The phone started ringing the day after Wiscasset voters passed marijuana ordinances June 13, Town Manager Dennis Simmons told selectmen June 20. He was readying applications and people were coming in June 22 to start picking them up, he said.

The ordinances cover medical cannabis licensing and adult use cannabis businesses. The immediate interest in applying was “as expected,” Simmons said.

Also June 20, the board kept Sarah Whitfield as chair and made William “Bill” Maloney vice chair. Prior vice chair Dusty Jones lost a bid for re-election to the board. The June 20 meeting was Pamela Dunning’s first one back on the board.

Maine Art Gallery Board Of Trustees President Richard Riese thanked voters for matching grant funds for work to preserve the Wiscasset Academy building MAG leases from the town; and he described as “certainly not a mandate” the results of a non-binding town meeting warrant article on the idea of selling the building. The vote ran 328 yes, 310 no and 40 blank. Selectmen did not bring it up in the meeting at the town office and carried on Zoom and YouTube.

Selectmen named Thomas Eichler to the appeals board and Scott James to the shellfish committee, and nodded Police Chief Lawrence Hesseltine’s request to spend $6,516 on rifle plates and $18,741 to upgrade cruisers’ mobile data terminals (MDTs). Hesseltine’s letter to Simmons states the MDTs will be user-friendlier, ergonomically friendly, have touch screens and detachable monitors, are “the most current in-car technology,” will free up some cockpit space and some of the time spent roadside on traffic stops, and will aid morale and retention by showing support for officers.

The board approved actions seeking access to a Bath Road sewer pump station. Members said the town has tried multiple other means. The board plans a letter from the town attorney, a cease and desist order and removal of items blocking access. It is a safety matter, Maloney said.

Selectmen nodded the recently proposed rewilding of Pleasant Street Extension with native plantings and nodded Simmons to award shingling of the harbor master building to the lowest, most qualified bidder. Keenan Construction of Richmond bid $10,800; Williams Construction of Brewer, $7,950; Ted Weber of Wiscasset, $9,300; and JB Roofing of Henniker, New Hampshire, $13,495.

Simmons later said the board took no action after either of two executive sessions, one on a legal matter; the other, economic development. Ahead of the selectmen’s meeting, Wiscasset Newspaper News Contributor Phil Di Vece reported Ryan Gahagan of Treadwood, LLC in Portland said he and a partner have been working on “a potential plan to acquire and redevelop Mason Station. We are in the very early stages of evaluating the opportunity and will be speaking with the Wiscasset Select Board in executive session on Tuesday, June 20th.”

Simmons told Wiscasset Newspaper June 21 in an email response to questions, “(T)hey really only came in and introduced themselves and said pretty much what they told Phil. Of course the board is excited to learn of some POTENTIAL movement but they stressed very early on that there is much due diligence to be done before any decisions are made. As we know that is (a) challenging property. As they work their way through their process I/they will be providing updates and meeting with current and potential stakeholders.”