Vassalboro school officials not sure what fall return will mean

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Vassalboro Community School. (source: jmg.org)

by Mary Grow

Vassalboro school officials have no idea what returning to school in the fall will mean.

“We’ve got to be ready for change,” School Board Chairman Kevin Levasseur summarized during the board’s June 16 in-person meeting in the Vassalboro Community School (VCS) cafeteria.

Superintendent Alan Pfeiffer said he and colleagues have guidelines from the state education department, but they are not directives, and local school officials assume they will change as circumstances change. Pfeiffer does not expect decisions until late July at best.

School board member Jessica Clark said at a recent Maine School Board Association meeting no one had firm plans. Many participants hoped their schools will reopen, to accommodate parents with no child care and because “no school has the money or infrastructure to support 100% virtual education.”

Principal Megan Allen said VCS staff want to be in school, and a survey to which 40 parents responded found almost half of them would like the school to open. The rest, she said, were unsure or waiting to see how the health situation changes.

Pfeiffer pointed out that reopening the building will add costs, too, for such things as supplies, like masks and sanitizers; staff time to clean; and if students come and go in shifts, additional bus routes.

Pfeiffer and Allen anticipate an unusually busy summer as they monitor developments and try to be prepared for however the new school year starts.

Allen said the June 5 end-of-school parade was one of the best days of her life. Vassalboro fire trucks and the police car, school buses and decorated private vehicles toured much of the town visiting students who had not seen their teachers since March.

“We got to see so many kids – it was fantastic,” Allen said.

VCS also had a retirement parade for retiring literacy specialist Kathy Cioppa, of China, Allen said. She said Cioppa has been in education for 38 years, 35 of them at VCS.

One of the board’s June 16 decisions was to approve a copier lease agreement in conjunction with Waterville and Winslow schools. Pfeiffer said he, Waterville Superintendent Eric Haley and Winslow Superintendent Peter Thiboutot are discussing ways to continue mutually useful cooperation as the agreement that succeeded AOS (Alternative Educational Structure) 92 enters its final year. Voters in the three towns dissolved AOS 92 in the spring of 2018.

The next Vassalboro school board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday evening, Aug. 18. As part of their usual summer routine, board members authorized the superintendent to sign contracts for new staff until then, to avoid losing a good candidate to a school system prepared to act faster.

Vassalboro residents approve all 56 articles at town meeting

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by Mary Grow

Vassalboro town officials and voters pulled off their June 22 open town meeting in style, with Covid-19 guidelines observed.

The gym at Vassalboro Community School was effectively turned into two rooms by a solid curtain that stretched almost from wall to wall, leaving space for moderator Richard Thompson to stand at one end and see into both rooms. Each side had no more than 50 well-spaced chairs; and the approximately 70 voters, most with masks, divided themselves evenly enough so that neither room approached the 50-person limit.

Entrance lines were well controlled by town office staff and volunteers. Multiple exits avoided crowding as the meeting ended, about an hour after it started.

All 56 warrant articles were approved, many in groups rather than one by one. As a result, Vassalboro is ready to start the new fiscal year July 1 with municipal and school budgets in place.

Selectmen expected the request to appropriate more than $360,000 (including interest over five years) for a new truck for the Vassalboro Volunteer Fire Department would be controversial. It was the only item discussed (one other generated a question and answer), but the near-unanimous vote to buy it suggests “controversial” was not the right term for the June 22 voters.

Selectmen and the budget committee recommended not buying the truck. Lauchlin Titus, Chairman of the Selectboard, explained that his board was not opposed to a new fire truck, but with 2020-21 revenues uncertain, selectmen did not want to commit the town this year. Two major sources of town income, he pointed out, are excise taxes, which increase as residents buy new vehicles, and state funding, which increases as the state’s economy grows.

Vassalboro volunteer fire department member Michael Vashon said the new truck would replace a 1981 vehicle that needs between $14,000 and $17,000 worth of work to restore it to operating condition. Firefighters do not want to put that much money into a 39-year-old truck, he said.

Department member Heather Hemphill, who described herself as a third-generation firefighter, said her experience in a repair garage taught her that a vehicle needing that much work will soon need more.

