Vassalboro school board briefed on full day, in-person classes

/0 Comments/in , , /by

Vassalboro Community School (contributed photo)

by Mary Grow

Vassalboro School Board members held their regular monthly meeting April 13, followed by a meeting with the budget committee to answer questions about their proposed 2021-22 budget.

Vassalboro Community School Principal Megan Allen said the second full day with classes back in person just ended, and went smoothly. The schedule called for one more full day Wednesday, April 14, followed by parent-teacher conferences taking part of the two days before vacation week, April 19 through 23.

Setting up the cafeteria had been a challenge, she said, with tables spaced at marked intervals and individual seats marked at the tables.

Total VCS enrollment is 395 students, Allen said, of whom 62 are learning fully remotely. The fourth grade has the largest proportion of remote learners, 12 out of 42; only one eighth-grader is learning on-line.

After weeks of having students coming to the building in cohorts on alternate days, “It feels really good to be able to say ‘See you tomorrow,'” Allen said.

School nurse MaryAnn Fortin continues monitoring and testing as needed, Superintendent Alan Pfeiffer added.

Pfeiffer and Assistant Principal Greg Hughes reported on two personnel shortages.

Pfeiffer said bus drivers are in short supply. Retired driver Ellie Lessard has again un-retired to help out, he said, but more drivers would be welcome.

And, Hughes said, baseball will not start unless a baseball coach appears. Sixteen boys have signed up and are waiting.

Softball has already started, Hughes said. He expects the VCS team will begin playing against other area schools in May.

In other business April 13, school board members accepted the resignation of math specialist Erica Millett; gave preliminary approval to the 2021-22 school calendar; and continued their ongoing review of school policies.

The next regular school board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday evening, May 18.

Vassalboro town warrant now includes school budget articles

/0 Comments/in , /by
by Mary Grow

In addition to another review of the draft warrant for the June 7 and 8 annual town meeting, Vassalboro selectmen continued plans for the April 26, 250th anniversary celebration, and discussed two other issues at their April 15 meeting.

The town meeting warrant now includes the school budget articles. Superintendent Alan Pfeiffer said the budget committee recommended them by a vote of eight in favor, one opposed and one abstaining at an April 6 meeting.

The warrant currently has 41 articles. The first 37, dealing with budget committee elections, appropriations for 2021-22 and policies, will be decided at an open town meeting that is scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m., Monday, June 7, in the Vassalboro Community School gymnasium.

The remaining four articles will be decided by secret ballot Tuesday, June 8, with polls open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., at the Vassalboro Town Office. Voters will elect municipal officers; decide whether to accept or reject a new “Town of Vassalboro Marijuana Business Ordinance”; confirm or overturn the previous evening’s school budget vote, the so-called school budget validation referendum; and decide whether to continue the budget validation referendum for another three years.

The marijuana ordinance is available for review on the Vassalboro website. Selectmen have scheduled a public hearing on the ordinance for 6:30 p.m., Thursday, April 29, at Vassalboro Community School.

They plan to sign the final town meeting warrant at their April 29 meeting, which will follow the hearing. As of April 15, they were still revising one article and waiting for the annual Kennebec County budget request.

The Monday, April 26, anniversary observance is scheduled for 10:30 a.m., at Monument Park, on Main Street (Route 32), in East Vassalboro, between the Historical Society building that was formerly the East Vassalboro School and the China Lake boat landing. Speakers will provide histories of the town, the park and the Civil War veterans commemorated by the monument.

Attendance is limited to 100 people, and masks are required.

As of April 15, Selectboard Chairman John Melrose, main organizer of the celebration, was still looking for a battery-powered speaker system. He has arranged to have a tent big enough to shelter the speakers in case of rain.

Selectmen made a decision on only one of the other two issues, unanimously authorizing Town Manager Mary Sabins to sign an agreement with Kennebec Water District to extend the Town Forest Trail across the western part of KWD’s land between East and North Vassalboro.

The trail extension, which Melrose suggested naming Red Brook Trail, will be about 1.1 miles long, running along Red Brook part of the way. The agreement calls it a hiking trail and limits uses to “walking, cycling, snowshoeing, and cross-country skiing.”

