Waterboro and Hollis disagreement over Transfer Station usage

Here’s the letter posted on the Hollis website. The Hollis Selectmen have a shorter memory than the Waterboro Selectmen!

Years ago, in the 90′s Hollis and Waterboro used to share a vote on the RWS, now Echo Maine Board. Back then Hollis paid Waterboro approx $30,000 a year for using the recycling side of our Transfer Station, to include the woody debry the stumps, the white goods, the recyclable stuff too. The only thing they couldn’t use was our ‘hopper’ for household trash.
Well, over the years. Hollis sorta got out of the habit of paying for this service, for using our facility. They have gone to door to door pickup and HAVE NO FACILITY of their own. They instead stopped paying their bill in Waterboro, and Waterboro continued on letting the Hollis folks come in, simply paying the same sticker fee the Waterboro residents paid.
Yep, times are tough, and Waterboro Selectmen thought Hollis should pay their fair share. Hollis couldn’t even remember paying their fair share in the past. Shows you how long its’ been ! The Hollis Selectmen were having their residents pay the total bill to Waterboor through their stickers. The Town of Hollis Selectmen thought they should pay NOTHING to use our Transfer Station. Read the letter. Now they suggest their residents drive into Portland to use the facility. Not bad, longer drive, they still pay a dumping fee.
But they put out a memo sorta forgetting the history and the facts. What a cheap bunch. Course, if our Waterboro Selectmen were more like Hollis, then maybe we’d have the lower taxes. You think?

http://www.hollismaine.org/Publicnoticetransferstation.pdf

Laptops stolen from Waterboro / Massabesic High School

WATERBORO, Maine — Police say about 50 laptop computers are missing after a burglary at a southern Maine high school.

The York County Sheriff’s Department says one or more burglars broke into the East Building of Massabesic (mass-uh-BEE’-sic) High School in Waterboro Monday night and took the laptops and a projector. The burglars pried open a rear window to the building.

The laptop Apple Intel Mac Book computers were used in the freshman academy at Massabesic. The laptops are all white and had identifying stickers showing they are the property of RSU 57. When the laptops are turned on the background screen identifies the computers as the property of RSU 57.

The school says the replacement cost for each computer is $1,200.

Waterboro Official Website

Nice touch on the town website, adding a quick Hours and Directions link on the left side. Shows townhall hours, library hours, and dump(Transfer Station) hours all in one place. Sure saves looking around for them !

Logan Circle road problems

Why is this still an ongoing issue with the people of Logan Circle, both the runoff and the maintaining because of Fay Park ?

Do a petition to have the town take back the park from the Land Trust. That land agreement was written to allow either side to bow out easily. Take the park back, it becomes a town matter once again, we can spend taxpayer money to maintain it and repair the drainage problems.

But, I guess if those residents can’t get together enough to form a Road Association, they probably can’t get together to start a petition and follow it through.

Hope we don’t have any storm problems now !

Maine lost nearly 60 percent of its FEMA funding, or nearly $500,000, because of a new allocation formula that penalizes Maine as a rural state. Four counties – Cumberland, York, Waldo and Sagadahoc – have lost all of their funding, according to a joint new release sent by Michaud and Pingree.

We don’t support the Red Cross and FEMA is out of money. Hope it’s a mild Winter, eh !

State of Maine rates and Waterboro

It’s not unusual to have other towns poking fun at Waterboro, and we’ve been known to do the same.

But in the last week I’ve had elected officials in three towns make mention about
how gullible Waterboro Selectmen are lately. And they were all three talking about
Waterboro setting their own rates because a committee member said ” Oh,the State doesn’t set rates anymore.”

And then this morning I got sent this along with a loud chuckle:

http://www.maine.gov/mdot/community-programs/documents/slrper11.pdf

We are a piece of work.

How much did the new compactor cost ?

Oh, this is a fun one, and I get this question often.

Answer? Who knows.

