The Wiscasset Area Chamber of Commerce is circulating a petition for an open, special town meeting to reinstate the 2017-18 planning budget residents rejected June 13, member Sherri Dunbar said.

“This is about economic development,” Dunbar said in a phone interview Monday. “There’s no way it can improve without a planner.” For both new and existing businesses, she said, “It’s so important to have someone walk them through the process.”

Chamber Chairman Monique McRae, interviewed separately Monday, agreed. The planner position goes hand in hand with the Chamber’s mission statement, she said. According to the statement, the Chamber promotes a positive business environment that contributes to the area’s economic vitality through business advocacy and other work.

Dunbar said it’s been easy getting signatures. “Absolutely. And I’ve been getting phone calls from people wanting to sign.”

The petition calls for selectmen to present a warrant article that reads: “This article is to reinstate the Municipal Planning Budget that failed to pass at the Annual Referendum Town Meeting ...”

Katharine Martin-Savage, a Wiscasset selectman, signed the petition Sunday when Dunbar had it at an open house for Clark’s Point Homes. In a phone interview Monday, Martin-Savage said that, speaking personally and in no way for the board, she feels the planner job is vital to economic development. She said it was her understanding, some voters didn’t realize voting against the $66,764 planning department budget eliminated funding for the planner.

In split votes, selectmen had recommended the planning budget and the budget committee opposed it. The petition calls for a vote at the same level of funding voters rejected 464-256 at the polls.

Dunbar expected the petition to be filed with the town clerk’s office soon, possibly as early as this Friday, June 30. Town Planner Ben Averill declined comment.