After more than a year and two townwide votes, the Wiscasset Selectmen authorized Town Manager Laurie Smith to sign an agreement to transfer the Montsweag Brook parcel of land from Central Maine Power Company to the town of Wiscasset.

Even though townspeople voted in June to accept the property, selectmen asked the voters again in November because a Department of Environment Protection review found that some work needed to be done on the property.

Wiscasset voters approved (the second time) to accept Central Maine Power Company’s Montsweag Brook Dam and surrounding property of 22 acres, along with $100,000 for the stewardship of the property. The vote count was 1,250 in favor and 725 opposed.

Four of the five selectmen expressed concern that $100,000 would be insufficient to take care of the property, thus creating a financial liability to the town.

One of the issues that concerned selectmen was lack of access to the property from the Woolwich side of the dam. That side appeared to be where work needed to be done. Selectmen Judy Colby said she saw no need for the second vote.

Shellfish ordinance amendment proposed

Chairman of Wiscasset’s Shellfish Committee Donald James requested the selectmen to recommend a reduction in the conservation hours from 20 hours a year to 12 hours a year.

James told the board most other towns in the area require 12 hours of conservation work.

The conservation work includes seeding events, group shoreline clean-up, maintenance and seed clam harvest, attending shellfish meetings and other activities, according to James.

“Most of us will do over 12 hours a year anyway,” James said.

The selectmen agreed to allow the proposal to move forward to the Ordinance Review Committee, recommending with the new hour requirement, a specific amount of that time be devoted to seeding and conservation efforts, and perhaps less time in meetings.

Town committees reviewed

Selectmen Pam Dunning and Ed Polewarczyk have spent several months reviewing town committees to determine if each are still needed and exactly what their duties and missions are.

The committees that are created by ordinances are required to remain, such as the Airport Committee; Appeals Board; Budget Committee; Ordinance Review Committee; Planning Board; Shellfish Committee; and the Waterfront Committee.

Dunning and Polewarczyk are recommending deauthorizing the Energy Commission and the Transportation Committee. The Energy Commission was never formed. However, the selectmen suggested a committee be developed to do energy audits throughout the town buildings to determine savings that could be realized on energy.

The Transportation Committee was created more than 10 years ago by the selectmen to replace the Bypass Review Committee. The bypass study ended last year.

Other recommendations being considered are that all committees submit minutes to the town clerk on a regular basis; the selectmen should review the term limits to encourage new membership among committees; the committees that should have a selectman appointed to include: Airport, Conservation, Investment, Ordinance Review, and Waterfront.

The board of selectmen took no action on the recommendations made by Dunning and Polewarczyk; it will be an agenda item for their next meeting.

Bid opening for transfer trailer

The selectmen received three bids for the transfer trailer for the transfer station at their meeting.

The highest bid was from Messer Trucking Equipment from Westbrook, with a bid of $82,775 and a trade-in allowance for the 1993 transfer truck of $2,000. The second bid was from Spector Manufacturing in Pennsylvania at $59,064 and a trade-in allowance of $6,000; and the third bid from was from Stete, of Dorchester, Mass at $63,830 and a trade-in allowance of $1,100.

The selectmen authorized the town manager to award the bid to the lowest qualified bidder.

Executive session

The selectmen voted to go into executive session to discuss labor negotiations following their regular business meeting.