One housing plan abandoned, other housing and other growth being eyed, efforts in the legislature and the courts over how Maine Yankee should be taxed, a lot of causes helping and being helped, and a Wiscasset teacher's being named Maine's teacher of the year were all part of 2024. Here it is in largely the order it happened:

As soon as selectmen OK the contract, the firm lined up to engineer the hazardous fill cleanup at the northern tip of Birch Point Peninsula will be ready to start, Wiscasset Town Manager Dennis Simmons told the board Tuesday night, Jan. 2. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is fully funding the work, according to information Simmons provided.

The board approved the contract, 5-0. Simmons noted the firm has staff formerly with Ransom Consulting, which worked on the nearby ash ponds’ cleanup.

Alna selectmen said Jan. 3, they might be ready to vote Jan. 11 on the guidelines they have been drafting for months for the road committee. The committee has multiple new members after others left it late last year. Selectmen said the committee is advisory, apolitical, and its input can help with budget and long-range planning. Some of the same issues came up as in earlier talks, including how the committee, road commissioner and selectboard would interact based on the guidelines. 

Wiscasset Town Manager Dennis Simmons told ordinance review committee members Monday night, he realizes some people want to winter elsewhere and summer in a camper here, “and if they have a place to do that, that’s great. But we have a number of people who decide they want to live in them year round, and (the campers) are really not designed (for) the winter time up here, and we’re running into an enforcement issue.” He said the allowed timeframe differs in town rules; he has consulted town counsel and was seeking clarification or other help from the ORC. 

Danielle Barry from Central Maine Power came to Wiscasset Elementary School on Wednesday, Jan. 3, to talk with fourth and fifth graders about safety around power lines and transformers. First, she taught the students about how electricity is distributed from the power source to their homes. Then, Barry taught the students to leave all lines from CMP alone and to call 911 if they notice a line down. She also talked about generator safety and what to do if a line comes down on a car you are in. The students had wonderful questions to learn more about safety with electricity.

The principles of democracy class at Wiscasset Middle High School welcomed State Rep. Ed Polewarczyk, Lincoln County Sheriff Todd Brackett, Alna Selectman Ed Pentaleri and Wiscasset Selectman Terry Heller during the first semester. Senior Mason Clark said, “Sheriff Todd Brackett is an incredible example of what it takes to be a county sheriff. He has the public figure charm, the kindness and compassion, he manages his department well and he's well loved by the people in the county which is why his 22 years of serving as sheriff is still ongoing.”

Water all around a stop sign, and over a parking lot, and at the sewer treatment plant and elsewhere, and all that the receding water left behind – those were some of the sights in Wiscasset Wednesday, Jan. 10 as a rain and wind storm swept over Maine’s coast after impacting several other states.

In a Jan. 9 Wiscasset school committee meeting, public comment was again filled with criticism for Superintendent of Schools Kim Andersson and the school committee over Gina Stevens’ dismissal as WMHS principal. Wiscasset’s Chet Grover said, “I hope you sleep well, because I think you did something very detrimental to this school.” Science teacher Shari Templeton handed in what she called “part one” of a community “vote of no confidence” in Andersson. In email responses to questions Jan. 10, Andersson said she had no specific comments on Templeton’s statements to the committee or on the document Templeton presented. “I will continue to direct my energy and focus on the positive, student-centered initiatives that are moving our district forward,” she said.

In a Jan. 11 Alna selectmen’s meeting, First Selectman Ed Pentaleri honored longtime planning board member, cemetery trustee and ninth-generation farmer Everett “Tom” Albee, who died Dec. 31. Albee was “Alna proud (and) I think maybe most importantly, Tom was a loyal and dependable friend and neighbor, who was happy to lend a hand, provide advice, talk politics and share a good story. He was always good for a tow, a hoe, a safe haven for bee colonies and any piece of machinery a friend and neighbor might need. And he will be deeply missed.”

Maine Department of Education announced in January, it has awarded climate education professional development grants to Sheepscot Valley Regional School Unit and others to support partnerships to strengthen climate education opportunities for students.

“All of our questions were answered. What their responsibilities are and what ours are,” said David King Sr., chairman of the Woolwich selectboard, said following a meeting with Maine Department of Transportation officials. The meeting held Jan. 11 was to discuss the planned reconfiguration of the Nequasset and George Wright roads intersection. Doug Coombs, a MaineDOT senior highway project manager, reviewed plans that include widening the intersection and replacing the temporary traffic signal on Route One with a new light. 

Leslie Roberts and Wiscasset Selectman and fellow village resident Terry Heller, who said she is “all for hunting,” spoke of spots in the village where they would like restrictions to be considered. Police Chief Lawrence Hesseltine recalled being surprised to learn Wiscasset did not have a firearms discharge ordinance. “I can’t think of any safe direction where a hunter could shoot down there in the cove where it would be safe.” Town Manager Dennis Simmons said towns cannot regulate hunting, but they can restrict firearms discharges. Heller and Vice Chair William “Bill” Maloney voted to have the ordinance review committee look at drafting an ordinance. James Andretta voted against it. Selectman Pam Dunning and Chair Sarah Whitfield were absent. Maloney reported via email later that evening: “It has been brought to my attention that it takes a minimum of three votes to pass an article. The ... vote therefore did not pass ... We have to bring it back” to the board. 

