Adieu to 2022
From sewer needs, would-be waterfront and Whites Island projects, the ash ponds cleanup, Wawenock block repairs and Optimus Senior Housing, to the first James Weldon Johnson Day, Wiscasset rallying for a teacher’s child who had a stroke, the airport runway project. the first Strawberry Festival in years, a candy store coming to the former Big Al’s Super Values, Alna losing its plow firm near winter, Westport Island’s longtime road commissioner quitting, longtime Wiscasset Elementary School teacher Trae Stover earning Lincoln County teacher of the year, Ancient Cemetery having a fence again, and work starting on replacing a Route 1, Woolwich bridge, 2022 was a year. Here it is, drawn from Wiscasset Newspaper’s files.
January
Alna residents and officials complained about plowing contractor Holbrook’s Excavating’s handling of a Jan. 5 icing event. It was a “real fail,” First Selectman Ed Pentaleri said of the job the Woolwich firm did that day. “I’m glad not to have heard about anyone getting injured or killed.”
Alna selectmen and attendees also mulled how best to do public comment at meetings, and be more civil. In a departure from several recent meetings, no one yelled.
To explore Wiscasset’s options for all of town to have fiber optic broadband, including how to ensure residents who cannot afford broadband, or do not know how to use it, can get it and learn it, the broadband committee plans to propose a budget of about $10,000, $5,000 to $7,000 of it town-funded, the rest a grant from Island Institute, member Carla Dickstein told selectmen Jan. 4. And to go all fiber optic, the town should expect to help fund the project, she said.
February
Maine Department of Transportation’s project of replacing Station 46 Bridge in Woolwich got underway. It was expected to take years to finish.
Wiscasset Community Center reported its annual father-daughter dance Friday night, Feb. 11 had 129 daughters attending with their fathers, grandfathers, stepfathers, older brothers and family friends. The youngest girl there was Hannah Rogers, 13 months, and the oldest was Bridget Harmon, 15.
Titan Energy’s Adam Teff told Wiscasset selectmen Feb. 15, the town has gotten a net energy billing offer from Ameresco totaling $566,355 in savings on Central Maine Power bills over 20 years, and another, from ReVision Energy, totaling $514,868. The board voted 5-0 to approve the contract with Ameresco contingent on a review by the town’s law firm, Bernstein-Shur.
March
Between a grant conditionally awarded and others Midcoast Conservancy has found to try for, Alna’s next Ben Brook Bridge might be free, First Selectman Ed Pentaleri said March 16. Work might be in 2023, he said. Maine Department of Environmental Protection’s condition on its $125,000 award is a contract DEP and the town will negotiate, Pentaleri said. He said the sum is the highest DEP is awarding this year, and Alna’s application scored second of 44 received. The outcome reflects the project’s high priority and benefits to fish and wildlife passage, he added.
Slips at the recreational pier and showers at the harbor master’s office are possible if Wiscasset seeks a grant and is willing to chip in, the waterfront committee told selectmen and the budget committee March 22. A preliminary report from the waterfront committee recommends seeking a Maine Department of Transportation small harbor improvement program grant; the report estimates the project would take a one-time, $174,250 local match and $10,000 a year in labor to collect fees on and maintain the new features. Budget committee member Tom Joyce predicted they would “at a minimum” take two full-time workers. “I don’t think you could do it without that,” based on his experience at marinas, he said.
April
Wiscasset should not let Route 1 be the only place for marijuana manufacturing and testing facilities, ordinance review committee member Al Cohen said April 11. Those businesses could be away from the public, while providing jobs and tax money, he said. He and others supported Gardiner Road as an option. Members still wanted the proposed ban on marijuana businesses on property within 1,000 feet of a school, childcare facility, or church; a municipal “safe zone” under state statute; ballfield, courthouse, or the municipal building.
May
Alna selectmen May 4 agreed to a 10-year loan at 3.95% from Androscoggin Bank for $405,000 in Cross Road projects. Voters approved the spending at town meeting in March.
Wiscasset should do a town-wide property revaluation next year, Town Manager Dennis Simmons told selectmen May 3. “I just want it out there, because everyone gets a little upset when you talk about revaluation, especially now with home prices being so incredibly high (and) it doesn’t appear ... they’re going to be going down anytime soon. ,He said a revaluation does not mean taxes will rise, it just “re-equalizes everything to where they should be with respect to market rates. So it’s something we need to think about pretty seriously.”