Prohibited uses include “night use, camping, loud activities, motorized use, open fires, hunting, and trapping.” However, the agreement specifically does not prohibit KWD from approving “traditional use…by local snowmobile groups.”

The town is allowed to build and maintain the trail with KWD approval of plans and use of equipment. The town will maintain it, oversee its use, build an informational kiosk and make and post regulations.

The agreement runs for one year, beginning June 1. Parties are to meet annually to renew it, with amendments if needed. KWD has the right to close all or part of the trail, and to terminate the agreement, at any time.

Selectmen took no action after Melrose reported on his discussions with the state Department of Transportation about improvements to sidewalks in North Vassalboro. Melrose had explored several types of curbing, looked into MDOT programs and gotten cost estimates.

His concern is that after MDOT repaves Route 32, nothing more will be done for years. The 2021 MDOT work plan includes repaving 0.73 miles of Route 32, in Vassalboro, beginning 1.14 miles north of Gray Road (which intersects Route 32 between East and North Vassalboro, south of the town office).

Melrose said MDOT installed the sidewalks and if the road were rebuilt would be responsible for re-installing them. Maintaining the sidewalks, he said, is a town responsibility, although Road Foreman Eugene Field told him MDOT workers sweep them each spring.

Vassalboro kicks off sestercentennial celebration with rededication of Civil War monument on April 26

/0 Comments/in , , /by

Vassalboro’s Civil War monument located at the East Vassalboro boat landing. (photo by Eric W. Austin)

by Lauchlin W. Titus

Have you ever looked at this monument, as I have, and wondered, “Who were these people? Did they all die? If so, how and where did they die? What units did they serve in?” I thought of some of these questions every time I studied the monument over a period of something like thirty years. Then, a couple of years ago I decided to see if I can answer any of these questions. Oh MY! There is SO MUCH information. I started with a Google search and that resulted in all sorts of different rabbit paths to run down. I ended up at the Maine State Archives and that is a treasure trove of information on each of the individuals listed on the monument….and every man who served in the Civil War from Maine.

The Vassalboro Civil War Monument has 63 names on it. The panels that face the West, the South, and the North have 47 names of Vassalboro men who died in the Civil War. The panel that faces East, towards China Lake, displays the names of 16 men who served and survived the war.

So, how did those 47 men die? Sgt. Doe, at the top of the list on the panel facing the West was killed by a falling tree as he and his men were cutting wood for fuel and winter shelter. Seventeen were killed in action or subsequently died of their wounds…..make it eighteen if you will join me in including John Estes who is known to have been wounded in the leg at Gettysburg and was subsequently listed as missing and no record found on him beyond that date. Twenty-three men succumbed to various illnesses and diseases and this matches most accounts of deaths in the Civil War….that death from disease was more likely than death in battle. The Battle at Gettysburg resulted in the names of five Vassalboro men on this monument, making it the most deadly battle of the war for Vassalboro.

The 63 men named on this monument served in 19 different units but more than half served in just three units. Some of them served in two or more units over the course of the war. The largest number, 17, served in the 21st Maine Infantry Regiment and most of them were in Company D. This was a nine-month enlistment unit that saw service in Florida and Louisiana. Charles Tarbell was the only one of this unit from Vassalboro killed in action and that was at Port Hudson, Louisiana. Six of the 16 survivors listed on the east side of our monument were in this unit. Two from the 21st re-enlisted in other units and were subsequently killed in action. Eight men of the 21st died of disease. The 16th Maine Infantry Regiment has 10 Vassalboro men represented, most of them being in Company E. Nine of the deceased are from the 16th. The 16th played a pivotal role on the first day at Gettysburg and was essentially sacrificed so the rest of the Union line could position itself safely. The 3rd Maine Regiment had 9 Vassalboro men scattered in numerous companies of that Regiment. Seven of these nine men died in the war.

The men listed on this monument that died in the war ranged in ages, at the time of their enlistments, from 18-51. There were three men over 40, seven who were 30-40 years of age, 16 were 21-30, and 19 of them were 18-21 years old.

There are a lot of puzzling things about the names on the monument … and the names not on the monument. One interesting quirk is that John F. Irving’s name is spelled as Erving on the monument, yet all the names are listed in alphabetical order and his name is where it should be for the correct spelling. Then I viewed a source listing 11 names of Vassalboro men who died in the war, with just four of those appearing on the monument. In other research I have found five more names of Vassalboro men who died in the war who are not listed on the monument.

