“The entire situation is disgusting,” Alna Third Selectman Coreysha Stone said July 18. Stone said town funds go to Lincoln County Recycling, which she said serves county towns, and some Alna residents pay a contractor to take their trash; and yet the town pays Wiscasset about $121,000 a year to use Wiscasset Transfer Station – as much as three times what she said some towns that don’t use it pay for trash disposal.

She told fellow selectmen in a work session, former selectman Ed Pentaleri’s recent mention of the matter prompted her research. Among examples she found from other towns, she said Dresden has its own transfer station and that trash goes to a West Bath firm; recycling goes to Lincoln County Recycling; and Dresden pays Windsor to accept its bulky items. 

“I believe it is in Alna’s best interest to terminate our contract with Wiscasset as soon as possible,” Stone said. She proposed creating an interim plan and, within three years, setting up an in-town trash disposal system. She is “inquiring” with Dresden about a possible three-year partnership; and, for bulky waste, she is looking into Boothbay or Windsor, she said. Stone said Wiscasset told her it would not consider a bulky items plan for a town outside the partnership.

For many years, Alna and Westport Island have contracted with Wiscasset to use its transfer station. According to Wiscasset Newspaper files, Alna residents have repeatedly rejected dumping Wiscasset. And some attendees to the July 18 work session predicted this proposal could get a similar reception, because people have favored the convenience of Wiscasset. Resident, Fire Chief and Road Commissioner Mike Trask recalled, from an earlier proposal, people not wanting to drive their trash to Nobleboro.

“They’ve been bloody fights,” Trask said of the prior attempts. “And every time, we’ve paid more to go to Wiscasset. Every time ... I’m not saying you don’t have a good idea. You’re bringing some options. But I think you might be wasting your time.”

Any alternative to Wiscasset would have to have user-friendly hours, Stone said. The savings would have to be as compelling as Stone thinks they will be, Second Selectman Steve Graham said. 

Resident and Lincoln County Administrator Carrie Kipfer offered to help explain how Lincoln County Recycling works. And Stone said she would like to ask residents online or via a mailer, if they are interested in making a change.

Reached Monday, Wiscasset Public Works Director Ted Snowdon, who heads the transfer station, said he hopes Alna will stay a partner. The loss of Alna’s funding would be partly offset by the savings of serving one less town, Snowdon said. He said if Alna can find a cheaper option, “more power to them,” but he said costs are what they are, due to such factors as vehicle needs and fuel. 

Also July 18, in the board meeting before the work session, Pentaleri announced Village School at Puddledock has just been added to the National Register of Historic Places. Pentaleri, treasurer of the non-profit Fund to Support Historic Alna (FSHA), said Town Archivist Doreen Conboy has been working on this for about a year and a half. “So that’s a big accomplishment ...,” he said. 

Responding to email questions, Conboy told Wiscasset Newspaper July 21: “I was really glad the National Register listing occurred in 2024 as this year we celebrate the 150th anniversary of the school.” Some of her family attended the one-room school, which closed in 1962 and, as town archivist, she has “learned about the experiences and remembrances of many who attended ... All those stories provide a different perspective and a rich texture that adds to our town history.

“A drive through town proves Alna is unusual for such a small town in that so many historic buildings still exist, appreciated and well tended,” Conboy continued. She said the Alna Meetinghouse and Center School made the National Register in the 1970s, a Moses Carleton House made it in 2002, and, in 2005, so did Parsons Bend, a home first occupied by Jacob Nelson, Conboy said. She said Alna also has two National Register Historic Districts – Head Tide, including Head Tide Church; and Sheepscot Village. 

Being on the Register can help a site’s chances at getting grants toward maintaining and preserving it, Conboy said. FSHA “was created to support maintenance and preservation so (Village School’s addition to the Register) is especially welcomed.”