Christina Smedberg, recently moved to Vassalboro from Albion, praised the people who serve as volunteer firefighters. Vassalboro has a small department for so many residents, she said; “At least give the guys the right equipment.”

Tom Richards, who joined the department in 1957 at the age of 17, told voters, “We need this truck.” It won’t get cheaper if buying it is postponed, he added.

Vashon said the department has raised more than $500,000 in recent years for supplies and equipment, including enough to cover the first $72, 000-plus payment on the new truck. Firefighters will continue to raise funds toward the second payment, he said.

In the fire department report in the 2019 town report, new Chief Walker Thompson lists successful grant applications in 2019. The town report is dedicated to former fire chief Eric Rowe, who retired from the position after 30 years but remains in the department he has served for 40 years.

Titus, who is retiring from the board of selectmen as of Vassalboro’s July 14 election, received the 2020 Spirit of America award for volunteerism. Making the presentation, Selectman Robert Browne noted Titus’s years of service on numerous committees and in numerous organizations and praised his “willingness to listen to everyone.”

Voters re-elected budget committee members Rick Denico, Jr., and Douglas Phillips and elected new members Richard Bradstreet, Michael Poulin and Frank Richards.

Vassalboro’s annual town meeting is recessed until 8 a.m., Tuesday, July 14, when polls will open, again at Vassalboro Community School, for state voting and two local questions. The local questions are:

  • The annual referendum asking voters to approve or reject the school budget approved June 22; and
  • Elections for selectboard (Barbara Redmond is unopposed to succeed Titus) and for school board (Erin Libby Loiko seeks another term; Zachary Smith is the only candidate for the seat being vacated by Susan Tuthill).

Polls will be open from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m., July 14. Absentee ballots are available in advance from the town office for voters who do not wish to come to the school; those who vote in person are asked to wear masks.

Titus receives Spirit of America award

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Lauchlin Titus, center, outgoing Vassalboro selectman, was presented the Spirit of America award during the June 22 annual town meeting. Presenting the award were town selectmen Rob Browne, left, and John Melrose. (photo courtesy of Mary Sabins)

At the June 22 annual town meeting, Vassalboro Selectmen Rob Browne and John Melrose presented fellow Selectman Lauchlin Titus with the 2020 Spirit of America Award. After 12 years of service to the Town as a Selectman (and also serving many years before that as a school committee member and a budget committee member), Lauchlin chose not to run for re-election this year. The certificate presented to Lauchlin read as follows:

“This 2020 Spirit of America Foundation Award, of Vassalboro, ME, honors Lauchlin Titus. Vassalboro’s 2020 Spirit of America Award recognizes and honors Lauchlin Titus for his years of public service hallmarked by thoughtfulness, kindness and a healthy dose of humor. Vassalboro is the grateful beneficiary of his many contributions.”

Vassalboro TIF program tops selectmen’s agenda

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by Mary Grow

Vassalboro’s Tax Increment Financing (TIF) program was the selectmen’s main topic at their June 11 meeting, held in-person in the town office meeting room with appropriate social distancing and very few masks.

Selectmen received recommendations for interpreting, using or considering updates to Vassalboro’s current TIF program, and, after a public hearing, approved TIF funds for the Vassalboro Sanitary District (VSD).

A TIF is a state-approved plan that lets a municipality exclude part of its tax base from its state valuation, thus increasing state aid in some areas, provided it uses the tax money from the excluded portion for economic development as outlined in a local plan. Vassalboro voters put tax revenue from the Summit natural gas pipeline into a TIF. Selectmen have used the money to help the VSD connect to Winslow’s sewer system and to support the Alewife Restoration Project (ARI).

Earlier this year selectmen asked Garvan Donegan, of the Central Maine Growth Council, to review Vassalboro’s TIF document to make sure funds were being used properly and to consider other possible uses, either as the document stands or if they were to propose amendments.

Donovan said current uses are appropriate. He added that using TIF funds on the Gray Road culvert replacement project would be legal, because a better culvert is part of the fish habitat improvement that is ARI’s goal.

