Two legal issues will keep Johnson Controls’ proposed energy project off Wiscasset’s Nov. 5 ballot, according to Town Manager Dennis Simmons’ report released ahead of selectmen’s meeting Sept. 3, the last date to add ballot questions. Simmons tells selectmen in the report, neither of the two issues would be resolved in time.

Simmons explains he contacted town counsel “to ensure proper wording” on the ballot item; and it turned out, since the project includes both school and municipal items, the school department’s OK is needed before the town votes, and the financing might need to be separated. Town counsel is looking into that, Simmons writes. He also tells the board, staff are frustrated about the lingering need for heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) upgrades at the town office, “the central issue I set out to accomplish” with the Johnson Controls project, Simmons said.

Simmons said voters two years ago approved funding to upgrade the town office complex’s HVAC. “We now know that the project does not include any upgrades. We wasted an entire year ...” He proposes selectmen waive the bid requirements for getting heat pumps put in, so town staff can “get quotes from companies that have the knowledge and ability to install the correct equipment for this building and get this work done.”

Responding to email questions last week, Johnson Controls’ Dean Angeledes told Wiscasset Newspaper the project can include cooling if the town contributes to that.

Angeledes said the company is disappointed the proposal won’t make the Nov. 5 ballot. Johnson Controls has requested the school committee vote on the project Sept. 10 and the town then set up a special vote for late October or early November, he said. Subcontractors are lined up and the company cannot keep asking them to hold their prices, especially for as long as the next annual town vote next June, he said.

“That is a non-starter.”

Angeledes said Johnson Controls has spent seven months meeting with the town, has gone along with the town’s edits to the would be contract and is guaranteeing a total of about $20 million in energy savings over 20 years. “We will measure and verify the results annually for the term of the contract. Any failure to meet that obligation means either the Town foregoes a debt obligation payment(s) or JCI reimburses for the difference. Either way the savings are 100% guaranteed. There is no risk to the town or its constituents.”

Angeledes reiterated his points from past presentations and interviews, that Johnson Controls’ “vast” experience could help Wiscasset as it moves its sewer plant. “We could also help with the construction of a new Town Office complex. All of this can be accomplished but first we’d like to prove the concept by taking care of the Town and School System’s immediate needs in this project.”

The townspeople should be allowed to decide if they want to save all that energy at no risk to the town, or absorb “the rising cost of energy, in buildings that are currently not energy efficient, in their municipal taxes over the same period,” Angeledes said. 

“I’m hoping after (Labor Day) things can move forward,” Angeledes added.

Press time is hours before Tuesday’s 6 p.m. board meeting at the town office. Look for the meeting’s outcome in the Sept. 12 print edition and sooner at wiscassetnewspaper.com