Community members gathered at Wiscasset Community Center Feb. 28 for a spaghetti dinner and raffle in support of Willow Orr, a 10-year-old Wiscasset Elementary School student recently diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disorder. Between the dinner, raffles, donations and custom shirts and tumblers, the community raised $5,027 for Orr and her family.

Wiscasset Rod and Gun Club hosted a free ice fishing derby for kids Feb. 24. Turnout was said to be great, and kids won cash prizes for the fish they weighed in. There were many door prizes; and the free cookies, brownies and hot dogs were a hit.

Plans call for New England Clean Energy Connect to get Alna officials a contract proposal soon, as the hydropower transmission line project nears town. Town officials, residents and project representatives talked in a specially called selectboard meeting Feb. 29. Road Commissioner Jeff Verney asked about repairs. If the NECEC project’s heavy equipment breaks up Rabbit Path Road and the damage is just patched over, “that’s not going to last,” he said. It will be fixed “to what it was before,” NECEC spokesman Troy Thibodeau said. 

In results Wiscasset Town Clerk Linda Perry provided, voters March 5 passed changes to town rules for solar energy conversion systems, 311-246; changes to rules on licenses, regulations and permits, to require short-term rental operators to get business licenses, 287-267; rules related to LD 2003, the new state housing law, 278-270; and an Emergency Medical Services retirement plan change, 367-212. 

Wiscasset Town Manager Dennis Simmons told selectmen March 5, he and Olver Associates talked March 4 about where to put a sewer plant, including looking beyond town-owned property. Simmons said picking a site will be a challenge, because it needs to be “fairly close” to the river and to most of the collection system. “And I don’t know of a lot of people who are going to want to see a wastewater treatment plant in their backyard.” He said Olver had been concentrating just on town property, and “I said I think we need to be looking at maybe acquiring something outside of town property, that might be a little bit more palatable ... “

Simmons announced in a selectboard meeting April 2, Gov. Janet Mills signed a bill both houses of the Legislature passed and, as of now, $93 million of Maine Yankee property the state had found was tax-exempt as a pollution control facility for nuclear waste, no longer is tax exempt. On a question from Wiscasset Newspaper, Simmons anticipated the town’s court case – challenging a Maine Board of Environmental Protection decision that upheld the exemption – will be dismissed as moot due to the new law. He did not yet know a final number that will stick on what Maine Yankee will pay, however. There will likely be a negotiated settlement for that, he said.

Proposed Occupational Safety and Health Administration changes would increase requirements for training, equipment and more, and cost Alna more for firefighting, Fire Chief Mike Trask told selectmen April 25. He said the changes could decimate volunteer firefighting in Maine and across the nation. According to osha.gov, the proposal seeks “to ensure that workers involved in Emergency Response activities get the protections they deserve from the hazards they are likely to encounter ...” The website states the agency seeks input on – and will share with states – “alternatives and potential exclusions for economically at-risk vulnerable and small volunteer organizations.”

After a proposed mining and blasting ordinance lost at town meeting in March, Alna selectmen April 25 adopted a resolution stating the committee would review and revise the document to create “one or more ordinances that reflect a balance of the interests of the town and pit owners”; the committee would give the planning board the revised document by June 30; and the board would review it and get it to the selectboard to approve for a special town meeting. 

Every warrant article passed by a wide margin at the town meeting-style Wiscasset school budget meeting April 30, in the dollar amount each was proposed on the warrant, Superintendent of Schools Kim Andersson said. The meeting was the first test with voters for the 2024-25 budget that goes to a final town vote June 11. The school committee has proposed a $10,573,002 budget, up $251,473 from this year’s. Due to a 3.61% cut in state aid, the increase to local taxpayers would be 6.12%, Andersson has said.

Wiscasset Speedway’s Kenneth Minott wrote that longtime racer and track volunteer Bill Pierce, a skilled carpenter, built on the grounds a replica to a local 1958 church Minott said was once dubbed the smallest church in the world. 

Woolwich’s revaluation was set to be completed by April 1, 2025 and was expected to bring properties’ assessments closer to the properties’ fair market value. 

In Wiscasset Community Center’s gym April 27 after her older siblings went for swim time, Abby Richards, 2, was in her father Ben Richards’ arms as the Topsham man spoke with Wiscasset Wastewater Treatment Plant Superintendent Rob Lalli. The table Lalli manned updated Wiscasset Earth Day attendees on the plant the town has been talking about moving for climate resilience. Wiscasset’s Climate Action Team planned the Earth Day event and hoped to make it an annual one.

The new Old Stage Road bridge in Woolwich will be about three feet longer and also a little wider than the one it replaces. A nearly eight-mile detour is planned during construction.

In a May 20 letter to St. Philip's Church’s congregation, Brian Townsend, commonspace’s executive director, wrote about the planned apartments upstairs at the Hodge Street Church, “Our project team, including the architect we hired to draft the project design plan, had been operating until just a few weeks ago under an interpretation of town statutes related to permissible site usage that proved to be incorrect. When we learned that we would be limited to a considerably lower number of dwelling units than the number we had applied to construct, we reached out to MaineHousing to request that our agreement be amended to allow for this reduction. Unfortunately, the significant reduction we were requesting would have represented a material change in the existing agreement, and would thus void the agreement. Given this, we had no choice but to withdraw the proposal we had made ... With this funding no longer available to us, and with no replacement funding available, we unfortunately have no choice but to abandon this project.”

