Vassalboro school board gives preliminary OK to budget

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Vassalboro Community School (contributed photo)

by Mary Grow

Vassalboro School board members met earlier than usual April 6 to give preliminary approval to the 2023-24 school budget request, amended slightly from the draft they’d reviewed March 29 (see the April 6 issue of The Town Line, p. 2).

They then met with the Vassalboro Budget Committee to present the proposed school budget for that committee’s review.

The school board and the budget committee are scheduled to meet separately Tuesday, April 11, the school board at 6 p.m. at Vassalboro Community School (VCS) for its regular monthly meeting and the budget committee at 7 p.m. at the town office to consider its 2023-24 recommendations.

The revised school budget totals $9,027, 846.55, Superintendent Alan Pfeiffer reported. Of that amount, $145,475.81 is requested from local property taxes.

Pfeiffer distributed a sheet showing that fixed costs total almost 89 percent of the budget. These he defined as salaries and benefits, tuition, business services, the facilities director and fuel oil.

The superintendent, and during discussion with the budget committee Principal Ira Michaud, listed some of the reasons the proposed budget includes more people to assist students with individual problems and needs. They include residual effects of educational and social losses due to covid; many students being raised in single-parent homes or by grandparents; and effects of substance abuse (like a parent dying of a drug overdose, or a child permanently affected by being born to an addicted mother).

These issues are state-wide, not unique to Vassalboro, Pfeiffer said.

Michaud added to budget committee members that more Vassalboro students are being identified for extra help; staff are getting “better at figuring out students’ needs.”

Having the town’s Red Cross warming center for emergencies located at the school adds a small amount to the school budget, for maintenance and generator fuel, Pfeiffer added.

The school board’s discussion ended with Pfeiffer, Michaud and Assistant Principal Tabitha Brewer listing good things about VCS.

They included the school board approving collective bargaining agreements with salaries and benefits that keep VCS competitive in the area; the proposed social service staff additions; in-house curriculum planning for the coming school year; “a wonderful staff” (Michaud) who care enough about their students to spend extra time leading after-school programs; and a strong parent-teacher organization.

“It’s a lot of fun – we have fun every day,” Brewer said.

“We do,” Michaud agreed.

When school board and budget committee members met together, Pfeiffer expanded on some of the points made at the school board meeting.

The salary and benefits increases in six contracts range from three to six percent, he said.

The food service account, which was $180,000 in deficit in 2018, is currently $89,000 in the black. The 2023-24 budget does not include money to support the food service program.

Secondary tuition is up significantly. The figure is set by the state each December, based on secondary schools’ actual costs.

A year ago, Vassalboro’s budget did not foresee the 6.5 percent increase in December 2022. Pfeiffer hopes the two percent increase in the 2023-24 budget will cover what happens in December 2023.

“Tuition makes me the most nervous,” he told budget committee members.

Special education is another area of uncertainty, because if only one child needing extensive help moves to Vassalboro, costs rise significantly.

Budget committee members had questions on several topics, and Pfeiffer invited them to submit more before their April 11 meeting.

Pfeiffer and Michaud said:

  • Bus maintenance costs are up by $10,000 even though Vassalboro’s fleet is comparatively new, because labor and materials costs have risen. The proposed budget includes no new buses, nor does it include a third van, a proposal discussed at the school board’s March 7 special budget workshop (see the March 16 issue of The Town Line, pp. 8-9).
  • Federal CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) Act funding is supporting several staff members, who know their jobs will disappear when CARES money goes away, unless Vassalboro voters approve taking over funding.
  • School officials work cooperatively with the Vassalboro Public Library and with the Vassalboro recreation program, sharing the gymnasium and sometimes sharing program costs with the library and the parent-teacher organization (as for the April 4 presentations by Mr. Drew and His Animals, Too).

The joint meeting ended with distribution of printed copies of the March 2023 VCS newsletter, also available at public places in town and on-line on the vcsvikings website under the “News” heading.

