VASSALBORO: Website management topic undecided, again

by Mary Grow

Vassalboro select board members sat behind their new laptop computers at their Oct. 5 meeting, for a long discussion that partly focused on the themes of residents’ knowledge of and involvement in town government.

One topic, left undecided again, was selecting a company to manage the town’s website, including presenting select board and other committees’ meetings live to an on-line audience and recording them for future viewing.

At their Sept.7 meeting, board members hosted a presentation on the TownCloud municipal website plan. They then created a committee to investigate more possibilities. (See the Sept. 14 issue of The Town Line, p. 2.)

Laura Jones, reporting for the committee, said members discussed what Vassalboro residents want and need and weighed pros and cons of TownCloud, Michigan-based Revize (serving Winslow and Camden, among other Maine municipalities) and Kansas-based CivicPlus (serving Lewiston and Belfast).

After discussing the companies’ offerings and costs, board members again tabled the issue. On Sept. 7, they had postponed a decision to Dec. 14, not expecting the committee report so promptly.

A related question about future web-shared meetings and the current Facebook page that Jones maintains was whether to allow public comment. Board members considered reports from nearby towns of people, often non-residents, interjecting irrelevant, offensive and abusive comments during public on-line meetings.

Town Manager Aaron Miller said the town’s attorney advised against allowing the public to post to the town Facebook page because comments might be inappropriate and town staff would need to spend time monitoring the site.

Select board members voted not to allow public comment on the Vassalboro Facebook page. As alternatives, Miller and board members encouraged residents to come to select board meetings, where chair man Chris French welcomes audience participation, or to contact board members, Miller or the town office by email, telephone, letter or personal visit.

Town appoints new CEO

Vassalboro’s new codes enforcement officer, Jason Lorrain, of Boothbay, attended the Oct. 5 select board meeting, where town manager Aaron Miller introduced him to board and audience members.

Lorrain was Boothbay’s codes enforcement officer, building inspector and plumbing inspector for seven years. Miller said he would start work in Vassalboro on Oct. 10.

He succeeds Robert Geaghan, Jr., who, several months ago, announced his intention of resigning by the end of October.

Board members made no decisions about what Jones and audience members said are another 20 or more Facebook pages and Instagram accounts set up by other town boards and committees.

In other business Oct. 5, Miller reported Vassalboro received state grants of a little over $95,000 for heat pumps in the town office building, the town garage and the North Vassalboro fire station. (See the town website, www.vassalboro.net, for details.)

Select board members unanimously approved appropriating $3,693 in town matching money from federal ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funds.

Miller expects the heat pumps to be installed in mid or late November. He said the town can apply again for heat pumps for the Riverside fire station and the transfer station.

The manager reported on his discussion with a representative of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection on what more can be done to improve Eagle Park, located on the west bank of Outlet Stream between North and East Vassalboro.

The park already has trees planted, thanks to efforts by the town Conservation Commission. (See photographs on the front page of the June 29 issue of The Town Line.) Miller expects state funds to reimburse the town for the $3,200 worth of trees.

Select board signs letter of support for Webber Pond dam grant

Vassalboro select board members unanimously agreed at their Oct. 5 meeting to sign a letter of support for a grant application that, if successful, will provide federal funds for an improved fishway at the Webber Pond dam.

Resident Nate Gray, who works for the state Department of Marine Resources, said the Webber Pond dam is one of several projects included in a state grant application to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for $1.5 million. Chances of receiving the grant will increase if each local application provides evidence of municipal officials’ support and local matching money.

Vassalboro’s match of $50,000 could come from the income from the town’s alewife fishery, he suggested. The town contracts with an alewife harvester who traps and sells the small fish each spring – they’re used for lobster bait, and online sources list other uses – and shares the revenue with the town.

An improved fishway, plus the state-funded new culvert on Whitehouse Road, should double the number of alewives reaching Webber Pond and thus increase the harvest revenue, Gray said. He commended the state Department of Transportation for its help in opening culverts in various parts of Maine to improve access for migrating fish.

After considering three options, Gray said, the application is to fund a Denil fishway, like those already in place at the China Lake outlet dam and Ladd and Box Mills dams on Outlet Stream.

Gray said the deadline for the NOAA grant application is Oct. 16. He expects the grant recipients will be announced by mid-February 2024.

The manager asked select board members to consider how they want the park to look and be used, and to invite East Vassalboro resident and Conservation Commission member Holly Weidner to their Oct. 19 meeting for more discussion. Additional improvements might include a second path to the stream, picnic tables and a gazebo, though Miller also wants to leave open space.

Resident Thomas Richards informed board members of a water problem in North Vassalboro. On the east side of Main Street, he said, the ground is so saturated that the flagpole in front of the former school building is affected, and he has been told the next-door property-owner has trouble mowing his soggy lawn.

Richards does not know the cause of the problem. He wanted to make sure town officials were aware of it as they prepare to discuss Main Street repaving and related issues with state Department of Transportation officials.

French proposed a review and possible update of Vassalboro’s Marijuana Business Ordinance and TIF Ordinance. He added that the town’s transfer station committee might request a review of what he said is a 1988 transfer station ordinance.

Miller added amendments to the recreation committee bylaws and an addition to the town’s personnel policy to the list of documents board members should consider.

Resident Douglas Phillips reminded board members they had previously discussed using ARPA money to install a generator at the town office, so it could function during prolonged power outages. That topic, too, is slated for future discussion.

The next Vassalboro select board meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 19, in the town office meeting room.