Vassalboro voters have chosen John Melrose to fill out the remainder of the late Philip Haines’ term on the Board of Selectmen.
In a three-way race, Melrose received 517 votes, Larisa Batchelder received 320 and Lewis Devoe received 169, according to Town Clerk Cathy Coyne.
Melrose, 66, chairs the Vassalboro Budget Committee and has extensive experience working with municipal issues on the regional and state level.
China voters re-elected one of two incumbent selectmen, re-elected a former selectman and added a newcomer to the board in a Nov. 7 contest that featured eight candidates for three seats.
Irene Belanger and former Selectman Robert MacFarland were elected to serve two-year terms, with 595 and 490 votes respectively. Incumbent Ronald Breton received 402 votes and Frederick Glidden 370.
For a one-year position to fill out Joann Clark Austin’s term, Donna Mills-Stevens was elected with 401 votes. Wayne Chadwick got 347 votes, Ralph Howe 125 and Randall Downer 124.
In the only other contest on the ballot, Kevin Michaud defeated Stephen Hadsell for the District 1 Planning Board position, by a vote of 625 to 269. Michaud succeeds James Wilkens, who, like Austin, is retiring. Three local referendum questions were approved, as follows:
Budget Committee Chairman Robert Batteese and District 1 representative Kevin Maroon were re-elected without opposition. Town Clerk Rebecca Hapgood will announce results of write-in votes for Planning Board District 3, Planning Board alternate member and Budget Committee District 3 soon.
The Masse Sawmill site on Rte. 32, in East Vassalboro. Contributed photo
The Alewife Restoration Initiative has announced the successful completion of the first of six dam projects on China Lake Outlet Stream. To celebrate, they welcome the public to an informational nature walk at the Masse Sawmill site, in Vassalboro. Please join them for a short afternoon stroll along the restored section of Outlet Stream, while learning about the many ecological processes that are beginning to return the stream to natural habitat.
They will start the walk at 1 p.m., on Saturday, November 11, and expect it to last around an hour. The following experts in fields related to the project will give informal presentations and answer questions:
The event will take place on Saturday, November 11, beginning at 1 p.m., at the Masse Sawmille, 373 Main St., Vassalboro. Dress for the weather, and for easy trail walking. The distance covered will be short (1/4 mile to 1/2 mile), and the walking easy, but there will be no indoor shelter or bathrooms available. Prepare to be outdoors for an hour or so. Event will be held rain or shine, barring very severe weather.
For more information, email or call Matt Streeter, mstreeter212@gmail.com, 207-337-2611.
Vassalboro voters will choose among three candidates to serve on the Board of Selectmen until June 2018, finishing the late Philip Haines’ term. The candidates are Larisa (Reese) Batchelder, Lewis (Lew) Devoe and John Melrose.
When Batchelder ran unsuccessfully for the selectboard in June, she was 38 years old, a resident of Main Street, in East Vassalboro, since December 2015. She listed her occupation as co-owner of Cozy Barn Antiques and mentioned her education in political science.
Her goal in running for selectman, she said, was “to open communication between the community and the board of selectman. I want to have an open mind when listening to the community and only make decisions after they have been heard, not before.”
She added, “I want to be sure that our small town government is free of cliques that can hinder good choices and cause favoritism. My aim is to vote according to the law and the people of Vassalboro of whom I would represent.”
Devoe, 69, is a Gray Road resident who has lived in Vassalboro for 38 years. He is a veteran, and is retired after 34 years as first a Maine Facilities Manager for New Balance factories, warehouses and retail stores and then a Maintenance Process Manager for Scott Paper Company.
He has been a state-licensed master electrician for 44 years and has experience in planning, project management, security, loss prevention, safety and environmental issues. He and his wife Deb have three grown sons.
Devoe listed three goals he would pursue if elected selectman: understand and oversee budgets using his business skills, like experience with utility costs; increase publicity for meetings and agendas; and coach town employees on ways to reduce energy costs.
Melrose, 66, lives on the Bog Road and has been a Vassalboro resident for 41 years. He recently retired from the Eaton Peabody Consulting Group, after a 44-year career working with municipalities that included seven years with the Maine Municipal Association, 20 years running his own company, Maine Tomorrow, and eight years as Governor King’s Commissioner of Transportation. Governor LePage has appointed him chairman of the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority, which is in charge of the Amtrak Downeaster.
Melrose thinks Vassalboro benefits from good leadership on the board of selectmen and the school board. He believes town officials and residents can “creatively solve problems through consensus” while keeping the tax rate low and providing good services. If elected, he plans to use his experience to “constructively build on these strengths of our community.”
Vassalboro polls will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Nov. 7 at the town office. Absentee ballots are available at the office during office hours until Nov. 2.
Vassalboro selectmen approved nine annual renewals of junkyard and auto hobbyist permits, after receiving no comments at a short Oct. 19 hearing that was part of their regular meeting.
