VASSALBORO: Process begins for new town manager

/0 Comments/in , /by
by Mary Grow

Every time Vassalboro select board members talked about how much they have to do in January as they begin 2023 town meeting preparations, Town Manager Mary Sabins’ smile got broader.

Aaron Miller

Sabins is retiring at the end of the year, and early in their Dec. 8 meeting select board members had signed a contract with her successor, Aaron Miller, of Alna. Sabins said her to-do list for Miller is already several pages long; board members helped lengthen it.

Several Dec. 8 agenda items involved requests for money. Board members spent most time on reviewing requests for ARPA (federal funds granted under the American Rescue Plan Act) money, which will not come directly from local taxpayers.

Sabins shared a page-long list of requests from town departments, organizations and individual residents with ideas for improvements. The total came to more than $507,000, with no cost estimates attached to some items. Sabins said Vassalboro has about $226,000 available.

The preliminary review led to unanimous select board support for 15 requests, totaling about $125,000 (plus some costs not yet estimated). Miller will oversee the final round of decision-making.

Lauchlin Titus, chairman of the new committee reviewing capital needs at the former East Vassalboro schoolhouse that is now the home of the Vassalboro Historical Society, presented a report from Vassalboro engineer Clough Toppan, of Toppan Consulting Services.

Toppan’s recommendations included LED lights, additional insulation and caulking, a new, more efficient oil boiler and heat pumps. No firm prices were attached. Titus said the Melrose family had taken care of most of the lights, at no charge; he suggested caulking might become a Boy Scout community project.

The heat pumps generated most discussion. Select board members unanimously voted to authorize the town manager to find a “qualified partner” to meet the Efficiency Maine requirement to get state reimbursement for much of the cost of heat pump installation.

The “qualified partner,” Titus explained, is a contractor who makes recommendations on the number and type of heat pumps, applies to Efficiency Maine on the town’s behalf, and if funding is approved, installs the heat pumps. Finding such a person is likely to be Miller’s responsibility.

Yet another pending cost is a cover for the new hopper at the transfer station, so the trash will not be mixed with snow and ice. Board members unanimously authorized a search for a contractor to do the job; writing the Request for Proposals (RFP) will be another job for Miller.

In other business Dec. 8:

  • Select board members unanimously approved closing the transfer station at noon Saturday, Dec. 24, and all day Sunday, Dec. 25.
  • They tentatively scheduled the stakeholders’ meeting requested by the Webber Pond Association to discuss water quality for the evening of Jan. 25 or Jan. 26, 2023.
  • They unanimously appointed John Reuthe a member of the Vassalboro Conservation Commission.
  • They unanimously approved a staff holiday lunch at 12:15 p.m. Friday, Dec. 23.

By the time the Dec. 8 meeting ended, board members had one agenda item for their Dec. 22 meeting: Sabins said the annual review of marijuana business license will be that evening.

Vassalboro selects new town manager

/0 Comments/in , /by

Aaron Miller

The Vassalboro Select Board has announced that Aaron Miller has been selected as the new Vassalboro town manager following a nationwide search. Miller will succeed Mary Sabins who is retiring on January 2, 2023.

Miller, who lives in Alna, has worked as the administrative assistant to the Liver­more Select Board since 2020. He previously held the same position in Whitefield for six years. He has a bachelor of science degree in communications from Norwich University.

The select board will be acting on approving the contract with Miller at their meeting on Thursday, December 8, 2022. He will begin work on December 27.

The select board was assisted in the search by Don Gerrish and Cornell Knight, from Eaton Peabody Consulting Group.

Vassalboro planners have one application on agenda

/0 Comments/in , /by
by Mary Grow

Vassalboro Planning Board members have one application on their Dec. 6 agenda, before they continue discussion of adding a section regulating commercial solar developments to the town’s Site Review Ordinance.

Joseph O’Donnell has applied for a medical marijuana grow facility at 960 Main Street, in North Vassalboro. The business will be on the third floor of a building owned by Ed Marcoux, the agenda says; maps show it just north of the Olde Mill complex.

