Wiscasset fire officers and selectmen on Tuesday night talked terms of a potential deal to lift the ban on firefighters washing their personal vehicles at the fire station. Selectmen’s Chairman Judy Colby said she’d like to see a proposal in front of the board for its next meeting Aug. 16.

Fire officers said they would get some wording to the town immediately for Administrative Assistant Kathy Onorato to provide Town Manager Marian Anderson when, according to Colby, Anderson will be away on business.

The elements that emerged for the proposal were for firefighters to agree they will not hold the town liable if they get hurt washing their vehicles at the station; for the board to allow the washing if the vehicles need it due to use on firefighters’ duties; and for the board to agree that the vehicles could be washed at any time, because firefighters are always on call.

“They’re always firemen,” Selectman Jeff Slack said in support of lifting the ban. He and Selectman Ben Rines Jr. have dissented in board votes upholding the ban.

The more than hour-long conversation held mostly to the car-washing. Selectmen described the issue as controversial in the town and stated they want it resolved.

Wiscasset is a darn good town, Selectman Judy Flanagan said. “It’s hard to see it divided right now.”

Colby concurred. She supports every department, and if she could put blinders on she wouldn’t care about the car-washing, but as a selectman she has a responsibility to protect the entire town, she said. An extra insurance policy or a rider have been looked into and are not possible, Colby said.

“I don’t know what the solution here is, but I’m like Judy (Flanagan). We don’t need the controversy going on in this town.”

A couple of times, Colby reminded participants to speak one at a time and not argue. There were also several light moments; and the board and fire officers touched on several other items ranging from the town’s direct deposit policy and the status of the department’s ladder truck, to department safety officer Tim Merry’s comments that Lincoln County’s local emergency departments will eventually need to regionalize, to have enough staff and survive financially; and Edgecomb Fire Chief Roy Potter’s reported question of why Edgecomb wasn’t called to Monday’s woods fire off Willow Lane.

Potter called the town and asked why, Flanagan said. She had also wondered, when she read a news report listing all the surrounding towns as helping, except Edgecomb.

Wiscasset fire officials cited under-staffing in Edgecomb’s department. Chief Merry declined to comment in more detail in a phone interview after the meeting. Reached later Tuesday night, Potter said he felt he should call and ask because, he said, his department hasn’t been called to Wiscasset since February and it’s affecting members’ morale. They’re wondering why, as the closest department, they’re not being called, he said.

Other towns still call for Edgecomb, Potter said, adding that availability continues to be a struggle for all towns including Edgecomb but that, as it happened, three members were at Edgecomb’s station during Monday’s fire and he knew of other members who were also ready to go if called.

On direct deposit, Assistant Fire Chief Chris Cossette said he’d like to see the selectmen, within six months, consider making it optional.

Tim Merry’s reference to regionalization followed selectmen’s mention of an idea from a firefighter to merge the fire and ambulance departments.

The two departments have begun collaborating in some areas, officials said. Some firefighters have already signed up for emergency medical responder training that EMS Director Toby Martin announced at a recent fire department meeting, fire officials said.

The offer of training is one of the “baby steps” the departments are taking to work together, Anderson said.

As for the ladder truck, fire officers said it’s working and can stay in use but had a possible leak issue; noting the town has had to keep spending on repairs for the truck, Chief Merry said he will not put more money into it and has no plans to ask for a replacement. He doubts residents would approve it, he added.

Chief Merry said after the meeting, the petition being drafted for a special town meeting on members’ car-washing still needs to be checked for the legal wording, but that, as a result of the meeting, he does not expect it to be circulated prior to the selectmen’s Aug. 16 meeting.

The board took no votes on the elements discussed for a proposal.

At the meeting’s outset, Tim Merry described the fire station as the foundation of the department, and a place for building camaraderie and dedication among its members. The vehicle-washing has been a privilege that comes with serving, he said. He asked the board to explain why it has cited liability as a reason to ban the practice.

“I’m dying to hear why ...,” the former chief said.

Selectman David Cherry provided several reasons. The town attorney and town insurance agent see a liability issue due to town property such as the hoses being involved; and a town employee or a pedestrian could slip on the suds the washing leaves on the ground, he said.

Cherry said the firefighters are professionals and he is not worried that they would get hurt, but that someone else could be. “That’s why they call it an accident ... something you don’t expect ... that comes out of left field ... It’s not you guys I’m worried about. It’s everybody else.”

Cossette urged caution in bringing up liability for things like slipping. That could pose issues regarding local sidewalks’ condition, he told the board. “You’re really casting a huge umbrella (and) setting yourself up for failure.”

The washing ban dates to at least August 2002, but apparently was not being enforced, Cherry continued. So it wasn’t that firefighters were allowed to do it as a privilege, but they were being allowed to in the sense that they weren’t being told not to, he said.

Flanagan told the fire officers some residents have asked why they can’t wash their cars at the fire station. They could if they joined the department, the officers responded. The roster has 15 openings, Chief Merry said.

Among the night’s lighter moments was Colby’s comment on a fire truck’s light flashing in front of the station when organizations hold fundraising car washes there. The ban doesn’t apply to those if they’re town-sanctioned events or the group has $1 million in insurance, according to selectmen, although Tim Merry said he was never told that groups needed that.

The light running on the truck helps draw attention to the car wash, Chief Merry said. But Flanagan said it’s distracting for motorists, who associate the flashing light of a fire truck with something serious occurring.

Colby said that’s how she views it. Smiles broke out around the table when she said, “As an old lady driving up the road, I’m like, ‘Oh my God, they’re going to be pulling out in front of me.’”

Ahead of the meeting, Colby had said it would need to move into a closed-door session if the discussion turned to personnel issues. The meeting remained open start to finish Tuesday night.

Near the close, the parties thanked one another. “I think this has been very good,” Colby said.