Vassalboro planners approve one application, in part; discuss four other items

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by Mary Grow

With only one application on their agenda, and the proposed – and long-discussed – solar ordinance forwarded to the select board, Vassalboro Planning Board members had time to consider broader issues at their April 4 meeting.

The application was from Duane Ellis, seeking to expand his building at 27 Birch Point Road, on Webber Pond. He asked to enlarge the building footprint by no more than 30 percent, on the side away from the water; and to raise part of the roof by three feet.

Planning board members unanimously approved the first part of the application.

They were unable to authorize raising the roof, because Vassalboro’s Shoreland Zoning Ordinance sets height limits in the shoreland and Ellis’s building already exceeds them. Board members advised Ellis that he can apply to the Vassalboro Board of Appeals for a variance from the height limit.

Ellis praised the helpful state Department of Environmental Protection staff member with whom he had discussed other issues on his lot.

Planning board member Douglas Phillips asked his colleagues to consider four issues: a possible new ordinance, effects of a new state law and two procedural planning board documents.

First, he asked, given the water quality problems in Webber Pond, should board members consider asking voters to adopt a Phosphorus Control Ordinance, like the one China has had since 1993?

Part of the discussion of procedures at the April 4 Vassalboro Planning Board meeting covered the timing of submission of applications. Board members agreed that anyone wanting to be on a planning board agenda must submit an application to codes officer Robert Geaghan at least two weeks in advance.

Any application to be considered at the board’s May 2 meeting should be on Geaghan’s desk by Tuesday, April 18, at the latest.

The rationale is two-fold: Geaghan can review the application in time to distribute the agenda to board members by April 25, to give them a week to consider it; and he can forward the agenda to Vassalboro’s webmaster in time to get it on the website a week before the meeting.

(A copy of the China ordinance, chapter four of the town’s Land Use Ordinance, is on the website china.govoffice.org, under the heading Ordinances, Policies and Orders.)

A reason to consider such an ordinance is that Vassalboro still has undeveloped land around water bodies; requiring management of run-off should mean new development would not worsen water quality. But, board chairman Virginia Brackett asked, would it do enough good to matter?

Brackett suggested board members start with a review of Vassalboro’s strategic plan, adopted 17 years ago this June, instead of considering ordinances individually.

Phillips said he will ask Town Manager Aaron Miller if the opinion survey to be mailed out this summer with tax bills could include questions from the planning board – like whether residents would like a phosphorus control ordinance — if members choose to develop some.

Phillips’ second issue, on which board alternate member Dan Bradstreet (Waterville’s codes enforcement officer) had information, was the recent state law allowing more than one dwelling unit on a single-family lot. Designed to help alleviate the affordable housing shortage, Bradstreet said it is now in the rule-making stage, and is to take effect in July.

Right now, he said, “nobody knows what to do.” The law is complex, confusing and in places self-contradictory; the relationship to lot size and plumbing code requirements is unclear; even Maine Municipal Association attorneys with whom he talked “can’t agree on the meaning.”

Phillips had been reviewing old planning board documents and had questions about two. He recommended that board members review application forms to make sure they are complete. And he asked about a document called planning board rules of order.

Brackett commented that her copy of the rules is “so old it’s typewritten.”

In the past, planning board members served five-year terms, instead of the present two years; and at some point there were two alternate members, instead of one.

Board members thought two-year terms all right, but agreed to ask the select board to appoint a second alternate member. Their goal is to have one more resident well informed about board responsibilities and history.

Brackett thinks Vassalboro is in a minority of Maine municipalities whose planning board members are appointed rather than elected. She and Phillips approve of appointed members. They said election risks a complete membership turnover and a lack of consistency.

The next regular Vassalboro Planning Board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday evening, May 2.

Vassalboro select board gets legal advice on marijuana business ordinance amendments

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by Mary Grow

Vassalboro select board members got lots of legal advice at their March 30 meeting from attorney Stephen E. F. Langsdorf, of the Augusta law firm Preti Flaherty.