Because the planned facility will cover less than 1,000 square feet, it needs a local site review permit, but not a local marijuana business license.

The planning board meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 6, in the town office meeting room.

Cub Scouts present donation to Vassalboro legion

/0 Comments/in , /by

Pictured are front, Hunter Brown. Back, from left to right, Jim Kilbride, adjutant, Christopher Santiago, William Vincent, and Elliot Rafuse. (photo submitted by Chuck Mahaleris)

On November 21, the Webelos of Vassalboro Cub Scout Pack #410, on behalf of the entire pack, met with Jim Kilbride who is the Adjutant of American Legion Post #126, in Vassalboro. The Cubs delivered a donation of “Forever Grateful” notebooks and pens to be placed into the stockings provided to veterans at the Veterans Administration (VA) Hospital at Togus by the Legion Post.

Vassalboro Community School honor roll (Fall 2022)

/0 Comments/in , , /by

Vassalboro Community School (contributed photo)

High Honors

Third grade: Freya Caison, Camden Desmond, Olivia Hartford, Evelyn Meyer, Sawyer Plossay, Charlie Reynolds, Oliver Sugden, Alivia Twitchell, Mayla Wilson and Haley Witham.

Fourth grade: Hunter Brown, Kamdyn Couture, Molly Dearborn, Cooper Grant, Mikkah-Isabella Grant, Aria Lathrop, Simon Olson, Landon Quint, Willa Rafuse and Alexis Reed.

Fifth grade: Twila Cloutier, Samantha Craig, Mariah Estabrook, Leah Hyden, Lucian Kinrade, Sarina Lacroix, Isaac Leonard, Olivia Perry, Cassidy Rumba, Charles Stein, Lillian Whitmore and Cameron Willett.

Sixth grade: Samuel Bechard, Basil Dillaway, Fury Frappier, Zoe Gaffney, Savannah Judkins, Cheyenne Lizzotte, Agatha Meyer, Mackenzy Monroe, Weston Pappas, Grace Tobey and Ava Woods.

Seventh grade: Benjamin Allen, Drew Lindquist, Caleb Marden, Paige Perry and Judson Smith.

Eighth grade: Madison Burns, Henry Olson, Bryson Stratton and Mackullen Tolentino

Honors:

Third grade: Parker Bouchard, Parker Estabrook, Marley Field, Emma Freeman, Norah French, Henry Gray, Ember Irwin, Brayden Lang-Knights, Tucker Lizzotte, Finn Malloy, Gage Nason, Gabriella Reynolds, Preston Richmond, Raegin Rodgers, Trenten Theobald, Roman Wentworth, Sawyer Weston and Alivia Woods.

Fourth grade: Ryder Austin, Reese Chechowitz, Braiden Crommett, Ashton Derosby, Ashlynn Hamlin, Sophia-Lynn Howard, Tanner Hughes, Desmond Landreth, Olivia Lane, Brooklyn Leach, Landon Lindquist, Jackson Robichaud, Christopher Santiago, Asher Smith and Robert Wade.

Fifth grade: Kiara Apollo, Lukas Blais, Grace Clark, Xainte Cloutier, Wyatt Devoe, Riley Fletcher, Camden Foster, Dawson Frazer, Aubrey Goforth, Chanse Hartford, Aubrey Judkins, Landon Lagasse, Arianna Muzerolle, Jaxson Presti, Elliott Rafuse, Juliahna Rocque, Haven Trainor and Meadow Varney.

Sixth grade: Mason Brewer, Bryleigh Burns, Emily Clark, Ariyah Doyen, Allyson Gilman, Lillyana Krastev, Jack LaPierre, Kaitlyn Lavallee, Kaylee Moulton, Kassidy Proctor, Adrian Sousa and Autumn Whitmore.

Seventh grade: Dominick Bickford, Juliet Boivin, Gabriella Brundage, Zoey Demerchant, Jeffrey Feyler, Ryleigh French, Bentley Pooler, Trinity Pooler, Alana Wade and Reid Willett.