To learn more about what went wrong with commonspace’s try at creating the housing, Wiscasset Newspaper followed up with the town, the church, commonspace and the state agency that had nodded a grant; and, upon request, the newspaper received from the town any correspondence between town agents, or between the town and commonspace or its agents, in connection with the project. Based on the information and some of the responses gathered, town rules may have made the original dozen units a virtual non-starter, and some closer communication could have put hopes for the grant-funded project to bed sooner. Who if anyone could have communicated better depends on who you ask or what you are looking at; but the church and commonspace have each moved on to other things and no one said the lost project at one Wiscasset site dashes the prospects for affordable housing in the area; the factors were site-specific and grant-specific. 

The last many of her 35 years working at Wiscasset High School turned Wiscasset Middle High School, Technology Coordinator/VHS Site Coordinator/Student Council Advisor Debra Pooler has led seniors through the paces of commencement, before commencement. And there she was Friday morning, May 31 in Stover Auditorium, directing marching practice again, the day before her last month on the job for Wiscasset schools.

Chewonki Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to nature-based education, announced Nancy Kennedy as its new president in May. Kennedy has served at Chewonki in Wiscasset for nearly a decade including as the director of Girls Programming, vice president for Camp Chewonki, executive vice president, and as the foundation’s acting president for the past two years.

Wiscasset Middle High School (WMHS) seniors walked across the stage, received a diploma and shared joy with Superintendent of Schools Kim Andersson, School Committee Chair Jason Putnam and Class Advisor Deb Pooler as the seniors became graduates. Pooler moved their tassels Thursday, June 6 in Stover Auditorium. 

Railroad Avenue next to the Sheepscot River was filled with balloon worms, candy worms, bands, Wiscasset’s worm-digging history, free hot dogs, lemonade and more for kids, fundraising for a scholarship, and kids getting into pink sacks to play the worm for their family members to carry in a relay Saturday, June 8 at Wiscasset’s first Wormfest. 

June 20 in a selectmen’s meeting and at points June 24 in a meeting of the mining committee he facilitates, Alna’s Christopher Cooper was not sure the committee will manage to draft a mining ordinance, a blasting one, both, a combined one, or none. But in both meetings, he expressed hope. He told selectmen June 20, I’m really asking the public, just give us some room, and see how it goes.” 

As Wiscasset selectmen and other residents June 25 worked to understand Johnson Controls’ proposed energy project, State Rep. Edward Polewarczyk, R – Wiscasset, determined, as proposed, the project’s costs and the guaranteed energy savings over the 20-year debt are a “wash.” Any energy savings beyond that are unknown, Selectmen’s Chair Sarah Whitfield said.

Wiscasset selectmen are no longer considering sending voters a firearms discharge ordinance. Public statements, including ones that night, would be grist for a lawsuit the town risks if it passes the rules, selectmen and Town Manager Dennis Simmons said July 16 before the split vote ending the work. Selectman William “Bill” Maloney opposed the ordinance. He said it could get the town sued for limiting hunting. A 1641 ordinance grants an easement for the public to enter the intertidal lands for fishing, fowling and navigation, Maloney said. “You’d have to rescind this ordinance.” And Maine’s Right to Food Act also protects hunting, as harvesting, so Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine or someone else could file suit and win, he argued. 

Should a non-Wiscasset resident on a town committee be a voting member? And should they have to be a taxpayer? Those were some of the issues in selectmen’s public hearing July 16. Based on the hearing and selectmen’s guidance after it, Town Manager Dennis Simmons will draft ordinance changes for the board to consider on letting tax-paying, non-resident members of the planning board and airport advisory and waterfront committees be voting members. The changes would take a town vote, Simmons said.

The Woolwich selectboard acknowledged a significant amount of landscaping was needed around the pedestrian underpass adjacent to the Tanner Square Memorial on Route One. Selectmen visited the tunnel following their July 17 meeting. Wild bamboo, ivy, overgrown tree limbs and other vegetation has grown up on both sides of the paved walkways. The area was last cleared away in 2018 when the tunnel was repainted in an art project by students of Woolwich Central School. “We’ve got monies set aside for this purpose. It’s just a matter of finding someone to do the work,” commented David King Sr., board chairman. King and Selectmen Allison Hepler, Tommy Davis, Dale Chadbourne and Jason Shaw spent about 20 minutes touring the concrete tunnel and adjacent walkways.

Alna selectmen July 21 set this year’s tax rate at $23.35 per $1,000 of assessed valuation — the second year in a row the rate has hiked. 

The board tapped 90% of excise taxes to help keep this year’s hike from being higher. Officials attributed the hike to several factors, including higher municipal spending and higher county and school tabs. 

At the July 25 Wiscasset Art Walk, Wood Field Farm and its horses provided wagon rides, children painted rocks, artists and civic organizations lined Main Street, and galleries featured their shows. The Walk included fencing demonstrations and musicians. And shops had sales and refreshments.

Sun, the usual fun categories and some nose to nose greetings marked the dog parade at First Congregational Church of Wiscasset’s Summerfest July 27. 

