Wiscasset continues exploring getting its sewer plant the sea wall officials have said could avoid having to move the plant. Town Manager Dennis Simmons told selectmen Sept. 19, he and Olver Associates – the town’s contractor on a climate action plan for the plant – met recently with Maine Emergency Management Agency on how to possibly fund a wall.

The Environmental Protection Agency does not want to fund it, but the Federal Emergency Management Agency has different roles and might be willing to help, he said.

“Really?” Selectman Terry Heller said. 

“It was just a very preliminary discussion but it did go very well,” Simmons said. “I don’t think we would get 100% funding out of them, but ... there is a lot of money out there. I’m trying to take advantage of what I can find when I can find it,” like he has done for brownfields work and the Old Ferry Road project, he said.

Upgrading the plant and making it resilient has been estimated at $20-plus million; moving it, about twice that, according to Wiscasset Newspaper files.

Also Sept. 19, selectmen accepted with regret former selectman Heather Jones’ resignation from the climate action team and budget and comprehensive plan committees. Jones wrote Simmons and the board Sept. 6 expressing gratitude for having served “this beautiful town” alongside them. “It has been an honor and a privilege ...,” Jones wrote. 

In LD 2003 talks Sept. 19, Lincoln County Regional Planning Commission’s Emily Rabbe said a recently eyed minimum accessory home size is bigger than the new law allows. The state minimum, small enough for tiny houses, cannot be changed, Rabbe said. The town can set a maximum size, she said. She recommended it. Selectmen were mixed on whether or where to cap the size. 

The town received 25 resumes for the planner job, Simmons said. Interviews were planned with four applicants, he said. The board nodded Maine Tasting Center, 506 Old Bath Road, to have live music at the Maine Needham Festival Sept. 30; and approved a liquor license for In A Silent Way, 51 Water St., unit B, and a business license for Coastal Water Treatment, 681 Bath Road.