Wiscasset selectmen

Mixed decisions on Maine Art Gallery requests; longer selectmen’s terms eyed

Tue, 04/04/2023 - 07:42 pm

SUSAN JOHNS

Wiscasset’s Serabella Curtis, left, holds the outstanding citizen award School Resource Officer Jonathan Barnes, right, gave her April 4. Courtesy of Wiscasset Police Department

Town Manager Dennis Simmons said Tuesday night, April 4, the $1.3 million in federal funding Wiscasset recently got for the Old Ferry Road culvert project was great, but it and funds the town approved fell about half a million dollars shy. Then Simmons told selectmen he just got word from Maine Department of Marine Resources that it is providing a $500,000 grant.

He plans to ask selectmen April 18 to accept the grant. According to Wiscasset Newspaper files, besides the federal funds from Congress’ Omnibus bill, the town has a $125,000 state grant and $525,000 voters approved taking from capital reserve.

“Construction costs haven’t gone up too much since the last time we went out to bid. We should have enough funds to do this (project) without asking the town to come up with any more money than what was already appropriated for it,” Simmons told the board April 4.

“That’s great,” Chair Sarah Whitfield said.

Also April 4, Wiscasset School Resource Officer Jonathan Barnes presented his first outstanding citizen award. It went to Serabella Curtis, who Barnes said helped her siblings during her family’s medical emergency Barnes and fellow Wiscasset officer Nathan Willhoite responded to in February. She directed the ambulance in, and set her siblings up with iPads and videos.

“She was very scared, understandably so,” but being brave is taking action to help out despite that, Barnes said. The award was for going above and beyond, he said. “This is something we’re going to have going forward, to recognize students and people in the community ...” Handing Curtis the award, he told her everyone was very proud of her. “Thank you,” she said. Selectmen and others applauded in the meeting at the town office and carried over Zoom and YouTube.

Selectmen agreed 5-0 to place on the June town meeting warrant a proposed $800,000 fire truck buy from capital reserve; also 5-0, the proposed $146,456 planning and economic development budget including $75,000 for the new director job. Simmons did not yet know how much tax increment financing (TIF) money can go toward it.

They decided 3-2, with James Andretta and William “Bill” Maloney opposed, to send voters one of Maine Art Gallery’s funding requests, the $28,800 one; and took no vote on a warrant question for MAG’s other, $40,000 request after Whitfield said she was not hearing support from the board and Selectman Terry Heller said it would “not serve a good purpose” to make a losing motion for it.

As for the $28,800 question, the board recommended voters reject it. Maloney, Andretta and Dusty Jones favored rejection; Whitfield and Heller favored approval.

Jones suggested the board consider asking the town to change selectboard terms from two years to three. “It would professionalize it a little bit more and give people a chance to spend some more time in the job after they’ve gotten familiar with it, and (it) sort of hooks the commitment level that people would be making ...”

Heller agreed. “We’re just now getting good at this,” she said. Andretta said he would like to hear more opinions but was leaning toward keeping terms at two years. If someone thinks they are doing a great job, run again, he said.

Selectmen have “plenty of time for discussion” about a potential November town vote, as it is too late for the question to make the June one, Simmons said.

On a question from Heller, Simmons said the latest he has heard on the Wawenock building repairs downtown is, the Water Street side was worse than thought and is being worked on now, some workers got COVID and a mason had a broken foot, but repairs were still anticipated to be done by May 1.

The board named Mark Light and Suzanne Rankin to the cemetery committee; Susan Robson and David Gagnon, waterfront committee; Jackie Lowell, ordinance review committee; and Zachari Dalton, shellfish committee; and nodded a business license for Herenya Wilkey, LLC, 15 Acorn Road. According to the home occupation permit application that accompanied the business license application, the business involves stained glass artwork.