Gaye Wagner said, “Over 160 people gathered for beautiful views and excellent food at the shore of Westport Island’s Heal Cove on Sunday, July 28 to celebrate the Cove’s iconic beauty and distinctive history and to raise money for Westport Island history. The sun shone on the annual fundraiser with more than $8,000 raised to advance Friends of Westport Island History’s mission to preserve and promote island history.”

A letter is coming Lincoln County’s way asking that Wiscasset be considered for a grant town officials said could lay the groundwork for developers to build and own housing off Old Ferry Road. Seeking the letter of intent for a grant request, Wiscasset Economic Development Director Aaron Chrostowsky told selectmen July 30, having over 100 new housing units could dramatically impact the local marketplace. Selectmen supported the letter’s submission 5-0. They stressed the funding would not put Wiscasset on a path to being a landlord; instead, the town would request developers’ proposals. And before that step are others, starting with pursuing the grant that will help determine what would work on that acreage Maine Yankee once owned. 

Wiscasset selectmen voted 5-0 July 30 to move forward with the town’s public works site as the new site for the sewer treatment plant, and to look into moving public works near the fire department’s training center near the transfer station. And the board’s Aug. 6 agenda, released Aug. 1, listed the item as one of two to consider for the Nov. 5 ballot. The other was a proposed retirement plan change for police. “We can’t build on the landfill, but there’s plenty of land out there to do it,” Town Manager Dennis Simmons said about a new public works garage and salt shed. 

Aug. 9, Lincoln County and Consolidated Communications partnership won from Maine Connectivity Authority an award of $6,000,000, matched by $24,309,864 in private and public investment including Lincoln County American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. The project will serve 14,436 homes and businesses in Woolwich (in Sagadahoc County), Wiscasset, Alna, Dresden, Boothbay, Edgecomb, Waldoboro, Whitefield and Nobleboro.

The following post appeared Aug. 8 on Wiscasset’s Facebook page as a “Statement from the Town Administration” and signed by Town Manager Dennis Simmons: “Recent in-person encounters suggest that employees are improperly performing their duties, and derogatory comments posted on social media suggest that municipal employees are lazy, which is not only unfounded but also disrespectful and cruel to the hardworking individuals who dedicate their careers to serving our community. Publicly attacking any individual or group is both distasteful and odious and shows a basic level of disrespect for others. This should never be tolerated in a civil society.”

The Nov. 5 ballot vote on moving the sewer and public works facilities is the first of multiple town votes on this, according to Wiscasset Town Manager Dennis Simmons Aug. 6 as the selectboard put the question on the ballot. The same night, the board settled on a 4% sewer rate hike this fiscal year. Both votes ran 5-0. In a letter last May, Maine Rural Water Association financial analyst Cathy Robinson recommended about a 10.25% rate hike. Aug. 6, Simmons said MRWA was figuring the whole budget would be spent. Historically, it has not been, he said.

Westport Island’s Damian Sedney has a new favorite borsch, better than that of his ancestors’ native Poland, part of Russia when they came to the U.S. The Aug. 10 meal was part of a Ukrainian family’s first full day living with Sedney and wife Katrina (Tina) at the couple’s home along the Sheepscot River. Across a river from the Ukrainian family’s hometown, war-torn industrial city Nikopol, is Zaporizhzhia, where Russia has occupied a nuclear power plant complex, Sedney said. 

For the second time since the June meeting where it began to regroup, Wiscasset’s Future of the Schools Ad Hoc Committee will not meet. School committee training is now set for Aug. 19, when the town-approved, selectmen-appointed ad hoc committee had been set to meet after its July meeting was cancelled.

Wiscasset Feed Our Scholars reported a successful Wiscasset Set for Success event was held Aug. 11 at Wiscasset Community Center. “This event would not have been possible without the incredible support and dedication of our community and volunteers,” said Gretchen Burleigh-Johnson, Wiscasset Feed Our Scholars director. Now in its sixth year, what started out as a supply drive for grades Pre-K to five, last year incorporated grades six to eight, and this year expanded to include all students to grade 12. We are proud to share that the event saw an impressive turnout, with over 400 attendees including over 150 students and their families, Gabrielle DiPerri wrote.

Wiscasset Town Manager Dennis Simmons on Wednesday, Aug. 14 won Maine Town, City & County Management Association (MTCMA)’s Leadership Award. In a surprise that town officials worked for weeks to keep from Simmons after Economic Development Director Aaron Chrostowsky got word July 31 of the win, Simmons received the honor at MTCMA’s annual luncheon at Sunday River. In a text reply to questions hours after the win followed by conference seminars, Simmons told Wiscasset Newspaper, “I am humbled by this award. But, really it belongs to everyone who works so hard for the town. Having great staff makes my job much easier.”

Weeks after agreeing to set this year’s tax rate at $23.35 per $1,000 of assessed valuation, Alna selectmen on Aug. 15 amended it to $23.50. First Selectman Nicholas Johnston explained, an accounting error factored into the first one. He said that after the July 22 vote, “it was discovered that there was an accounting error ... not on our end. It was ... the assessor’s office ... something to do with not carrying ... So now we need to go back and do the rate again.” Last year’s rate was $21.45 per thousand dollars of assessed valuation. Third Selectman Coreysha Stone observed, the amended 2024 rate was still not as big a jump as 2023’s rate was, after years with no rate hike.  