Auto graveyard/junkyard permits went to James Cogley, Ron’s Parts Inc. on Main Street (Route 32); Dale Clement, Bondo’s Garage on Taber Hill Road; Bill Pullen, Freddie’s Service Center on South Stanley Hill Road; Stanley Garnett, Garnett’s Motors on North Belfast Ave (Route 3); Olin Charette, Weeks Mills Garage on Riverside Drive (Route 201); and Voit Ritch, Autowerke on Route 3.
Auto hobbyist permits were approved for Keith Lemieux on Priest Hill Road, James Jurdak on Baker Road and Robert Dore on Church Hill Road.
Most of the other business on Oct. 19 consisted of authorizing expenditures for other town bodies.
Steve Polley received approval to buy a shipping container for storage of recreation equipment, using money from the Recreation Committee’s donation fund.
Polley presented price quotes ranging from $3,700 to more than $4,000. Town Manager Mary Sabins said he needed the selectmen to waive the requirement in the town purchasing policy that any purchase over $2,500 be bid out.
Selectmen agreed getting the quotes met the spirit of the policy and unanimously authorized Polley to go ahead.
Polley commended Road Commissioner Eugene Field for “a great job” grading the parking lot at the recreation fields.
Selectmen also authorized the Vassalboro Volunteer Fire Department to use $2,800 from sale of an old fire truck to buy a new base radio. Voters at the June town meeting authorized selectmen to approve spending the money on equipment for the department’s new truck; selectmen figured fire department members know their priorities.
In other business, board members reviewed Sabins’ draft revised lease with the Vassalboro Historical Society for continued use of the former East Vassalboro schoolhouse and approved forwarding it to society officials.
Board Chairman Lauchlin Titus reported on a Vassalboro Sanitary District meeting earlier in the week at which officials presented plans for connecting Vassalboro’s sewer system with Winslow and Waterville. He said they told affected residents who will be asked for easements to allow minor work on their land and who will be able – but unless septic systems are failing, not required – to hook into the expanded system.
The next regular Vassalboro selectmen’s meeting will be Thursday evening, Nov. 2. The board currently has two members; on Nov. 7, Vassalboro voters will choose one of three candidates – Larisa Batchelder, Lewis Devoe and John Melrose – to finish the final year of the late Philip Haines’ term on the board.
Vassalboro School Board members discussed two main topics at their Oct. 17 meeting, the potential dissolution of Alternative Organizational Structure (AOS) 92 (the school unit combining Vassalboro, Waterville and Winslow) and Maine Educational Assessment (MEA) scores for Vassalboro Community School students. The first issue is full of uncertainties; the second pleased them.
AOS Superintendent Eric Haley shared estimated financial consequences if the AOS were to dissolve. Assuming existing funds were divided among the three member school boards in the same proportion as each municipality contributes to school funding, and further assuming Vassalboro were to contract with a remodeled AOS business office in Waterville, Haley projects Vassalboro would gain financially.
Business services, which could be done in-house or by contract with Waterville or some other center, could include payroll, accounts payable, and support for special education, curriculum, transportation, technology and maintenance. Were the AOS to dissolve and were Waterville to become a school business center, some of the AOS staff who currently perform these services might stay on – or might not.
State law proposes creation of regional service centers, known as SMLCs – School Management and Leadership Centers. At a conference earlier this fall, lawyers advised superintendents not to rush to create or join an SMLC, since state law has been known to change.
School board members discussed other assumptions and various leadership combinations. For example, the Vassalboro school might have one person who was both principal and superintendent, or a full-time principal plus a part-time superintendent, with the latter perhaps shared with another town. Any change, Haley said, will require preparation of a plan that is approved by the local school board(s), the state Department of Education and, in Vassalboro, a local referendum. Haley is thinking about a June 2018 referendum vote in Vassalboro, and is also thinking about preparing two 2018-19 budgets, one with and one without the AOS. One change at Vassalboro Community School is certain: Principal Dianna Gram is retiring at the end of the school year.
Gram shared with school board members charts illustrating Vassalboro students’ scores on the MEA tests taken by grades three through eight last spring. In general, scores compare well to neighboring schools’ scores and to state expectations, in both this year’s scores and improvement over last year.
The best score was earned by sixth-graders on the English Language Arts and literacy test: 70 percent scored at or above state expectations. Seventh-graders did almost as well on the same test, scoring 69 percent at or above expectations.
Fifth-graders had the lowest scores in both language and mathematics. Gram suggested possible explanations and plans for further investigation. She reminded board members that each year students move in and out, so there are different students in each grade.
The “state expectations” to which student performance is compared are described on the state Department of Education (DOE) website by phrases like “understanding of essential concepts” and “understanding of knowledge and skills needed to reach learning targets for achievement relative to” Maine standards.
In response to an inquiry, AOS Curriculum Coordinator Mary Boyle forwarded a 300-page DOE report describing how the standards were established by panels of educators following a protocol. The document is “eMPowerME ELA/Literacy and Mathematics Assessment Standard Setting Report,” prepared in August 2016.
School Board Chairman Kevin Levasseur congratulated students and staff on the good scores. Gram thanked board members for their support and Boyle for help with curriculum improvement.
