Vassalboro select board approves three questions for November ballot

by Mary Grow

At their Sept. 5 meeting, Vassalboro select board members approved three questions for a Nov. 5 local referendum ballot, on three different topics.

One question asks Vassalboro voters to authorize using already-available funds to contribute toward replacing the Dunlap bridge on Mill Hill Road.

A second asks voters to amend the town’s TIF (Tax Increment Financing) Ordinance to allow TIF money to be used for environmental projects in town.

And the third question seeks voter approval of an amendment to the Vassalboro Sanitary District’s charter to set up a system of electing VSD trustees.

The Mill Hill bridge project has many uncertainties, and generated the most discussion at the Sept. 5 meeting.

Town Manager Aaron Miller shared a sheet of financial calculations for a $1.8 million project to replace the existing culvert. Assuming successful grant applications, the town’s share would be about $160,000.

Vassalboro officials have more than $160,000 available in various funds. The proposed article for the Nov. 5 ballot, drafted by the town’s attorney, asks voters to authorize select board members to spend some of it for the bridge.

Board member Chris French urged rewording the article, fearing it was not clear enough. Miller said town officials would need to provide supporting information, but recommended leaving the article as presented.

Uncertainties, in addition to the success of grant applications, include which of three plans for a replacement bridge over Seven Mile Stream is best; how much the town will be expected to pay out and get reimbursed later, instead of being paid as expenses are incurred; and timing. French is concerned the culvert will fall apart before its replacement is ready.

Board members authorized paying Calderwood Engineering up to $58,500 to continue preliminary work on the bridge. They approved a draft letter supporting a grant application to the Maine Department of Marine Resources, which is interested in the project because migratory fish use Seven Mile Stream.

If voters approve this project and also approve the question about using TIF money for environmental projects, TIF funds can help with the bridge.

Miller recommended an Oct. 3 public hearing on the ballot questions.

In other business, Miller gave a brief update on Eagle Park, the streamside recreational area on Route 32 (Main Street) a short distance north of East Vassalboro Village.

Conservation Commission members and the town’s public works crew are involved in developing the area, he said, with plans for a metal-roofed pavilion on a concrete pad, picnic tables and wide gravel paths to facilitate handicapped access.

The manager expressed thanks to the state Department of Transportation and its contractor, Pratt & Sons, for donating clean fill from their sidewalk reconstruction in North Vassalboro to level parts of the park. Other donations may be pending, he said, for the park and the town recreation fields.

Board members approved a proclamation recognizing Sept. 17 through 23 as Constitution Week, observed annually since 1956 to recognize the Sept. 17, 1787, adoption of the United States Constitution by the Congress of the Confederation.

They scheduled a workshop meeting for 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 30, and combined with it their regular meeting that would have been Oct. 31, to be able to stay home on Halloween.

The next regular Vassalboro select board meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 19.