by Mary Grow

Vassalboro School Board members continued information-sharing between town and school officials at their Oct. 16 meeting, inviting the board of selectmen – represented by John Melrose – to talk about mutually relevant issues.

Now that the school is part of the town instead of in a regional school unit, selectmen think more sharing of information, plans and resources will be useful. Melrose’s suggestions included:

• Negotiating with Erskine Academy, the South China private high school attended by the majority of Vassalboro students, about ways to reduce town costs for tuition or transportation or both;
• Cooperating on energy upgrades to save money;
• Continuing efforts to have Vassalboro Community School (VCS) designated as an emergency shelter;
• Reviewing services currently contracted with the former AOS (Alternative Organizational Structure) 92 to consider what could be brought in-house when the three-year contract with the former AOS ends; and
• Involving students and school personnel in the 250th anniversary of Vassalboro’s incorporation, which will be in 2021.

Another major discussion item was school board member Jolene Clark Gamage’s report on babies born addicted to drugs. The gist of her message was that resulting developmental delays or behavioral problems, or both, follow the child into school, creating an increasing need for special education services.

In 2016, the last year for which Gamage had what she thought were complete figures, Kennebec County reported 109 drug-affected babies. The figure was the third highest for Maine’s 16 counties (plus a very small number of non-resident babies), topped only by Penobscot and Androscoggin counties.

In the country, Gamage said, the most recent statistics show Maine has the fourth highest number of babies born addicted. In 2016 the state was in second place, according to materials she shared with other board members.

The cost of special education services varies with the severity of the student’s need.

Board Chairman Kevin Levasseur warned of another potential budget increase: special state funding for the pre-kindergarten program ends this year. If the program is to continue, the school will pick up the cost, with a major impact on the 2018-19 budget. In future years, the state will reimburse the town for pre-kindergarten students on the same per-pupil basis as for older VCS students.

Levasseur said Eric Haley, former AOS superintendent, has ideas for alternative funding that he plans to discuss with Vassalboro Superintendent Alan Pfeiffer and VCS Principal Megan Allen.

The next Vassalboro School Board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday evening, Nov. 20.

by Mary Grow

VASSALBORO — Relations among major Vassalboro town departments seem to be running smoothly, according to an Oct. 4 discussion of public safety and law enforcement issues and communication between town and school officials.

The exception, perhaps a minor one, is a potential change in the services that dispatch emergency personnel.

Currently, Vassalboro firefighters, rescue unit members and the town’s one policeman depend on the state’s Regional Communications Center in Augusta and the Kennebec Sheriff’s Office. Town Manager Mary Sabins said a recent letter suggested potential rearrangements that might take effect in July 2019.

Firefighter Michael Vashon said the Vassalboro volunteer fire department is unlikely to be affected, and is satisfied with the Regional Communications Center. Police Chief Mark Brown expects the Sheriff’s Office will continue to dispatch Vassalboro law enforcement, which is shared among him, sheriff’s deputies and state police.

First Responders Chief Dan Mayotte said his service is less satisfied with the Regional Communications Center than the firefighters are, and gave an example of an error that delayed an emergency response – not the first, he said.

Mayotte advised selectmen to look into alternatives for dispatching service, including Somerset and Waldo counties. Selectmen assigned the job to Sabins, with local emergency personnel to give her names of people with whom to talk.

New Vassalboro School Superintendent Alan Pfeiffer immediately accepted the selectmen’s suggestion that he provide them with monthly reports on school issues affecting the town, especially the budget, like numbers of students and the condition of the school building.

Pfeiffer commended custodial staff at Vassalboro Community School for conscientious maintenance that he said seems to have kept the building in good shape. Perhaps, suggested Selectmen Chairman Lauchlin Titus, there would be occasional projects on which the town crew could help.

Pfeiffer also commended Police Chief Brown for his frequent visits to the school, and Vashon praised his cooperation with the fire department. Selectmen and Brown agreed that given Brown’s limited time – he is paid for 15 hours a week – he should focus on community policing.

Vashon mentioned the lack of road access to the back of the school building for emergency vehicles, a situation Pfeiffer promised to look into.

