VASSALBORO: TownCloud Inc. selected to design and maintain new website

by Mary Grow

After another long discussion, Vassalboro select board members at their Oct. 19 meeting unanimously accepted town Manager Aaron Miller’s recommendation: TownCloud, Inc., will design and maintain the new town website.

TownCloud representatives Christopher Haywood, Chief Amazement Officer, and Dennis Harward, Wizard of Light Bulb Moments, made a presentation and showed a sample website at the Sept. 7 select board meeting. Board members created a committee to review alternatives, whose members reported at the Sept. 21 meeting. Discussion continued Oct. 5.

Resident David Trask, who has been doing the town website, is ready to step aside. He offered advice at the Oct. 19 meeting, as did several other residents with relevant experience.

The Sept. 7 committee listed some of the features they considered desirable in a website; Miller explained how TownCloud could provide each. For example, the site can include a calendar of official municipal events, like select board meetings; and forms to fill out on line, like registration for recreation department programs.

Miller thinks TownCloud will be easy for residents to navigate. An important advantage from his viewpoint is the comparatively low cost: $3,600 for a three-year contract, or $1,200 a year for the first three years.

Changes can be made if needed, the manager said. If TownCloud is unsatisfactory, he said Vassalboro could buy out the contract.

Replying to one of Trask’s concerns, Miller said he believes TownCloud is mobile-friendly, so people without computer access can use their mobile phones. The present Vassalboro website is not mobile-friendly, Trask said.

Related questions discussed were upgrades needed to town office electronics, to handle the new telephone system Miller wants and other electronic upgrades; and whether or on what terms to allow the public to join municipal meetings on line.

Board members talked inconclusively about ways public discussion could be moderated or comments could be prescreened, to avoid the kinds of abuse other Maine municipalities have reported.

Board members returned to the topic of the North Vassalboro fire station roof, assisted by aerial photos fire chief Walker Thompson said were taken by a drone. After discussion, they postponed action on bids for repainting the roof and for replacing it, agreeing instead to have it inspected.

They approved the fire department’s request for a new refrigerator at the North Vassalboro station and a new oven at the Riverside station, to be purchased with up to $2,500 in ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funds. The kitchens are used when the department hosts fundraisers and other public events, to provide cold water for firefighters and for similar purposes.

In other business Oct. 19, board members approved recreating Vassalboro’s advisory energy committee. They suggested starting by asking if members of the previous committee will serve again. Other interested residents, especially those with expertise in energy management in public buildings, should contact the town office.

Resident Holly Wiedner said state Department of Transportation staff sent ideas for experimental traffic-calming measures in East Vassalboro village.

Miller intends to propose changes in the list of projects for which Vassalboro officials can spend Tax Increment Financing (TIF) funds. For one thing, he said, state law has been amended to allow expenditures on municipal buildings. TIF money might also be used for the East Vassalboro traffic issues, with an amended local plan.

Any change in a municipal TIF plan requires public input – select board members talked of a January 2024 public hearing – and approval by town meeting voters and the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development.

The manager reported 2023 road paving was finished, at a lower cost than expected. He suggested the possibility of using left-over funds for more paving in the spring of 2024, sparking another brief argument over whether to pave additional pieces of dirt road or repave additional already-paved stretches.

Miller shared 114 responses to the survey sent out with tax bills. On the questions submitted by the planning board, results were as follows:

• Additional measures to control phosphorus run-off into water bodies, 81 in favor and 13 opposed.
• Limiting commercial development to certain areas of town, 74 in favor, 20 opposed.
• Setting aside land for conservation and recreation, 87 in favor, 15 opposed.

The select board’s survey questions were open-ended – how do residents learn about town events? What changes would they like to see? What concerns do they have? – and the answers took up several pages.

Resident Laura Jones recorded the Oct. 19 select board meeting. She has made the recording, and copies of the survey results and other documents, available on Facebook at @laurajonescommunitymatters.

The next regular Vassalboro select board meeting is scheduled for Thursday evening, Nov. 2.