Joining the meeting virtually, Langsdorf answered questions from board members and Town Manager Aaron Miller about possible amendments to the town’s Marijuana Business Ordinance, and about dealing with occupied mobile homes on which the town has foreclosed for unpaid taxes.

Former codes officer Paul Mitnik raised the marijuana ordinance issue: he would like to eliminate the exemption for medical growing operations using less than 1,000 square feet. Langsdorf said since the state allows the exemption, the town should, too, even if it contradicts the stated goal of the ordinance, which is to prevent new medical marijuana operations in Vassalboro.

The attorney further advised that town officials do background checks on license applicants even though state officials do them, too; that the reference to “adequate disposal” of waste in the ordinance be left unspecific, to allow for case-by-case examination; that the codes officer not enter growers’ enclosed premises without permission (or a court order if necessary); but that a Knox Box to allow emergency entry is a “sensible” requirement.

Select board members postponed further consideration of ordinance amendments.

Later in the meeting, Miller told select board members the town foreclosed on four properties. One the owner has redeemed.

Three under discussion include two mobile homes on leased lots. Langsdorf said they are treated as personal property, not real estate, and summarized ways town officials should deal with them.

The other major discussion March 30 was with Lauchlin Titus and John Melrose about new heat pumps at the town-owned Vassalboro Historical Society building, formerly the East Vassalboro schoolhouse. Titus and Melrose explained what they had done about getting bids and cost estimates. Select board members agreed by consensus they will continue the process.

The Efficiency Maine program is expected to cover part of the cost; select board members intend to take the town’s share from American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. Voters at the 2022 annual town meeting authorized the board to accept and spend ARPA money.

In other business March 30:

  • Select board members extended the moratorium on new commercial solar projects approved last fall by another 180 days, after deciding they have authority to cancel the extension if town meeting voters on June 13 approve the proposed ordinance amendment governing such developments.

The proposed amendment would become Section XI of Vassalboro’s Site Review Ordinance. It is titled “Performance Standards for Commercial Solar Energy Systems.” A copy of the proposed amended ordinance is on the town website, Vassalboro.net, under the heading “What’s New in Vassalboro” in the center of the first page.

  • Board members appointed Matthew Pitcher to the town Conservation Commission.
  • They voted unanimously and without discussion to close the transfer station on April 9, Easter Sunday.
  • They opened bids on waste hauling and asked Miller to organize the figures in a spreadsheet for their next meeting. The current hauling contract expires in August; representatives of two bidders at the meeting said their prices would still be good then.

Select board members intend to join school and budget committee members for a discussion of the 2023-24 school budget, scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday, April 6, at Vassalboro Community School. The next regular select board meeting is scheduled for Thursday evening, April 13.

Vassalboro school officials explain budget proposal to school board

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Vassalboro Community School (contributed photo)

by Mary Grow

Vassalboro school officials – primarily Superintendent Alan Pfeiffer, Principal Ira Michaud, and Special Education Director Tanya Thibeau – led school board members through the proposed 2023-24 budget at a March 29 workshop meeting.

Board members raised some questions during the workshop and were encouraged to send more as they reviewed the figures and explanations. The board is scheduled to meet again at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, April 6, at Vassalboro Community School (VCS), before a joint meeting with budget committee and select board members at 7 p.m.

As of March 29, the proposed 2023-24 school budget was a little over $9 million, with state and school revenues providing more than $5 million and the remaining almost $4 million requested from local taxes.

Pfeiffer shared two pieces of good news. Vassalboro’s state allocation went up by about $115,000 when state education officials recalculated, he said; and the increase in insurance, budgeted at 10 percent, will be no more than six percent (a saving of at least $44,000 from the March 29 total; final figures are due April 7).

