Vassalboro residents ready for June 4 town meeting

/0 Comments/in /by
by Mary Grow

Vassalboro voters are scheduled to assemble at the Vassalboro Community School at 6:30 p.m. Monday, June, 4, for their annual town meeting, at which they will elect budget committee members, authorize spending for the 2018-19 fiscal year and settle policy questions.

The meeting continues on June 12 with a two-question local ballot asking voters to endorse or reject the school budget approved June 4 and to elect two town officials. John Melrose and Jolene Clark Gamage are unopposed for re-election to the board of selectmen and the school board, respectively. Vassalboro polls will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. June 12 in the town office meeting room.

At the June 4 meeting voters will need to choose at least three new budget committee members: Melrose and Eddie Scholz have resigned, and Elizabeth Reuthe will not seek re-election.

The committee has 10 members who serve two-year terms. The person elected to succeed Scholz will serve only one year, to finish his term that ends with the 2019 town meeting. (ep)

Most of the expenditure requests are similar to prior years’ proposals. Voters are asked to approve a municipal budget totaling more than $2 million and a school budget totaling more than $7.7 million.

If voters approve all expenditures as recommended by the selectmen and school board, Town Manager Mary Sabins calculates they will increase the local tax rate by 90 cents for each $1,000 of valuation, from 14.55 mils ($14.55 for each $1,000 of valuation) this year to 15.45 mils in 2018-19.

The budget committee agrees with most of the expenditures as proposed. They differ with selectmen on Art. 7, asking for $37,500 to be added to reserve funds set aside for a new plow truck and a new roof on the Riverside fire station: both boards approve the amount, but selectmen recommend taking it from taxation and the budget committee recommends appropriating it from the town’s surplus (also called undesignated or unassigned fund balance).

On Art. 8, funding for the public works department, Budget Committee members recommend $3,000 less than selectmen have endorsed.

On the school budget, budget committee members recommend a $50,000 cut, to be taken, they suggest, from the Vassalboro Community School administration account.

The two boards agree in recommending a total of $14,617 for 11 social service and similar agencies and groups that asked for town funds. The requests total $23,094 (Art. 34).

Most of the policy issues are also familiar:

  • setting four tax due dates and authorizing sale of alewives, for example. New questions include:
  • a request for authorization to apply for grant money to provide a generator at Vassalboro Community School so that the school might become an emergency shelter (Art. 22);
  • a request to accept two parcels of land on South Stanley Hill Road from Paul and Elisabeth Cates (Art. 23); and
  • action on a revised Building Permit Ordinance (Art. 24).

The revised ordinance is on the town website, and copies are available at the town office. The town meeting warrant is also on the website, posted in public places in town and printed in the town report for 2017.

Vassalboro Appeals Board upholds permit to So. Stanley Rd. resident

/0 Comments/in , /by
by Mary Grow

At a May 22 meeting, Vassalboro Board of Appeals members unanimously denied Jonathan Blumberg’s appeal of a March permit granted by Codes Officer Richard Dolby to Bernard Welch of South Stanley Hill Road.

On March 20, Dolby issued a permit to allow Welch to modify a previously-approved auxiliary building, described as a shed for processing vegetables, by adding a stairway to upstairs living quarters. Blumberg believed the permit was improperly granted, for a variety of reasons.

In a preliminary action when the appeal was first presented May 8, Blumberg challenged the adequacy of public notice. Board members John Reuthe, Leon Duff and Gary Coull voted unanimously that notice requirements were met for the May 22 meeting.

Blumberg again challenged the list of abutters who were notified, claiming it should have included residents across South Stanley Hill Road and across Outlet Stream. Welch’s lot with the building for which the permit was issued extends west to the stream; he owns a separate lot on the east side of the road.

Board members, guided by town attorney Kristin Collins, found that Welch’s second lot was not involved and that Outlet Stream is a barrier.

In other preliminary issues, board members rejected Blumberg’s claims that Collins and Reuthe were not impartial. Collins said she had nothing to do with granting the permit. Coull and Duff voted that Reuthe’s connection with Welch’s wife Jody through the Oak Grove Foundation did not constitute conflict of interest or bias.

Oak Grove Foundation spokeswoman Joann Austin said Jody Welch is on the foundation’s board and Reuthe is a candidate for membership who attended an April board meeting.

With the preliminary issues out of the way, Blumberg presented arguments against the permit, starting with Welch’s violation of Vassalboro’s subdivision ordinance in 2015 and 2016. The town ordinance prohibits issuing a permit to someone in violation of any ordinance or who has done something requiring a permit without getting the permit.

He also questioned the validity of the curb cut permit issued by the state Department of Transportation; questioned the type or types of business in which Welch engages, whether farming, a bed-and-breakfast or something else, and whether a site review permit should have been required for a new commercial operation; and claimed the septic system approved with the building was too close to a wetland.

Board members found Welch’s earlier violation had been resolved before the March 2018 permit was issued. They emphatically rejected Blumberg’s interpretation of the town ordinance as meaning that someone who acted without a required permit was thereby forever barred from getting any other town permit.

They ruled that they had no jurisdiction to review the curb cut approved by the state.

