good care of earlier trees.

Cemetery committee member David Jenney recognized, and regretted, the need to “cut a lot of handsome trees” in order to “protect monuments honoring the dead”; although, he added, the trees will eventually die anyway. Denico pointed out that even a healthy tree can be blown over in a windstorm.

Miller said his document was intended not as an ordinance or even a policy sheet, but as a summary with recommendations, to guide future decisions. Titled “Trees and Stones: A Balancing Act in Vassalboro Cemeteries,” it begins with a summary of the issue and a reference to other Maine towns’ experience; discusses funding, perpetual care and town obligations under state law; summarizes local responsibilities; and ends with a list of recommendations.

Since last fall, the cemetery committee and the conservation commission have been discussing which body has jurisdiction over trees.

Cemetery committee chairman Savannah Clark had added comments to the draft. Committee members made additional changes before approving it for reference to the select board for review.

This year’s cemetery work, including cutting trees, is scheduled to be in Vassalboro’s Nelson and Farwell-Brown cemeteries. Clark said an arborist examined trees in both and marked those to be removed.

Miller, Denico and Clark agreed that the town does enough to inform residents of planned cutting, by having the selected trees marked and by advertising meetings at which cemetery maintenance is discussed. Most Vassalboro public meetings are also broadcast and recorded.

In response to the concern about Project Canopy trees, Weidner said the conservation commission is compiling a list and map that will show everyone where they are.

Three other issues were mentioned.

— Miller said Public Works Director Brian Lajoie is consulting with state labor department personnel about getting public works employees trained to work from bucket trucks, so that Vassalboro can save the cost of renting a bucket truck.
— The manager said he is looking into insurance for the local volunteers who repair cemetery stones; he hopes to have something in place by June.
— Committee members discussed what, if anything, state law or regulations say about how deep cremains need to be buried in a cemetery.

The next Vassalboro cemetery committee meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday, May 19.

Vassalboro select board reviews draft warrant at special meeting

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by Mary Grow

Vassalboro select board members held an hour-long special meeting April 24 to review the draft warrant for the June 2 and 10 annual town meeting.

The warrant was still in draft primarily because the school budget was not final. Superintendent Alan Pfeiffer said school board members held a brief special meeting April 22 and accepted the $75,000 budget cut recommended by the budget committee.

The figures for each school article resulting from that decision should be available by April 28, Town Manager Aaron Miller said. The next regular select board meeting is scheduled for May 1.

At the April 24 meeting, select board members discussed changing some articles, without final decisions. They deleted an article on amendments to the solid waste ordinance as unnecessary: no amendments are being proposed.

The budget that select board and budget committee members have debated for months – the municipal budget was in draft number 12 as of April 24 – recommends increased funding over the current year. School and municipal budgets and the Kennebec County budget have all gone up.

Board and committee members want to minimize the inevitable tax increase. But, as select board chair Frederick “Rick” Denico, Jr., has said repeatedly, controlling taxes last year made this year’s problem harder; and limiting this year’s tax increase would make next year’s problem harder still.

Most board and committee members believe their decisions have reduced proposed expenditures to the minimum needed to meet obligations.

Non-property-tax income comes from local and state sources (like local excise taxes and permit fees, state revenue sharing and road assistance); the town’s undesignated fund balance (once known as surplus); and borrowing.

The 2025-26 budget includes estimated local and state income. Denico has pointed out that estimates are less certain this year because of federal budget unpredictability.

Vassalboro’s undesignated fund balance is already low, according to resident John Melrose’s April 3 presentation to the select board (see the April 10 issue of The Town Line, p. 3). The town has not borrowed to cover expenses in years; current select board members prefer to continue the tradition.

Final decisions on 2025-26 funding, and other issues, will be made by town meeting voters. The open meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. Monday, June 2, in the Vassalboro Community School gymnasium. Written-ballot voting to confirm the June 2 school budget decision and elect municipal officials will follow on Tuesday, June 10, at the town office, with polls open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

VCS counselors have more than enough work, Part 1

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Jamie Routhier and Gina Davis.

