Selectmen said Jan. 18, due to the losing town vote last June, they will wait for the next budget cycle to revisit the school resource officer job. “I have to respect their decision,” Superintendent of Schools Terry Wood said via email later.

A week earlier, Wood announced American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds for two years of an SRO at 35 weeks each. She preferred to get an SRO back in the schools this school year. But selectmen favored waiting for voters to reconsider the SRO for 2022-23. “I’m in favor of a school resource officer,” Selectman Pam Dunning said. “But we can’t do it against the will of the voters.”

Town Manager Dennis Simmons said the need for town funds for an SRO’s 17 weeks outside the school year gives him some heartburn because voters turned down the budget item. And he said giving the police department more to do now could risk staff burnout. “We need to take the time to do this right, so we don’t have the voters’ ire up against us.”

Police Chief Larry Hesseltine said he sees a need for an SRO, but waiting for the next budget vote would be “cleaner” and starting the SRO next school year would be easier on the department; Officer Nathan Willhoite is at Maine Criminal Justice Academy for 18 weeks. Selectmen added, some people mistakenly think selectmen dropped the SRO; voters did, they reiterated. And the board has to follow the municipal budget steps and voters’ decisions, Dunning said.

“We’re working on it, people, we really are,” she said.

Selectmen also showed interest in a possible public hearing Simmons said they could call for residents to discuss the SRO matter in person.

Also in Jan. 18’s Zoom meeting, officials praised Hesseltine, Public Works Director Ted Snowden and public works employee Earl Babcock for recently helping a woman and her two dogs out of the subzero cold. “(These staff) gave up most of their Saturday morning to come in and help this lady and her two dogs find a warm and a safe place to be, so I think they deserve a strong pat on the back for that,” Simmons said.

“Absolutely, (that was) above and beyond,” Dunning said. “A wonderful display of public service,” Selectman Terry Heller said.

Lucia Droby will have Maine Rep. Rachel Talbot Ross ask to meet with the board about coordinating the James Weldon Johnson marker effort with the Permanent Commission on the Status of Racial, Indigenous, and Tribal Populations’ James Weldon Johnson Observance Task Force. The town will have Wiscasset EMS’s debt collector, Thomas Agency, collect delinquent personal property taxes. The town will seek offers on auditing services; and will give Harold Temple 30 days to come up with nearly $20,000 to buy 47 and 51 Old Ferry Road.