Tue, 10/19/2021 - 8:45am

SUSAN JOHNS

File photo

Absentee ballots are available and polls will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Nov. 2 at Wiscasset Community Center, 242 Gardiner Road. Town Clerk Linda Perry said the town will follow current Center for Disease Control guidelines.

“Absentee requests have been steady. At this time we have had 136 requests,” Perry said in an email response Monday. Request an absentee ballot through Oct. 28. Ask the town clerk’s office for details.

Voters face spending questions including a second chance to buy a cruiser, and questions for which the money and more are not yet known.

That is because the possible deals are not done: One question would have selectmen negotiate and enter a long-term lease with Maine Art Gallery to stay where it is, the town-owned, former Wiscasset Academy on Warren Street, for up to 20 years. Another would have the board enter a net energy billing credit deal, also for up to 20 years.

In June, Gallery Manager Kerry Hadley asked selectmen to go from a five-year lease to one for 20, and commit to helping maintain the 1807 building. The moves would help the nonprofit get grants, Hadley said.

Town Manager Dennis Simmons said in a phone interview Oct. 7, he had heard no indication which local votes, if any, will be close. His only prediction was state Question 1, that could impact Central Maine Power’s clean energy corridor, will aid voter turnout.

The cruiser question that lost in June is back, again seeking up to $55,000 from capital reserve. Another question asks to tap the cemetery lot sales reserve account for up to $50,000 for a metal archway and stone entrance at Ancient Cemetery.

Three questions would pass a solar ordinance and gel it with town rules, by defining solar energy as electromagnetic energy transmitted from the sun; and a solar energy conversion system as converting it to electric or thermal energy. The question states a facility’s size is “measured by calculating the square footage of solar panels at maximum tilt on the ground below.”

In June, voters OK’d selectmen to negotiate a lease of about 20 Wiscasset Municipal Airport acres to MSD Wiscasset LLC for a solar project. The proposed lease is on selectmen’s Tuesday, Oct. 19 agenda. The board is meeting at 6 p.m at Wiscasset Community Center.

Selectmen are still learning about the net billing that is the subject of one ballot question, and a possible deal. The board recently heard a partial presentation. “I think there's potential for the town to save money by opting in to net energy billing,” Selectmen’s Chair Sarah Whitfield said via email Oct. 12. “However, the board has not received the full presentation and had the chance to ask questions yet, so I can't say either way if we'll go for it.

“The tricky part is that because ... there may be a deadline that we'd have to opt in by, that would fall before the June town meeting, if we did want to opt in and hadn't had authorization from the town yet, it would be a special town meeting – meaning very few people would make a decision on it and it would cost extra money,” Whitfield continued. “Therefore, we're essentially asking the town to trust us as a board to make the best decision for the town once we have all the information (which could be not to opt in, we don't know). There's no good solution and it's frustrating that unfortunately this seems to happen with some decisions that need to be made in a timely manner.”

Two other questions propose pulling timber harvesting from town rules. Simmons explained, the state will now enforce it.