If Alna’s Head Tide Dam Committee wants a shot at the town agreeing to change the dam, the panel should offer more options than the ones a consultant offered Tuesday night, Third Selectman Doug Baston said.

The concepts Inter-Fluve shared with the panel, for the first time Tuesday, involved, among other features, either a one-third or two-third slice out of the dam’s “spillway,”  the span between the abutments on either shore of the Sheepscot River.

Baston and some committee members emphasized an uphill climb that a major change would face with voters; and Baston reminded the committee that any proposal would have to go through selectmen to get to voters.

Offering no alternative to partial removal is unwise, he said. “I don’t think politically you want to be in that position.”

Committee member Jon Luoma maintained that the committee should explore options for the site without being limited by what might pass in a town vote.

“We can’t just say, people aren’t going to like it.” Luoma described as silly the concept of leaving one-third of the spillway. Removing its full span would be a better option to consider, he said.

Leaving one-third has no ecological benefit, only historical and political ones, Inter-Fluve consultant Nick Nelson said.

Either of the spillway cuts that Inter-Fluve floated would preserve the swimming hole and the dam’s history as a former mill site, shore up deteriorated parts and help fish get by, Nelson said. Each would also make what remains of the dam more stable, he said.

Other possible features include a stairway incorporating rocks or logs, for a safer slope in accessing the river by foot; and improvements to the parking area and kiosk.

The committee’s biggest challenge isn’t people’s sentimental feelings toward the dam, but rather, the fact that, when the Jewett family gave the town the dam about a half-century ago, the family’s intent was that the dam never be destroyed, Alna’s archivist Doreen Conboy said. Getting information out about what the committee has in mind, and why, will be key, she and several other members said.

“We have a lot to teach the town and that’s what I think we’ve got to do, and see how they receive what we teach them,” Conboy said.

In a way, the project would do more to meet the Jewett family’s intent than anything that has occurred since the town got the dam, Atlantic Salmon Federation’s Andy Goode said. The federation hired Inter-Fluve and has offered to fund a project at no cost to the town.

The concrete dam has not been maintained and has deteriorated, Goode said.

Participants decided to draft information for residents, in layman’s terms; and come up with a list of residents to speak with, including a Jewett family member, members of other longtime local families, and abutters.

The committee should be going out into the town and doing a lot of listening.and not much talking, Greg Shute said.

The concepts presented are preliminary and can still change, with possibilities ranging from doing nothing to the dam to complete removal, Nelson said.

An option that does not improve fish passage would not attract the funding needed for the project, Goode said. Any project would be done at no cost to the town, he has said. He reiterated the point Tuesday, and said that might include a maintenance fund for the site.

The panel set its next meeting for Jan. 12.