Eighth grade: Logan Chechowitz, Peyton Dowe, Xavier Foss, Bailey Goforth,Kylie Grant, Olivia Leonard, Jack Malcolm, Harley McEachern, JosslynOuellette, Noah Pooler and Grady Sounier.

Honorable Mention:

Third grade: Titus Caruthers, Layla Holt, Maksim Lacroix, Bryson McKay.

Fourth grade: Alexander Bailey, Maverick Brewer, Avery Hamlin, Kendall Karlsson, Keegan Robinson and Elliot Stratton.

Fifth grade: Aliyah Anthony, Zander Austin, Jayson Booker, Sophia Brazier, Kaylee Colfer, Brandon Fortin, Peter Giampietro, Jayden Leighton, Isaiah Smith and Eli St. Amand.

Sixth grade: Peyton Bishop, Kaleb Charlebois, Tess Foster, Keighton LeBlanc, Mia McLean, Elliot McQuarrie and Landen Theobald.

Seventh grade: Tristyn Brown, Cooper Lajoie, Mattea Strout and Hannah Tobey.

Eighth grade: Kayliana Allen, Emma Charleston, Owen Couture, Ryley Desmond, Eilah Dillaway, Wyatt Ellis, Madison Field, Caspar Hooper, Mason Lagasse, Alexis Mitton and Kaleb Tolentino.

Vassalboro town office hours adjusted for Nov. 30

/0 Comments/in , /by

The Vassalboro town office will be closed from 8 a.m. to noon on Wednesday, Nov. 30, so that office staff can meet with candidates for the position of town manager. The office will reopen at noon.

The Vassalboro select board will meet at 5 p.m. Nov. 30 in executive session to interview town manager candidates.

Vassalboro school board reviews draft lease agreement with daycare

/0 Comments/in , , /by

Vassalboro Community School (contributed photo)

by Mary Grow

At their Nov. 15 meeting, Vassalboro school board members reviewed a draft lease agreement with Jennifer Lizotte’s daycare, which has been operating at Vassalboro Community School (VCS) with mutual satisfaction.

Superintendent Alan Pfeiffer said he, assistant principal Tabitha Brewer and director of maintenance and grounds Shelley Phillips worked on the document with Lizotte. He did not expect a Nov. 15 vote, and board members postponed final action to their December meeting (which, Pfeiffer reported later, will be earlier in the month than usual, on Wednesday, Dec. 14).

Pfeiffer said the daycare is headquartered in the one available room and shares common spaces, like the gymnasium, cafeteria, playground and front lobby, with VCS students and activities getting priority.

School board chairman Jolene Gamage questioned how much extra the daycare costs in janitorial and other services, and whether its presence in the summer adds costs or complicates summer repairs and maintenance.

Phillips said when the daycare shared Winslow school buildings, they “pretty much took care of themselves.” Cleaning had to be done anyway, and Lizotte and her staff were accepting of suggestions and easy to work with.

VCS Principal Ira Michaud said his experience has been the same: Lizotte and her staff are “very good to work with.”

The draft contract includes a $25-per-day fee, to be confirmed or changed at the December meeting. Pfeiffer said both the daycare program and the school have appropriate insurance, and the contract has had legal review.

In its present form, the contract would run to June 30, 2024, with a review scheduled in May 2023 and the possibility of amendments based on 2022-23 experience.

The other topic discussed at length Nov. 15 was Michaud’s and curriculum director Carol Kiesman’s analysis of VCS students’ performance on the NWEA tests. The letters stand for Northwest Evaluation Association; NWEA is described on line as a research-based nonprofit organization that develops assessments of student performance.

NWEA tests are widely used, Michaud said, providing a large number of students with whom to compare local results. Kiesman summarized VCS results from spring and fall 2022: “We did improve from last year to this year, but we have a long way to go.”

