How to fill a room in Wiscasset: Suggest getting rid of the town planner's job.

How to really get the crowd going: Argue the town isn't growing enough to warrant keeping the job.

Budget Committee: check, check.

The panel on July 2 gave selectmen its initial recommendations, including eliminating the planner job. The position has served its usefulness, committee member Norman Guidoboni said.

“We're not growing that much,” fellow member Richard Hanson said. He, too, supported eliminating the job, but he could live with it being cut to part-time, he added.

“I'm not seeing a lot of growth in town,” member John Merry said.

Those assessments didn't go over well with businesspeople and other residents who took turns at the microphone.

“To say there's not growth is just like squishing me,” Marianmade Farm owner Michelle Peele said. She's part of the growth and proud to be, she said.

Wiscasset Marketplace owner Gary Crosby said occupancy there has grown from 34 percent to about 85 percent.

“Anyone who can say Wiscasset is not growing is not looking around,” said Sherri Dunbar, vice chairman of the Wiscasset Area Chamber of Commerce. Many closed business sites are open again, she said.

Speaker after speaker defended the planner's job and praised the woman who holds it, Misty Parker.

Parker is encouraging, knowledgeable and never in a rush to get people out her office door, they said. Lincoln County Planner Bob Faunce said she's probably irreplaceable.

“We couldn't get anybody who is better … I think this is a valuable person who we should really keep,” Ordinance Review Committee member Doc Schilke said.

Parker was listening to the discussion from the front row of the crowd.  In a brief interview later, she said she appreciated all the support for her and the department.

On July 16, selectmen plan to make their recommendations on the planning department and other budget items that failed in June. A second town vote is tentatively set for September.

Board members' comments during the July 2 meeting ran against those of the budget committee on the town planner issue.

“To eliminate this position would be very, very detrimental to this town,”  Board Vice Chairman Judy Colby said. “You'd be going back to the horse and buggy days, and I personally don't want to see it happen.”

All five selectmen said they supported keeping the planner job. After they make their recommendations, the budget committee will have a week to make its own that will also appear on the ballot.

Susan Johns can be reached at 207-844-4633 or sjohns@wiscassetnewspaper.com