Solar power tops action at town meeting

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by Mary Grow

Guided by veteran moderator Richard Thompson, 81 registered voters, according to Town Clerk Cathy Coyne, took less than two hours to approve the first 63 articles of their June 3 and June 11 town meeting warrant as presented. The meeting is now in recess until 8 a.m. Tuesday, June 11, when polls open in the town office for written-ballot action on the final three articles.

The longest discussion during the open meeting was over the selectmen’s request for authority to enter into an agreement to have solar power installed. Selectman John Melrose explained that by approving the article, voters authorized selectmen to go through with an idea they have discussed for several years. In answer to voters’ questions, Melrose said:

  • Any solar installation would be on town-owned land, with the lawn at the town garage a possibility but not necessarily the final choice.
  • According to the plan considered in the past, there would be no upfront cost to the town; money would be taken from savings in the electric bill until the project was paid off, probably in around six years.
  • The warrant article required any solar array to provide power for Vassalboro’s two fire stations, the town office and the Historical Society building (formerly the East Vassalboro School) at a minimum; Vassalboro Community School, the transfer station or other town buildings are not necessarily excluded.
  • Solar-generated power would feed into Central Maine Power Company’s system and be credited to Vassalboro; there would not be new lines from the solar array to town buildings.
    Other new proposals approved with little or no discussion included:
  • Seeking grants and using supplemental town funds to install a generator at Vassalboro Community School, so it could be used as an emergency shelter.
  • Using up to $1,000 in tax money plus grants and donations to improve Soldiers Memorial Park, in East Vassalboro, with a plan to rededicate it during the town’s 250th anniversary observance in 2020. The statue of a soldier in the park is missing its rifle; Town Manager Mary Sabins appealed to anyone who knows where it is to contact the town office.
  • Acquiring the lot on which the Riverside Fire Station stands from the Riverside Hose Company, to whom it was given many years ago conditional on use for a fire station.
  • Allowing selectmen to approve modifications to the China Lake Outlet Dam, which the town owns, as part of the Alewife Restoration Project (ARI). Resident and Department of Marine Resources employee Nate Gray estimated the planned fishway at the dam would cost somewhere around $370,000. Sabins explained that the vote does not mean the town pays $370,000; ARI is funded through grants and donations, including annual donations from the town. Voters approved $47,500 for ARI for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

Voters authorized buying a new plow truck and a new police cruiser. During discussion of the cruiser, speeding problems on town roads and Police Chief Mark Brown’s duties, one resident expressed the hope that people driving to and from the Criminal Justice Academy would slow down.

Routine articles funding the various town departments were passed with little or no discussion. The transfer station request led former Selectboard member Elizabeth “Libby” Mitchell to ask whether local recycling would return.

Current Board Chairman Lauchlin Titus replied, “Libby, when I joined you as a selectperson, I didn’t know how much I’d learn about trash. Now I can talk trash with the best of ‘em.”

Titus went on to the explain that all Vassalboro trash, “to our dismay” is landfilled until the Coastal Resources plant in Hampden opens, probably in July. Once the plant is fully operational, Coastal Resources “will do our recycling for us,” he said.

Voters re-elected Donald Breton, William Browne, Philip Landry and Peggy Shafer to the budget committee and chose Christopher French to succeed Richard Phippen.

Dianna Gram plaque

Former Vassalboro Community School Principal Dianna Gram, who retired at the end of the 2017-18 school year, was recognized for her 24 years of service. School Board Chairman Kevin Levasseur and member Jolene Clark Gamage announced a tree has been planted in the school’s front yard with a plaque honoring the principal who, Gamage said, “always was a champion of the kids.”

Gram, completely surprised, said when she was bidden to attend the town meeting, she feared she had somehow messed up the budget. Her Vassalboro job wasn’t a job, she said – “It was coming here every day as part of the VCS family.”

