Is Wiscasset still OK with moving its wastewater treatment plant to public works and public works to the transfer station? Voters will decide again in June. Nodding the annual town meeting warrant March 24, selectmen did what they said they would after last fall's citizens' petition fell short on validated signatures: Ask residents anyway.

"I am greatly appreciative to the selectboard," Shannon Babcock said in a phone interview March 25. "I appreciate that they have heard us; that they have been willing to work with us on this. And I'd love it if we could go back to the drawing board," Babcock said. "I think in many ways they have a thankless job."

Babcock said she will be "over the moon" if the sewer plant does not move to the neighborhood. She said she and the rest of the group will "definitely" be campaigning to rescind the November 2024 town vote. She said they will "continue to communicate the message,and pray that maybe we can find an alternative solution to placing (the plant) in such a densely populated residential area."

The 2024 vote ran 1,416-832 in favor of the pair of moves, according to Wiscasset Newspaper files. In summer 2025, several public works neighbors, including Babcock, organized against moving the sewer plant there, citing environmental and property value concerns.

The June 9 question will read: "Shall the Town rescind the action taken under Article 3 at the November 5, 2024 town meeting, thereby removing authority for relocation of the wastewater treatment facility, public works garage and salt/sand shed."

The wording came from Maine Municipal Association's legal department, Town Manager Dennis Simmons said.

Asked via email if the town has at any point ceased seeking grants and/or its other planning for the voter-approved move, Simmons told Wiscasset Newspaper, "We have not ceased; however, government agency review processes generally require a specific location so they can evaluate environmental impacts, permitting feasibility, cost estimates, and overall project viability. Without that certainty, applications are typically deemed incomplete or too high-risk to fund. Existing funds can be used for data collection, design, or preliminary planning that would need to happen regardless of the final location."

Deciding last December to hold the rescind vote in June, selectmen reiterated they would rather upgrade the plant than move it, and that the town was still trying to get environmental agencies to go along.

Months later, where do things stand with the town’s efforts to get federal and/or state environmental officials to let Wiscasset make the Cow Island plant resilient instead of moving it, without losing federal and state funds for that resiliency work, including funds already won toward the move? Simmons said the (federal) Environmental Protection Agency and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) "have basically said the decision is with the state (Department of Environmental Protection), which, thus far, has not changed its stance on relocation. We continue to discuss options with our engineering firm and legal counsel."

Resident and earth scientist Cassaundra Rose has publicly supported the town's "really smart" decision on moving the plant she said is one of the most at risk in Maine for flooding. Reached March 26 about the ballot question to rescind the 2024 vote, Rose commented, "While the topic of the exact location of where the wastewater treatment plant should move is still an important discussion for our community, the fact that it’s at extremely high risk from coastal flooding has been clear for over a decade from multiple studies. Our plant is already in the floodplain and if it is breached by floodwaters, untreated waste could flow into the Sheepscot River and close down our local fisheries as well as all wastewater and sewage treatment in the village ... With sea level rising faster every decade, we have no time to waste to prepare to move the plant to higher ground."