The superintendent said the school budget has not increased substantially in four years, despite increasing costs, and warned that the situation can’t last forever. Unlike many others, Vassalboro school department has no debt, he added.

Pfeiffer expressed appreciation to Finance Director Paula Pooler and her staff for many hours of work on the budgets for Vassalboro and its former partners, Waterville and Winslow. Vassalboro continues to save money by sharing staff with the other two towns.

Plans for 2023-24 include adding two VCS staff members. Pfeiffer and Michaud propose a second school counselor, and Thibeau recommends hiring an educational technician to work in the resource room with students who need extra help.

Pfeiffer made two points about staffing. First, he said, students are still dealing with effects of covid, and more than usual need individual attention. Second, special funds, like the 2020 federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, are contributing; when CARES funding ends, board members will need to decide whether to add money to the budget or reduce services.

CARES-funded personnel are aware that their employment may end when the CARES program ends in 2025, he said.

Board members are already looking ahead to future needs. Director of Maintenance and Grounds Shelley Phillips summarized building work discussed at the March 2 board meeting: repointing and cleaning the exterior brickwork, replacing the roof over the gymnasium and the cafeteria, replacing curbing along driveways and parking lots and air-conditioning the third floor.

Board member Jessica Clark asked Michaud about his long-term plans. The principal promptly replied that he would like VCS to offer an alternative education program, for students who don’t do well in regular programs, especially older students (grades six through eight).

Alternative education programs are aimed at integrating formal education and job skills, and often include an outdoor or environmental component. The example Michaud gave was a course led by an arborist, who would teach students about trees and also show them why they need reading, writing and math skills to succeed in the profession.

After the April 6 budget discussion, the next regular Vassalboro school board meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 11, at the school. It will be on the second Tuesday of the month, a week earlier than usual, because the week of April 17 is school vacation week.

Vassalboro couple connects people to detox

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Cynthia and Ryan Paige

by Jeanne Marquis

There is a brief window of opportunity during which a person in active addiction reaches out for help to get sober, and Ryan Paige, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of AccessDirect Recovery Network, knows from lived experience how quickly this window closes.

“Real time might be the last time,” Paige explains what he means by that phrase, “It’s the point when things are bad enough, whether physically or spiritually, when someone knows they need to make a change. They are ready to accept help. Now, if they have to wait for an available bed, then we are now closing the window on how much time we actually have because it’s very likely that before tomorrow they will either figure out a way to get high or decide it isn’t that bad, or die.”

The scarcity of available detox and residential treatment beds and funding makes this brief timeframe even more challenging to those who wish to assist people with substance use disorder to find their pathways to recovery. AccessDirect Recovery Network grew out of this challenge, to connect individuals with the resources they need while they are open to making a change.

There is no typical phone call. What people are calling for can be different – it can be anything from direction and connection to recovery resources such as medical detox, residential treatment or recovery residences. They need funding options. Some callers may say I’m not ready to get sober but I don’t have any Narcan. These callers are connected with resources that provide safe-using supplies, clothes, tents or other items to help them survive. The caller could be a parent looking for resources for a teen or emotional support for themselves. Whatever the need, Paige stresses the call is about developing a connection with the person on the other end. While Paige is on the call, his mind is also going over what services would be best suited for the situation. The options vary depending on insurance, financial ability, bed availability, funding capacity and scholarship availability.

Paige describes a call, “So if somebody’s looking for detox and they say, ‘I need detox for fentanyl. I’ve been sober one day and I’m really going through it. I really need to get into detox today’.”

After that call, Paige will be connecting to all the facilities in-network to connect them to a bed that meets their needs. Though AccessDirect does have a large list of facilities that are in network with most insurance providers, the majority of their calls are from people with Mainecare or no insurance and little to no financial means. Paige says, “They are coming to us driven by desperation and hopelessness “

Due to the scarcity of treatment beds in Maine, Paige knows he may be making numerous calls before he actually finds a solution and often those solutions are in other states. A person at that critical point may likely give up after the first rejection, and that is why AccessDirect does this work. Every person seeking recovery has the right to access appropriate timely treatment.

