Wiscasset Town Manager Dennis Simmons told selectmen Tuesday night, March 5, he and Olver Associates talked March 4 about where to put a sewer plant, including looking beyond town-owned property.

Simmons said picking a site will be a challenge, because it needs to be “fairly close” to the river and to most of the collection system. “And I don’t know of a lot of people who are going to want to see a wastewater treatment plant in their backyard.” He said Olver had been concentrating just on town property, and “I said I think we need to be looking at maybe acquiring something outside of town property, that might be a little bit more palatable ... So we’re expanding the view of where we look ...”

Selectman Pam Dunning commented, any facility will look better than the current one. “So I really don’t see how people can complain too much about it.” That one doesn’t have a close neighbor, like it might in the village, Simmons said. The two agreed no one is going to want it next to them.

“I think that’s just par for the course,” Simmons added. “We’ll try to find the best piece of property we can, but it has to be suitable for what we’re doing, as well.” The move, including determining where and for how much, will take years, “and we’ll get there ...”

Selectman William “Bill” Maloney reminded the board he and other town representatives visited a sewer plant in Oxford he said just looks like a building, not a plant. No outside tanks, everything was enclosed, Simmons said. That sounds like the way to go, “even if it’s a little bit more,” Dunning said.

Mahoney said it is a gravity-fed system, which can save on some costs but requires digging down, so ledge might be an issue in picking a site. 

In other sewer news, Simmons got an email March 4 from a staffer for U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R - Maine, reporting progress on Simmons’ request for $5 million in sewer aid. 

The email from Collins staff assistant Chuck Mahaleris stated, “I wanted to let you know that your CDS (Congressionally directed spending) project has made it through another hurdle ... The Senate and House leaders have negotiated six of the 12 FY 2024 Appropriations bills and Senator Collins’ CDS request for your project ... has been included.” The House, then the Senate were to consider the bills, which would then go to President Biden to sign into law, Mahaleris explained.

Simmons did not know when the town would get the money. “At least it’s alive. I was a little concerned that with the lack of progress being made in Congress on stuff,  that we weren’t going to get it. But it looks like it’s going to happen. That’s the first drop in the bucket towards the much bigger picture that we are working on,” he told the board. The $5 million would address “some immediate concerns, such as upgrading some of the deficient pump stations and reducing the amount of stormwater entering the collection system,” he explained in email responses to questions post-meeting.

Simmons got word from Collins’ office March 8, the $5 million for Wiscasset passed in both houses of Congress and was heading to the President’s desk for signing. 

Also March 5, the board named Kim Dolce, Frederick Quivey, Alissa Eason, Evan Goodkosky, Richard Malaby, Sherri Dunbar and Patricia Cloutier to the ad hoc economic development advisory committee; accepted with regret, and with thanks for his many years of service, Ron Leeman’s resignation from the waterfront committee; and nodded a special amusement permit for Jodi’s Café & Bakery, 45 Water St. According to the application, “weekly” indoor live music plans call for open mic on Wednesdays, karaoke on Thursdays and an acoustic singer on Saturdays.