Redmond thanked for many years of service on Vassalboro select board

by Mary Grow

Vassalboro select board members discussed a variety of items at their June 8 meeting, the last for retiring board chairman Barbara Redmond.

Barbara Redmond

Senior board member Chris French thanked Redmond for her service, to applause from the audience in the town office meeting room. Red­mond expressed her appreciation to the town’s “small, small staff who get a lot done.”

Redmond then raised an issue on behalf of her road association members: the accumulation of “dog poop” at the Webber Pond boat landing. There was an earlier decision not to put trash cans there, fearing overuse; now, residents suggest a sign and plastic bags.

With no trash can, resident Joe Presti said, dog-walkers will leave bags all over the place. Town Manager Aaron Miller, smiling, asked if the bags should be considered a memorial commemorating Redmond’s service on the select board.

Board members and Miller will consider the issue.

The meeting began with opening of 18 bids for the tax-acquired property at 83 South Stanley Hill Road. The first one opened was from Mark Grenier, owner of Grenier Properties, in South China, for $112,000; the next highest was $83,210. Board members accepted Grenier’s bid.

Resident Amy Davidoff presented an update on broadband access in Vassalboro, a topic she has followed for the last few years. She has explored options for improvement in the parts of town that lack adequate service.

One option is cooperation with the Town of China, which is working with UniTel, in Unity, now a subsidiary of Idaho-based Direct Communications. Davidoff reported that Direct Communications intends to apply for Maine grant funds for China and is “interested in including the underserved areas of Vassalboro” in the application.

She invited select board members to send a letter of interest to UniTel. The letter would not obligate Vassalboro in any way; but it would let Direct Communications engineers evaluate Vassalboro’s needs, she said.

French and Redmond authorized Miller to send the letter of interest. Board member Frederick “Rick” Denico, Jr., was not present June 8.

The two board members also authorized Miller to pursue a community resilience grant, through a state program designed to help municipalities reduce emissions and otherwise combat or adapt to climate change.

Miller gave updates on three issues from the board’s May 25 meeting (see the June 1 issue of The Town Line, p. 3).

• He had a meeting scheduled June 14 with people from the state Department of Transportation and the Vassalboro Sanitary District to talk about manhole covers in Main Street, in North Vassalboro.
• State revenues paid to local school districts are based on two-year-old figures, so a valuation increase in 2023 will have no immediate impact on state funding for the Vassalboro school department.
• Vassalboro’s year-end budget still looks good, “pretty much where we thought we would be.”

The next regular Vassalboro select board meeting is scheduled for Thursday evening, June 22. The town office will be closed Monday, June 19, for the Juneteenth holiday.