There were several sightings of a whale Aug. 24 in the Sheepscot River in and near Wiscasset. 

Also in August, red, white and blue signs, some with stars, stripes, or both, are filling a window at Craig and Laurie Winslow’s commercial building at 51 Water St. in Wiscasset. The signs declare local pets’ candidacies for offices real and not real, from would be first selectdog Peach, to dachshund Reilly for “Wiscasset licker board” and wildlife manager hopeful Mae the cat. According to her sign, she would protect Wiscasset homes “one rodent at a time.”

No occupying of parked vehicles overnight on any street or municipal parking area – including at the waterfront – under rules Wiscasset selectmen nodded Aug. 20. Mulling a ban recently, the board had considered an exception for the waterfront.  The board Aug. 20 went with Town Manager Dennis Simmons’ suggestion to skip that exception.

Wawenock LLC’s latest update to the board stated the downtown building’s restoration continues, but the brickwork that required scaffolding to be on the sidewalk and wrapped in plastic is finished.

Aug. 20, the Wiscasset selectboard nodded a $300,000 contract with RJD Appraisal of Pittsfield for a revaluation. Except for public hearings, the work will be finished by July 1, 2028, according to a draft deal released ahead of the meeting.

“There is no reason we should lose one (student) to ‘dropout’ (status),” Wiscasset Superintendent of Schools Kim Andersson told the school committee Aug. 20. “If they want to leave us, let’s make sure that they get enrolled in another program.” She had just shared her goal of a 100% graduation rate by the Class of 2027. “With the numbers that we have, every single student should make it across that finish line. And not just make it across that finish line, they should soar. They should soar.”

A check with Maine Municipal Association over a committee’s request has led to plans for more Nov. 5 ballot questions for Wiscasset voters. Selectmen Aug. 20 supported ordinance changes Town Manager Dennis Simmons said would meet the Wiscasset Municipal Airport Advisory Committee’s goal of voting privileges for longtime member Steve Williams of Georgetown. Based on the night’s discussion, the impetus for the ballot questions was MMA’s guidance. Wiscasset ordinance bars non-residents from serving on the appeals board and budget committee, and allows the airport and waterfront committees each one non-resident, non-voting member; and planning board, one non-resident, who can vote. Selectmen are proposing pulling from the ordinances all those differentiations, so that non-residents could serve and vote on all those panels. 

According to a Wiscasset selectboard resolution Chair Sarah Whitfield read aloud Aug. 20, Jacqueline “Jackie” Lowell served many years on the cemetery committee and the historic preservation commission, has so far served 22 years on the planning board and 20 on the ordinance review committee, and has been taking the selectboard’s minutes for 20 years. The resolution recognized Lowell “for her outstanding commitment and honor that she has brought upon this community with the 2024 Spirit of America tribute. So ordered, me,” Whitfield said. The board and Simmons applauded as Whitfield then handed Lowell the honor.

Race Director Rob Whitney reported, “The weather was cool and only a sprinkling of rain greeted the participants of the 19th annual Westport Island Shore Run 10K Road Race on Sunday, Aug. 18 … ‘Maine's Best Little 10K Road Race’ had a great turnout with over 50 runners and more than 10 participants in the “fun walk.’ The race benefited Westport Volunteer Fire Department, whose members directed traffic and provided logistical and medical support at the race.

A Woolwich crash the night of Aug. 22 killed a Pennsylvania woman, injured a Maine man and shut down Route One for about four hours. 

Anna McDougal said being inducted into the Maine Sports Hall of Fame in September was one of the best moments of her life. The Wiscasset woman said skiing in the 2017 Special Olympics World Winter Games in Austria was awesome, and a big deal, “but I think this was more of a big deal.”

Wiscasset Selectmen’s Chair Sarah Whitfield Sept. 3 said Economic Development Director Aaron Chrostowsky’s written statement was true, that Wiscasset, known as Maine’s prettiest village, is also, he said, “often recognized for its gridlock traffic.” 

“True. But I want us to stop saying it,” Whitfield said as the board discussed the letter Chrostowsky drafted that would ask the state for a traffic safety audit. The audit would aid the state’s long range planning, he said. The board did not green-light the letter that night. At Selectman James Andretta’s suggestion, they chose to wait until Chrostowsky has learned from MaineDOT what if any plans it already has for Wiscasset. That information could better inform the letter, Andretta said.

An hour and a half before Wiscasset selectmen were to hear the latest developments in Johnson Controls’ proposed energy project, something else happened that made it all “moot,” as Chair Sarah Whitfield put it. She and Town Manager Dennis Simmons announced the firm had pulled its offer. “So it’s in the trash can,” Simmons said. 

Peregrine Turbine Technologies of Wiscasset announced Sept. 3, recently retired Rear Admiral Larry LeGree has joined its leadership team. LeGree will lead PTT’s Nuclear Energy Systems (PTT NES) subsidiary as its chief executive officer, while also serving in the parent organization (PTT) as EVP Strategy for Subsidiary Development.

With enrollment down 25 students from August’s 397, Wiscasset Superintendent of Schools Kim Andersson Sept. 10 detailed the drop and said the newer numbers are likely more reliable. Andersson and the school committee also continued eying how they might track why a student leaves. Member Jonathan Barnes raised that idea last month. 

