Wiscasset selectmen got an earful Tuesday night from downtown business owners on the Maine Department of Transportation’s plans for Main Street. The three-hour meeting’s busy agenda also saw the board once again wading into the simmering issue of allowing firemen to wash their personal vehicles at the firehouse.

Business also included a public hearing on the town meeting warrant, and discussion of a forthcoming meeting to address radioactive waste stored at Maine Yankee and other nuclear power plants. Selectmen were introduced to their new police chief Jeffrey Lange and on his recommendation agreed to buy a “temporary” police cruiser. They also held a brief ceremony for the dedication of the annual Town Report to John and Gert Blagdon, two founding members of the Wiscasset Ambulance Service.

MDOT again

Downtown business owners aired concerns over MDOT plans for adding traffic signals, widening sidewalks and most of all eliminating some or all parking on Main Street.

The discussion came up during discussion of a non-binding question asking residents to indicate which of MDOT’s three options they prefer. MDOT recommends Option 2, eliminating all parking on Main Street. Option 3 is for MDOT to do nothing. Selectmen have indicated they’d make their recommendation based on the results of the referendum.

Ted Talbert, a co-owner of Showcase Antiques on Main Street, doubted the lights would do much to alleviate the traffic problem and could make summer traffic snarls worse. Eliminating parking in front of his and other Main Street stores would hurt business, he said.

Paul and Sharon Mrozinski owners of the Marston House on the corner of Main and Middle streets, where one of the traffic signals is planned, said MDOT officials had failed to speak to any of the downtown’s business owners.

“All of the downtown business owners are opposed to Option 1 and 2. We wish there was an Option 4 for us to consider,” Paul Mrozinski commented. “We’ve been talking about adding parking downtown for 30 years but it hasn’t happened yet.”

Mrozinski said he liked the idea of the sidewalk bump outs reducing the time it takes for people to cross the street and the idea of adding a parking lot on Railroad Avenue. He said traffic lights were tried and failed. Eliminating Main Street parking would hurt, not help, businesses.

Kelley Belanger an owner of In the Clover said her biggest concern was with the wider sidewalks and whose responsibility it would be to clear them of snow and ice.

Sharon Mrozinski wondered why the town was voting on this when the question is non-binding. “I’d like to see this put on hold for a year or two,” she added.

MDOT Project Engineer Gerry Audibert, who along with other state staff met recently with the Wiscasset Area Chamber of Commerce, said at Tuesday night’s meeting, the state was looking for direction from the town. Once the state knows which option the town prefers the town could form an advisory committee to work with traffic engineers and planners. He said Option 2 allows for more leeway for making changes.

“Politically and economically this is the time to do it,” he said.

Selectman Judy Flanagan asked Audibert what happens if the town chooses to do nothing. Audibert responded MDOT would spend the monies somewhere else.

Selectmen won’t make a recommendation on any of the options prior to the election.

No to firemen again

Selectmen stuck by their decision not to let firemen wash their personal vehicles at the firehouse. It was the third vote on the issue that became a hot topic on social media and was the lead story of a Portland newscast.

The board reviewed an underwriting agreement from the town’s insurance company and sought two legal opinions on the issue. The legal opinions advised against allowing the perk due to liability regardless of whether firemen signed a waiver or not.

“Counsel urges us not to allow this. What part of no do you people not understand,” Selectman David Cherry asked. “It opens a serious can of worms.”

“It’s a department that’s essential to the protection of the town. The more guys that are down there at the firehouse the better it is for us,” Selectman Jeff Slack responded.

Resident Kathariine Martin-Savage said many small towns allow firemen to wash their cars at the firehouse and couldn’t understand why Wiscasset wouldn’t. “We have a lot more important issues facing the town, I think this is ridiculous that this is even being discussed again,” she said.

Slack and Chairman Ben Rines Jr. voted in favor of allowing the car-washing. Selectmen Cherry, Judy Colby and Flanagan were against it. 

Nuke waste meeting

Rines plans to attend the Department of Energy’s June 2 meeting in Boston concerning nuclear waste. The board heard from Patricia Aho, Sen. Susan Collins’ representative on the issue.

The board hopes other residents will attend the evening meeting and has offered to provide a bus for transportation. The meeting will address the highly controversial issue of finding a long-term storage solution for nuclear wastes from Maine Yankee and other nuclear power plants. 

Cruiser purchase approved

On Lange’s recommendation, selectmen will purchase a police cruiser from the town of Paris for $1,000. The vehicle is a 2008 Crown Victoria. The police department will use this vehicle until a new cruiser is purchased to replace the one totaled in an accident.

Town Manager Marian Anderson said the town received $9,000 for the totaled cruiser. The money will be put towards the purchase of a new police cruiser or SUV.

The cruiser the town will buy from Paris will be paid for out of contingency and used until the new vehicle can be delivered sometime this summer. What happens to the temporary cruiser after that has yet to be determined by selectmen.

Rines said he didn’t like the idea of the town having three police cruisers but wasn’t opposed to its temporary use. Lange said he’d prefer to keep it as an administrative vehicle.

The board voted 4-1, with Slack dissenting, to approve the purchase.

In other business

Following a public hearing selectmen renewed a commercial waste disposal hauler license to Dan I. Giles, doing business as Giles Rubbish Inc. of Boothbay. Giles paid the $500 non-resident application fee.

They also granted a catering and temporary liquor license to Marianmade Farm at 155 Federal Street to cater weddings.

On the recommendation of Transfer Station Superintendent Ron Lear, selectmen approved an increase in the disposal fee for tires from $1.00 to $2.00 per tire.