Remember the original bids, from $100,000 to $150,000? And the two year circus trying to get it
done cheaper? Looks like this will be similar to other projects in town. It will sorta get done, and
no one will really know the bottom line amount.

I don’t think they hit the high number, but I’ll lay odds they didn’t save any money. Would have been
cheaper to have the firm we bought the compactor from put it in. And the money we paid the
engineering firm to get it done right was wasted.

I doubt we will ever know the actual amount paid for the compactor.

Good to hear a couple of people on the air from Waterboro; WB1CIM, Larry, is often heard on 160M. I’ll have to get something up for that band. I frequently hear people that are on Ossipee Mtn, which is also part of SOTA. Limerick is represented on 6M from time to time.

I usually manage to make the Gorham meetings on Thursday Night. Small group, but pretty enthusiastic. Anyone wants a ride, I usually have a seat open if I can get the dog off it.

Twice I’ve found good conversation with hams traveling through, once at Merrill’s and once at Dunkin.

Don’t think there is a common local simplex, but 50.4 is pretty well listened to, and I think almost anyone can hit the
444.600 W1CKD repeater. They also have a 2 meter repreater, but can’t remember the freq.
Just got reminded , it’s 147.27 with a 103.5 tone.

The Gorham Group just had a class. Always enough people to give classes and test in the area.

Stop junk mail ? Really ?

So, looks like there’s a push on to stop junk mail. I followed the link, and tried to find either The Reporter, or the Smart Shopper. Neither showed up.

Think about it, each week both The Reporter and the Smart Shopper bring a couple of tons of paper to the Town of Waterboro. SOme goes in the mailboxes, some just distributed around town. And they are free! Oh , think so? Both make money selling advertisement, the majority of which is not about Waterboro, both push their papers as free. And yet, Waterboro residents get to pick up the tab for hauling all that paper to Eco Maine. Sure is a win-win for them. And a losing one for the taxpayers. Costs us about $400 a month to take care of their ‘free’ papers.

Is the new compactor finished ?

I always chuckle when people ask me this. Because usually these are folks who I didn’t think even knew about the new compactor, nor the two year circus trying to get it installed cheaply !

The answer is no. It’s close, but finishing up a project seems to be beyond our current townhall. They have a hard time putting projects to bed, dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s is not in their limited bag of tricks.

What is happening is NOTHING. Notice the subject is NOT on the agenda anymore, nor is it being talked about ! So therefore, everyone thinks it must be done, eh !

There are still two problems, two issues, that are unfinished. Neither issue stops it from being used, but both issues are just disasters, bound to cost us more money. One, when they install a new empty contained, something that happens weekly, the bottom of the whole compactor us just a little, just a touch to low. Right now they have the bolts on the NEW COMPACTOR BASE loosened, allowing the container to be connected. Must be ok, eh ? Nope, it won;t be long before the bolts get sheared off as the container bang into them when it’s taken on and off. Then you have a costly problem, which will cost the town more money. Solution? Oh, add a couple of shims to raise the base enough to allow the container to install WITH THE BOLTS TIGHT. Is this in the works? No one seems to know.
Problem two: the motor controller, part of the electronics, has a heater to make sure the water based cooling does not freeze. It has gone bad twice, apparently from mis-wiring, or improper installation. When it gets cold, and that water freezes in the controller, things will not work, and it will cost another $300-$500 to get it replaced. Solution? Either get one that works correctly, repair the wiring, or correct the installation. This part is included in the original installation bid. It needs to work correctly.

This is dragging on, getting into the Winter, and the Selectmen don’t even have it on the agenda. My question was: Is the contractor already paid for this work. The answer, apparently is no, not yet. Let’s hope he isn’t until the work is finally completed and done correctly. Wanna bet?

Waterboro State Rep helps Waterboro ?

Here’s the type of stuff our new Waterboro Rep is doing: Be good to business stuff.
If you have a farm next door to you, there is no need to notify you when they spray, no registration
necessary anymore.
And, if you’re a residential landowner, and the power line boys, or the town, wants to spray, they only get to tell you about it IF you pay $20 up front, once a year.
Yep, helping business, and especially those local farmers with large blueberry patches, like our
own State Rep !

