It was a very small perk that had been going on, according to firefighters, for the last 50 years or more.

It’s a small thing that other fire departments across Maine, volunteer or not, allow their firefighters to do.

But since last year, Wiscasset has forbidden it. The issue is whether firefighters are allowed to wash their personal cars at the fire station.

And it blew up at the April 19 Selectmen’s meeting. Fire Chief T.J. Merry requested that the board reconsider its decision not to allow firefighters to wash their cars while they are at the station. The firefighters are paid while they are on a fire call, but have regular training sessions at the fire station that aren’t paid for. They used their free time to wash cars, boats, RVs, off-road vehicles, and more.

The firefighters chipped in donations which went into a community services account, and were often used to pay for things like Christmas turkeys for the needy, donations to the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, and more.

As of last fall, the selectmen changed the rules, citing liability issues. Last year, the firefighters’ fund didn’t have enough money to buy the turkeys.

And so Merry asked for the rule to change back. Two weeks ago, the selectmen refused. Tuesday night, the board refused again, by a vote of 3-2. But in the meantime, a Facebook campaign on the fire department’s behalf excoriated the board for its actions. When the issue came up again Tuesday night, the board was positioned for a fight. And not just with the firefighters and their supporters who had turned out for the meeting, but with their fellow selectmen, too.

Chairman Ben Rines Jr. had been invited to hear the firefighters out, and came back with a list of directives that he gave to Town Manager Marian Anderson regarding the car-washing. Selectman David Cherry spoke up. “You had no authority to issue directives!” Cherry told Rines. “They are illegal, and are null and void.”

Selectman Judy Colby scolded Merry, saying no other town employee has special rights, and the fire department was putting the entire town’s liability at risk. She referred to the use of a fire department vehicle to help an elderly, 50-year veteran of the department move from Wiscasset to Topsham.

Merry was not present when the firefighter made the judgment call to use the truck to help the older man move, but defended the action. “He needed to be moved, that day,” he said. “He gave 50 years’ service to the fire department, and the very least we could do is help him out.”

Selectman Judy Flanagan also said she was mainly concerned with the town’s liability.

Anderson said that the town’s insurer would pay for injuries or property damage, but if someone were injured or property was damaged, the rates would likely go up.  “Your insurer would pay the bill, but Maine Municipal Association strongly recommends against it.”

Wiscasset resident Louis Savage spoke up, bringing a pail, sponge and a hose, which he presented to Merry. “If you’re worried about the town spending money on equipment, you don’t need to worry about it anymore,” he said. “Now the chief has his own equipment.”  Savage pointed out that the firefighters don’t get a dime for keeping the fire engines clean.

“The key word here is volunteer,” said Katharine Martin-Savage, also of Wiscasset. “That’s why they’re different from school employees or town employees.”

Rines said that in his opinion, the town is having a tough enough time attracting and keeping volunteer firefighters without this sort of thing. “We’re already having a tough time keeping an ambulance service,” he said. “Do we really want to fight with them over every little thing?”

There has never been a case of anyone injured while washing a car filing suit or filing a claim against the town.

In the end, selectmen voted down the proposal to allow the firefighters to wash personal vehicles again, 3-2, but Rines wanted to add the issue to the town warrant. “Let’s let the people of Wiscasset decide,” he said. Colby objected late in the meeting, saying passions were running too high on the issue. It was decided to try to solve the problem on the board.

In other actions, the board held public hearings on a liquor license renewal for Taste of the Orient, and a new blasting ordinance, which both passed unanimously. Hearings were also held on changes to the business license ordinance, that would require a business owner to come before the board once every three years, and a temporary business license ordinance, that would require temporary businesses to apply and be approved 15 days in advance. Both were sent back for revision. Also sent back to be revised were rule changes that would limit the number of non-Wiscasset residents who could be voting members on the Airport and Waterfront committees to one per committee.

The selectmen accepted a use agreement between the Wiscasset Fire Department and the Lincoln County Fire Chiefs Association, and discussed the possibility of sending someone to Boston to speak at a hearing on nuclear spent fuel storage.

Bids were opened for the Natural Resource Inventory of Montsweag Dam Preserve, with bids from Jones Associates  for $2,400, VHB for $6,900, Norman Bau Associates for $5,550, Albright and Others for $2,480, and Stockwell Associates for $2,870.

The board voted unanimously to accept the pier applications for six businesses, and decided to wait another week for final wording of a solar energy warrant article.

Anderson announced a household hazardous waste collection day on Saturday, April 30, at the Bath Public Works Department, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The board also decided to accept the recommendation to go with Fiberite as a waste removal service, at a new site in Hampden, for a tipping fee of $62 per ton. The new contract would begin on April 1, 2018, and run for 15 years.