by Mary Grow

Veteran moderator Richard Thompson guided about five dozen Vassalboro voters through the first 37 articles of their annual town meeting warrant in a little over an hour the evening of June 7.

The annual town meeting continued at the polls June 8 with local elections; action on the new “Town of Vassalboro Marijuana Business Ordinance”; the school budget referendum, asking confirmation or rejection of the budget approved the evening before; and a decision on continuing the school budget referendum for another three years.

In the only elections June 7, budget committee members Donald Breton, William Browne, Phillip Landry and Peggy Schaffer were re-elected and Dallas Smedberg was elected to fill the seat vacated by Christopher French.

All warrant articles were approved, four with amendments.

The warrant article discussed at most length initially asked voters to authorize selectmen to “accept gifts of labor, goods, use of equipment, and money, and to implement those gifts for the donor’s intended purpose.”

Former Selectman Lauchlin Titus asked whether the article allowed selectmen to refuse a gift. For example, he asked, what if someone proposed to donate an ambulance – and leave the town to equip, man and maintain it?

Or, Clough Toppan suggested, a swimming pool on Main Street? He recommended selectmen consider what townspeople would say if they were allowed to vote on a gift.

Holly Weidner questioned letting the donor, rather than town officials, define the purpose of a gift.

John Melrose, retiring chairman of the selectboard, said during Vassalboro’s 250th anniversary celebration many people had donated labor, materials and money, for example for the renovation of Monument Park, in East Vassalboro. He expects more donations before the year is over.

Michael Vashon, a former town manager, reminded voters they could attend selectmen’s meetings – agendas are posted on the town website in advance – to voice their opinion on gifts.

Ultimately, the article was amended to include the words “or reject” in commas after “accept,” and was approved lopsidedly, with half a dozen people voting “no.”

The warrant article that would have funded 10 social service agencies in and out of town was amended after Melrose made a motion to delete $500 proposed for Literacy Volunteers of Waterville. The organization told him that it had disbanded, he said.

Voters then reappropriated the $500. They added $112 for the Sexual Assault Crisis and Support Center, bringing its appropriation to the requested $1,519 instead of $1,417 recommended by town officials (because, Melrose said, they try to stay with the same amount each year). And they added the remaining $398 to the China Region Lakes Alliance, increasing its appropriation from the recommended $7,500 closer to the requested $11,500.

The total for nine agencies remained at $24,017, as recommended by the selectmen and budget committee.

The other two amendments generated little discussion.

At Melrose’s suggestion, the authorization to let selectmen accept and use American Recovery Plan funds from the state and federal governments had county government added, now that selectmen know Maine counties have received grants.

The good news was for the article authorizing selectmen to pay the annual Kennebec County assessment. The estimated amount in the article was $383,911; Melrose said the final county budget reduced Vassalboro’s share to $379,384.

Four presentations were made at the beginning of the meeting.

• Michelle Michaud, from Senator Susan Collins’ Augusta office, presented a framed copy of the letter the Senator put in the April 21 Congressional Record recognizing Vassalboro’s 250th anniversary, with a condensed history, praise and congratulations.
• Melrose presented a copy of the Maine legislative resolution recognizing the anniversary, from State Senator Matthew Pouliot and State Representative Richard Bradstreet.
• Selectman Robert Browne presented a certificate to Melrose recognizing his service on the Board of Selectmen and in other capacities in the town.
• Melrose presented Spirit of America awards honoring volunteers to Jody Kundreskas and David Jenney, recognizing both for their work to improve town cemeteries and Jenney, additionally, for maintaining the town’s website and helping with other technical issues.

by Mary Grow

Vassalboro School staff and officials are offering extra help to students who need to make up for parts of subjects they missed because of Covid-19.

Projects and plans discussed at the May 18 Vassalboro School Board meeting included on-going after-school classes, planned summer school in August and teachers’ extra preparation for the 2021-22 school year.

Vassalboro Community School Principal Megan Allen said the after-school academic support program, led by different staff members on different days, is “kind of like the homework club” VCS used to offer. Students who stay get help with things they’re stuck on, a snack and a ride home. On May 18, 18 students had attended, she said.

Viking Summer Camp is scheduled for the first two weeks in August, to offer both remedial study to cover “gaps that were inevitable” and enrichment. Half a dozen staff will lead; students will get two meals and transportation.

Teachers plan extra time this spring and before school reopens in the fall to review the past year and plan ways to make sure every student can master material that should have been covered and move well-prepared into the next grade’s curriculum.

Allen is also scheduling a staff barbecue “to end the year on a positive note to let us get set up for next year.”

The rest of the school board’s business included review of the current year’s budget, continuing review of school policies, approval of promotions and acceptance of resignations. Finance Director Paula Pooler said the budget picture would be clearer after she made final tuition payments the following week.

Resolving a problem that was troubling Assistant Principal Greg Hughes at last month’s meeting, sixth/seventh-grade science teacher Taraysa Noyes was appointed baseball coach.

