Wiscasset’s political plate is filling up fast for 2018. The main course so far is Main Street, as Maine Department of Transportation moves toward its downtown project that near year’s end was still facing the town’s lawsuit. Let’s hope the court case is resolved soon, to minimize the town’s costs and get to a happier place for everyone with an opinion on it. That’s an uphill climb, but to talk is to try.

Side dishes for the new year include the budget which could bring wide cuts over several departments, deep ones in some, or both. This year’s budget, after a string of votes, eliminated the planning department including the town planner. It might be good to wait a year before trying it on the ballot again, if only because residents said no to it twice this year and the one time they passed it, far fewer voters made that call, at a special town meeting. Continued thanks to the committees and town administration and staff who are taking care of business with one less department to aid the work.

Also on the plate, look for helpings of more planning to get the regional special education program into Wiscasset Middle High School. Will it and should it raise new questions about a sixth grade move to WMHS? We’ll see how the timing on everything shakes out.

And what of the historic preservation ordinance the town voted this year to keep? Maybe 2018 will bring the refining some of its supporters said it could use.

Heading the dessert menu, fingers crossed for something good at Mason Station. There have been ebbs and flows of prospects including on cleanup efforts. May 2018 set the ship on a course with fair winds. Finally, may this year’s renewed efforts succeed at restoring multiple items from the Hesper and Luther Little, the famed schooners gone from Wiscasset harbor.

Happy New Year.  May it be peaceful and successful.