State of Maine

Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Resources

Maine Board of Pesticides Control

28 State House Station

Augusta, Maine 04333-0028

Paul R. LePage, Governor

Walter E. Whitcomb, Commissioner

Henry S. Jennings, Director

DATE: August 23, 2011
TO: Participants in the Registry for Notification of Aircraft and Air-carrier Pesticide Applications
FROM: Henry Jennings, Director, Maine Board of Pesticides Control
SUBJECT: Repeal of Pesticide Notification Law

On September 28, 2011, the agricultural pesticide notification registry will cease to exist. The law that created this registry was repealed by the Maine Legislature in June. However, state law provides other options for notification about nearby pesticide spraying:

· Self-Initiated Request for Notification: You can request notification from an applicator for any outdoor pesticide application within 500 feet of your residence. While this rule can apply to any outdoor pesticide treatment, it is most often used in rural areas by people who want to be informed about agricultural applications. For aerial spraying, the 500-foot notification distance will change to 1,000 feet in January 2012. This “by request” option can be initiated at any time during the year.

· Non-Agricultural Pesticide Notification Registry: By signing up on this registry, you can be notified about most non-agricultural outdoor pesticide applications within 250 feet of your property boundary. This registry, which costs participants $20 annually, is most commonly used by people living in residential areas who want to be informed about pesticide spraying on lawns, trees, or shrubs, and around structures in urban and suburban areas. The non-agricultural registry does not apply to notification for aerial spraying. The deadline for this registry is December 31 to be included for the following year.

Details about both of these means of notification can be found on the Board of Pesticides Control website at: http://www.maine.gov/agriculture/pesticides/public/registry.htm.

If you have any questions about the registry, available notification options, or laws and regulations about pesticide applications, please contact our office at pesticides@maine.gov or 207-287-2731.

Waterboro Emergency response Plan ?

I see this in the Rep Libby emailing this week: Think he knows where the Waterboro Emergency Shelters are? Must be time to check the Waterboro FEMA plan and see what is suppose to happen.

· learn about your community’s hurricane response plan. Plan routes to local shelters, register family members with special medical needs as required, and make plans for your pets;

Waterboro Hurricane Planning

Ok, since more than as few asked me about where the shelter were, town planing, etc , I went down to townhall the check, then to the Fire Department.

Apparently the town department heads are having a meeting later this afternoon, Friday, and will post on the town website
what they decide. Currently they mentioned shelters in Buxton, Saco, and some other place, Wells I think. Waterboro Townhall would have water and
that’s about it, no cooking facilities, no beds. There has been a Lake Arrowhead Shelter at one of the clubhouses that has a generator before, but nothing
yet about that in the works.

So much for York County and emergency planning. Cumberland County got their stuff going YESTERDAY for Red Cross, FEMA, and local shelters.

General consensus seems to be that “it ain’t going to amount to much, it’s not cold yet, and people will get by no problem.”

On other notes, , the new recycling compactor is still not going, and needs yet more work , welding, and changes.

Official Town Announcement
Waterboro Board of Selectmen Emergency Meeting
Central Fire Station
August 26, 2011, 400 pm
The Waterboro Board of Selectmen have called an emergency meeting for today, Friday, August
26, 2011 at 4 pm at Central Fire Station to discuss preparations for Hurricane Irene. Members of
the public are welcome to attend.

Playing the hurricane odds

Try typing in your local zipcode: 24 hours ago the odds were less than 20% of even getting high winds. Now ?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44285405/ns/weather/

Chadbourne Ridge – Dumpers Paradise

Since we can’t open the dump on 3 day weekends, It’s always
fun to watch the loads of brush, trash, and whole trees being hailed
to the abandoned section of Chadbourne Ridge road.

I’d be whiling to bet we pay the Road Commissioner more to clean it up in a year than it would cost to have the dump open.