They found that the septic system permit had been properly issued, based on information Dolby supplied from state shoreland maps and his report of an inspection by state officials and local soils scientist Jack Lord.

They ruled that the modification to the building did not require a site review permit. Collins read from the town ordinance that site review requirements do not apply to residences, home occupations or agricultural occupations.

Having unanimously rejected Blumberg’s arguments, board members voted unanimously to deny his appeal.

Blumberg asked that his objections to several board actions be recorded. Collins stated Blumberg’s right to ask for a reconsideration or to appeal the board’s decision to Superior Court. The board’s decision is final as of May 22, she said, but board members will need to reconvene at a date to be determined to sign a formal notice of decision in a public meeting.

Senior Services Fair first event at renovated church

/0 Comments/in , /by

Photo courtesy of Pearley Lachance

Many local people attended the Vassalboro Senior Services Fair on May 23, the first event held at the newly-renovated St. Bridget’s Community Center, formerly the St. Bridget’s Catholic Church, on Main St., in North Vassalboro. An open house will be held Sunday, June 10 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

Photo courtesy of Pearley Lachance

CORRECTION: This story previously stated the community center’s open house was on June 20. It is on Sunday, June 10. We apologize for the error.

Dubois, Grass and Veilleux on Dean College dean’s list

/0 Comments/in , , /by

Dean College, in Franklin, Massachusetts, has named the students that have earned a place on the dean’s list for the Fall 2017 semester.

Cami Dubois, of Winslow; Madison Grass, of Vassalboro; and Joshua Veilleux, of Winslow.

Vassalboro board of appeals gives farm stand go ahead

/0 Comments/in , /by

source: http://www.vassalboro.net/

by Mary Grow

Vassalboro Board of Appeals members unanimously granted Parker Denico the variance from shoreland requirements that should let him open a farm stand in North Vassalboro.

Raymond Breton’s lot on which Denico has permission to put the stand does not extend far enough east from Outlet Stream to let Denico set the temporary building the required 100 feet from the water. He estimates it will be about 50 feet from the stream. He therefore needed a variance from the setback requirement.

Codes Officer Richard Dolby told the three board of appeals members at the May 15 meeting they are required by the town’s Shoreland Zoning Ordinance to find that failure to grant the variance would create an undue hardship. There are four criteria by which “undue hardship” is measured, he said:

  • The “land in question cannot yield a reasonable return” without a variance.
  • The variance is needed “due to the unique circumstances of the property and not to the general conditions in the neighborhood.”
  • Granting the variance “will not alter the essential character of the locality.”
  • The “hardship is not the result of action taken by the applicant or a prior owner.” The ordinance gives the board of appeals the right to impose conditions on any variance granted. Board members added two conditions:
  • The only building allowed will be the planned seasonal farm stand, to operate between June 1 and Oct. 31.
  • The variance will be reviewed after one year.

Dolby was not sure that a temporary, reviewable variance would be accepted by state regulators who oversee variances granted by local boards.

Denico’s next step is to return to the planning board to get his shoreland permit. Since the next regular planning board meeting is not until June 5, a special meeting might be scheduled late in May.

Vassalboro auditor happy with town finances, but not the school’s

/0 Comments/in , /by

source: http://www.vassalboro.net/

by Mary Grow

Vassalboro’s auditor is happy enough with the town’s financial position, but not with the school department’s.

Reviewing the audit for the year that ended June 30, 2017, with selectmen at their May 17 meeting, Ron Smith, director and managing partner of RHR Smith & Company, in Buxton, began by pointing out the inequitable distribution of the total Vassalboro budget, about $7.5 million in school funding and about $2.5 million in municipal funding.

Based on annual expenditures and depending on what time frame is used, a municipality with a $10 million budget should have an unassigned fund balance (also known as an unrestricted or undesignated fund balance, formerly called surplus) of at least $800,000 and maybe more than $2 million, Smith said.

Vassalboro was showing a surplus of around $1.2 million at the end of the 2016-17 fiscal year, or about enough to cover 45 or 50 days’ expenditures in the event of some kind of total national financial catastrophe.

But, Smith said, the surplus is masking a deficit in the annual school budget of more than $325,000 – about $70,000 in annual loss in the school lunch program and the rest in teachers’ salaries to be paid over the summer and not funded in the school budget. “You’ve got a healthy fund balance,” Smith assured selectmen, but if school funds were not counted in with municipal funds, the municipal surplus would be a healthier $1.5 million and the school would be visibly in deficit.

From an auditor’s standpoint, there are two ways to deal with the imbalance, Smith said: raise taxes to cover the school deficit, or ask voters to approve transferring town funds to the school budget. Neither can be presented to voters at the June 4 town meeting, since the articles for the meeting are already approved and being printed.

He recommended two prompt actions:

  • Town Manager Mary Sabins should call the AOS (Alternative Organizational Structure) #92 office and find out what the school’s current deficit is, and
  • Selectmen should meet with school board members.

Board Chairman Lauchlin Titus explained that as of July 1, 2018, the AOS will be dissolved, by the March vote of the member towns, and Vassalboro will have its individual school department. The school board’s plan is to hire a part-time superintendent and to contract with Waterville and Winslow for most of the services now provided by the AOS central office.