Paige began this work by making these connections himself until his wife, Cynthia Langlais Paige, helped him establish the 501-c3 nonprofit, AccessDirect Recovery Network. Now they have a team of volunteers on the phones and providing transportation. Paige says, “Cynthia is the brains and the CEO of all things that are Access Direct. I am the connection – the person with lived experience.”

All volunteers who answer the phone have lived experience so they can build the relationships necessary to gain the trust of the callers and connect them with the help they need including residential treatment and supporting all pathways to recovery. This vital human connection over the phone – something a directory or digital locator lacks – can often provide the caller the confidence to follow through with seeking treatment. Because the AccessDirect Recovery Network phones are active 24/7, they are more likely to have a solid assessment of availability of resources at any given time.

To contact AccessDirect Recovery Network for connection to resources, call (207) 482-3835. Donations of volunteer hours and/or money can be made on the AccessDirect Recovery Network Facebook page.

Malachi Lowery receives MPA Principals Award

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Malachi Lowery

Malachi Lowery, of Vassalboro, a senior at Erskine Academy, in South China, has been selected to receive the 2023 Principal’s Award, Headmaster Michael McQuarrie announced. The award, sponsored by the Maine Principals’ Association, recognizes a high school senior’s academic excellence, outstanding school citizenship, and leadership.

Lowery is a consistent high-honors student in a highly competitive academic program that includes all classes taken at the honors or accelerated level and numerous Advanced Placement and Concurrent Enrollment courses with nearby colleges. He has received recognition and accolades from within and outside the school for his standout accomplishments in the classroom, athletics (including KVAC All-Academic for soccer), and voluntary community service (exceeding 200 hours). Lowery has been awarded for outstanding achievement in physical education, advanced mathematics, physics, and United States history, and he is the valedictorian for Erskine Academy’s class of 2023.

“Malachi enjoys universal acceptance and respect of the school community. He is an exemplary student, school and community citizen, and a fine representative of Erskine Academy and young people.”

 

 

China and Vassalboro planning boards subcommittee continues work (April Fool’s story 2023)

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by Mary Grow

China and Vassalboro planning board members have created a joint two-town subcommittee to draft a new ordinance that, with voters’ approval, would be identical in each town.

Its working title is “An Ordinance Prohibiting Any More Town Ordinances or Ordinance Amendments Until the Year 2050.”

China’s planning board has five members – there are supposed to be six, but one position has been vacant since last fall. Vassalboro’s has five, plus one alternate member.

After a friendly discussion, each board chose two members for the subcommittee, with the agreement that tie votes will be decided by a coin toss.

They further agreed that subcommittee members will not be named and, at risk of violating several state statutes, subcommittee meetings will not be publicized, even to the other board members.

The drastic plan was adopted because both boards’ members have spent months writing, debating and rewriting new or amended town ordinances.

China planners have worked on a commercial solar ordinance off and on for more than two years and still do not have a satisfactory draft. Their recent project has been a review of amendments to the section of the Land Development Code dealing with the Board of Appeals.

After months of long and lively meetings, Vassalboro board members recently forwarded a commercial solar ordinance to the select board, whose members will decide whether to present it to voters at the June town meeting. In addition, planners have repeatedly considered amendments to the town’s Marijuana Business Ordinance.