There are detailed records showing Vassalboro sent close to 250 men to serve in the war. The Vassalboro Selectmen in 1868 submitted a list of 207 names of men sent to the war but 23 of the names on the monument are not on the selectmen’s 1868 list. Closer inspection shows the selectmen’s list was of men sent from 1862-1865 when the town paid bounties and/or aid to families of men serving. So units that mustered in prior to 1862, such as the 21st Maine, do not show up on this list. Company D of the 21st had around 50 men from Vassalboro with, as stated earlier, 17 of their names memorialized here on our monument.

Of the list of 207 names the selectmen submitted in 1868, several are not from Vassalboro and a couple of them were even from New Brunswick! This was because men from elsewhere could accept a towns’ bounty, or goas a replacement for a resident. Three of the names on the monument show up there because they were born in Vassalboro, but they actually enlisted someplace else (Ashland, Litchfield, and Orono).

The biggest question for me is how and why were the 16 names selected that are on the monument of men who did not die in the Civil War. One was our only Navy veteran, three were discharged due to disability, one had been a Prisoner of War, William T. Taber was a second lieutenant in the 21st, and the other 10 are simply listed as mustered out, honorable discharge. George Phillips was still alive at the time the monument was erected (he died April 8, 1911, at home in Waterville). He served in the 11th Maine Infantry from August 1863 until February 1866 rising through the ranks from private to corporal to sergeant. Why aren’t Vassalboro’ s higher ranking officers listed, such as Lt. Col. Nathan Stanley, or First Lieutenant Thomas Maxfield, both of the 21st, or Second Lieutenant Bradford W. Smart, of the 3rd, who was taken prisoner at Manassas?

I have a theory as to why there may be some discrepancies. Primarily, I believe it is easier and faster now to verify details from 1861-1865 than it was in 1904 when this monument was being created. Forty years after the war there were still survivors and family members of deceased men whose partial accounts of facts and events were probably not questioned. A more distant view of events now show that an individual may have been born in Vassalboro, enlisted elsewhere, subsequently died and thus their name made it on this monument. All of the card details on each individual who served can now be found on microfiche at the Maine State Archives. My investigation took many hours. Similar work in 1904 looking through tens of thousands of paper cards would have taken days or weeks of work. Online records now available make it possible to look at many sources from many places with a few clicks.

There is a lot more to learn! For instance, I get frequently asked about how many men from Vassalboro were in the 20th Maine, the famous Maine regiment credited with saving the Union line on the second day of the Gettysburg battle. Of the 50 or so Vassalboro men who were present at the Battle at Gettysburg, none were members of the 20th Maine. Vassalboro provided one individual, Preston Jones, to the 20th Maine in August 1864 and presumably he would have been present to witness the Surrender of Lee’s Army at Appomattox Courthouse on April 12, 1865.

Vassalboro Sestercentennial Scavenger Hunt Item number 1:

A postmark cancellation from any Vassalboro Post Office dated April 26, 2021.

Visit www.vassalboro.net for details.

CORRECTION: Previously this article stated there were 61 names listed on the monument. There are actually 63. The article has been updated.

Vassalboro selectmen to meet Thursday, April 15, 2021

/0 Comments/in , /by
by Mary Grow

Vassalboro selectmen meet at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, April 15, in person in the Vassalboro Community School gymnasium. Their agenda includes three main items:

  • Review of warrant articles for the June 7 and June 8 annual town meeting;
  • Report on discussion with the state Department of Transportation about a proposed Municipal Partnership Initiative Agreement for a paving and sidewalk project in North Vassalboro; and
  • An update by board Chairman John Melrose on a land use agreement with Kennebec Water District.

Vassalboro school board approves first reading of school budget

/0 Comments/in , /by

Vassalboro Community School (contributed photo)

Budget totals over $8.3 million

by Mary Grow

Vassalboro School Board members approved the first reading of their 2021-22 budget April 6, half an hour before they were scheduled to discuss it with the town budget committee.

The budget totals over $8.3 million. The increase in expenditures is over $330,000, or more than four percent.

