The search for improved fish passage in Alna has selectmen’s OK to go another year, and new measures to help get a proposal the board can get behind.

A facilitator, a selectman and another new member are on the way for year two of the Head Tide Dam Committee. Its charter ran out Dec. 31 as selectmen looked at how to ensure no big changes are proposed for the town-owned, concrete dam on the Sheepscot River.

Selectmen became concerned months ago about some of the ideas being discussed, that would take out one-third or two-thirds of the dam’s spillway.

Either would go against the deal the town accepted when the Jewett family gave the town the dam a half-century ago, selectmen have said. The deed called for the dam to never be destroyed.

The board on Jan. 27 gave the committee another year to work with the Atlantic Salmon Federation on possible proposals. The federation wants to help fish get through but has offered to also look at ways to improve recreational access and honor the site’s history. Any project would come at no cost to the town, Federation staff have said.

The federation has agreed to hire a facilitator, Third Selectman Doug Baston said. That should help keep the committee’s meetings on task, he said.

“(Facilitators) don’t have a dog in the fight.”

The board is adding two committee members, Alna’s longtime alewife harvester David Sutter and Second Selectman Melissa Spinney. Their backgrounds will benefit the panel’s look at fish passage, according to selectmen.

Selectmen emphasized that any proposal must be based on science. “Actual fish counts,” Baston said.

Spinney was absent. Baston and First Selectman David Abbott renewed last year’s charter with an addendum that covers all those points and reiterates that the board will accept no proposal to substantially alter the dam. They based the addendum on the Jan. 13 selectmen’s meeting notes, which state in part: “Whatever our personal feelings, we take very seriously our ethical and legal responsibility to defend the gift of the dam from the Jewett family. Additionally, we also believe that the (dam’s) cultural and historic value to many Alna citizens is at least as important as the fishery is to others.

“For that reason, we believe that any discussion of dam removal would be incredibly divisive for this town,” the notes continue. “Any options for fisheries improvements that do not impact the ... deed restriction are fair game.”

The latest charter also needs an OK from the federation, since it co-signed last year’s, selectmen said. That shouldn’t be a problem, given the nonprofit’s willingness to bring in the facilitator, Baston said.

Neither Andrew Goode, vice president of the federation’s U.S. programs, nor the committee’s chairman David Reingardt were at the meeting. They did not immediately return messages left Jan. 28.

Committee members recently asked selectmen to let them continue their work. They have been gathering information to share with residents and have made no decisions on what to propose, members have said.

Asked for comment Jan. 28 about the charter’s renewal, member Gerry Flanagan said he is glad to participate. The restrictions are unfortunate, but hopefully people will have some ideas, he said.

Fellow member Ralph Hilton, interviewed separately, praised the board’s decision. “I think the selectmen are doing the right thing by setting some parameters to protect the (deed’s) covenant,” he said.

Fish passage problems stem from elsewhere in the watershed, not the dam, Hilton continued.

“It’s a hundred-year-old, engineering marvel.”