Selectmen concluded from listening to Smith that in addition to dealing with school-municipal relations, they need to revise the town’s investment policy, a one-and-one-half page document adopted in 2012. Smith agreed and offered to send Sabins copies of other municipal policies and help her craft one specifically for Vassalboro for selectmen’s review.

In other business, selectmen scheduled a public hearing on the Vassalboro Sanitary District’s application for Tax Increment Finance (TIF) funds to help with the planned sewer connection to Winslow. The hearing will be at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 31, during the selectmen’s meeting that begins at 6:30 the same evening.

Board members approved a liquor license for a wine and beer tasting event, part of the Save the Mill fund-raising series, scheduled for Saturday, July 7. Board Chairman Lauchlin Titus abstained on the vote, because his wife Linda heads the Vassalboro Business Association that is sponsoring the event.

Worcester Polytechnic Institute announces fall 2017 dean’s list

/0 Comments/in , , , , /by

The following local residents were among 1,608 students from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), in Worcester Massachusetts, named to the university’s dean’s list for academic excellence for the fall 2017 semester.

McKenzie Brunelle, of Sidney, is a member of the class of 2018 majoring in biomedical engineering.

Madison Michaud, of Vassalboro, is a member of the class of 2019 majoring in biomedical engineering.

Molly Silsby, of Augusta, is a member of the class of 2021 majoring in mechanical engineering.

Vassalboro Senior Services Fair set for May 23

/0 Comments/in , /by

source: http://www.vassalboro.net/

by Mary Grow

Vassalboro’s second senior services fair is scheduled for noon to 4 p.m. Wednesday, May 23, in St. Bridget’s Center, the new community meeting space in the former Catholic church at 864 Main Street in North Vassalboro.

Sponsored by FAVOR (Friends Advocating for Vassalboro’s Older Residents), the fair will take advantage of the larger space – last year it was held in the town office meeting room – to offer something for almost everyone.

Twenty-two organizations are listed alphabetically on the posters advertising the fair, starting with AARP Maine and the Alzheimer’s Association and ending with Waterville Area Habitat for Humanity and 47 Daisies, the educational farm on Webber Pond Road.

Those attending the fair will be able to get information from representatives of those groups and a variety of other educational, medical and social service agencies.

Admission to the fair is free. There will be door prizes, and from 11:30 a.m. on, students in Vassalboro Community School’s JMG (Jobs for Maine Graduates) program will sell hot dogs and other refreshments. More information is available from Debbie Johnston at the Vassalboro town office. According to the 47 Daisies website, the farm is sponsoring a community potluck at the mill in North Vassalboro beginning at 6 p.m., Friday, May 18. Residents are invited to share food, listen to live music and learn about the farm’s mobile food access program.

Vassalboro board of appeals schedules two meetings; Denico veggie stand, Welch permit

/0 Comments/in , /by

source: http://www.vassalboro.net/

by Mary Grow

The Vassalboro Board of Appeals has two meetings scheduled, one tentatively on May 15 and one on May 22, both at 7 p.m. in the town office meeting room.

On May 15, board members plan to hear Parker Denico’s request for a variance from shorefront setback requirements, if Denico submits his application soon enough. He seeks to open a seasonal vegetable stand in North Vassalboro less than 100 feet from Outlet Stream, and learned at the May 1 Planning Board meeting that he cannot get a Planning Board shoreland permit unless the Board of Appeals first grants him a variance.

The May 22 meeting, a continuance of the board’s May 8 meeting, is to hear Jonathan Blumberg’s appeal of a permit granted by the codes officer to Bernard Welch. At the May 22 meeting Blumberg objected that the required notices in a newspaper and to abutters had not been given.

Owners of properties sharing a boundary line with the Welch property at 78 South Stanley Hill Road were notified, but not those across the road. Attorney Kristen Collins said if South Stanley Hill Road is a state-owned road, across-the-street residents are not abutters. Since no one knew whether the road is owned by the state, the town or perhaps the property-owners on either side, Collins advised sending additional notices.

Vassalboro school recognizes most improved students

/0 Comments/in , /by

From left to right, front to back, Peter Giampietro, Ryder Neptune-Reny, Braiden Crommett, Zoey DeMerchant, Noah Rau, Lukas Blais, Sovie Rau, Baylee Fuchswanz, Tyler Clark, Mason Lagasse, Andrew Maxwell, Mylee Petela, Tallulah Cloutier, Addyson Burns, Paige Littlefield, Kaiden Morin, Echo Hawk, Kayden Painchaud, Principal Dianna Gram, Tabitha Craig, Lexi Allen, Hunter Brandt, Lara Stinchfield, Nathalia Carrasco, John Nutting and Joshua Bonsant. Absent from photo, Cameron Willett, Emily Paetow, Hailey Fongemie, Kazlynn Davidson and Owen Pooler. (Contributed photo)

Students at Vassalboro Community School were recently recognized as most improved students by the Portland Seadogs baseball team and Next Gen. Students were selected by their teachers.