Relief could be on the way for intown Wiscasset's parking woes. Selectmen decided May 21 to pursue turning a tax-acquired property at 25 Middle Street into a parking lot.

Several issues remain, including an asbestos check and an abutter's request to buy part of the property for storage. But selectmen decided if the town can swing the cost to demolish a home there, the lot could put a dent in the perennial parking squeeze intown.

“There's constant talk of the lack of parking,” Board Chairman Pam Dunning said. “How often are we going to get a lot intown, available for parking?”

The lot could yield 10 to 12 parking spaces, Town Manager Laurie Smith said. The asbestos assessment will help determine the cost to demolish the home, she said.

If hazardous materials-removal spikes the cost, the board could reconsider its options, selectmen said.

Selling the property instead could generate about $3,000 a year in taxes; however, when selectmen tapped longtime realtor Roy Farmer for his advice Tuesday night, he informed them that, as of a couple of years ago, the home had second-floor ceilings that were down.

“It's in pretty tough shape,” Farmer told the board. “It's too bad. It was a decent old house, and could be again, but it would take a lot to do it.”

Abutter Lonnie Kennedy of 30 Water Street urged the board to consider selling him a piece of the property with a barn on it he would use for storage. That would only cut the parking lot by 1 or 2 spaces, he said. The sale money could help cover the town's costs to demolish the home, he added.

Smith will look into the value of the building and land Kennedy wants, and the number of spaces that would be lost.

Talking trash

Going to pay-as-you-throw for trash will help soften the blow of increasing tipping fees Wiscasset faces, Transfer Station Superintendent Ron Lear said.

“We need to be proactive about what's going to happen to us … and try to scale back our tonnage and be ready for the future,” Lear said.

Budget committee members have expressed concern that pay-as-you-throw could lead to roadside dumping. That's part of the reason the committee opposed the transfer station budget; however, during Tuesday night's presentation, Smith and Lear reiterated that a proposed ordinance change is the ballot item that will determine if pay-as-you-throw is a go.

Voters will consider the change at the polls June 11.

Informational sheets are available at the town office and the transfer station, Smith said.

Remembering a leader lost to tragedy

African American poet and civil rights leader James Weldon Johnson wasn't from Wiscasset and never owned property here, retired Episcopal priest Al Niese told selectmen. But Johnson died in Wiscasset 75 years ago next month, Niese, of Woolwich said.

The vehicle Johnson and his wife were traveling in collided with a train during a violent rainstorm, Niese said. Johnson died shortly after; his wife survived. Now four Portland churches want to raise money toward a historical marker or plaque that could go somewhere in town, perhaps at the library, he said.

“I'm really open to whatever you are willing to entertain,” Niese said.

Selectmen concurred with Niese about Johnson's significance to U.S. history, but they weren't sure what the best place would be for a marker. Dunning, the library's director, said she would check with trustees to see if it could go there.

“It was a huge story at the time here (and) nationwide,” Dunning said of Johnson's death in 1938.

The churches are planning a night of dramatic presentations of Johnson's sermon poems June 15, at Trinity Church in Portland, time to be announced, Niese said. Call 207-443-8613 for more information.

Contracts OK'd

Selectmen passed Smith's next contract for town manager. It will run through June 30, 2016, with a starting salary of $87,500, the same as the last two and a half years, Smith said.

The town's contribution to Smith's retirement plan will be an amount equal to 8 percent of her salary; it had been equal to 6 percent.

The board also approved a two-year contract with the bargaining unit that Smith said includes workers in public works, wastewater, the transfer station and an accounts payable clerk. The deal includes two percent annual wage hikes and health insurance that has a lower premium, Smith said.

“It was a hard-fought contract on both sides,” Selectman Judy Colby said.

The thousand-dollar inch

When is an inch worth a thousand dollars? When it makes a difference in insurance coverage for the harbormaster's boat. A new, precise measurement recently saved the town $1,000 in insurance costs, Smith said.

Shiver me timbers!

Smith announced a pirate theme for this year's Fourth of July festivities. The “Treasures of Wiscasset” Parade will travel from Hooper Street to Federal Street, then on to Main and Middle streets.

Memorial Day ceremony

Selectman Bill Curtis announced the American Legion will hold a Memorial Day observance at the municipal lot at 9 a.m. Monday, May 27.

Susan Johns can be reached at 207-844-4633 or sjohns@wiscassetnewspaper.com.