CHINA: Tax bills mailed Aug. 31; first payment due Sept. 25

by Mary Grow

Town office closed for Labor Day holiday

The China town office will be closed Saturday, Sept. 5, and Monday, Sept. 7, for the Labor Day holiday weekend. The office will be open from 8 to 11 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 12, to make up for the first September Saturday being a holiday.

The transfer station will be open as usual Saturday, Sept. 5, and closed as usual Monday Sept. 7.

Three notices from the China selectmen’s Aug. 31 meeting:

• Signed nomination papers for Nov. 3 local elections are due at the town office by 2 p.m. Friday, Sept. 4, for candidates’ names to be on the local ballot. Town Manager Becky Hapgood said as of Aug. 31, no one was circulating papers for the District 4 Planning Board seat or for the positions of secretary and at-large member of the Budget Committee. Tom Mira­gliuolo is the planning board incumbent; the town website lists Trishea Story as the budget committee secretary and Jeffrey Furlong as the at-large member.
• Tax bills were mailed out Aug. 31 or Sept. 1. The first half payment of 2020-21 taxes is due at the town office by the 2 p.m. close of business Friday, Sept. 25.
• On Nov. 3, polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., at the town office complex for local, state and national voting. The local ballot will have four questions: election of a moderator (at 6:55 a.m.); local elections for Board of Selectmen, Planning Board and Budget Committee; amendments to the Solid Waste Disposal Ordinance; and amendments to the Solid Waste Flow Control Ordinance.

Selectmen discussed the two sets of ordinance amendments at the Aug. 31 meeting. The main change, proposed by the Transfer Station Committee, would add appropriate provisions about the new RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) system. Selectman Janet Preston pointed out that current hours are not as stated in the ordinance, and recommending not listing hours. Hapgood mentioned minor grammatical changes.

Hapgood and Preston discussed additional possible changes. Hapgood intends to suggest them to the Transfer Station Committee; if additional changes are proposed, voters will see them in 2021.

The current (2017) versions of the two ordinances are on the town website.

In other business Aug. 31, Hapgood and TIF (Tax Increment Financing Committee) member Tom Michaud told selectmen the contractor chosen to build the retaining wall between Causeway Street and China Lake needs to do test borings before designing the wall.

The estimated $8,000 cost is not in the project budget, they said. Their plan is to try to save the money elsewhere in the budget, perhaps by cutting back on work at the boat launch.

Hapgood said a meeting of the TIF Committee should be scheduled soon.

Selectmen reappointed Harold Charles to the Board of Assessment Review.

Hapgood announced two Firewood for Friends days at the China School Forest, Saturday, Sept. 5, and Saturday, Sept. 12, from 9 a.m. to noon. Volunteers who can bring and use chainsaws, bring and drive pick-up trucks and load cut-up wood into the trucks are invited. The firewood will be stored at the public works garage and distributed to residents in need over the winter.

On Codes Officer Bill Butler’s recommendation, selectmen approved a replacement holding tank at 1182 Lakeview Drive.

The next regular China selectmen’s meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 14.