Wiscasset fire officers will meet with selectmen, Assistant Fire Chief Nick Merry said Aug. 3. A date was not yet set.

Merry said the department told Town Manager Marian Anderson and Selectman Judy Flanagan the department accepted selectmen’s offer to meet; Anderson and Flanagan were at the firefighters’ monthly meeting at the station Aug. 3, Merry said.

The board has sought a meeting with the department to improve relations. Merry said he, Fire Chief T.J. Merry, Deputy Fire Chief John Merry and Assistant Fire Chief Chris Cossette will meet with the board.

In an email response to questions Aug. 4, Selectmen’s Chairman Judith Colby said: “I'm very pleased that the fire officers and the board of selectmen will have the opportunity to have a discussion to make for a better working relationship.”

Colby expected a date to be set after Chief Merry returns from vacation; and she expected the meeting to be held in open session. “Unless the subject turns to personnel matters, then we would have to go into executive session,” she explained.

Issues to be discussed include the board’s recent ban on firefighters’ washing of their personal vehicles at the station, Assistant Chief Merry said.

The petition for a special town meeting on the vehicle-washing continues to be drafted, Deputy Chief Merry said in a phone interview Aug. 4. He said he was hopeful it will be ready in a week or two to start circulating for residents’ signatures.

Another recent issue has been the  town’s changeover to direct deposit for firefighters’ pay. Deputy Chief Merry said not everyone has completed the paperwork, but that he told firefighters Aug. 3, it’s going to be up to any member to decide as an individual. “I made it very clear it’s up to them now. We washed our hands of it last night” as an issue, he said.

Anderson has told firefighters if anyone’s paperwork goes undone, she will take the matter to selectmen because they set the policy.