Sabins reported on ongoing efforts to get a grant for a generator that would let the school building serve as an emergency shelter. Mayotte offered as matching funds the money voters approved for rescue unit grant matches, saying he had not yet made any applications this year, and Vashon and Pfeiffer suggested additional possible grant sources. In other business Oct. 4:

• Selectmen voted unanimously to pay the Town of China $100 so Vassalboro residents can bring confidential papers to the shredder that will be at the China town garage on Alder Park Road from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday, Oct. 27.
• They accepted the only bid on a tax-acquired lot on Harmony Lane, $10,010 from Gerard and Elaine Grenier.
• After a brief public hearing, which drew no comments, on amendments to the appendices to the General Assistance Ordinance, they unanimously accepted the amendments.
• The meeting began with selectmen and town office staff presenting Sabins with a congratulatory potted plant in recognition of her election as president of the Maine Municipal Association.

The next regular Vassalboro selectmen’s meeting is scheduled for Thursday evening, Oct. 18.

by Mary Grow

For the second month in a row, Vassalboro Planning Board members commended the only applicants before them for a well-prepared application and approved it unanimously with only a brief discussion.

Susan B. and Al Traylor’s plan to enlarge their camp at 54 Birch Point Road, on Webber Pond, met Vassalboro’s shoreland requirements, board members agreed. The Traylors plan a bigger room and a new deck, with minimal earth-moving and no expansion toward the lake.

Normally, the next planning board meeting would be Nov. 6, the first Tuesday of the month. Because the Vassalboro town office meeting room will be used for voting that day and evening, board members rescheduled the meeting to Tuesday evening, Nov. 13.

by Mary Grow

Communication was the theme at the Vassalboro selectmen’s Sept. 6 meeting, as board members talked with new Vassalboro School Superintendent Alan Pfeiffer and School Board Chairman Kevin Levasseur about better information-sharing between school and town officials and with Police Chief Mark Brown and audience members about Vassalboro’s law enforcement needs.

Pfeiffer, newly-hired as Vassalboro’s one-day-a-week superintendent, came to introduce himself to the board. He promised to return as his schedule permits; a former principal and superintendent, he now works as a consultant to the state education department and travels throughout Maine.

Selectmen Lauchlin Titus and John Melrose expressed frustration at hearing from school officials only while the annual budget process was underway. They would like more frequent information, especially now that dissolution of the regional school unit makes the school more clearly a town department.

Titus called for out of the box thinking to find ways to fund tuition, transportation, special education and other essentials without taking money away from elementary education programs at Vassalboro Community School.

Town Manager Mary Sabins brought Pfeiffer up to date on her efforts to have the school designated a Red Cross emergency center and equipped with a powerful generator.

Melrose raised the law enforcement issue. He pointed out that Vassalboro hired Brown for 15 hours a week, supplementary to his full-time job elsewhere, but gave him the title of police chief, implying, Melrose thinks, more policing than the town really provides.

Melrose recommends either using a more accurate job description or creating something more like a local police department, perhaps by contracting.

Brown told board members he works closely with state and county law enforcement and the state Drug Enforcement Agency. They take on the extended, time-consuming cases, he said; he focuses on local issues, including spending time with students at Vassalboro Community School.

Selectmen agreed to continue the discussion at their next meeting, which they scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 19 (instead of the usual 6:30 p.m. Thursday). Sabins asked Brown how the police cruiser is holding up. Brown, whose request for a new vehicle was shot down during spring budget discussions, said it is costing money for repairs, as he forecast.

In other business Sept. 6, selectmen agreed to offer for sale a tax-acquired lot on Harmony Lane, with a minimum bid of $5,000.

Road Foreman Eugene Field suggested additional road repaving if there is money available. Selectmen approved his suggestions and left decisions to him once he sees how much, if any, money he has.

Board members asked Sabins to send a thank-you letter to Steve Jones, of Fieldstone Gardens, for trees donated to the East Vassalboro park.

They approved a plan to provide enough water for the Sept. 8 Double Dam Ducky Derby, worked out by Kennebec Water District authorities, a representative of the Alewife Restoration Project (ARI) who is working on dismantling Lombard Dam and Vassalboro Days organizers.

Titus said he and Melrose plan to attend the Oct. 9 Vassalboro Historical Society meeting to discuss issues involving the society’s lease of the former East Vassalboro schoolhouse.