Two projects involving Wiscasset’s past have new developments. Selectman Dusty Jones reported May 17 to the board and May 18 in a phone interview, plans are progressing for observances in town June 17, Maine’s first annual James Weldon Johnson Day; and repairs to the Wawenock building on Main Street are aimed to be done by Nov. 1, Wiscasset Town Manager Dennis Simmons said May 17. 

More than a year since bricks fell from the facade and part of the sidewalk was closed, resident Susan Blagden, attending via Zoom, again sought word on repairs. That night and in his written report, Simmons said work has begun. It started May 12 and “it’s not going to be real evident for a while because most of the work has to start inside, but (a crew is) there (and) they’re looking to complete (work) by Nov. 1.”

As for James Weldon Johnson Day, Jones said the state task force he serves on is still eying some of where and how to honor the poet-civil rights advocate who died in a 1938 car-train crash downtown. Members looked around earlier May 17 at possible spots for a memorial, Jones said. He said the task force wants “what they’re calling a groundbreaking,” site to be determined, for the memorial, as part of a morning service Friday, June 17. Gov. Janet Mills has been invited; there was no word yet on if she can attend, he said. After the service, a panel discussion is planned “on (Johnson’s) life and contributions,” Jones said.

Events on Maine’s black history are eyed for the Bath-Brunswick area June 18, the day before the nation’s first observance of Juneteenth, Jones added. 

Also May 17, resident Judy Flanagan asked voters to consider supporting the waterfront expansion warrant article June 14; the board nodded Simmons to renew the planning services contract with Lincoln County, Suzanne Rankin to serve on the cemetery committee and Debra Pooler, planning board, and a license for Kari McArdle’s web design business Little Village Design, 192 Old Sheepscot Road.

The county will get $56 an hour for the planning services, according to a document the town released.

Blagden thanked the six voters who turned out for the May 16 school budget town meeting besides the officials. Voters kept intact the school committee’s proposed $9.3 million budget, with a flat local cost, for the June 14 ballot vote, Committee Vice Chair Jason Putnam said.

Blagden praised public works’ plowing last winter and Selectman and Appearance of the Town Committee Chair Terry Heller and others for getting the colors of the Ukrainian flag downtown. “Everywhere I go, people have mentioned that,” Blagden said of the show of support.