However, changes in non-tax revenues mean the increase to Vassalboro taxpayers will be about $81,000. School Board Chairman Kevin Levasseur calculated $81,000 represents about one-fourth of a mil, or about 25 cents more in taxes for each $1,000 of property valuation.

Superintendent Alan Pfeiffer and Finance Director Paula Pooler emphasized how easily the budget can change. For example, after the March 30, school board meeting, they subtracted two students from the tuition account, because they will attend Maine charter schools. Charter school tuition goes directly to the school, Pfeiffer explained.

He then added that as of April 6, two new high school students had moved to Vassalboro; their tuition will add about $23,000 to the expenditure side of the budget.

The proposed budget asks voters to transfer $80,000 from surplus to help cover expenditures. The request for the current year was $70,000.

Part of the April 6 discussion focused on whether those withdrawals would leave a healthy-enough surplus. Pooler said she does not yet know whether this year’s expenses will require using any part of the $70,000; she is cautiously optimistic that it will not be spent.

She believes the surplus account will be adequate with the proposed $80,000 transferred out.

After the school board meeting adjourned, budget committee members joined virtually for a joint budget review.

Discussion of possible funding to repave and expand the parking lot led veteran planning board member Douglas Phillips to recommend talking with the Department of Environmental Protection about possible limits on additional impervious surfaces.

Budget committee members met in person two nights later, Thursday, April 8, to decide what more they needed to know about the 2021-22 school budget before they met again with the school board on Tuesday, April 13.

Their main immediate issues were what the school board could legally use federal Covid relief funds for and whether the already-low increase in local taxes could be eliminated.

Longer-range, budget committee members seconded Chairman Rick Denico’s hope that in the future, they could get school budget information earlier. Denico suggested a discussion with school board members over the summer.

On Tuesday, April 13, school board members were scheduled to hold their regular monthly meeting, followed by a joint meeting with the budget committee.

Vassalboro planners look at potential fourth solar development

/0 Comments/in , /by
by Mary Grow

Vassalboro Planning Board members listened to preliminary plans for what might become the town’s fourth commercial solar development, this one on Webber Pond Road. No action was expected and none was taken.

Bill French, from Illinois, Regional Director of Project Development for Sunvest Solar, based in Pewaukee, Wisconsin (“outside Milwaukee,” French explained), presented the proposal virtually.

He expects to have an application ready for review at the June planning board meeting. Depending on progress in negotiations with Central Maine Power Company and other factors, building might start in 2021, but a 2022 start date is more likely.

French said the solar panels will occupy 18.64 acres of a 34.4-acre parcel on the east side of Webber Pond Road, not far south off the Bog Road intersection. Sunvest is leasing the lot from David and Jennifer Jones on a 25-year lease, with two five-year extensions possible.

The panels will be in two sections, with an east-west line of trees between them left standing. Light-absorbing, non-glare solar panels, six or seven feet tall, will rotate to follow the sun. Because the land slopes gradually, no grading is needed.

Sunvest plans to plant native plants, especially flowering ones that will attract bees and other pollinators, under the panels and to mow the area once or twice a year. French said he intends to consult local people on appropriate plants for central Maine.

The project will have no buildings and no outside lighting. There will be little traffic, maybe one or two inspections a month and maintenance work a couple times a year.

Sunvest plans an eight-foot fence around the installation, French said. Planning Board Chairman Virginia Brackett mentioned the deer fence, rather than chainlink, proposed for a pending installation on Cemetery Street and asked about leaving holes near the bottom to allow small animals to go in and out.

In response to other board members’ comments and queries, French said he will find out what state permits he needs, perhaps from the Department of Environmental Protection or the Department of Transportation, and will work with town officials to provide a mutually satisfactory decommissioning plan.

The panels should be useful for at least 25 years, perhaps longer, he said. The 2.75-megawatt project will generate enough electricity to power 550 homes.

Vassalboro planners have previously approved two solar projects, one on Riverside Drive (Route 201) and one on Main Street (Route 32) between East and North Vassalboro. An application for a third on Cemetery Street will probably be on the May 4 planning board agenda.