In other business, school board members appointed Betty Bowen, of Vassalboro, as a bus driver and accepted the resignation of driver Eric Green, who was praised as “one of the best” by Assistant Principal Aaron McCullough.
The next Vassalboro School Board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday evening, Nov. 14, a week earlier than usual because of the Thanksgiving holiday.
The Vassalboro selectmen’s meeting scheduled for Thursday evening, Nov. 2, has been canceled due to lack of agenda items. The next regular selectmen’s meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 16.
Vassalboro and area residents tired of drafty windows or interested in lower fuel bills – or both – are invited to sign up for energy-saving, draft-blocking window inserts provided through a Vassalboro organization.
Leaders of FAVOR (Friends Advocating for Vassalboro Older Residents) decided at an Oct. 11 meeting they will enroll with Window Dressers, a Rockland-based non-profit organization. The organization helps local residents build and install custom-fitted window inserts, clear plastic with wooden frames, to add a layer of insulation.
FAVOR’s primary target is Vassalboro residents, but people in nearby towns are welcome to join. The program offers financial assistance to low-income homeowners and tenants, but is not a welfare program — any homeowner, any renter who pays his or her own fuel bills or any landlord who pays tenants’ fuel bills is welcome.
Churches and businesses are also eligible for the program, Window Dressers representative Laura Seaton said at the Oct. 11 meeting.
Those interested need to get in touch with Town Manager Mary Sabins, who volunteered to be the local program coordinator, by Wednesday, Nov. 8, at the latest. The date was chosen to give people one more chance to learn about Window Dressers at the polls on Nov. 7.
The other volunteers needed are a volunteer coordinator to work on scheduling and related issues; two two-person measuring teams who will go to houses and apartments and measure windows, starting with initial sign-ups and continuing through mid-November; and many more people to put the inserts together at in-town workshops scheduled to start Friday, Dec. 15, and continue through the weekend and if necessary into the next week.
Seaton said people from Window Dressers will train the Vassalboro measuring teams, who will use laser measuring tools (borrowed from Window Dressers) and enter results into a computer. Once Rockland headquarters people get Vassalboro’s list of windows, they cut the wooden frames to size and may, depending on the size of the order, put them together.
Just before Dec. 15 someone from Vassalboro brings the pre-cut wood and other materials to Vassalboro for a community build, the name given to the assembly process. Seaton said usually the transporter rents a U-Haul van, for which Window Dressers pays. Volunteers, including but not limited to people getting inserts, put the frames together if necessary, stretch the plastic tightly over them and add an outside foam gasket that makes them fit snugly.
The place for the December community build is not firm. Sabins said possibilities include a room in Ray Breton’s mill in North Vassalboro, the East Vassalboro Grange Hall or the town office meeting room.
The volunteer assemblers usually work four-hour shifts with a meal break. The not-yet-named volunteer coordinator is responsible for scheduling and for soliciting donated food.
Seaton said residents usually prioritize windows, doing north and west ones, for example. The inserts are removable and reusable. Vassalboro resident Holly Weidner, who participated in a build some years ago, said the inserts are so clear that she leaves some in year-round.
The price of a window insert varies with the choice of finish, pine or white-painted, and with the size of each window. Seaton estimated eight feet as the maximum length or width available.
She said this year Window Dressers has led 27 community builds and provided between 5,000 and 6,000 inserts.
In addition to making houses more comfortable, Seaton said a study by University of Maine at Orono economists and customer feedback find an average 20 percent reduction in fuel use.
The Vassalboro FAVOR (Friends Advocating for Vassalboro Older Residents) meeting scheduled for Oct. 2 was canceled. The representative of Window Dressers who was to talk to the group about low-cost window inserts to save heat was unable to attend.
The meeting will be rescheduled, tentatively for Wednesday morning, Oct. 11. Residents interested in helping with the project, which involves measuring applicants’ windows and building the inserts, and those interested in learning about the program should check with the town office for a firm date and time.
Vassalboro voters will choose a new member of the Board of Selectmen at the polls on Nov. 7.
Following the death of Board Chairman Philip Haines, Lauchlin Titus and Robert Browne met in special session Sept. 27 and agreed on a shortened nomination process and a Nov. 7 election.
Nomination papers were available Monday morning, Oct. 2, and signed papers are due at the town office by 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 12, for candidates’ names to appear on the Nov. 7 ballot.
Whoever is elected will serve the remainder of Haines’ term, until the June 2018 elections.
Town Manager Mary Sabins told selectmen they had three options, under state law:
A special election would be a special town meeting, whether it is on Nov. 7 or in December, and under a local regulation would require a quorum of at least 125 voters. Sabins was not sure 125 people would come to the polls only to elect a selectman, especially in December; she thought it more likely that the requirement could be met Nov. 7.
As long as there are only two selectmen, neither can miss a meeting, since a majority of the three-person board must be present to conduct business.
The regular selectmen’s meeting Oct. 5 has been canceled. The next selectmen’s meeting is scheduled for Thursday evening, Oct. 19.