Both he and, Town Manager Mary Sabins said, VSD’s legal advisor said the VSD cannot use TIF money to pay individual homeowners’ costs for connecting to the expanded public sewer system.

VSD spokesman Ray Breton said the current plan is to use TIF money to make loan payments. The expansion project has been expensive, he said, and the VSD has had to raise user fees significantly.

After the public hearing and a wide-ranging discussion, selectmen approved an immediate $72, 265 grant to the VSD to cover a July 1 debt payment and promised to appropriate the rest of the $166,000 requested as 2020 taxes from Summit come in.

At their April 2 meeting, after a Feb. 11 public hearing, they appropriated $83,000 to ARI and promised another $60,000 in August or September.

In other business June 11, selectmen:

  • Unanimously awarded 2020 paving work to Pike Industries, as recommended by Road Commissioner Eugene Field.
  • Voted unanimously to sell the 2007 Chevrolet Impala police cruiser by advertising for bids.
  • Approved closing the town office all day Tuesday, July 14, because office staff will be Vassalboro Community School, where the day’s voting will be held. Voters will act on state ballot questions and two local issues, endorsing or rejecting the 2020-21 school budget approved at the June 22 town meeting and electing municipal officers.
  • Scheduled the next three selectmen’s meeting for Thursday evening, June 25; Thursday evening, July 23; and Thursday evening, Aug. 20.

Selectman John Melrose reported on continuing grounds work at the former East Vassalboro school and adjoining park, and plans for improved access to the town forest trail west of East Vassalboro.

Vassalboro town meeting, voting to go ahead, with adaptations

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by Mary Grow

Vassalboro officials are going ahead with a Monday evening open town meeting and Tuesday written-ballot voting as in past years – but with adaptations.

The 2020 town meeting warrant calls voters to assemble at 6:30 p.m. Monday, June 22, at Vassalboro Community School. The written ballot questions will not be decided the next day, however, but three weeks later, on Tuesday, July 14.

On June 22, voters will find the auditorium and the cafeteria arranged with chairs six feet apart and other social distancing accommodations. Masks will be required. Entrances and exits will be monitored to avoid crowding. No more than 50 people will be allowed in either room. Those in the cafeteria with be able to listen via a loudspeaker; plans are being made to let them notify the moderator when they want to speak.

If more than 100 people show up, as of the June 11 selectmen’s meeting there was no policy. Town Manager Mary Sabins and retiring Selectman Lauchlin Titus consider only the request to buy a fire truck controversial, so they hope for a low voter turnout – another unusual feature.

After those present act on 56 warrant articles, the meeting will adjourn until 8 a.m. Tuesday, July 14, when polls will open for written-ballot voting, again at Vassalboro Community School, not at the town office as usual. Sabins said masks will be required at the polls. There are two articles for July 14: approval or rejection of the 2020-21 school budget approved June 22, and election of local officers.

On July 14, voters will elect one selectman to succeed Titus; Barbara Redmond is the only candidate on the ballot. For the school board, Susan Tuthill’s term ends this year and she is not a candidate for re-election. Erin Loiko is running for another term; Zachary Smith is the only other person on the ballot.

Budget committee members will be elected, as usual, during the June 22 open meeting (Art. 2, immediately after election of a moderator; Sabins said Richard Thompson has agreed to serve again, if elected under Art. 1).

Budget committee members whose two-year terms end this year are K. Peter Allen, Rick Denico, Jr., Douglas Phillips, Barbara Redmond and Joe Suga. Redmond will not seek re-election, Sabins said. Vassalboro residents interested in being nominated to serve on the committee are advised to make their interest known to current committee members.

Except for the fire truck, the warrant articles should be familiar. As in past years, they deal with the municipal and school budgets for the fiscal year that will begin July 1 and related issues, like tax due dates, authority to apply for grants and the alewife fishery and authority to spend alewife revenues.

The fire truck is in Art. 22, which asks voters to authorize spending up to $334,000 for a five-year lease-purchase agreement, with estimated interest bringing the total cost to over $360,000. Firefighters would act on the authorization only if the department does not receive a FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Act) grant for a vehicle. Estimated annual payments would be slightly more than $72,000; the payment due in July 2022 would come from the town’s fire truck reserve fund, the remaining four payments (July 2023 through July 2026) from taxation.

