The University of Maine DigitalCommons@UMaine Maine Town Documents Maine Government Documents 2016 Chesterville Maine 2016 Town Report Chesterville, Me. Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/towndocs Repository Citation Chesterville, Me., "Chesterville Maine 2016 Town Report" (2016). Maine Town Documents. 6623. https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/towndocs/6623 This Report is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@UMaine. It has been accepted for inclusion in Maine Town Documents by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UMaine. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Annual Report of the Municipal Officers For the Year Ending December 31, 2016 TABLE OF CONTENTS Dedication.......................................................................................................2 Town Officers.................................................................................................6 Town of Chesterville 2017 Town Meeting Warrant.....................................7 Town of Chesterville Recall of Selectmen Ordinance............................. 15 Municipal Appropriations............................................................................17 Budget W orksheet....................................................................................... 20 Tax Collectors Report................................................................................. 23 Town of Chesterville Vital Statistics 2016.................................................. 33 Town of Chesterville Public Works R ep o rt.............................................. 34 Code Enforcement R eport..........................................................................35 Chesterville Fire/EMS Department............................................................ 36 LPI Report.....................................................................................................37 Chesterville Waste & Recycling Report 2016............................................ 38 Report for Clearwater Food Pantry 2016.................................................. 40 Greetings from the North Chesterville Extension Homemakers..........41 Greetings from the Chesterville Heritage Society.....................................42 North Chesterville Baptist C hurch............................................................43 2016 Assessor’s Report................................................................................. 44 Audit Report Notice..................................................................................... 70 U.S. Senator Susan C ollins..........................................................................71 U.S. Senator Angus King............................................................................. 72 Congressman Bruce Poliquin......................................................................73 State Senator Tom Saviello..........................................................................74 State Representative Russell Black..............................................................75 1 Annual Report Dedication Joan and Doc Cooper 2 Doc and Joan - A Son Recalls Doc and Joan Cooper did sweeten the hearts Of all who stood in the midst of their love Twos the same at the end as it was at the start Steady and Loyal and Graced from above Dream on you fools who think love's for the young It's not to them God gave sixty-six Septembers And year and year again the senses stung With earthly delights too rich to remember I once found a well on some old farmland A moss lined circle of stones in the ground It was round as woman, solid as man And on the old crank arm two pails were bound Bound together from water to sky And to my Mum and Dad my heart did fly When Mum and Dad came to Maine from British Columbia, Canada, in the summer of '53, to work for long time Farmington veterinarian Dr, Russell, they were given an apartment in his large home, known around town as the Gingerbread House. Two years later, after having been introduced to the waterways of the near-by town of Chesterville by their friend college professor Charles Prebble, they decided to set out on their own, purchasing and moving into a dilapidated farmhouse on the north shore of Norcross Pond, where Dad began his life as a country vet. "What a spot", I said to Dad 30 summers later, taking in the view as we paddled our canoe toward the sandy beach in front of the house. "You and Mum sure knew how to pick 'em", "I guess so" said Dad, "but the real reason I wanted this place wasn't so much the house or the pond. It was the opportunity to live next to the Bog Stream, The first time Mr. Prebble took your mother and me there to watch the birds as we floated along, and to eat lunch on the banks of the Little Norridgewock, I knew I was home". That's why Dad was such a great vet. He was at home in nature, and drawn to every single creature in it. Of course he loved all the animals you'd expect him to, the cats and dogs, the farmstock, but Dad also had a special affection for the ones most people didn't like: Spiders, bots and rots and rattlesnakes He loved them all for their own sake Said every creature has its worth If it pies or swims or crawls this earth 3 Rugged as all get out, afraid of nothing, and the least squeamish person I have ever known. Dad was born to be a large animal vet. Nothing discouraged him, not the four hour birth of a dead calf, not the horse ravaged in the barbed wire, and not the three-days-in-the-hot sun autopsy. He approached it all with his unending enthusiasm and his legendary tenacity. And as the years went by and his power began to ebb, he started asking onlookers for help and he learned to wrestle the critters less with his strength and more with his wisdom. "Common sense, that's always been your dad's secret", said Mum. I'd second that, and add in his deep respect for the salt of the earth farmer, and for those like himself who thrived on hard work, and had somehow kept their childhood sense of wonder. Dancing with the girl next door i hardly fee! my feet on the floor Rising and failing again Till this dance is done and the next one begins The smartest thing my father ever did was to marry my mother. He didn't have to go too far to find her because she was literally the girl next door, and she complimented him perfectly. Beautiful and refined, and smart enough to graduate from high school two years early, she was already a working nurse by the time she met Oad. She soon helped him focus his interests and head him toward college and veterinary training. After they were married she put the bread on the table while he worked toward graduation, and they had the first of their four children. Everything Dad accomplished in his career was done in full partnership with Mum. She was his advisor, his secretary, his bookkeeper, his medical assistant, and his best friend. She was a wonderful mother, grandmother and great grandmother as well, and she had a way of making any gathering an occasion. Her cooking skills were legendary, and it can truly be said that never once in his life did Dad complain about any dish that she put in front of him. As they got older I watched their love for each other turn into true reverence. When Mum became too frail to always enjoy preparing food, Dad would take great pleasure in greeting her in the evening with a small glass of wine and some cheese and crackers, or In the morning with a perfectly sliced orange centered on a plate. How many passings did Mum and Dad oversee down through the years? So many farmers. So many friends. So many laved ones. Both Mr. Prebble and later my father's mother, passed away in my parents' house, having been taken in and lovingly nursed in their final months by my mother. And then of course there were all the animals. So many animals. So many stories. One that sticks in my mind was told to me by Chesterville's very own Matt Welch. Years ago, to please a daughter, he had rescued a baby grey squirrel, and ended up keeping it. it lived quite a few years but eventually when it began to fail, he called up Dad to see what could be done. Apparently Dad took particular interest in the furry rodent, partly because she was calm and let you do just about anything to her, and partly because she was such a unique customer. So over the course of many weeks he tried this remedy and that remedy, hoping to at least delay the inevitable. When he didn't hear from Mat for a while he'd check in, just like he had done countless times with countless people. Nobody asked him to. He just cared. One day when he called up to see how the little guy was doing, Mat informed him that she had passed away. There was a moment of silence and then Dad said, "Well, she sure was a good patient". Mum always assumed she would precede Dad into the afterlife, but he got there seven months before her. 4 You old cowboy you - What's a gal supposed to do Thought Td be the one to ride ahead -But I guess you were the one instead You old cowboy you Don't know why I should be surprised - you always were the first to rise Then soon you'd say it's time go - Hardest working man I know You old cowboy you Three years ago, on the day of Dad's funeral, we decided to park his famous red truck, in all its beat up, worn out, million miles glory, in front of the church. As the place began to fill up my wife watched while person after person stopped before going in to reach out and pat that old relic. They patted it, she thought, just like someone wouJd pat a loyal horse, or say good bye to an old cat or a sheep or a cow, or their favorite dog in the whole wide world. A thousand conversations in the cab of that old truck To have you Dad to talk to sure was my good luck “Don't know what Td do without you", is what he'd say to me He said it when I was sixty and he said it when I was three "Come on and ride me". The greatest compliment I could give my parents is to say that even though they weren't born here, even though they came "from away" they somehow managed, through a sixty year career working in a state known for its reserve and its do-it-yourself attitude, to become the rarest of the rare - honorary Mainers.