Sheepscot Valley Regional School Unit Superintendent of Schools Howie Tuttle told the district board May 5, he still does not know if one-time member Wiscasset will want to keep taking SVRSU high school students other schools refuse, when it no longer has to. That status as SVRSU’s high school of record runs out in June 2023, Tuttle said; the arrangement was part of the withdrawal deal. Wiscasset Superintendent of Schools Terry Wood and Wiscasset School Committee Chair Michael Dunn declined comment except to note the committee would need to know more and talk more before any decisions were made.
May 12, Maine Department of Education named longtime Wiscasset Elementary School first grade teacher Trae Stover Lincoln County teacher of the year. After a next day, all-school celebration of the honor, Stover was feeling “overwhelmed.” Thirty-five years in, was she retiring any year soon? “I’m not going anywhere. They may never get rid of me.”
More than a year since bricks fell from the Wawenock block’s facade and part of the sidewalk was closed, Wiscasset Town Manager Dennis Simmons said work started May 12 on repairs. “It’s not going to be real evident for a while because most of the work has to start inside, but (a crew is) there (and) they’re looking to complete (work) by Nov. 1.”
May 21 at Morris Farm, 115 students and recent graduates of Wiscasset Middle High School attended the school’s first prom since the start of the pandemic.
Wiscasset announced in May, a $2,489 Safety Enhancement Grant from Maine Municipal Association Workers Compensation Fund would be used to buy ergonomically correct office equipment for the town office staff.
Wiscasset Parks and Recreation Department’s first mother-son dance in seven years Friday evening, May 13 drew nearly 50 boys with their mothers, grandmothers and mother figures. The youngest son was Winston Johnson, 2, there with his mother, Arianna Johnson. The oldest son was Andrew Lincoln, 23, with his mother, Kristy Lincoln.
In May, Boothbay Harbor’s Meagan Cope was setting up surprise flockings of fake flamingos around Wiscasset, including at the town office, Wiscasset Water District, houses and at businesses including Possibilities Salon and Coastal Electronics. Cope, crowned Ms. Central Maine 2022 on Feb. 16 and planning to “compete for my dream job of Ms. Maine American Women of Service at the Maine American Women of Service Pageant” in Portland in September, said the flockings were “to raise money for my journey and for Crossroads, a 501c3 youth organization nonprofit.”
On May 30, American Legion Post 54 Cmdr. William Cossette Jr. told a Memorial Day gathering at Wiscasset’s veterans wall, they were there to honor those who made it possible to gather there in peace, and who made this way of life possible. “They truly are the guardians of our freedom.” Then he said there was one more thing to say: He said people ask, “Why should I belong the American Legion?” The post spends $2,000 a year to maintain the American flags along the street, he said. It also gives out scholarships and other awards, takes part in funerals and gives to food banks, Cossette said.
June
Wiscasset’s 18 sewer pump stations could fail at any time, an engineer whose firm studied the town’s sewers, pump stations and plant told residents June 7 in Wiscasset Community Center’s gym. He said the 60-year-old system can probably be upgraded, which he said would cost less than moving the plant. And whatever Maine Department of Environmental Protection determines, the threat of climate change flooding the site could help get outside funds toward a multi-million dollar solution, Bill Olver of Olver Associates said. He and Town Manager Dennis Simmons cautioned, to be eligible, a system must be adequately funded locally. Proposed rate hikes to up revenue by 46% and then smaller, yearly hikes are needed to get revenues in line with costs, town officials said. Olver said if the system’s rates are too low, a project would not qualify for funding.
A June stroke paralyzed WES teacher Samantha Crawford’s daughter Angelina, 12, from the neck down. Fundraising and other support from the school and community followed. In an update Sept. 22, her mother said Angelina was continuing to work hard at regaining movement, was weaned off the ventilator and on Sept. 19 got medically cleared to leave Shepherd Center in Atlanta, Georgia for her first outing from the hospital: A trip to Starbucks with her occupational therapists and a peer.