Superintendent Alan Pfeiffer reminded those present that Vassalboro’s annual town meeting, at which voters approve or amend the 2021-22 school budget, is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Monday, June 7, in the VCS gymnasium. On Tuesday, June 8, voters will approve or reject the June 7 budget decision by written vote, with polls open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the town office.

Because of the unusual number of ticks this spring, Vassalboro school grounds will be sprayed, Pfeiffer said. The brown-tail moth caterpillars in the trees cannot be sprayed, however, because getting rid of them would require aerial spray too close to the VCS building.

The next Vassalboro School Board meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday, June 15.

by Mary Grow

Vassalboro’s annual town meeting will be held Monday, June 7, and Tuesday, June 8. The town meeting warrant and related information are posted in the center column of the town website, www.vassalboro.net.

The open meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. Monday at the Vassalboro Community School gymnasium. After voters complete Art. 37 (the final item in the 2021-22 school budget), the moderator will recess the meeting until 8 a.m. Tuesday, when polls open at the town office for written-ballot voting on Articles 38 through 41. Polls close at 8 p.m.

For the open meeting, Town Manager Mary Sabins intends to divide the gymnasium by a solid curtain to conform to Covid-19 gathering limits. Rules for masking, social distancing and similar protective measures will be established as recommended by state authorities at the time.

For Tuesday’s written-ballot voting, Town Clerk Cathy Coyne recommends voters request and return absentee ballots, to minimize lines at the polls. The deadline for obtaining an absentee ballot is Thursday, June 3 (five days before the election); ballots must be returned before polls close at 8 p.m. June 8. Requests can be made in person, by telephone or by email.

The questions to be decided at the polls June 8 are as follows:

• Approval or rejection of the new “Town of Vassalboro Marijuana Business Ordinance,” which prohibits new marijuana businesses in town and regulates recreational and medical marijuana facilities and businesses that existed before the ordinance’s Feb. 18, 2021, effective date;
• Approval or rejection of the 2021-22 school budget approved the previous evening (the “school budget validation referendum”);
• Continuation of the school budget validation referendum for three more years, or discontinuance; and
• Local elections for three-year terms on the selectboard and school board. The only candidates on the ballot are Christopher French, to succeed John Melrose on the selectboard, and Jolene Clark Gamage, for re-election to the school board. As of May 24, neither Coyne nor Sabins was aware of any write-in candidate for either board.

The marijuana ordinance is on the website, well down in the center column.

The articles to be voted the evening of June 7 begin, as usual, with election of a moderator. Voters will next elect five budget committee members for two years; those whose terms expire in 2021 are Donald Breton, William Browne, Christopher French, Phillip Landry and Peggy Schaffer.

Art. 5 combines 14 spending categories that make up town services, including administration, public works, road paving, solid waste disposal, police and fire and others, for a total of more than $2.2 million.

Art. 6 asks voters to spend $293,500 for four purposes: $187,000 for the new culvert on Gray Road; $85,000 to add to the transfer station reserve account; $17,500 for a new furnace in the North Vassalboro fire station; and $4,000 toward restoring the Civil War statute in Memorial Park in East Vassalboro.

In Art. 10, selectmen ask permission to spend up to $230,000 for a new public works truck, with plow and sander. They plan to pay for it with $122,000 from the public works truck reserve and $108,000 from 2021-22 local taxes. They also want permission to sell a similarly-equipped 2009 truck.

Art. 11 asks approval to use up to $156,000 from the transfer station reserve fund to “provide up to two operational trash compactors” – there is now only one – and make other improvements. The reserve account will have approximately $156,000 in it only if voters approve Art. 6 adding $85,000, Sabins said. If Art. 6, or that part of it, is not approved, the transfer station appropriation in Art. 11 will need to be reduced.

Many municipal articles are familiar, like authorizing selectmen to apply for and accept grants (Art. 9) and to continue the annual alewife harvest (Art. 16); funding the Tax Increment Financing (TIF) program (Art. 17); and allowing selectmen to “dispose of” tax-acquired real estate (Art. 8) and town-owned property valued at $10,000 or less (Art. 18).

Art. 13 specifically requests approval to accept American Rescue Plan money from the federal and state governments.

In Art. 19, the selectmen request their annual $15,000 contingency fund to be taken from the town’s surplus account if needed “in the event of an emergency and to avoid overdrafts.” Article 20 has a list of 10 private agencies to which voters are asked to contribute.

The school budget is set forth in Articles 23 through 37. The total requested expenditure in Art. 36 is $8,313,609.72. It includes the state-required town contribution of $2,573,425 (Art. 34) and another $1,227,703.79 in additional local funds (Art. 35). The remainder is covered in Art. 37, which asks voters to authorize the school board to spend money received from “federal or state grants or programs or other sources.”

Vassalboro selectmen recommend that voters approve all articles. The budget committee recommends approval of all proposed expenditures. As of mid-May, Town Manager Sabins was projecting a property tax increase of barely over one percent if voters approved all expenditures.