Wiscasset selectmen unanimously picked Judy Colby as their chairman when they convened for a brief meeting Thursday evening June 16 at the town office.

Colby along with selectmen Ben Rines Jr. and Jefferson Slack were all re-elected at the June 14 town election, Slack having successfully run as a write-in candidate.

Town Clerk Linda Perry called the meeting to order and asked for nominations for chairman. Colby was the only nominee. Rines had served as chairman the past year. The board re-elected Judy Flanagan its vice chairman.

Town Manager Marian Anderson provided the board with copies of the H.M. Payson statement to coincide with the pending end of the town’s fiscal year on June 30. The market value for the town’s reserve investments totaled $10,293,729 as of May 31. The market value for the town endowment fund totaled $2,736,242 with the Cemetery Trust Fund totaling $1.6 million of this sum.

Anderson also shared a list of six overdrawn accounts. Contractual services is currently the highest account over budget, $28,564. The other accounts running in the red are: EMS $21,651, police department $18,012, town clerk $10,785, administration $1,698 and fire department $1,514.

Anderson said she’d gotten an opinion from attorney Shana Cook Mueller of the Bernstein Shur law firm indicating a special town meeting wouldn’t be needed to rectify the overdrafted accounts. Article 62, passed by voters on election day, gives selectmen authority to transfer monies from unexpended balances to cover the overdrafts, according to Mueller.

Rines disagreed with the attorney’s opinion. Anderson said she would get a second legal opinion from Maine Municipal Association. The accounts have to be balanced by June 30.

At the start of the meeting, Flanagan said she was concerned about emails being exchanged among board members. “This board has been good about not making decisions except at this table. We’ve talked about this (issue) before and I want to avoid it happening again,” she added.

Asked for an explanation after the meeting, Flanagan said the emails concerned who would serve as the board’s chairman. Rines doesn’t have a computer but was notified of the email dialogue by telephone.

The board’s next regular meeting will be 6 p.m., Monday, June 20. The agenda, a lengthy one, will include a discussion of the non-binding Maine Department of Transportation vote supporting Option 2. The board will also discuss its goals for the year ahead.