Wiscasset Historic Preservation Commission members said Jan. 7, they want to help property owners, not control them.

Their work, cast in an ordinance residents passed in 2015, is about advising people on anything from a shade of paint on a historic building to the look of a new building, members said.

Neighborhoods are living things and not every new home that goes up can be a Cape Cod cottage or federal-style building, member Susan Blagden said. “’Cause that ain’t going to happen. But what we can say is, ‘You’ve got a secondhand trailer ... may we suggest something else?’”

Much of the meeting centered on possible ways to communicate with the public; however, a technological problem left one member unable to communicate with the rest of the panel Thursday night.

Jib Fowles is wintering in Texas, so he took part in the commission’s December meeting via Skype. The panel had approved it when he proposed it, in person, in November.

Fowles would have been transmitted into the January meeting as well, but Chairman John Reinhardt reported that he’d lost a cord to his computer that Fowles would have appeared on. Reinhardt ordered another cord online, but it hadn’t come yet.

The alternative of a conference call didn’t work out so the meeting happened without Fowles. But Reinhardt relayed a concern he said Fowles had shared with him, about the prospect of a letter going out to property owners in the district that the historical preservation ordinance covers. The commission has talked about a letter and other ways to reach out to owners and real estate agents.

Picking up the discussion Thursday night, Reinhardt said Fowles was concerned that a letter would alarm people or scare them about the ordinance.

Reinhardt questioned whether people would react that way. “I’m not at all alarmed or scared ... but do you think we should proceed with caution?”

It might be a little early for a letter, Blagden said. “We still have some ducks to get in a row.”

The panel is looking at how it will handle hardship exemptions and certificates of appropriateness for projects in the district.

Some of the work may need to wait until the next town planner is hired, members said. Then-town Planner Jamel Torres aided the commission at its first two meetings; members were on their own Thursday night.

In addition to the possible letter, they talked about asking an expert to come to town in the spring, possibly former Lincoln County Historical Association president Jay Robbins or a representative of the Maine Historic Preservation Commission. The person could meet with property owners to help inform them about historic districts, member Gordon Kontrath suggested.

“We need someone to explain that it’s not the end of the world,” Kontrath said.

Residents might see it as the state telling them what to do, Blagden said. As an alternative, members discussed possibly having the expert meet with them, and publicizing the meeting in advance to encourage the public to attend.

The commission meets next at 5 p.m., Feb. 4 at the municipal building.