Board members had three other applications on their April 6 agenda. According to Brackett, they:

  • Approved an amendment to the Stone Road subdivision allowing two lots to be combined;
  • Approved expansion of a deck at 201 Tilton Lane, in the Webber Pond shoreland zone; and
  • Approved Elizabeth Austin’s planned juice bar on Main Street, in North Vassalboro.
    Codes Officer Paul Mitnik, who is retiring for the third time, said former Codes Officer Richard Dolby will be his successor, taking over for the May 4 meeting.

Town of Vassalboro 250th Anniversary Commemoration

/0 Comments/in , , /by

Vassalboro Historical Society

The town of Vassalboro will begin the celebration of the town’s 250th anniversary on Monday, April 26, 10:30 a.m., at the Monument Park re-dedication. The schedule follows:

Opening Ceremony

  • American Legion Post 126 Chaplain prayer – James Kilbride;
  • Perspectives on 1771, Patsy Crockett, President, Kennebec Historical Society;
  • Monument Park, historical focal point, Jan Clowes, President, Vassalboro Historical Society;
  • The names on the monument, Lauchlin Titus, Vassalboro civic leader;
  • Recognition of Monument Park restoration work, John Melrose, Vassalboro Select Board Chairman.

Monument Park and the Vassalboro Historical Society, is located on Route 32, East Vassalboro. There will be a 100 person open air Covid limit. Masks are required.

Vassalboro selectmen, school committee suggest compactor supplement at transfer station

/0 Comments/in , /by
by Mary Grow

The transfer station was again the major topic as Vassalboro selectmen and budget committee members met sequentially at Vassalboro Community School the evening of April 1. The two boards seem to have reached agreement on a recommendation to voters at the June 7 town meeting

John Melrose, chairman of the selectboard, had condensed earlier discussions into a two-part recommendation. Phase one, to be done in 2021-22 if voters consent, involves buying and installing a new compactor that would supplement, not replace, the old one.

When selectmen and Road Foreman Eugene Field toured the transfer station the morning of March 24, Field pointed out that it was designed to have two compactors.

The second compactor Melrose sees going where open-top containers are now located, close to the current compactor. His plan includes the update to the electrical system that board members earlier agreed was essential.

Melrose recommends adding a hopper, a variable frequency drive, controls and a shelter for the second compactor. His proposal includes security alarms and gates and relocating the control building.

His estimated cost for the work came to $117,500. Reserve funds will cover about $95,000 of the total. Melrose recommended transferring $85,000 from surplus (formally called undesignated fund balance), with the hope that overfunding will give next year’s selectboard leeway to expand the project.

One suggestion he relayed from Field was to consider buying a skid steer instead of replacing the backhoe. The backhoe is used to compress materials in the open-top containers; the new compactor would minimize use of open-tops; and a more versatile skid steer should be more useful.

If the next selectboard chooses to do nothing more at the transfer station, the extra money can be put back into surplus. Selectmen and budget committee members agreed that the town’s surplus account is large enough to stand the withdrawal.

Town Manager Mary Sabins had prepared a revised budget sheet and revised town meeting warrant articles to match Melrose’s proposal. Selectmen and budget committee members supported them.

Budget committee members also supported selectmen’s recommendations on all other warrant articles for which firm figures were available April 1. They planned to meet next on April 6 with the school board.

In other business at the selectboard meeting, board members unanimously awarded two bids.

They sold the old fire truck to the highest of four bidders, Asian Auto Services, of Plaistow, New Hampshire, for $3,632.12. Firefighter Michael Vashon said the truck was sold “as is, where is”; he expects someone from New Hampshire to come and get it. Sabins said proceeds will go into the fire truck reserve fund.

For installing a new boiler at the North Vassalboro fire station, selectmen chose the lowest of three bids, $17,250 from Houle’s Plumbing and Heating, of Waterville, provided the price will hold and the company will wait for payment until the new fiscal year begins July 1.

After speaking with a Houle’s representative April 5, Sabins emailed that the company will buy the boiler right away, before any price increase, and will not expect the first town payment until July 1. The second payment will be due when installation starts and the final payment when the job is satisfactorily completed.

Should town meeting voters decide not to buy the boiler, Vassalboro will pay Houle’s a restocking fee, the manager wrote.

The selectmen also signed Sabins’ three-year contract renewal.