When the town meeting continues June 11, voters will re-approve or reject the $7.7 million school budget approved June 3; decide whether to continue the second school budget vote (called the budget validation referendum) for another three years; and elect municipal officers. Selectman Robert Browne and school board members Jessica Clark and Levasseur are unopposed for re-election.

Retired principal honored at Vassalboro town meeting

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Kevin Levasseur, chairman of the Vassalboro School Board, left, Jolene Gamage, right, and retired Vassalboro Community School principal Dianna Gram, center. (Contributed photo)

Kevin Levasseur, chairman of the Vassalboro School Board, and Jolene Gamage, a board member, present a recognition to retired Vassalboro Community School principal Dianna Gram for her 24 years of service to the school. The plaque was placed at the base of a tree commissioned and planted on the front lawn near the flagpole.

The Town Line reporter Mary Grow receives Spirit of America award

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Chairman Lauchlin Titus, of the Vassalboro Board of Selectmen, and Mary Grow (Photo courtesy of Mary Sabins)

At the annual town meeting held at the Vassalboro Community School on Monday, June 3, 2019, Chairman Lauchlin Titus, of the Vassalboro Board of Selectmen, presented the 2019 Annual Spirit of America Award to Mary Grow to honor her for her commitment to exemplary local journalism as demonstrated by her years of dedicated attendance at Vassalboro board meetings, and reporting on Vassalboro activities and events to the public. The Spirit of America Foundation Tribute is presented in the name of Maine municipalities to local individuals, organizations and projects for commendable community service.

Gov. Mills visits Webber Pond dam fish ladder

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Maine Gov. Janet Mills, center, netted some alewives at the Webber Pond Dam, in Vassalboro, on a recent visit. She is flanked by Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Pat Keliher, left, and Vassalboro resident, and Webber Pond Board of Directors member Phil Inness. (photo by Jeff Nichols)

Governor Janet Mills visited the Webber Pond alewife fish ladder on Thursday, May 30. It was an historic event. She is the first governor to visit an alewife fish ladder at all, much less to bring the Commissioner of Marine Resources Pat Keliher and the Commissioner of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, Judy Camuso to Webber Pond, in Vassalboro.

Gov. Janet Mills, left, discuss alewives at Webber Pond Dam with Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Pat Keliher, right, and Vassalboro resident, and Webber Pond Board of Directors member Phil Inness, center. (Photo by Jeff Nichols)

Webber Pond Association President Frank Richards got to interact briefly. The governor seemed to be having a good time. She was interested to learn that brook trout also ascend the fish ladder and that Webber Pond has become a well-known lake in the realm of bass clubs, tournaments, and even Bassmaster’s magazine.

Webber Pond was one of the first alewife restorations and it has become something of an example for other lakes. The pond has had a run now for about 15 years; since approximately 2004 when the first adults returned from the ocean.

This year the governor’s visit was scheduled on a “Count” day. She borrowed a net from the harvester for the sake of a photo op.

A lot of the conversation centered on the environmental benefits of alewife restoration. The group also had the experience of watching an eagle swoop down and pluck an alewife out of the water.

Next year, possibly, this can be done again and scheduled on a harvest day, in order to present the economic development benefits of alewife restoration to the lobster bait business, lobstering, and especially to the marine fishery.

Alewives are more than lobster bait. They significantly increase the forage available to haddock, cod, and other species in the Gulf of Maine.

Results of dam removal

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With the removal of the Lombard Dam, in Vassalboro, another section of the China Lake Outlet Stream is flowing freely. (photo by Matt Streeter)

 

photo by Matt Streeter

The caption for the above photo has been corrected. It was an editing error.

School board decides to reluctantly raise school lunch prices by 10 cents

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Vassalboro Community School. (source: jmg.org)

by Mary Grow

At their May 21 meeting, Vassalboro School Board members reluctantly voted to raise the bill for a full-price school lunch from $2.75 this year to $2.85 for the 2019-2020 school year.

