Vassalboro selectmen approve several projects during virtual meeting

by Mary Grow

Demonstrating their increasing comfort with virtual meetings, Vassalboro selectmen resolved several issues and consulted with their consultant the evening of April 2.

The three board members made decisions on work on two big culverts, on Cross Hill and Gray roads; on adding solar power to Vassalboro’s energy mix; and on use of Tax Increment Financing (TIF) money in the next few weeks. With Town Manager Mary Sabins and consultant Garvan Donegan, of Central Maine Growth Council, they discussed future changes in the town’s TIF program.

Selectman John Melrose received board approval to proceed with applications for state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) grants for the culverts – $80,000 toward the estimated $116,000 cost of the Cross Hill Road replacement and $95,000 toward the Gray Road work.

Selectmen further voted to waive the bid process for the Cross Hill Road work and authorized Sabins to contract with Vanasse Hangen Brustlin (VHB), a Massachusetts-based engineering firm with Maine offices, to do the work for $17,000. They plan to have the culvert replaced this summer.

The Gray Road project is more complicated, Melrose said. Right now the culvert is a six-foot pipe. Red Brook that runs through it is potential alewife habitat when the Alewife Restoration Project (ARI) lets the small fish migrate from the Sebasticook River into China Lake. Therefore the DEP is involved, and so is the state Department of Transportation (DOT) and the federal Army Corps of Engineers (ACE).

The out-of-town agencies want the replacement culvert to meet various criteria which, Melrose said, could require a bridge 20 feet or more wide, with an earlier cost estimate of up to $400,000.

Selectmen voted unanimously to contract with Calderwood Engineering, of Richmond, a firm that Melrose said specializes in bridge engineering and with which DEP staff are “comfortable,” to negotiate a design that would satisfy the state and federal agencies and the fish, and that the town could afford.

In June 2019, town meeting voters authorized selectmen to arrange installation of a solar array on town land. Melrose said the original 20 interested companies dwindled to two bidders, one of whom recommended no in-town solar development because, Melrose said, Central Maine Power Company’s substation capacity is inadequate.

Consequently, the Solar Committee he chairs recommends instead contracting with Maine-based ReVision Energy to buy power from one of their existing solar developments in CMP’s territory.

Board members decided buying power and choosing a supplier was an administrative decision that did not need a new town meeting mandate. They unanimously authorized Sabins to negotiate a power purchase agreement with ReVision Energy that would save money for the town. The agreement is to be reviewed by the Solar Committee before submission to the selectmen.

Sabins said Vassalboro’s TIF fund stands currently at $166,930. The next income will come from taxes paid on the natural gas pipeline in the new fiscal year that begins July 1. There are two requests for the money: the Vassalboro Sanitary District (VSD) needs $72, 265 by July for a loan payment, and ARI has asked for $143,000 for continued work to let alewives get over dams on Outlet Stream.

VSD officials have also requested money to help new customers hook onto the expanded sewer system. Sabins said they estimated the need at $150,000, for 16 potential customers; they have $100,000 saved from an earlier TIF grant.

The manager obtained two legal opinions on using TIF money to help private individuals, she said. One attorney saw no problem, a second “said ‘Wait a minute,'” implying a possible legal roadblock.

Board Chairman Lauchlin Titus added that Donegan’s consulting fee comes from TIF funds.

Sabins said spending TIF money requires a public hearing in advance. There has been no hearing on the VSD request and she has no way to do a virtual public hearing, so board members cannot yet approve any money for the VSD.

Selectmen held a Feb. 11 public hearing on the ARI request.

After discussion, selectmen unanimously approved an immediate TIF grant of $83,000 to ARI, so the group can sign contracts for work this summer, with the remaining $60,000 promised in August or September. They plan to consider the VSD request after circumstances allow a public hearing.

The discussion with Donegan focused on whether Vassalboro’s TIF program should be amended to allow more and different sorts of projects in different parts of town, within state TIF guidelines. By consensus, selectmen authorized Donegan to recommend changes.

The next Vassalboro selectmen’s meeting is currently scheduled for Thursday evening, April 16.