Wiscasset selectmen agreed 5-0 Feb. 21 to send the ordinance review committee a proposed change for public safety agencies’ free use of communications towers. According to Town Manager Dennis Simmons’ email to the board hours earlier, and the discussion at the town office and carried on Zoom and YouTube, the ordinance change could get local and county emergency devices free access to a prospective tower near Two Bridges Regional Jail in Wiscasset and maybe other towers in Lincoln County.

“(We) have areas where we still have poor to no signal to communicate via radio with the 911 center,” Simmons wrote. “This is, and has been, a safety hazard for our first responders. Some of these same areas also have poor cellphone reception. This tower (near TBRJ) would allow us to install another repeater to cut down on these gaps in coverage and without being an additional burden to the taxpayers ...”

County Administrator Carrie Kipfer told the board she planned to ask all towns to adopt language like Waldoboro’s, which, according to Simmons’ email, reads: “Allow Local and County emergency operations communication devices to be installed and maintained free of charge.”

“I’m all for it,” Selectman Terry Heller said.

Taxpayers could save significantly, Kipfer said. “You can be looking at anywhere from $2,000 a month and upwards to rent space on a tower,” she said.

Asked by email later if selectmen plan to get the item onto the June town meeting warrant, Chair Sarah Whitfield said that is the hope, “but we don’t know for sure as it needs to go through the full process.” That includes a public hearing, according to the Feb. 21 discussion.

View the Feb. 21 meeting on the town’s YouTube channel or at lctv.org