Michaud and Pfeiffer said VCS teachers will use their classes’ results to help find strengths and weaknesses and refine teaching methods and materials. The next important round of NWEA tests is in the spring of 2023 – but, Michaud said, the Maine Department of Education intends to change the format, making comparisons with previous results difficult. He sees the spring 2023 tests as “starting a new baseline.”

The Nov. 15 meeting was the evening of the day that 10 Maine schools – Gardiner Area High School was the closest to Vassalboro – received calls claiming an active shooter was on campus. The calls were hoaxes.

Pfeiffer said he was promptly in touch with state police and later with the Kennebec County sheriff’s office and state education officials.

Most of the rest of Pfeiffer’s report dealt with pending maintenance issues – a possible grant to improve heating and ventilation, and repair or replacement of damaged curbing along parking lots and driveways. The curbing in the staff parking lot is still the original, put in in 1992, he commented.

Kiesman enthusiastically reported that VCS pre-kindergarten classes are “all good stuff, wonderful.” The October school newsletter, available on line at vcsvikings.org, reports that pre-k students spent part of the month learning about pumpkins, including a song and crafts projects.

Speaking for finance director Paula Pooler, Pfeiffer said the budget is running as planned and the school lunch program, which in past years has lost money, is “still in the black.”

As the superintendent recommended, board members approved higher wages for some categories of employees. They met in executive session after the Nov. 15 meeting and again on Nov. 21 to continue contract discussions.

Board members accepted the resignation of kindergarten teacher Miranda Kuesport.

The Vassalboro school board’s December meeting has been scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 14, to avoid a conflict with the Dec. 20 VCS band and chorus holiday concert.

Vassalboro select board told weather cause of poor lake water quality

/0 Comments/in , /by
by Mary Grow

Webber Pond Association President John Reuthe brought Vassalboro select board members information and recommendations on the lake’s water quality, at their Nov. 10 meeting.

The water quality this past summer was very poor, he said, back to where it was in the 1970s and 1980s, with algae blooms and toxins that were a threat to children and pets.

Vassalboro resident and Department of Maine Resources staffer Nate Gray expanded on Reuthe’s report. The main causes of the problems in Webber Pond, and Three Mile Pond, and to a lesser extent China Lake, were weather-related, he said.

All three lakes have high background phosphorus levels, due to years of accumulation from run-off from surrounding lawns, fields and roads. A warm, sunny summer encouraged algae, which depend on phosphorus, warmth and light to grow.

Several years of low rainfall, less snow and earlier ice-out extended the warm season. Hot summer days evaporated surface water, increasing the concentration of algae close to the surface. Surface water temperatures reached 88 degrees in Webber Pond and Three Mile Pond and 84 degrees in China Lake, Gray said.

Reuthe cited the economic importance of the pond and its alewife fishery. His list of recommended actions started with a meeting of stakeholders, which would include area lake association members and town and state officials.

He asked for money to buy more complex equipment to test water quality; more attention to codes enforcement around water bodies (though he recognized Vassalboro’s problem with frequent changes of codes officers); and a building atop the Webber Pond dam, which is owned by the association, to shelter the gate controls.

One topic that might be discussed at a stakeholders’ meeting is whether the town wants to continue to own the dam.

Select board chairman Barbara Redmond asked Gray how much money the town might need to improve the situation.

“Oh, they don’t print it fast enough,” Gray replied.

Specifically, he said, the easy-to-use monitoring equipment Reuthe recommended would probably cost about $2,000, and would provide useful information.

Select board members are minimizing new commitments until they finish the process of hiring a town manager to succeed Mary Sabins, who is retiring at the end of the year.

They therefore postponed any action. Redmond suggested the stakeholders’ meeting might be scheduled in January, before area towns begin developing 2023-24 budgets.

In a related matter, select board members unanimously extended the contract with Ronald C. Weeks, Sr., to harvest alewives at the Webber Pond outlet for another five years.

The second proposal presented at the Nov. 10 meeting, for a Vassalboro dog park, was also postponed, mostly to give proponent Vivian Flamm time to gather more information.