Wiscasset Town Manager Dennis Simmons told selectmen June 21 and in his written report ahead of the meeting, he, Maine Department of Environmental Protection and engineering firm Ransom Consulting did a final inspection June 17 of the cleaned up ash ponds at the former Mason Station. Seeding will be the town’s responsibility; silt fencing has been placed to keep loose soils out of the river, Simmons wrote. He told selectmen in the meeting, the cleanup was a long process, years in the making. “It’s nice to see it done. It looks nice.”
June 25, St. Philip’s Episcopal Church’s annual strawberry festival happened for the first time since the pandemic began. Having it nearly all outside helped it be held this year, longtime St. Philip’s member and volunteer Gretchen Burleigh-Johnson said. “(I’m) very excited that we’re able to come back, and celebrate being together, being masked if you want to be masked, or not if you don’t ... You have that option, and that’s great.”
July
Robert “Bob” England Jr. started as Wiscasset’s interim superintendent of schools July 1. He said there is a “new energy” he can see and wants to support, that includes committed administrators and staff.
Citing fast vehicle sales and firms’ reluctance to bid on something they won’t build for years, Wiscasset Town Manager Dennis Simmons on July 5 sought and got selectmen’s OK to, for six months, use his discretion to seek bids or not. These days, it can delay an order or make the town miss out on a truck on a lot, officials said.
July 11, Wiscasset’s planning board passed Ames True’s proposed expansion of its outdoor storage space. The project would add 157,750 square feet of paved and gravel surfaces to store bulk items such as trailers, picnic tables and chairs, rental equipment and drainage pipe.
The Wiscasset School Committee heard from officials July 12, the department was continuing to try to fill teacher and other jobs, and double bus runs are being looked at as an option for 2022-23 if driver jobs can’t be filled.
As in 2020 and in 2021, Alna’s property tax rate this year will be $18.95 per thousand dollars of assessed valuation. Selectmen set the rate July 13.
Wiscasset held off July 19 on a purchase and sale deal for the tanker truck voters approved for the fire department. Officials said the latest cost from vendor Allegiance Fire & Rescue of Walpole, Massachusetts is $392,592, with no guarantee on the cost of the chassis on order, and with the town, depending on when and if it backs out, having to pay 10% or more of the Pierce Manufacturing truck’s cost without getting the truck.
July 19, Wiscasset selectmen let Wiscasset Municipal Airport’s redone runway open even though the Federal Aviation Administration could not yet certify the airport to open as safe, due to a new utility pole that resulted from the years-long effort of getting easements and removing obstructions before the runway project could proceed. The board agreed to have Town Manager Dennis Simmons and Airport Manager Richard Tetrev work with Central Maine Power on the “most suitable, quickest” plan for the pole and in the meantime open the airport.
August
Lt. Brendan Kane of Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office explained the ALERRT (Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training) program LCSO has been trained on to the Wiscasset School Committee Aug. 9. “It is the model we use for teaching response to any type of violence at schools, hospitals or any other workplaces where a dangerous threat, such as an active shooter, is taking place,” said Kane. The committee thanked Kane and will consider using LCSO for ALERRT training.
Students of Wiscasset Elementary School filled their backpacks for the fast approaching school year with things like pencils, erasers, glue sticks, notebooks, scissors and more, all given away free Sunday afternoon, Aug. 14. The program, now in its fourth year and known as “Set For Success,” was sponsored by Feed Our Scholars through St. Philip’s Episcopal Church on Hodge Street and offered to all pre-k through fifth grade students.
September
No Zoom echoes, Organ Society members realized and laughed about Sept. 7 as they settled in to do business in person, in First Congregational Church of Wiscasset’s Fellowship Hall, for the first time since the pandemic moved meetings online. The Society turned 200 years old this year. First Congregational’s interim minister, Rev. Dr. Amy Lignitz Harken, said lasting that long shows the group has taken care to adapt to societal change and stay relevant. Meeting with and aiding nonprofits that serve today’s needs, combined with keeping up long traditions such as pie sales, is “a really healthy blend,” Harken said.
Thursday night, Sept. 8, Wiscasset selectmen set the tax rate at $20.08 per $1,000 of assessed valuation – the same rate as last year. To do it, they took $275,000 from the fund balance.
Wiscasset School Department tapped federal funds to start offering students free activities at Wiscasset Community Center on early release days.
