Alna will use a $2,000 Assistance with Specific Know-How (ASK) grant from Lincoln County Regional Planning Commission to have a traffic consultant recommend safety aids at Pinkham Pond, besides the off-street parking concept the town has been looking at, First Selectman Ed Pentaleri said June 29.

The grant request got LCRPC’s enthusiastic approval, he said.

Recommendations could coincide with off-street parking and might include signage or traffic cones, Pentaleri said. On a recent hot day, he saw about 20 cars parked there. “It’s really a mess,” with people parallel parking on Bailey Road, which he said is narrow there; and pedestrians near the traffic, he said.

Pentaleri said a plan might be ready for voters to consider at next year’s annual town meeting.

Also June 29, selectmen said they continue seeking grant funds for a new generator for the town office. Pentaleri said Lincoln County Emergency Management Agency Director Casey Stevens had no word earlier that day for him and Alna EMA Director Tom McKenzie on the status of the town’s grant request, but told them of another possible source. Third Selectman Charles Culbertson has said the town applied to the Emergency Management Performance Grant (EMPG) Program’s Supplemental EMPG Program funded under the American Rescue Plan Act. Culbertson has said these are Federal Emergency Management Agency funds Maine Emergency Management Agency administers.

Pentaleri said Stevens on June 29 mentioned another grant program the town could try, one with a $4 million pool, versus the $600,000 pool for the first one. Selectmen cautioned, the larger pool does not necessarily mean a better chance at winning funds.

“So fingers crossed, and we’ll keep wacking away,” Culbertson said. Much of the work Culbertson did on the first grant request can be applied to the next one, Pentaleri noted.

The board nodded Maine Tasting Center’s requests Pentaleri said were to serve alcohol July 2, 9, 16 and 23 at Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington Railway Museum. He said the Wiscasset business would set up at the pavilion at Alna Center, mainly accessed via the train. Pentaleri called the events “an example of a fantastic collaboration WW & F continues to foster with local businesses.”