A food service memo requested the increase, explaining that it is required by the federal government, whose officials found almost a decade ago that schools were undercharging for paid meals.

Federal money reimburses Vassalboro $3.31 for each free lunch and 31 cents for each paid lunch. Vassalboro should charge the $3 difference, so that reimbursement for free meals no longer subsidizes paid meals. A federal calculator sets 10 cents a meal as the maximum annual increase until the $3.00 figure is reached. Failure to comply could lead to loss of federal funds.

On another topic, Superintendent Alan Pfeiffer said the board can choose to extend Title I services to all students, instead of only to those identified as needing extra academic support. The federal Title I program is intended to help disadvantaged students, those at risk of not doing well in school for any of a variety of social or individual reasons.

In the plan is approved, Curriculum Coordinator Mary Boyle said, Title I staff can work with students before they fall behind. She and Principal Megan Allen agreed staff would be working differently, not more, so there would be no cost increase.

Boyle is under contract with Vassalboro as a holdover from former AOS (Alternative Educational Structure) #92. School board members intend to review the three-year contract with the former AOS at a future meeting –probably not at the June 18 board meeting, Pfeiffer said, as shared personnel will be very busy with end-of-school work.

In other business May 21, board members accepted with regret resignations of Educational Technician Ellen Goodrich and bus driver Rosalie Woods and hired bus driver Clayton Rice.

They approved moving five first-year probationary teachers to second year; four second-year probationary teachers to third year; nine more from third-year probation to continuing contracts; and three from continuing to annual contracts.

They approved a 2019-2020 school calendar and a school board meeting schedule.

This year, school will end with a half day of classes on June 18, later than originally expected because of five snow days.

Before school is out, voters will have acted on the 2019-2020 budget twice, at the open town meeting beginning at 6:30 p.m. Monday, June 3, at the school and again at the June 11 budget validation written-ballot vote.

The June 11 ballot includes local elections, with School Board members Jessica Clark and Kevin Levasseur unopposed for re-election. Voting will be at the town office, with polls open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Vassalboro senior fair provided much-needed information

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Lynn Kidd, left, from Search, reviews literature with an attendee at the Vassalboro Senior Fair. (photo by Jeanne Marquis)

by Jeanne Marquis

As the caregiver for my 94-year old father, it didn’t take me long to realize I didn’t have all the answers. I did manage to stay one step ahead of his needs by purchasing a walker well in advance and stowing it away in the hall closet. Yet, there have been issues that haven’t had such obvious answers. On May 22, the FAVOR (Friends Advocating for Vassalboro’s Older Residents) committee hosted a Senior Fair at the St. Bridget’s Center, 864 Main Street, Vassalboro, bringing area agencies together to provide information to seniors and their families.

Spectrum Generations provides services for elders and adults with disabilities to stay in their homes. Bridges homes services, a division of Spectrum Generations, offers adult day services and outings into the community. The family caregiver support program at Spectrum Generations offers educational opportunities. Spectrum Generations makes it clear that’s it ok for caregivers to ask for help by providing a helpline, 1-800-639-8703. More information can be found at spectrumgenerations.org.

Maine-ly Elder Care provides senior care on a fee basis including in-home care, home modification and seasonal property clean up. More information is available on Maine-lyeldercare.com .

Debbie Johnson-Nixon, chairman of the Friends Advocating for Vassalboro’s Older Residents (FAVOR). (photo by Jeanne Marquis)

Direct Community Care partners with the Veterans Administration providing case management and in-home support services. Their mission is to increase independence and integration into the community. Direct Community Care can be reached at 207-512-2424.

SEARCH is a free support service sponsored by Catholic Charities. Lynn Kidd, from SEARCH, explained that she carefully matches trained volunteers with the needs of seniors, from all faiths. The success of their program comes from the supportive relationship that grows between volunteers and the seniors. Their goal is to enable vulnerable seniors to remain in their homes with services that range from an hour of conversation to weekly running errands. More information can be found at ccmain.org/SEARCH .