Part 1

by Mary Grow

Why, several people have asked recently, does Vassalboro Community School (VCS) have not one, but two, school counselors?

The answer offered by counselors Jamie Routhier and Gina Davis is that there is more than enough work for both of them.

VCS has about 420 students – the number varies slightly as families move out of and into town – in grades from pre-kindergarten through eight. Davis is responsible for grades pre-k through three, Routhier for grades four through eight.

Their responsibilities fall roughly into two categories. One is work they do directly with students and staff. Their main focus is on students who are at risk, academically or socially or both, but who do not need special education services. They also work with special education students.

Both women have years of teaching experience (41 between them, Routhier said), and they still teach classes. They also meet with small groups and individuals and are involved in crisis management.

Confidentiality rules prevent school staff from discussing crises publicly. They vary from unhappiness and personal distress to disturbances and disruptions to, occasionally, life-or-death situations.

The second category of work Routhier and Davis do is importing and overseeing outside organizations and activities that benefit students. Subjects are as varied as an on-line safety program in collaboration with the Maine State Police; a mentoring program with Colby College students; and providing students and their families with food (FoodBag) and personal and household items (the Cares Closet).

Both types of work involve time-consuming record-keeping and report-writing. The goal of all they do, Routhier summarized, is to make it possible for students to be successful in the classroom setting. This goal involves not just academics, but also dealing with personal and family issues that interfere with a student’s ability to focus on schoolwork.

During the spring term, Routhier also functions as the traditional school guidance counselor, helping eighth-graders decide what high school to attend. Vassalboro has no town high school and offers school choice.

As of the spring of 2025, Davis is teaching 14 classes a week for pre-kindergarten through third grade students. A typical class runs 30 minutes; class size varies from 13 to 18 students.

Routhier teaches 13 classes a week for students in grades four through eight. Hers are usually 40 minutes; her smallest class has 15 students, the largest 23.

Each counselor’s schedule includes two daily classroom lessons that are called SEAL class. SEAL, Routhier explained, stands for Social Emotional Academic Learning.

In a presentation to the school board in December 2024, Davis and Routhier explained that SEAL is a national program designed to help students understand and control emotions, focus attention, learn problem-solving skills and develop empathy.One part of SEAL includes “Skills for Learning, Empathy, Emotion Management, Problem Solving, Community, Perspective.” The other “creates long-term impact by teaching about the emotional center of the brain.”

Both counselors sometimes work with special education students and therefore are involved in IEP (Individualized Education Program) and 504 program meetings. These two types of plans are mandated by federal law. A 504 program is for a student who needs accommodation to access educational facilities; an IEP is developed to meet a student’s unique learning needs.

Counselors and teachers have the legal and ethical responsibility to report to the state Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) whenever they see something that concerns them about a student. Routhier said because teachers are less familiar with the reporting process, they often ask one of the counselors for help.

Each report requires detailed information; has to be done the same day as the observation that inspired it; and leads to additional communication with DHHS personnel and follow-up with appropriate other school personnel and with the student’s family.

“Rarely is there a time when one or both of us are not involved in multiple DHHS cases at a time, all year long,” Routhier said.

Davis and Routhier also provide training sessions for teachers and educational technicians at VCS. And they talk with students’ families, answering questions about the school in general and the family’s student or students specifically.

Annually from December through the following May, Routhier helps VCS eighth-graders plan their next four years. This piece of her work “could truly be considered an additional part-time job,” she said, because it is so complicated and time-consuming.

Choices available to VCS students include, but are not limited to, Winslow and Waterville high schools in those municipalities, Cony High School, in Augusta, and Messalonskee High School, in Oakland; Erskine Academy, in South China; Maine Arts Academy, in Augusta; and Maine School of Science and Mathematics, in Limestone.

