Fri, 05/24/2024 - 02:09 am

SUSAN JOHNS

File photo

A Wiscasset project across municipal and school buildings would take 16 months, cost about $1.9 million, tap hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal rebates, and Johnson Controls will guarantee the energy savings cover the town’s debt payments on it, a representative of the Manchester, New Hampshire firm told selectmen May 21. By the end of the 20 years, the measures, from solar power to light-emitting diode (LED) lighting, to weatherizing, will have saved $3.26 million in energy costs, the representative said.

Selectmen’s Chair Sarah Whitfield said they just got the proposal that night and needed time to read it. Then the board will need at least one more meeting, to ask questions, “before we make any decisions on moving forward, with anything,” Whitfield said. On a question from resident and State Rep. Ed Polewarczyk, Town Manager Dennis Simmons said the 20-year lease would take voter approval.

Polewarczyk voiced concern a solar project would impact Central Maine Power customers. “So maybe the town has a cash flow benefit, but I see it as a cost to me personally and every ratepayer in the state.”

A federal tax credit and the energy savings, not power bills, will fund the solar array, the firm’s representative said. Plans called for the board to be ready to ask questions June 4.

Last December, the board nodded a project development deal with the firm for an energy audit toward the possible project.

Also May 21, the board accepted the American Legion’s donation of a bench for the veterans wall and Wiscasset Farmers Market’s donation of a picnic table at the town office; and nodded a plan Peter Wells presented to fundraise for, and then install, two memorial benches and flowering trees near the recreational pier. Wells explained the project is in memory of Wiscasset’s Ernie Gallerani, who enjoyed visiting the waterfront. The board’s go-ahead is contingent on Simmons’ discussion with public works.

The board approved Marketplace Cafe’s (681 Bath Road) new owner Robert Bailey’s business license and ones for ABC Plants, 8 Brookside Lane; Aekeir Brewing, 11 Main St.; and Ambleside, 15 Bradford Road; a commercial waste disposal hauler license for Riverside Disposal; a medical cannabis storefront at 493 Gardiner Road for Seafoam; and Selectman Pam Dunning’s reappointment to the Legislative Policy Committee.

Notary and Wiscasset Police Department Administrative Assistant Callie Fairservice swore in, as full-time officers, new Maine Criminal Justice Academy graduates Hunter Farrell and Logan Hilton. Chief Lawrence Hesseltine said Hilton was class treasurer and Farrell sang the national anthem at graduation.

Hesseltine added, this is the first time in his six years as chief, the department has been fully staffed. This reflects the support the department has been getting “from the town and the community, so I’d like to thank everyone for that,” he said.

Simmons later noted it was Emergency Medical Services week. They train hard and work hard in a line of work that has gotten harder in recent years, Simmons said. “They deserve our appreciation.”