Selectmen and budget committee members recommend voters approve all requested expenditures, except the fire truck purchase. Neither board recommends buying a new truck this year.

If voters approve all fund requests, as of June 15 Sabins expects the tax rate will remain the same or go down slightly. A decision on the fire truck purchase will not affect 2021 taxes.

Town warrant has been posted

The warrant for Vassalboro’s June 22 and July 14 annual town meeting is posted in public places in town, as in past years. It is also at the end of the town report for 2019, on pages 51 through 55.

Printed copies of the report were expected at the town office by Monday, June 15, and will be available at the June 22 town meeting. Because of Covid-19 precautions about printed materials, Town Manager Mary Sabins does not know where else in town they will be distributed.

The complete town report is on the Vassalboro website. Go to www.vassalboro.net; click on “Town of Vassalboro” to get to the home page; scroll down the page until you find and click on “Town Report” on the Navigation bar on the left side; click on the red fire truck and begin reading (or click here!).

Grab & Go bean dinner in Vassalboro

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Vassalboro United Methodist Church (photo: Google streetview)

The Vassalboro United Methodist Church, on Main St. (Rte. 32), in North Vassalboro, will hold a Grab and Go bean dinner on Saturday, June 20, from 4:30 until all the beans are gone. Come along and grab a meal!

Vassalboro board approves solar energy project

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by Mary Grow

Four Vassalboro Planning Board members present at the June 2 meeting unanimously approved a solar energy project at 515 Main Street (Route 32) almost opposite Ron’s Auto Parts. (For more information, see The Town Line, May 14)

ReVision Energy, represented by Senior Project Developer, Nate Niles, and Construction Project Manager, Al Copping, plans a community solar farm on Bernie Welch’s land. The solar panels will be surrounded by a seven-foot chain-link fence; residents in Central Maine Power Company’s service area will buy shares in the output.

Planning board members found that the project meets all criteria in Vassalboro’s land use and shoreland ordinances. They added two conditions to their approval:

  • Although the state transportation department has allowed two entrances onto the highway, after construction is complete only the north one is to be used. Niles said there will be almost no traffic in and out of the area.
  • Trees to be cleared between Main Street and the fence will be replaced with shrubbery that will provide visual screening from the highway, without blocking sunlight from the solar panels.

Niles expects work on the development to begin this summer. When he and Copping made their initial presentation May 5, he said work should take two to three months, will be done during daylight hours and should not be very noisy.

Turning to the only other item on the June 2 agenda, board members decided unanimously that Lorilee Dumont can enlarge her Dunham Road building from which she runs her catering and restaurant business without board review. However, should she later want to expand the business, she would need to appear before the board.

Codes Officer Paul Mitnik explained that Dumont wants to add a deck so she can continue to seat six tables of diners while maintaining social distancing. She does not plan to add tables, he said.

The June 2 planning board meeting was in person, not virtual. It was held in the Vassalboro Community School cafeteria so that board and audience members – all masked – could sit at least six feet apart.

The next meeting should be scheduled for Tuesday evening, July 7, the first Tuesday of the month.

Vassalboro awarded safety enhancement grant

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Officials for the Town of Vassalboro are pleased to announce that they have been awarded a Safety En­hancement Grant by the Maine Muni­cipal Asso­cia­tion Workers Compensation Fund in the amount of $1,512.77.

The Ed Mac­Donald Safety Enhancement Grants and Scholarship Grants provide financial assistance to members of the MMA Workers Compensation Fund to purchase safety equipment or services to assist in reducing the frequency and severity of workplace injuries. The grant programs are designed to prevent injuries and improve workplace safety our Maine employees. The reduction in employee injuries also benefits the taxpayers by lessening lost hours at work, cost of claims and potential overtime expenses for employees who might have to fill in for injured co-workers.