Starting in January, Routhier organizes presentations at VCS and students’ visits to nearby schools. Then she helps each student enroll in the school he or she has chosen, including advising on course choices, based on each student’s strengths and interests.

Enrollment is supposed to be complete by April 1. In practice, not every student is set by then, so Routhier’s work continues well into May.

What a list of counselors’ responsibilities does not show is how often Davis and Routhier are interrupted by student crises and by urgent requests from colleagues and parents. As Davis put it, a demanding part of her job is balancing daily classroom lessons with responses to individual student behavioral needs.

Next week: major activities that counselors Routhier and Davis coordinate with out-of-school groups.

Vassalboro select board has not been asked to sell transfer station

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by Mary Grow

Vassalboro select board members have not been asked to sell the town transfer station, merely to consider sharing a small part of it.

The suggestion from the board’s April 3 meeting that Municipal Wastehub might want to buy or lease the transfer station was changed at the April 17 meeting, when Mike Carroll, head of the Hampden disposal/recycling facility, spoke with board members.

Carroll explained the hub-and-spoke system he’d like to organize among member towns to increase efficiency and save them money.

Instead of each municipality individually having its different kinds of waste – Carroll mentioned tires and mattresses as examples – hauled directly to disposal sites, nearby towns would combine their collections in a trailer Wastehub provided at one transfer station. Full trailers would be taken to disposal sites.

In response to select board members’ concerns and questions, he said:

— Current local employees would stay. If questions arose about their benefits, they would be resolved, with the goal of keeping employees whole.
— A trailer would sit wherever the host town’s staff wanted it.
— Wastehub’s associated services would include analyzing traffic flow, finding resources and helping negotiate any necessary contracts.

“You don’t lose [your transfer station],” he said.

The project won’t start unless enough of Wastehub’s 115 member towns participate. Carroll gave no number for “enough.”

Meanwhile, he said, the Hampden facility, where he was hired in 2019 to start this sort of plan – before the venture folded in May 2020 – is reopening. It is run by a company called Resource Recovery, with Municipal Wastehub a 10 percent partner.

Plans are to sort municipal solid waste to extract many more recyclables, like soiled cardboard and plastic; feed the remaining “miscellaneous fiber” into an anaerobic digester that will produce natural gas; and use the “grit” residue for projects like covering landfills.

If the new facility becomes profitable, Carroll said, it might be able to reduce tipping fees, or give municipalities rebates, or since Wastehub’s members are 10 percent owners, offer profit-sharing.

In other business April 17, select board members reviewed bids for door openers for the new public works building and for 2025 paving, unanimously choosing the low bidder for each job.

Paving bids were shared with the Town of China, to get a lower price by providing more work. The low bidder was Hagar Enterprises, of Damariscotta, at $85.50 a ton for paving mix. Town Manager Aaron Miller said China and Windsor had used the company before, though Vassalboro had not.

Acceptance of the bid was conditional on the contract forbidding Hagar from sub-contracting out work. The condition was proposed by board member Chris French, who remembered a past subcontracting problem.

Board members reviewed a history of Vassalboro’s Boston Post Cane, prepared by the Vassalboro Historical Society and available on the society’s website, under the heading “Vassalboro’s Oldest Resident.” Current holder of the honor – in the form of a replica carved by resident Raymond Breton, not the original 1909 cane – is Mrs. T. Lois Bulger, born, the website says, April 24, 1922.

At their May 1 meeting, board members plan to consider candidates for Vassalboro’s 2025 Spirit of America award, recognizing community volunteers. Anyone wanting to nominate a candidate is invited to contact the town office or any select board member, Frederick Denico, Jr., Michael Poulin or Chris French.

Select board members appointed Michael Phelps to the Vassalboro Recreation Committee.