Vassalboro Food Station Pantry provides food for 101 local seniors who are faced with the harsh reality of rising costs of medications and utility costs. The pantry is located at 679 Main Street in Vassalboro, open Thursday from 11 a.m. to noon.

Vassalboro’s Senior Fair also included organizations who feed the minds and artistic souls of seniors and their families. Common Street Arts of Waterville held a painting workshop providing a sampling of the many classes they offer the public of all ages. A calendar of events for Common Street Arts can be found at Watervillecreates.org .

Vassalboro Historical Society provided a display of what their organization offered and a listing of their bi-monthly programs. The Schoolhouse Museum, 327 Main Street, will be open with regular hours from June through Oct., 2nd and 4th Sundays, 1-4 pm.

The Senior College offered by the University Maine at Augusta was represented at the Senior Fair. Fair attendee, Priscilla Doel said these courses are “the best kept secret” and spoke highly of the art she has taken through this program. For more information, check out UMASC.org.

As a caregiver, I left the Vassalboro Senior Fair with a folder full of much-needed information to help me care for my father, but more surprisingly I found plenty of inspiration for myself, as a recently turned senior who wishes to stay active.

Vassalboro speed limits, transfer station redesign topics of selectmen’s meeting

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by Mary Grow

At their May 16 meeting, Vassalboro selectmen talked again about the speed limit on South Stanley Hill Road and about redesigning the transfer station, coming to no conclusion on either issue.

State, not municipal, officials set local speed limits. Town Manager Mary Sabins said she had an email from David Allen of the Maine Department of Transportation (MDOT) presenting two options for the South Stanley Hill Road:

  • Leave the speed limit as it is, 30 miles an hour driving east and north from the curve close to Route 32 (Main Street) and 45 miles an hour from the field beyond the Blumberg property; or
  • Lower the speed limit to 25 miles per hour from the Route 32 intersection to the Friends Church and raise it to 35 miles an hour from there to the 45-mile zone.

Sabins said Allen, who was at a conflicting meeting that evening, recommends leaving the limits as they are. Residents who signed a petition bringing the request to selectmen and those who spoke May 16 want a longer 25-mile-an-hour zone, citing housing density and the number of blind driveways. Several also mentioned that the signs separating the 30 and 45 zones are not opposite each other, leaving a stretch with two different limits depending on which way a vehicle is traveling.

Selectmen postponed further discussion until Allen can join them.

Board member John Melrose presented a sketch of a possible new traffic pattern at the transfer station that would maximize one-way traffic and minimize the need to back up to drop off recyclables and trash.

Board Chairman Lauchlin Titus proposed a revision that Melrose thought sounded good. “I think anything is better than the way it is,” Titus commented.

Plans include a second entrance east of the present one. Melrose said Allen approved it as meeting state requirements for sight distance. His idea is that big trucks hauling trash would use one entrance, private cars and small trucks the other.

Public Works Director Eugene Field said adding an entrance might require relocating a drain pipe.

Selectmen postponed a decision until they have more information, including the location of the drain pipe and how often trash-hauling trucks come in during regular hours when they would overlap with residents’ vehicles.

Melrose also continued discussion of his proposal to revive Vassalboro’s Trails Committee. He presented a list of five conservation and sanctuary properties in town.

In other business, selectmen decided to meet only once a month in July and August, as in past years. They chose July 18 and August 15 as meeting dates.

Their next regular meeting is scheduled for Thursday evening, May 30. Vassalboro’s annual town meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. Monday, June 3, at Vassalboro Community School, and continues with written-ballot voting Tuesday, June 11.