Wiscasset selectmen on Sept. 17 put the tax rate at $17.77 per thousand dollars of assessed valuation — a 4.24% hike and the one Town Manager Dennis Simmons recommended. In an email to selectboard leadership the day before, Simmons noted Maine Yankee’s  assessment was still to be determined. “Remember, if we settle on anything less than their current assessment, the difference … will come from the fund balance and affect future tax rates. We maxed out the overlay last year. (We are allowed 5% of the commitment by statute). Having a healthy fund will help ease the blow of having to accept a lower (Maine Yankee) evaluation.”

After a year off, Schoonerfest in Wiscasset returned as a one-day event Sept. 21. It had reenactors, music, Alna-built schooner Sycamore, Maine’s First Ship’s Virginia, the popular schooner sculptures and more.

Alna has been so good to her, Deputy Town Clerk Lynette Eastman would almost reconsider retirement. “Almost,” the former Woolwich official added, laughing. Eastman, in public service 37 years, leaves the Alna job in late fall. Selectmen and others lauded and applauded her Sept. 26. The recognition, at the start of the board meeting at the town office and over Zoom, included a detailed recounting of Eastman’s recent, surprise receipt of a lifetime achievement honor from a statewide clerks’ association. 

Come and try it, Wiscasset’s Stephen Heald said in October when Wiscasset Newspaper asked what he would tell readers who always knew 762 Bath Road for Miss Wiscasset Diner’s meat and potatoes or fries, and classic breakfasts, and now will find Charm Thai. The iconic Route One diner had a series of operators, starting in 1960. Most of them called it Miss Wiscasset Diner; the restaurant last closed in 2019, according to Wiscasset Newspaper files. The inside is “completely redone,” from the dining room to the bathroom, Heald, a retired Navy chief, said. The kitchen is now a Thai kitchen, with brand new appliances; the dining room comfortably seats 40, Heald said.

Interested, but not committed to anything. That was how Wiscasset Selectmen’s Chair Sarah Whitfield on Oct. 1 described where the board is at on the prospect of developing the town-owned, former Maine Yankee land off Old Ferry Road. “The point of this whole thing is to be able to look at what the possibilities would be. And there would be a lot of public engagement along the way.” Whitfield has made the point before, in the months since Economic Development Director Aaron Chrostowsky suggested a “Great American Neighborhood” of residents at varying life stages and incomes could be part of what, if anything, the town does with the land. It is about 300 acres, along Back River between Old Ferry, Birch Point and Westport Island Bridge roads, town documents note. The “whole thing” Whitfield was referring to Oct. 1 is the pursuit of American Rescue Plan Act funds from Lincoln County. 

Wiscasset’s longtime fall event Scarecrowfest at the town office Oct. 5 had the chili and chowder contest, Halloween costumes for children to pick out, and more, including the time-honored scarecrow-making on the lawn along Route  One.

Wiscasset Superintendent of Schools Kim Andersson told the school committee Oct. 8, she got back seven of the surveys sent to families of students who'd left Wiscasset Middle High School. Andersson said the results showed one moved out of town; two "were not satisfied or did not receive the support services they needed"; and four "were not satisfied with the safety of the school district."  Andersson got back four surveys from families of Wiscasset Elementary School students who left. She said two students moved, one of whom who had had "a bad experience at school"; one student changed schools after a divorce; and the fourth family "was not satisfied with the safety of their child."

Oct. 8, the Wiscasset Selectboard announced a tentative settlement in its real estate tax assessment dispute with Maine Yankee Atomic Power Company. Following a full-day mediation session led by Jerrol Crouter, the parties, with the assistance of their legal counsel, reached a tentative agreement valuing the Maine Yankee Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation and its Bailey Point land at $80 million. This agreement represents a substantial increase in value compared to the previous 20-year agreement, which concluded with a final valuation of $30 million.

"One of us, one of us,” a smiling Joshua Chard, 2024 Maine Teacher of the Year, chanted in the Wiscasset Elementary School gym Oct. 10, while he looked toward some of the Teacher of the Year program’s other past honorees. He was standing with, and referring to, the just announced 2025 Maine Teacher of the Year, WES fourth grade teacher Becky Hallowell. 

On Oct. 13, Mission Sunday,  the Summerfest Committee of First Congregational Church, U.C.C., Wiscasset, donated the proceeds of its annual fair to Tedford Housing, Habitat for Humanity, Feed Our Scholars, New Hope Midcoast, Healthy Kids, Cooper-DiPerri Scholarships, Lincoln County Dental, Mobius, and Midcoast Humane. Jan Whitfield said this was the 41st year of Summerfest and, “thanks to the time and talents that our many volunteers offered, it was a great success.”

Wiscasset Superintendent of Schools Kim Andersson said students and staff at Wiscasset Middle High School the morning of Oct. 10 noticed the smell of propane in a chemistry room where a Bunsen burner was in use. "The propane was shut off and, out of an abundance of caution, the principal evacuated the building and had the fire department come to check the air quality. Students and staff did an excellent job evacuating the building safely and calmly. After approximately 50 minutes, students and staff were cleared to return to their regularly scheduled classes. Staff, administration, and emergency personnel will meet to review safety protocols in our ongoing effort to keep students and staff safe at all times."