As a step toward providing background and direction for the subcommittee, all members of both boards replied, anonymously, to a questionnaire prepared by board chairmen:

  • Without exception, board members welcome input from officials and residents as they work on ordinances. “We’re here because we volunteered, not because we think we know everything,” one member commented.
  • However, all but two board members questioned the accuracy of some of the information they get. “You shouldn’t believe it just because you found it on the web” was another comment.
  • All 11 board members consider a public hearing the proper forum to receive suggestions, and all 11 wish more residents would attend public hearings.
  • All 11 welcome evidence submitted in letters and emails; comments were both positive and negative. One board member said the person submitting a written comment had more time to think about it; another said written comments cannot be debated as readily as those presented in an open forum.
  • Board members unanimously think having the town’s attorney review a draft ordinance is essential. “Better a bill for services today than a lawsuit tomorrow,” one wrote.
    — Seven of the 11 board members said voters’ rejection of an ordinance would discourage them from trying to write or amend any other ordinances, however desirable. None would resign his or her board seat if an ordinance were rejected.
    — Despite voting to establish the new subcommittee, nine of the 11 disagreed with the statement that “[My town] has too many ordinances.” Two added comments to the effect that not everyone will avoid harmful actions without ordinances and laws; a third said, “No such thing as too much paperwork, even in the computer age.”

The new subcommittee is scheduled to begin meeting early in April, with the goal of presenting a draft ordinance to the respective planning boards by June. The anti-ordinance ordinance could appear on China’s and Vassalboro’s Nov. 7 local ballots.

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If you think this proposed ordinance is an excellent idea, The Town Line is sorry to disappoint you: you just read our annual April Fools Day story.

IF YOU BELIEVED THIS STORY, YOU ARE AN APRIL FOOL!

Vassalboro school board discusses buildings & grounds

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Vassalboro Community School (contributed photo)

by Mary Grow

Vassalboro School Super­intendent Alan Pfeiffer doesn’t know yet how much larger next year’s school budget will be compared to this year’s, but he expects an increase.

One item on the school board’s March 21 agenda was continued review of sections of the draft 2023-24 budget (see The Town Line, March 16, pp. 8-9). Board members discussed the school health program and building and grounds maintenance.

They scheduled a budget workshop Wednesday, March 29, at Vassalboro Community School (VCS). If they have enough information from the state education department and other sources, they hope to review the entire budget.

Pfeiffer reported March 21 that fuel prices had been determined, and he and Director of Maintenance and Grounds Shelley Phillips are pleased. The school department has locked in Dead River Company’s low bids: heating oil at $3.07 a gallon (10 cents over the current year, and they had feared at least a dollar increase); diesel fuel at $3.11 a gallon; and the small amount of propane needed at $1.74 a gallon (slightly less than this year, Pfeiffer said).

The total building and grounds budget Pfeiffer and Phillips shared with school board members is over $577,000, an increase of more than $31,000 (5.8 percent) over the current year. Higher wages and associated benefits account for much of the increase.

Phillips presented details on building maintenance plans. Two ongoing projects are replacing worn-out plumbing fixtures and replacing fluorescent lights with LED (the acronym stands for light-emitting diode) lights.

She told board members three major projects are pending in the next two or three years. The 31-year-old school (still referred to as “the new building,” she commented) needs its exterior brickwork cleaned and repointed and the gymnasium roof replaced; and curbing along driveways and parking lots needs replacing.

During discussion of the much smaller health budget, Pfeiffer commended new school nurse Megan Sutherburg and former nurse Mary Ann Fortin. Fortin, he said, subs when necessary and came in for several days to help during an outbreak of influenza.

An early highlight of the March 21 meeting was Principal Ira Michaud’s report on the VCS Pi Day celebration. Students competed to recite from memory the most digits of the number pi (which begins 3.14159 and goes on indefinitely).

Michaud reported, using adjectives “amazing” and “astounding,” that the runner-up in the contest was fifth-grader Serena Lacroix, who recited 130 digits and was disappointed: she’d done 150 in practice. The winner was sixth-grader Adrian Souza, who recited 187 digits correctly.

Winners were allowed to throw a pie at either the principal or the math teacher. His report included a photo of fifth-grade math teacher Lorraine Kingsbury and himself garnished with whipped cream.

The principal looks forward to scheduling other student competitions, like a spelling bee and a geography bee.