After the April 6 meeting, budget committee meetings are also scheduled for 7 p.m., Thursday, April 8, and Tuesday, April 13. The next selectmen’s meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m., Thursday, April 15; the agenda is supposed to include final review of the June 7 and 8 town meeting warrant. All meetings are currently scheduled to be held in person at Vassalboro Community School.

Vassalboro school board fails to finalize budget proposal

/0 Comments/in , /by

Vassalboro Community School (contributed photo)

by Mary Grow

Meeting March 30, Vassalboro School Board members were still unable to come up with a final 2021-22 budget proposal. They intended to try again Tuesday evening, April 6.

Part of the hold-up was external, including lack of information on what Vassalboro can expect from new federal pandemic money and what restrictions will be put on spending it. Pfeiffer is clear that the federal money cannot be used to replace existing budget items; it is to be used for future oriented projects, he and Finance Director Paula Pooler agreed.

Vassalboro and other schools used some of the last round of federal money to buy new buses that otherwise would have been in future budgets. One question Pfeiffer and Pooler raised is whether federal money could repave the school parking lot, a project that is no longer in the board’s draft budget.

Another unknown as of March 30 was the 2021-22 increase in insurance costs. Pooler said she hoped to have a firm figure by April 5.

Yet another external issue that comes up every year is how much Vassalboro will owe for high-school tuition for the full fiscal year. Every year the state sets the next year’s tuition rate in December. Every year Vassalboro administrators try to determine how many students will be in high school and which of the schools allowed by Vassalboro’s school choice policy each student will choose; and to guestimate how much tuition rates will increase in December.

The major internal factor still in doubt was the special education budget, which Special Education Director Tanya Thibeau was adjusting as she accounted for expected needs.

In addition to the budget discussion, board members agreed on a schedule for April that includes going back to five-day-a-week in-school classes beginning April 8 and continuing after spring vacation week (April 19 through 23) “unless things go crazy,” Pfeiffer said.

Because of the vacation week, the April regular Vassalboro board meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m., Tuesday, April 13, instead of the usual third Tuesday of the month.

VASSALBORO: Road complaints bring action by selectmen

/0 Comments/in , , /by
by Mary Grow

VASSALBORO – With roads unusually rough this spring, Vassalboro residents have complained, frequently and loudly.

Vassalboro selectmen have listened, sympathized and come up with a solution: a municipal helicopter service, tentatively named the Vass Fly.

The public works crew is surveying the town for a dozen or more helipad sites, probably including the town office lawn and the recreation fields. Selectmen are negotiating long-term leases on two dozen choppers and arranging to train public works employees as pilots and helicopter mechanics.

A Selectboard member reported that five residents with the necessary licenses have volunteered as pilots pending longer-term arrangements. Selectmen have asked the National Guard for help, once Guard members are done staffing vaccination clinics.

Among road complaints selectmen and town office staff reported receiving:

— A man spent a night in the emergency room after a bump threw him through the roof of his car. He has a concussion and sprained wrists, and can’t drive his car in the rain until the head-sized hole is patched.
— An eleven-year-old girl’s laptop is still lost in the puckerbrush after a violent jolt ripped it from her hands and threw it out the window of her father’s truck.
— Three residents are looking for new vehicles after the bottoms of two pick-ups and a Hummer were torn out when the wheels settled into deep grooves in the pavement. “That was my 2021 Ram – still had the temporary plates,” one man mourned.
— A series of heaves and dips threw a car off the road and over a stone wall into an orchard, where it damaged two Cortland trees. The driver admitted he should have known better than to go as fast as 25 miles an hour on that particular stretch.
— A couple complained that they could not access their driveway, which is near the top of a steep hill. Every time they slowed to turn in, either a trough in the pavement deflected the wheels and they missed the driveway, or a bump sent them back down the hill.
— A woman was carrying her damaged mailbox, which had been struck by a car whose driver was avoiding a pothole, when she stumbled and dropped the mailbox into the pothole. Her garden rake was not long enough to retrieve it.

One day, a selectman related, a town public works truck got hung up on a bump, all four wheels off the ground. Selectmen ordered the road closed, so the town crew put concrete Jersey barriers at each end.

“Made no difference,” the selectman said. “People drove right over the barriers without noticing them, they’re so used to bouncing up and down.”

Selectmen expect a whirlybird update at their April 1 meeting.

GUESS WHAT?

APRIL FOOL if you believed this.