Wiscasset selectmen Dec. 5 amended the longtime, midnight to 6 a.m. Nov. 15 to April 15, on-street parking ban to instead have public works place a ban as needed, based on the weather. 

That is what a lot of towns do, Town Manager Dennis Simmons said. The blanket ban was “a little bit  overkill (and) we aren’t really good at enforcing it anyways. The police department does not run around and hand out tickets at night for somebody that’s parked on the road.”

Simmons said when a ban is called, it will be announced on TV, Facebook, TextMyGov and the town office sign.

Public Works Director Ted Snowdon said he will work with people who have nowhere to park. “We can get them a place to (park) and go around them. They can just catch up with my downtown driver anytime before (a storm). I’ve had no problems with people, (or) very little.”

Also Dec. 5, the board nodded a project development deal with Johnson Controls for the Manchester, New Hampshire firm to do an energy audit toward a possible project. According to the development deal, buildings reviewed will include the town offices, community center, public works, transfer station, wastewater treatment plant, airport and the elementary and middle high schools. Simmons said the firm agreed to waive its $75,000 “breakup” fee that applies if the firm has developed a project and then the other party declines it.

“We can walk away from it for nothing,” he said.

None of the six contractors who bought bid packages on the Old Ferry Road culvert project ended up bidding, Simmons said. Town staff asked some of them why, and two said they would have bid if the work could be done in winter, but they would be too busy in summer; another declined based on the water line design.

“We’ve done this twice, we’ve gotten one bid in two times, and if we don’t get moving on this, we’re going to lose some of our funding.” He said a $125,000 stream crossing grant has already had a one-year extension and goes away at the end of March. That money would instead have to come from town funds, “which I don’t want to have happen,” Simmons said. The board went with his suggestion he negotiate with contractors. The procurement policy allows that if it will avoid disrupting town business or will save money, he said.

He hopes to have a proposed deal for selectmen to consider Dec. 19. “I’ve been three and a half years working on this culvert, and to be quite honest I’m sick of it.” 

On a question from Selectman William “Bill” Maloney, Simmons said the town should be able to get the permit changes from the Army Corps of Engineers to do the work in winter.

Selectmen sanctioned an ad hoc ‘‘trails in Wiscasset” committee to maintain the trails from Willow Lane to Gardiner Road, including the ones behind the Superintendent of Schools office and ball field. The board named Tom Eichler, Nicky Sontag, Sarah Loud, Emily Bell-Hoerth, Joan Barnes, David Pope and Dan Sortwell to the committee.

The board accepted with regret Colleen Hendricks’ resignation from the climate action team; and heard about Consolidated/Fidium’s loss in its broadband grant request. In his manager’s report, Simmons thanked the broadband committee for its hard work on the proposal.

Selectmen learned Wawenock LLC expected masonry on its Main Street building to start Dec. 11 or 12. “Fingers crossed,” Selectmen’s Chair Sarah Whitfield said.