He also praised school counselor Gina David for holding Bubble Day to celebrate the first day of spring. Students blew bubbles on the playground; Michaud reported some called it “the greatest day at school they had ever had.”

Michaud summarized recent professional development programs, including one shared with Regional School Unit (RSU) #18 staff at the invitation of RSU #18 Superintendent Carl Gartley. The majority of teachers who attended said they would welcome more such cooperative programs; Michaud hopes some can be scheduled.

In other business, school board members unanimously approved the revised board handbook they have worked on for some weeks, subject to a replacement for the outdated cover photo. Pfeiffer plans to have the handbook on the VCS website, vcsvikings.org, and to distribute paper copies to public places in town.

After the March 29 budget meeting, the next regular Vassalboro school board meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m., Tuesday, April 11, in the VCS library. If another budget meeting is needed, it will be held as soon as possible after March 29.

Vassalboro budget committee asks broad question about needs and costs

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by Mary Grow

The Vassalboro budget committee’s March 21 meeting with select board members began with – and sometimes reverted to – a broad question about what townspeople want for their town and how much they are willing to pay.

Budget committee member Dallas Smedberg raised the question, in terms of whether the budget committee should endorse proposed spending recommended by the select board, or should emphasize fiscal responsibility and suggest a smaller budget.

Specifically, Smedberg said, he had reservations about the 6.5 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) recommended for town employees (and did not like the wage scale with automatic two percent annual increases, if job performance was satisfactory, that select board members adopted last year).

He wondered if the town’s new program director (the job title was changed from recreation director) was moving too fast; if the library really needed more town support to expand its activities and hours; if the police chief needed more hours, or if Vassalboro even needed its own police department.

Committee members Douglas Phillips and Donald Breton shared Smedberg’s concerns. As discussion proceeded, select board and budget committee members expressed varied opinions.

Town Manager Aaron Miller proposed including a questionnaire with 2023-24 tax bills seeking residents’ input on these and perhaps other town questions. Information would be too late to influence 2023-24 budget recommendations, but could help guide next year’s discussions.

For town salaries, Smedberg suggested a two or three percent COLA. Phillips feared employees would expect six percent annually, forever.

Miller had collected figures from other Maine towns; some were giving employees more than 6.5 percent, some less. His concern is retaining employees; select board chairman Barbara Redmond and member Frederick “Rick” Denico, Jr., remembered the difficulty of finding them in the first place.

Budget committee member Frank Richards cited another organization that adopted a pay scale similar to Vassalboro’s. It’s too recent for a complete evaluation, he said, but there is a full staff for the first time in three years, and morale and productivity are good.

Denico and budget committee member Philip Landry pointed out that Vassalboro’s location between Augusta and Waterville means local residents have many job choices.

Program Director Karen Hatch asked to have her hours increased from 20 to 30 a week. Phillips said he was “impressed” by her planned programs, but would like more specifics; and he wondered how much oversight she gets.

Landry commented that the recreation budget request, $65,898, is smaller than the library’s, and the program has more oversight and town control. (Hatch is a town employee.)

Redmond added that Hatch is working her full hours now, and warm-weather outdoor sports programs haven’t started. The recreation program used to be almost entirely youth sports; Hatch is developing activities for all ages.

What next, Smedberg asked, a recreation center with a full staff? Budget committee chairman Peggy Shaffer and Redmond said they had seen comments about a community center.

When discussion reached the proposed library budget, budget committee member Michael Poulin pointed out that this year’s requested increase was the second in two years – after no increase for at least a decade. At a previous meeting, library officials said they planned no more major changes.

According to figures Miller compiled, the library budget was $35,000 for fiscal year 2021-22 and $60,500 for the current — 2022-23 — fiscal year. The request for 2023-24 is $71,000.

Richards said director Brian Stanley’s innovations were attracting families with young children, and new working families were a benefit to the town.

Phillips recommended library officials do more fund-raising. Redmond said they intend to, now that the decline in Covid allows fund-raising events. Stanley said at an earlier meeting he plans to add a part-time staff member responsible for grant-writing.