Flamm was representing a number of residents – and a few people from China, she added – who would like to see Vassalboro develop a dog park. Her idea is that the town would buy land, fence it, provide benches and do whatever other development is needed. Three possible sites had been suggested, she said.

She expects interested local people would help create the park and would show their appreciation for it by keeping it clean.

Board members and Sabins suggested approaching the Vassalboro Sanitary District trustees about a possible site; asking the City of Augusta for guidelines; preparing a cost estimate; and other preliminary actions Flamm’s group could take before returning to the select board and the new town manager.

In other business, Sabins reported she had a request to ask the state Department of Transportation to lower the Quaker Lane speed limit from 45 to 25 miles an hour. Board members unanimously agreed to forward the request.

They agreed by consensus to cancel their second November meeting. It would have fallen on Thanksgiving Day, was tentatively rescheduled two days earlier and, they decided, could be eliminated. Their next regular meeting will be Thursday, Dec. 8.

Vassalboro voters approve moratorium on solar development

/0 Comments/in , , /by
by Mary Grow

At the polls on Nov. 8, Vassalboro voters approved a moratorium on commercial solar development in the town, effective immediately.

Town Clerk Cathy Coyne said the vote was 1,343 in favor to 748 opposed. The moratorium prohibits the planning board or any other municipal board or official from taking action on a commercial solar application for at least 180 days; the select board has the discretion to extend it.

Purpose of the delay is to give planning board members time to develop new regulations for such developments and present them to voters for approval. Board members have started discussing regulations and hope to have a document ready for the annual town meeting in June 2023.

The only other local question in Vassalboro on Nov. 8 was election of a representative to the Kennebec Water District board of trustees. Incumbent Frank Richards, unopposed for re-election, received 1,920 votes.

In state and county voting, Coyne reported the following results from Vassalboro voters:

  • For Representative to Congress from District 1, incumbent Democrat Chellie Pingree, 1,000 votes; Republican challenger Edwin Thelander, 1,138 votes.
  • For governor of Maine, Independent Sam Hunkler, 39 votes; Republican Paul LePage, 1,187 votes; incumbent Democrat Janet Mills, 954 votes.
    or state senator from District #15, incumbent Republican Matthew Pouliot, 1,359 votes; Democrat Storme Jude St. Valle, 790 votes.
  • For state representative from District #61, incumbent Republican Richard Bradstreet, 1,318 votes; Democrat Amy Davidoff, 848 votes.
  • For Kennebec County register of deeds, Matthew James Boucher, 1,270 votes; incumbent C. Diane Wilson, 843 votes.

Coyne said Vassalboro polls were busy all day, with a total of 2,190 ballots cast. The new secure ballot drop box outside the town office was used a lot up to and on election day, she said; even when the office was open, some voters put their early ballots in the box.

Vassalboro planners use bulk of meeting to discuss commercial solar development

/0 Comments/in , /by
by Mary Grow

Despite a three-item agenda plus a spill-over item from the Oct. 13 select board meeting, Vassalboro Planning Board members spent an hour and a half of their long Nov. 1 meeting discussing proposed regulations for commercial solar developments.

They plan to return to the draft solar provisions, currently seen as a section of the site review ordinance rather than a separate ordinance, at their Dec. 6 meeting. They do not presently intend to schedule a special meeting only for ordinance discussion.

Their first actions on Nov. 1 were to approve:

  • An application to expand and rebuild a non-conforming structure at 30 Austin Road in the Three Mile Pond shoreland, with the understanding it will be enlarged by less than 30 percent and will not be any closer to the water.
  • Acceptance of the decommissioning plan for the proposed commercial solar development at 2579 Riverside Drive as meeting the requirement set at their Oct. 4 meeting (see the Oct. 13 issue of The Town Line, p. 2).

The third agenda item was listed as a presentation by Brittney Krebsbach of Novel Energy, the company planning to apply for a permit for a commercial solar farm on the west side of Main Street (Route 32) north of Duratherm Window.

