by Mary Grow

Vassalboro Transfer Station George Hamar would like a new “can,” a 40-cubic-yard bin to hold rubbish.

Police Chief Mark Brown wants to replace his cruiser with almost 90,000 miles on it while it has trade-in value and before it starts “nickel and diming the town” for repairs.

Fire Chief Eric Rowe wants a metal roof on the Riverside Fire Station, and he’d like town voters to allocate $3,300 to hire annual hose and ladder testing done, instead of asking volunteer firefighters to spend six or seven week-nights on the tedious but vital jobs.

Rescue Director Dan Mayotte thinks his volunteers deserve a $5 reimbursement for each call to help cover fuel costs. In 2017, he said, rescue responded to 342 calls, 52 more than in 2016; there are six volunteers on the roster and two more people completing training who, he hopes, will join.

Public Works Director Eugene Field recommends replacing one of his trucks, using arguments similar to Chief Brown’s about trade-in value and future repair costs. He’d also like a new generator and a power washer at the town garage.

Town Manager Mary Sabins says if Vassalboro Community School is to become the town’s emergency shelter, a big generator will be needed there, too. Even if the town could get a federal emergency grant to cover some of the cost, a local match would be required.

These wish list items, how much road repaving should and can be done annually, and similar municipal expenditure issues took up the budget committee’s March 20 meeting. No recommendations were made, because the committee, the selectmen and Sabins still need to see the proposed 2018-19 school budget to get a complete view of future needs.

The March 13 decision to dissolve Alternative Organizational Structure (AOS) #92 and let Vassalboro hire its own part-time superintendent and contract for other central office services is expected to save money in the administration section of the school budget next year. However, administration is a small part of the whole budget.

The schedule distributed at the March 20 meeting calls for the budget committee to review the proposed school budget at a 7 p.m. meeting Thursday, March 29, at Vassalboro Community School (following a special school board meeting to discuss the budget, according to Sabins). Future budget committee meetings are scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 10, at the school for continued school budget discussion and Thursday, April 12, at 7 p.m. at the town office to make recommendations on the town meeting warrant (the list of items voters will be asked to accept, amend or reject).

Selectmen have scheduled a special meeting for 3 p.m. Wednesday, April 4, for their annual review of Sabins’ job performance. The meeting will be entirely in executive session (not open to the public), as state law allows.

The next regular selectmen’s meetings are scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday, April 19, to review the warrant and Thursday, May 3, to sign it so it can go to the printer the next day.

Vassalboro voters will make final spending decisions at the annual town meeting, set for 6:30 p.m. Monday, June 4, at Vassalboro Community School. Local elections and any other written-ballot measured will be decided Tuesday, June 12, with polls open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. in the town office.

During discussion of paving work March 20, Selectman Lauchlin Titus said the state’s planned rebuilding of Route 32 through East and North Vassalboro has been postponed to the 2020 construction season, so that the Vassalboro Sanitary District can get its new lines laid along the road before the road is widened and repaved. The sewer work connecting Vassalboro to Winslow is scheduled for 2019, he said.

Vassalboro selectmen have changed the starting time of their Thursday, March 22, meeting to 5:30 p.m., in order to accommodate a long agenda, including a 6 p.m. public hearing on building permit ordinance amendments, before they meet with the budget committee at 7 p.m. The meetings and hearing will be held in the town office meeting room.

by Mary Grow

AOS (Alternative Organi­zational Structure) #92 will soon be history.

In a March 13 referendum vote, all three member municipalities voted by wide margins to terminate the arrangement: in Vassalboro, the vote was 81 yes to 13 no, in Waterville, 183 yes to 58 no, and Winslow 122 yes to 62 no.

A majority vote for dissolution in any of the three member municipalities ends the AOS arrangement, AOS Superintendent Eric Haley said at Vassalboro’s March 6 public hearing in advance of the vote.