Phillips also suggested a select board member be added to the library’s board of trustees. Miller and Redmond said town officials get library financial and program reports.

Regarding police chief Mark Brown’s request for additional hours, Denico and Redmond said Brown already works more hours than he is paid for.

Breton suggested contracting for policing with the Kennebec County sheriff’s office (KSO) and the state police for coverage, and dispensing with a local department. Redmond said the state police are “backing off on rural coverage.”

China and one other town contract with KSO, she said. The cost is $85 an hour; and at present KSO does not have enough staff to accommodate Vassalboro.

The current public safety budget, which covers the police department and the animal control officer, is $86,426. The select board recommendation for 2023-24 is $102,188. More than $10,000 of the requested increase is Brown’s salary and benefits, and another $6,000-plus is for dispatching fees. There is a decrease in the animal control officer’s line.

Miller presented preliminary estimates for non-tax revenues for 2023-24. They include vehicle excise taxes, state revenue sharing, federal funds, fees paid at the town office for licenses and other services and other items.

Budget committee members decided that if the school budget is ready in time, they will meet Tuesday, April 4, with school officials at the school. In any case, they are scheduled to meet at 7 p.m., Thursday, April 6, at the town office to make final recommendations.

EVENTS: Sew for a Cause plans Mothers-to-be Tea in Vassalboro

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Rachel Kilbride display some of the items prepared by the Sew for a Cause group, in Vassalboro. (photo by Eric W. Austin)

by Eric W. Austin

A special Mothers-to-be Tea is planned for Saturday, May 6, by the Sew for a Cause ladies, at St. Bridget Center, in Vassalboro. The event is free and open to all new mothers or soon-to-be mothers in central Maine, but because space is limited, attendees are encouraged to register by April 15. Owner of St. Bridget Center, Rachel Kilbride, says they are expecting about 50 new mothers to attend along with a guest.

Kilbride says the event is an effort to bring women together face-to-face and help new mothers connect with one another.

“Mothers today don’t have that same community we grew up in,” says Kilbride. “This [event] will give them the opportunity to meet other mothers and celebrate the fact that they’re new mothers.”

Shirley McQuarrie sorts through baby items prepared for the event. (photo by Rachel Kilbride)

The ladies of the Sew for a Cause group have been working furiously for months to create a bevy of handmade baby items to give out at the event. Totes filled with freshly made bibs, blankets, hats, cute stuffed animals and nursing quilts will be given out to attendees at the door, along with other assorted items that every new mother needs. And, of course, homemade baked treats and tea will be served.

Raffles are also planned, with items donated by local business sponsors of the event.

The Mothers-to-be Tea is being held on Saturday, May 6, the weekend before Mother’s Day, from 1 – 3 p.m.

“I was a Mother’s Day baby,” Kilbride says, explaining that they planned the event so it wouldn’t interfere with anyone’s plans to spend Mother’s Day with their own mothers.

Sew for a Cause is a group of over 50 volunteers from all over central Maine who meet on the first and third Thursday of every month at St. Bridget Center to socialize and sew homemade items to donate to local charities, including Catholic Charities, Newborns in Need, Sweet Dream Bags, the Ronald MacDonald House, Maine Children’s Home and area nursing and veterans’ homes.

The St. Bridget Center, at 864 Main St., in Vassalboro, is owned and operated by Rachel Kilbride and her husband, Jim, who have spent several years renovating the space. Aside from hosting free community events like community cribbage on Thursday evenings, Sew for a Cause, and this event for mothers-to-be, they keep the lights on by making the venue available to rent for birthdays, wedding receptions and other events.

To register for the free Mothers-to-be Tea by April 15, please send an email to motherstobetea2023@gmail.com or call 616-3148. To find out more about the St. Bridget Center or the Sew for a Cause group, email StBridgetCenter@gmail.com or follow them on Facebook.