Wiscasset’s planning board Sept. 12 passed the planned Optimus senior housing project, Wiscasset Senior Living, at the former Wiscasset Primary School, contingent on sewer issues and costs being resolved. Plans called for the facility to have 113 beds and 20 employees.
Due to having a lot of new staff and the school department’s new goal of collective efficacy, Wiscasset Middle High School Principal Charles Lomonte wanted the school to have a year off from work on renewing the school’s accreditation with New England Association of Schools and Colleges. He sought and got the extension from NEASC, Lomonte told the school committee Sept. 12.
October
November
Holbrook Excavating is no longer Alna’s plowing contractor, First Selectman Ed Pentaleri and the Woolwich firm’s owner Evan Holbrook each confirmed Nov. 10. “Holbrook quit,” Pentaleri said. The firm and town were in the third year of a three-year plow deal. In a Nov. 2 selectmen’s meeting, Pentaleri recalled issues with service last winter and voiced concern service might be no better this winter, and might be worse. In a Nov. 6 phone interview, Holbrook expressed surprise at Pentaleri’s Nov. 2 statements. He said those did not foster a good relationship and made him less desire to move forward with the town. Other than confirming he had “resigned” from plowing for Alna, Holbrook had no new comment Nov. 10.
An “active shooter” hoax Nov. 15 affecting Wiscasset Middle High School and several other Maine schools had local, state and federal agencies investigating the threats, reassuring families and the public and continuing to work on safety. Once it was confirmed all the incidents were hoaxes, police and school staff told students everyone was safe, fielded their questions, told them to tell an adult if they ever hear of any threats or if they know someone is harming themselves; and said students will be part of further training for incidents. Some parents picked up their students from school.
Woolwich residents like the idea of making a traffic signal at the Route 1/Nequasset Road intersection permanent but urged Maine Department of Transportation officials to add turning lanes to improve driver safety. Discussion of the traffic light took center stage at a Nov. 15 informational meeting that included an update on the Station 46 bridge replacement project. Also discussed were planned improvements at the intersection of George Wright and Nequasset roads. The traffic light installed earlier this year was supposed to be temporary during construction of the new Station 46 Bridge, but when Selectman Jason Shaw asked the 50 or so residents assembled in the Woolwich Central School gym if they wanted it to stay, almost every hand went up in approval.
Nov. 15, Wiscasset selectmen gave Town Manager Dennis Simmons two more years in the job and a $20,000 a year raise. The raise, retroactive to July 1, brings his yearly salary to $105,000.
The state decided in Taste of Orient’s favor Nov. 16 on the Wiscasset restaurant’s liquor license renewal request that selectmen had opposed after hearing from Police Chief Lawrence Hesseltine. Maine Bureau of Alcoholic Beverages & Lottery Operations Deputy Director Timothy Poulin wrote: “While there may have been repeated ... calls for service related to potential breaches of the peace and disorderly conduct at Schooner Inn, no evidence has been provided to establish a link between such incidences and Taste of Orient.” Cecilio Juntura said he owns both the inn and the restaurant.
December
Wiscasset selectmen Dec. 6 agreed to tap American Rescue Plan Act funds for up to $75,000 in light-emitting diode (LED) street lights. The lights will save the town about $30,000 a year in power costs and would have paid for themselves by now if put in a few years ago, Town Manager Dennis Simmons said. The split vote favoring the ARPA tap came after a discussion that touched on other possible uses for ARPA money, such as broadband, sewer and more.
The Maine’s First Ship vessel, the Virginia, sailed from Bath to Wiscasset Monday, Dec. 12, arriving at the town dock in early afternoon, participants said. Selectmen on Sept. 6 agreed to rent out a float at the recreational pier for the vessel to winter in Wiscasset. The ship is a reconstruction of a 1600s ship, according to Wiscasset Newspaper files.
Students in the Wiscasset school system will soon have access to telehealth services, Superintendent of Schools Robert “Bob” England Jr. announced at the school committee meeting Dec. 13. The services will be provided virtually through Avel of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. England said 22 schools in Maine now use telehealth services.
Also Dec. 13, the school committee approved Wiscasset Speedway for the location of graduation again in 2023 after learning the seniors voted for it.
Alna selectmen agreed Dec. 28 to hire Sarah Perkins of Pittston as clerk, tax collector and registrar of voters. Michelle Cameron had resigned to become Nobleboro’s treasurer.