Haley explained to about 30 attendees that the change from an AOS to a proposed contracted-services arrangement will make little difference to Vassalboro students, school staff or residents.

The plan the school board is considering calls for Vassalboro to hire its own superintendent, perhaps a retiree or a superintendent shared with another school, to work the equivalent of one day a week for approximately $25,000 a year. One day a week is usually flexible, Haley said – the part-timer might divide eight or 10 hours among several days, as needed.

Central office functions like payroll and accounting, curriculum coordination, special education, transportation, buildings and grounds, student record-keeping and technology would continue to be done from Waterville or Winslow, with Vassalboro paying for its share of services based on the AOS cost-sharing formula.

That formula, Haley said, uses the three-year averages of the number of resident students and municipal valuation. It changes only slightly from year to year, and has worked well for the nine years of the AOS. Dissolving the AOS will have no effect on school choice, Haley said – “school choice won’t go away.”

Vassalboro Community School will have a new principal because Dianna Gram is retiring in June, not because of the AOS vote. School board members discussed hiring one person as principal and superintendent, but decided against it for several reasons, Haley said. For example, the dual role pits the principal-as-superintendent against his or her own teachers in contract negotiations, and it leaves no administrative avenue of appeal against a principal’s decision. School Board Chairman Kevin LeVasseur added that sometimes a second point of view is useful.

The AOS office projected that Vassalboro would save about $45,000 in central service charges by changing from AOS membership to contracted services. In addition, each member town will receive its share of the AOS’s undesignated fund, with Vassalboro getting almost $52,000 as a one-time payment.

The superintendent emphasized, however, that the central services budget is only a small part of the total school budget. School board members have begun budget review and will continue at their March 20 meeting; Vassalboro Budget Committee members will review the school board’s figures, and voters will make the final decision at the June 4 annual town meeting.

Vassalboro voters will make 2018-19 spending decisions and choose budget committee members at their annual town meeting, scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Monday, June 4, at Vassalboro Community School. Local elections and any other written-ballot items will be decided on Tuesday, June 12, with polls open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. in the town office.

Town Clerk Cathy Coyne announces nomination papers are available Monday, March 5, for the following positions: one three-year term on the board of selectmen (the late Philip Haines’ term, being filled by John Melrose, ends) and one three-year term on the school board (Jolene Clark Gamage’s term ends). Signed nomination papers must be returned to the town office by noon Friday, April 13, for candidates’ names to appear on the June 12 ballot.

by Mary Grow

Two major Vassalboro boards meet simultaneously Tuesday evening, March 6.

The Vassalboro School Board has scheduled a public informational meeting on plans to dissolve AOS (Alternative Educational Structure) #92 for 7 p.m. at Vassalboro Community School. The meeting will be preceded by a two-hour supper meeting to discuss 2018-19 budget requests; the budget discussion is also open to the public. A week later, on March 13, Vassalboro, Waterville and Winslow voters will vote on dissolving the AOS. Vassalboro polls will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. in the town office.

The Vassalboro Planning Board meets at 7 p.m. March 6 in the town office. Its agenda lists four applications:

• From Leo Barnett to add an indoor growing facility on his Old Meadow Road property, off Riverside Drive;
• From Joseph Presti III to dissolve the Country Way subdivision on Ilona Drive, off Crowell Hill Road;
• From Jeffery and Erica Bennett to build two residences in the shoreland zone on Sheafer Lane, both more than 100 feet from Webber Pond; and
• From Kevin Luczko for an automobile repair and sales business plus a beauty shop at 270 Main Street, on the south edge of East Vassalboro.

The Vassalboro Budget Committee was scheduled to meet March 6, but latest information from the town office is that the meeting has been canceled so budget committee members can attend the school board’s informational session.

The budget committee will meet at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 8, in the town office meeting room, after that evening’s selectmen’s meeting, scheduled for 6 p.m. The selectmen’s agenda includes a discussion with planning board members of proposed changes in Vassalboro’s building permit ordinance.