Smoking and inside fires might be out and bounce houses, pets, alcohol and more might, in some cases, be in. Over Zoom Monday night, Wiscasset’s ordinance review committee talked about what to let users of town property have and do. Selectmen want a policy for permits.

ORC members and Lincoln County Regional Planning Commission’s Emily Rabbe discussed what to possibly bar permit seekers from having or doing on town properties including piers, playgrounds, Wiscasset Community Center’s gym, pool and Senior Center, Wiscasset Municipal Airport, Sunken Garden, Scout Hall, the town common and the municipal building’s meeting room. Under a draft the ORC took up, permits would require liability insurance.

After participants considered inside and outdoor grills, Chair Karl Olson suggested proposing selectmen bar inside fires. Participants also mulled proposing selectmen decide case by case when permit seekers ask to have pets and bounce houses on town property. As for alcohol, the draft policy the ORC reviewed called for a state liquor license permit, special amusement insurance, bartender’s certificate of liability “and a signed indemnification and hold harmless agreement exempting ...Wiscasset from any lawsuit and/or property damages ...”

Also, Monday, the ORC worked on a possible code of ethics member Anna Ridle drafted. It cited state laws on records tampering, improper compensation for services, conflicts of interest, bribery and more. The draft called for town employees and officials to support the Maine and U.S. Constitutions and be “fair, impartial and responsive to the needs of the people and to each other.”

Member Jackie Lowell said Selectmen’s Chair Sarah Whitfield, selectmen’s liaison to the ORC, expects the marijuana survey to go out in the mail this week. The survey could help guide which ordinances are pursued, Whitfield has said. 

The panel meets next at 5:30 p.m. Dec. 27, likely over Zoom. “I can’t imagine we’re going to turn this COVID thing around in 13 days,” Olson said.