Mason Station will get a temporary fence and first responders will have access to a key, a developer told Wiscasset selectmen Oct. 15. Yard work is planned this fall, with a goal to take out no trees, only brush, Mason Station Redevelopment Company LLC President Ryan Gahagan said. N MSRC has been working with Mason Station owner Mason Station LLC; the town; Maine Community Energy Redevelopment Program; and Maine Department of Environmental Protection.

Oct. 15, Wiscasset Selectman Pam Dunning said the Wawenock building on Main Street is "starting to look better." It definitely is, Chair Sarah Whitfield agreed. She said more windows have gone in. The progress follows masonry and other work after hundreds of bricks fell from the building in 2021, leaving the sidewalk partly blocked with scaffolding until a few months ago.

If Wiscasset closed its high school grades, "everybody" would end up regretting it, School Committee Chair and Wiscasset future of the schools committee member Jason Putnam said Oct. 21, “I think it would be a terrible mistake," he told fellow members of the ad hoc committee Monday night. 

The Mills Administration announced Oct. 22, Wiscasset and five other communities will receive technical assistance from the state to support locally determined revitalization projects at current and former industrial sites to create good-paying jobs, drive local economic development, and meet state climate and clean energy goals.

Westport Community Association has bought 1,000 King Alfred daffodil bulbs for residents to plant along the roadsides. 

With a grant expiring next spring, a leading advocate for Ben Brook Bridge's replacement, former Alna selectman Ed Pentaleri, urged the board Oct. 24 to not let time run out. And resident Ralph Hilton suggested the bridge, which is on Egypt Road, doesn't need replacing or anything close to it. Some residents also questioned how and where funding of more than $86,000 has been tapped so far for the project. Selectmen said voters would be asked Nov. 1 to OK taking up to $167,000 from surplus, to match a federal grant of about $836,000; they said the surplus tap could come to less.

"Big Al" Cohen of the longtime, Big Al's Super Values, Route One, Wiscasset, was back at the well-known spot Oct. 24, where he dressed as Santa for the latest ad for the business now in the building, Steve Jackson's Sweetz & More. Jackson leases the building from Cohen and, in a phone interview, he said Cohen has a legacy there, so much so, some customers think Cohen owns Sweetz. Jackson said he's "perfectly fine" with their thinking that. "He's definitely something that someone would want to hang their hat on, in order to promote their business." Cohen, a Sweetz customer who enjoys its nostalgia and wide offerings, said he took part in the ad because Jackson asked him; because "it's part of the fun in life"; and because, as the landlord, he wants the business to succeed. "I'm happy to help him, and it helps people know exactly where the store is."

JAR Cannabis Co. owner Joel Pepin told the planning board Oct. 28, the Lewiston-based company has been in the industry in Maine more than 10 years, and is proposing an adult use cannabis retail store at 564 Bath Road. A property holding company JAR owns has the property under contract and the sale will close by the end of October, he said. The company has eight stores, he said. 

The Maine Yankee Community Advisory Panel (CAP) on Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage and Removal convened its annual public meeting Oct. 29. Panel members and attendees heard presentations on the status of the Maine Yankee Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI) along with updates on federal and state topics related to the long-term storage and future removal of the Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF). The meeting took place at Montsweag Restaurant in Woolwich.

"I want to be very, very clear ...," Wiscasset Selectmen's Chair Sarah Whitfield said Nov. 5. The timber harvesting contract the board was nodding that night for Herman-based Gary M. Pomeroy Logging Inc. is not for clear-cutting, Whitfield said.

Woolwich voters Nov. 5 kept David King Sr. a selectman and Jack Shaw, road commissioner.

Nov. 12 in Wiscasset Middle High School's library, Wiscasset's superintendent of schools thanked God "nobody blew up" in an incident one month earlier in a WMHS classroom.

Superintendent of Schools Kim Andersson named no names but gave an otherwise detailed description of an Oct. 10 propane emergency after Devin Grover, a lieutenant with Wiscasset Fire Department, brought it up in public comment.

Geneviève Tailleux, proprietor of Marketplace Café in Wiscasset, is doing a series of benefit dinners for Alna's John Seigars, whose house burned down recently. Tailleux said she has done one dinner already and planned a bake sale and spaghetti supper for Nov. 16.

Wiscasset School Committee Chair Jason Putnam told fellow future of the schools committee members Nov. 18, the cost to build a school now is so "daunting," towns might not want to go in together on a regional school to consolidate. The idea has been one of several the selectboard-appointed future of the schools committee has raised as it continues gathering information.

Wiscasset selectmen Nov. 19 set a 6 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 3 special town meeting at Wiscasset Community Center, to take $353,750 from surplus as the town's match on a $4 million grant toward moving the sewer plant.  

Wiscasset officials asked Nov. 19 to hear from anyone who knows of someone who might be the town's eldest person. In public comment, Steve Christiansen noted Ruth Applin was Wiscasset's last Boston Post Cane honoree. According to Wiscasset Newspaper files, that was at her 100th birthday celebration at Wiscasset Community Center in April 2017; she died that August. Christiansen encouraged the board to resume the tradition.

Along with honoring veterans through words, wreath-layings, a gun salute and "Taps," American Legion Post 54's Veterans Day ceremony in Wiscasset was also a chance to share how to help protect veterans from suicide. A poster about waist-high to Legion member Ed Polewarczyk, and a 3 5/8-inch tall pamphlet fellow member Stephanie Davis was handing out, both spoke to the issue. "This is really to say, 'Ask a veteran in your circle, how are they doing,'" Davis told Wiscasset Newspaper at Monday morning's service at the veterans' wall at the town office.

