As Wiscasset continues to look for a buyer for the former Wiscasset Primary School, it may have found one for the kitchen equipment.

Alternative Organizational Structure 93, which serves Damariscotta, Newcastle, Jefferson, Bristol, South Bristol, Nobleboro and Bremen, has made a $3,850 offer, Wiscasset Superintendent of Schools Heather Wilmot states in a Jan. 29 email response to questions from the Wiscasset Newspaper.

Most of the surplus equipment AOS 93 is interested in is from the closed school on Gardiner Road, but some is from the school department’s other kitchens, Wilmot said.

The items include pots, pans, utensils, a colander, serving counters and a prep table. AOS 93 is planning a satellite kitchen, Wilmot told the Wiscasset School Committee Jan. 28.

An AOS 93 representative looked at the kitchen equipment at the former school with Wiscasset’s food service director Lorie Johnson, according to Wilmot’s notes to the committee.

The notes describe the AOS’ purchase proposal as fair.

“At this point in time, the sale of the equipment is currently a proposal,” Wilmot states in Friday’s email.

Wilmot notified the committee about the surplus items in September 2015. She will decide any sale.

Voters in June 2015 authorized selectmen to sell the school. The property went on the market Aug. 5, 2015 at $895,000 and went down to the current $749,000 on Sept. 15, for lack of calls, Sherri Dunbar of Tim Dunham Realty said. Since then, she has been getting calls.

“No offers yet, but definitely activity on it,” Dunbar said.”It’s a unique property, and those can take time to find the right buyer.”

Possible energy project

Wiscasset could save on its school buildings’ energy and replace aging equipment without taking out a bond, according to the company that handles the schools’ mechanical systems.

Energy savings would go toward a project’s costs, as they have for nearby Regional School Unit 12 and Wilmot’s former employer, Lisbon, Tom Seekins of the Scarborough-based firm Siemens told the committee.

Possible changes Seekins raised included LED lighting, which he said would be better for students to study by, and new controls for ventilation.

School committee members supported taking the first step, having Wilmot prepare a request for companies to give their qualifications for an energy audit.

“I think it’s really past time we look at doing some of these things,” Chairman Steve Smith said. “I think it’s a no-brainer that we do the audit.”

An audit’s cost could be rolled into the project’s financing, Seekins said.

Summer school update

Curriculum Coordinator Patricia Watts said she would like summer school to draw more students than the 2015 count of 30 children. She is looking into a possible tie-in this year with the Wiscasset Community Center to offer physical activities after a morning of academics, she said.