The Maine Municipal Association has been awarding Safety Grants to members of the Workers’ Compensation fund since 1999. The Ed MacDonald Safety Enhancement Grants and Scholarships are an example of a successful partnership that has been preventing workplace injuries by bestowing more than $5 million in the funding of 3,938 Safety En­hancement Grants and 489 Schol­arship Grants. Together we are building safe communities.

For more information about Maine Municipal Association Risk Management Service programs, including Safety Enhancement Grant eligibility and applications, please visit www.memun.org and click on the Risk Management Services link, or call 1-800-590- 5583.

Vassalboro selectmen cancel May 28, 2020 meeting

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by Mary Grow

Vassalboro selectmen have cancelled their May 28 meeting for lack of agenda items. Their next meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday, June 11, as an in-person meeting in the town office meeting room.

The meeting includes a public hearing on the Vassalboro Sanitary District’s application for $166,000 from Tax Increment Financing (TIF) funds for the sewer pipeline project.

Garvan Donegan of the Central Maine Growth Council is scheduled to report recommendations for future use of TIF funds, which to date have supported the Sanitary District’s sewer connection to Winslow and the Alewife Restoration Initiative (ARI), the project intended to permit alewives to migrate into China Lake.

Vassalboro school board approves tentative plans for rest of year

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Vassalboro Community School. (source: jmg.org)

by Mary Grow

At their May 19 meeting, Vassalboro School Board members approved plans, some tentative, for the remainder of this school year, the summer and the next school year, on topics from education to lunch prices to a new telephone system.

Many decisions assumed that students and staff will return to classrooms in late August 2020. Vassalboro Superintendent Alan Pfeiffer emphasized that he and other superintendents spend a lot of time monitoring constantly-changing state and federal pandemic information and guidelines. He hopes Vassalboro Community School (VCS) will re-open before Labor Day 2020, but he offered no guarantee.

VCS Principal Megan Allen said distance learning continues for the rest of this school year. Teachers completed parent-teacher conferences, she said. An important current project is defining parts of course content that have been short-changed by lack of classroom time, so they can be emphasized in the fall.

As the end of the school year approaches, staff have cleaned out students’ lockers and bagged the contents to be picked up. A virtual eighth-grade graduation, probably in the form of a video for students and parents to share, is scheduled for Tuesday, June 2. On Friday, June 5, the last day of classes, Allen and staff are working on arrangements for a parade that will pass as many students’ home as possible.

Allen said volunteers will continue to assemble meals to be delivered by bus through June 4. Beginning Monday, June 8, interim food service director Paula Pooler said the summer meal program will provide van delivery of meals to pick-up points.

In preparation for the hoped-for reopening, school board members unanimously approved a 10-cent increase in the full price of a school lunch, from $2.85 to $2.95, effective in the fall. Pooler explained that under the federal education department’s formula, Vassalboro should be charging $3. Vassalboro officials are allowed to reach the required level in 10-cent steps. Failure to comply would mean a reduced federal subsidy for the lunch program.

Board members accepted the recommendation to spend $20,392 for an upgrade of the phone system, including updating what Technology Coordinator Will Backman calls its brain and buying new handsets compatible with the improved brain. Pfeiffer said the money will come from the current year’s budget, specifically from anticipated savings due to the shut-down this spring.

The board approved a 2020-21 school calendar that has classes starting Wednesday, Aug. 26. Staff will hold preschool preparatory workshops Aug. 24 and Aug. 25.

Pfeiffer reported he had signed the contract to share in a solar energy project under development in Skowhegan (in which the Town of Vassalboro is also participating). Attorney Aga Dixon advised him to expect no immediate follow-up, because the project developers are waiting for other municipalities and schools to decide whether to join.

After previous discussions, board members approved buying into the solar development to reduce electricity costs. The project is currently expected to begin providing power early in 2021 and to run for at least 25 years.

Pfeiffer reminded board members that Vassalboro’s annual town meeting, at which voters will decide on the 2020-21 school budget among other items, is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Monday evening, June 22. Voters will assemble at VCS. Pfeiffer, town officials and others are planning safely-spaced seating and other precautions.

The next school board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday evening, June 16, and is expected to be a virtual meeting.