Alna selectmen agreed Nov. 14 to send the planning board a copy of a draft of a blasting ordinance for the panel to review and make recommendations on by Dec. 15. Chris Cooper, who moderated a selectboard-appointed mining committee that produced the draft ordinance, said letting the planning board edit the document might lead committee members to "disavow" the proposal. 

Wiscasset residents were downtown hanging the greens for the holiday season Nov. 16.

JAR Cannabis has its OK from Wiscasset's planning board. In October, the board voted to have Lincoln County Regional Planning Commission Executive Director Emily Rabbe review the recreational cannabis retail store proposed for 564 Bath Road, formerly Seacoast Coffee Company. And Nov. 25, at Rabbe's recommendation, the board nodded the project.

If flooding inundates Wiscasset's sewer plant, that would be "a disaster site ... and we'd be jacking taxes to the moon, and begging everybody for money," Wastewater Superintendent Robert Lalli told voters Dec. 3 in a special town meeting. "We have to take action before something happens over there."

Some voters inside Wiscasset Community Center's Senior Center had financial questions and then most people raised their pink voter slips in favor of tapping the town's undesignated fund balance for the $353,750 local match on $4 million in outside funding won toward moving the plant to public works; as planned so far, public works would move to the transfer station.

January or sooner, Nick Johnston and Steve Graham told fellow Alna selectman Coreysha Stone Dec. 5 about when they expect to finish an updated action plan to replace Ben Brook Bridge.

A public survey was open as Wiscasset took part in the Maine Community Energy Redevelopment Program (MECERP). The town was paired with an economic development consulting group for action plans and identifying funding opportunities for possible projects at Mason Station and Old Ferry Road. 

In Wiscasset Holiday Marketfest’s Christmas Cookie Challenge on Dec. 7, the winning cookie was Becca Thayer’s Double Chocolate Peppermint Bark Cookie. The public could buy the event’s cookies for a donation that would go to Wiscasset Feed Our Scholars. 

Wiscasset Yacht Club got its OK Dec. 9 to fix riprap that took storm damage last January. And Planning Board Chair Karl Olson has signed a Dec. 4 decision in favor of the site plan for Charm Thai, 762 Bath Road at the former Miss Wiscasset Diner.

Wiscasset came out with a guide to its eateries. Economic Development Director Aaron Chrostowsky said the promotion's release was timed in part with Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens' Gardens Aglow.

Interest "to the tune of $168,000" will be added to Wiscasset School Department's fund balance, Superintendent of Schools Kim Andersson told the school committee Dec. 10. The move Andersson and Town Manager Dennis Simmons said will occur as a journal entry follows talks between municipal and school officials and consults with Maine Municipal Association and the town and school department's mutual auditor. Simmons told Wiscasset Newspaper Dec. 12, the final figure was still to be confirmed. "After consulting with MMA Legal and Ron Smith, the town’s auditor, it has been determined that the interest earned on the school’s fund balance, which resides in the town’s general fund, is school funds," Simmons said. "Once Ron has confirmed the amount, a journal entry will reflect this.”

If Wiscasset tuitioned out its high schoolers, their and younger students' bussing would have "a lot of moving parts" to figure in, Transportation and Maintenance Director John Merry said Dec. 16. Merry, longtime holder of the job, was fielding questions from Wiscasset's future of the schools committee. He said tuitioning out the high school grades would likely mean double bus runs: An early one for the high schoolers, and a second run for younger students. He said afternoons would be hard and would need to factor in the receiving high school's dismissal time. And he wondered if Wiscasset high schoolers would still get to attend vocational school. "We make four trips a day back and forth to Bath ... What's going to happen to our kids that have been relying on voc? And you know there's kids coming through (for which voc) is a pretty good stepping stone for them." Committee member Debra Pooler told Merry she was glad those details were being said. "Because I've been talking to people in the community. I don't think they understand that there's a lot of pieces to it. Not just 'send the kids.'" Chair Duane Goud asked Merry if there would be room for K-8 all in one school. Merry said WMHS is about 20,000 square feet bigger than Wiscasset Elementary School. "Space-wise, I don't think it'd be a problem."

Wiscasset Town Manager Dennis Simmons told selectmen Dec. 17, he expects to get them a draft 2025-26 budget by Thursday, Feb. 6. The board set budget talks for Tuesday, Feb. 11, Tuesday, Feb. 25 and Wednesday, March 5, all at 6 p.m. at the town office. Tries at filling the budget committee have failed. 

Wiscasset Superintendent of Schools Dr. Kim Andersson said Dec. 10, the school department and others nationally have been getting more into place-based learning, or "beyond the walls of the schoolhouse." And Wiscasset schools, she said, are in an ideal place for this, both heritage and nature-wise, with the nearby historic buildings, working waterfront and hundreds of acres of trails and woods.

Alna Fire Chief Mike Trask said Dec. 19, the department will seek the next truck at town meeting next March. "You guys need to look into financing for a loan," he told selectmen. A grant request toward the truck was awaiting signing, according to the discussion. And Trask and other town officials will explore potential lenders.