The April 17 meeting was preceded by a 35-minute executive session and included further discussion of the draft 2024-25 budget. It ended with French insisting the board schedule a special April 24 meeting to approve the warrant for the June 2 and June 10 town meeting, if by then the Vassalboro School Board has made its final budget recommendations.

Miller was sure that signing the warrant at the next regular meeting May 1 would suffice, but French persuaded him and the other two board members to add the conditional April 24 meeting to their schedules.

The school board scheduled a special budget meeting April 22, Superintendent Alan Pfeiffer reported later.

Vassalboro’s annual town meeting will be, as usual, in two parts. On Monday, June 2, interested voters will assemble at 6:30 p.m. in the Vassalboro Community School gymnasium to elect a moderator and discuss and act on 41 (as of April 17) articles, including the 2025-26 municipal and school budgets.

On Tuesday, June 10, polls will be open in the town office from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. for local elections. As of April 17, the draft warrant had two more June 10 articles, a request to amend the town’s solid waste ordinance and an affirmation or rejection of the school budget approved June 2.

VASSALBORO: Conservation commission looks at three different projects

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by Mary Grow

At their April 9 meeting, Vassalboro Conservation Commission members continued planning work at two town parks; talked about the pending three-lake watershed survey; and rediscussed the contentious subject of cemetery trees.

Chairman Holly Weidner added information on a record tree in town, a slippery elm measured in 2014 and listed as the largest in Maine on the Maine State Big Tree Registry. It is in the road right-of-way, near a house whose owner says the insurance company wants it cut.

Weidner said in January a Project Canopy inspector said the tree is healthy. She plans to talk with state highway officials who can see about getting it marked and advise the homeowner.

Commission members, with generous help from Vassalboro’s public works crew, plan significant improvements at Eagle Park, between Outlet Stream and Route 32 north of East Vassalboro Village, this spring.

Weidner and commission member Steve Jones met with public works director Brian Lajoie to discuss roofing the pavilion, improving the parking area and grounds and building a second jetty to allow more room to fish in the stream.

Commission members plan to buy three picnic tables, one adapted for use from a wheelchair, from Rob Lemire’s Maine Adirondack Chairs, on Holman Day Road. Lajoie and Lemire agree the chairs can be left in the pavilion over the winter without harm, Weidner said.

Commission members voted unanimously to ask Town Manager Aaron Miller to buy three tables, two regular and one wheelchair-accessible, using money from the Conservation Commission budget.

Commission member Paul Mitnik, formerly Vassalboro’s codes officer, suggested some of the work near the water might need planning board approval. John Reuthe recommended checking with current codes officer, Eric Currie.

The issue at Monument Park, in the south end of East Vassalboro near the China Lake boat landing and dam, is erosion control along the shoreline: where it is needed and on whose property and what kinds of plantings are appropriate.

After another discussion, commission members again defined their objectives as protecting water quality and preserving views of the lake (thus limiting placement of trees and tall shrubs) while avoiding excessive initial and maintenance costs.

They intend to cooperate with the Kennebec Water District on the shoreline KWD owns. Weidner will look into a grant to help put in $3,000 worth of plants Jones suggested at the Jan. 8 commission meeting. Jones will provide an estimated maintenance cost.

Mitnik reported on a planning meeting he attended on the watershed survey scheduled for May 15, 16 and 17 around Webber, Threemile and Threecornered ponds. (See Mary Schwanke’s article on the front page of the April 10 issue of The Town Line for more information.)

Commission members are still not sure about responsibility for trees in cemeteries, an issue they’ve been discussing indirectly with Vassalboro Cemetery Committee members since last fall. (See the March 20 issue of The Town Line, p. 8, and references therein).

They decided they should attend the next cemetery committee meeting and, after pre-town meeting budget work is finished, consider approaching the select board. The cemetery committee meeting was then scheduled for April 21; the town website calendar later said it is rescheduled to 6 p.m., Monday, April 28.

The next Vassalboro Conservation Commission meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 14.