Instead of Krebsbach, Patrick Zander represented Minnesota-based Novel Energy Solutions. He explained that he had been told that morning to “put a face” to the company. He asked that a preliminary application be accepted, so review could proceed if Vassalboro voters approved the solar development moratorium on the Nov. 8 local ballot.

Zander had not been told that the moratorium would prohibit any action, even if an application were in process. Nor had he been told that Novel had submitted no application. When he looked at the preliminary information planning board members have had for weeks, he said it was “way out of date.”

Codes officer Paul Mitnik said Novel had emailed something last week. When he replied that he could not open the document(s), he got no answer.

Zander said the revised plan reduces the size of the planned development by about 50 percent. Setback from Outlet Stream is increased and the project “won’t touch” the Kennebec Water District pipeline that crosses the property.

Novel has its Central Maine Power Company interconnection agreement (IA), Zander said. Board chairman Virginia Brackett was surprised, as several other Vassalboro projects have been delayed by lack of an IA.

Before he left, Zander offered information resources for the proposed solar ordinance. After he left, board members expressed sympathy for the difficult position his company’s lack of preparation put him in.

“Somebody at least owes him a beer,” Brackett suggested.

Although Brackett said the Novel Energy application wouldn’t reappear until the summer of 2023 if the moratorium passed Nov. 8, audience members who oppose Novel’s project – and supported the moratorium – insisted on speaking. Board member Douglas Phillips encouraged the rest of the board to let them.

Ann White and Linnea Ash Hill distributed three pages listing problems with solar panels, and the websites they said support their concerns. They claimed that property values drop within a mile of a solar project; that toxins from the panels will harm area wildlife and water quality in Outlet Stream and China Lake; and that decommissioning a system will result in release of more toxic chemicals.

“We can have a solar farm lots of other places. We don’t need it there,” Hill said.

When select board member Chris French asked from the audience if the new ordinance should also ban solar panels on people’s roofs, several people said, “No.” No one said yes.

Main Street residents also spoke at the select board’s Sept. 29 public hearing on the moratorium ordinance (see the Oct. 6 issue of The Town Line, p. 3).

The problem left over from the Oct. 13 select board meeting was the claimed lack of a buffer at the newly-opened brewery at 772 Cross Hill Road (see the Oct. 20 issue of The Town Line, p. 2). Neighbors Rick and Terry Dawson, and Peter and Mary Beth Soule again asked what they can do to ensure construction of a buffer, required by the planning board when the business was approved.

Mitnik offered his opinion that enough trees had been planted to meet the board’s requirement. The neighbors disagreed.

Planning board members said repeatedly they are not enforcers. They said if Mitnik’s response was not satisfactory, the town manager should be asked to call a meeting of the board of appeals.

The Nov. 1 preliminary discussion of the planned solar ordinance focused on setbacks and buffers. Planning board members discussed a multitude of probable complications.

By the end of the discussion, they envisioned a project, meaning the solar panels and associated equipment, inside a fence; a required distance between the fence around the project and the property line; and a vegetated buffer between the fence and the property line.

French suggested requiring that the fence be at least 100-feet from the property line or 150-feet from the nearest residence, whichever distance was greater. Board members approved, for now.

The vegetated buffer was one of the problems. Its purpose would be to screen the project inside the fence from neighbors, so a buffer all the way around the property seemed unnecessary. But if the vegetation were trees and if they were close to the fence, they could grow tall enough to shade the solar panels.

A related issue, setbacks from wetlands, was temporarily left to state regulators, with the expectation their information would be shared with town officials. Any commercial solar project over three acres needs a state permit, and French and planning board members believe recently-adopted state regulations require the developer to map and protect wetlands.

Also attending the Nov. 1 meeting was Bob Geaghan, introduced as Vassalboro’s new codes officer. Town Manager Mary Sabins said later that Geaghan is expected to work with Mitnik for the next two months and take over the job in January 2023 so that Mitnik can retire, as he has tried to do several times already.