Construction begins for alewives restoration at Ladd Dam in North Vassalboro

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The Ladd Dam in North Vassalboro. (Photo by Roland D. Hallee)

by Landis Hudson

The Ladd Dam, in North Vassalboro, will soon have a technical fishway installed to allow alewives to move past it to their spawning ground. It’s not the final step in the overall project, but a critical one, and scheduled to start this summer following plans developed by the Department of Marine Resources, and US Fish and Wildlife Service, working with local engineers and dam owner Ray Breton. Maintaining the Ladd Dam impoundment will keep the swimming area, a favorite spot on hot summer days.

The work is an important step in the Alewife Restoration Initiative which will re-establish passage from the ocean to China Lake. The goal of the project is to restore an annual migratory run of 800,000 – 950,000 adult alewives (river herring). Two dams have been removed to date, the Masse and Lombard Dams. The Ladd, Box Mill and Outlet Dams will be fitted with technical fishways. The Ladd Dam is located just upstream from the Box Mill Dam. The work is part of a greater Kennebec restoration effort that dates back to the 1980s. It builds on the success at Benton where alewife numbers were estimated at just 400,000 in 2008, but jumped to a record 5.7 million last year.

In March, Town of China voters approved $25,000 to support fish passage work at the Outlet Dam which controls the China Lake water level but does not allow alewives to make their way into or safely out of the lake. Fish have been stocked in China Lake by the Department of Marine Resources and can be seen schooling in the lake in large numbers through the late summer and into the autumn. Some fish are able to make their way out of the lake but the remaining dams lack fish passage to ensure their survival as they make their way downstream to the ocean.

Voters from the Town of Vassalboro will be asked to support the project as well by approving the transfer of revenue received by the town from the current alewife harvest at Webber Pond to support the work at Outlet Stream.

Restoring alewife runs contributes to the health of the entire Gulf of Maine because alewives are forage fish for the larger species including cod, haddock, tuna, striped bass — and food for eagles, ospreys, otters, and raccoons.

The nonprofit organization Maine Rivers has been coordinating the project. Chuck Verrill, president of Maine Rivers, sees long-term value in river and stream restoration. “It’s our hope that this work will provide benefits to future generations who will grow up seeing the stream come alive with an annual migration of fish.” Locally, community members are hopeful that the restoration work will help improve the water quality of China Lake that has suffered from algae blooms. The historical presence of alewives was reconfirmed with the discovery of letters and documents in the Massachusetts Archives.

The restoration of alewives to China Lake has been a priority for the Maine Department of Marine Resources for many years, based on agency goals to restore historic runs of this native species. This past spring, the Department stocked 25,000 native alewives directly into China Lake to jump-start restoration efforts. “We know this kind of work takes long-term vision and great attention to detail over several seasons. We are pleased to see this progress,” said Patrick Keliher, Com­mis­sioner, Maine Depart­ment of Marine Re­sources.

The project relies on partnerships and is supported by the Sebasticook Regional Land Trust, the China Region Lakes Alliance, the China Lake Association, Maine Rivers, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Maine Department of Marine Resources and the Towns of China and Vassalboro.

Funding has come from sources including: Patagonia, Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund, The Nature Conservancy in Maine, MNRCP, Natural Resource Conservation Service, Davis Conservation Foundation, and the Elmina B. Sewall Foundation.

VASSALBORO: Planners approve three applications

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by Mary Grow

Vassalboro Planning Board members unanimously approved all three applications on their May 7 agenda, attaching a condition to one.

Permits were approved for:

  • Cornerstone Christian Fellowship on Riverside Drive to expand parking space, with work to be done in two phases.
  • Thaddeus Clark to put a mobile home on an existing slab, drill a well and later build a house on a Matthews Avenue lot that is in the shoreland zone along a small stream. None of the construction will be within 100 feet of the water.
  • Timothy Dowd to begin an indoor marijuana-growing facility in one of the old mill buildings in North Vassalboro, with the condition that Dowd will install an air filtration system that will prevent any odor from escaping the growing room.

Codes Enforcement Officer Richard Dolby said Dowd’s will be the fourth licensed marijuana-growing business in Vassalboro.