Wiscasset selectmen Feb. 3 OK’d town officials to let a contractor take overweight equipment and loads on town ways while paving Route 27. Maine Department of Transportation still has to pick the firm, so the contractor’s route is not yet known; and thus, it is hard to seek a bond yet for any potential damage, Town Manager Dennis Simmons said.

As for MaineDOT’s noting the town can require a bond, Simmons said the town has never required one, “because it’s never been an issue. And I don't even really see them using any of our roads, anyhow, because they’re paving Route 27 all the way into Randolph. When we get closer to (the work) and figure out that they actually are going to use some of our roads and pound them up, I can talk to them about getting a bond …”

MaineDOT has said the work could run from spring through fall and some work might be at night.

Asked Vice Chair Pamela Dunning, “So in a case like this, they're mostly talking about just pulling partway onto the road to get their trucks out of the way?”

Simmons nodded. 

“They’re not talking about driving up and down these roads all day long,” Dunning asked.

Simmons shook his head. “No,” he said.

“OK,” Dunning said.

Selectmen agreed 5-0 to authorize town officials to issue the permit. 

Also unanimous Feb. 3 was the nod to a business license request for a medical use storefront cannabis license for Ryan Hoffman Craft THC Products, 291 Bath Road, where, Simmons said, Seagrass is.

“The business has been sold, so it’s not a new (cannabis) storefront coming in … It's just a change of ownership and we don't allow licenses to be transferred. So, they have to go through the whole process,” Simmons explained. 

And Simmons told the board he is fine-tuning “very preliminary” 2026-27 budget numbers “and finding areas where I can reduce wherever I can without cutting us too short …”

The board meets next at 6 p.m. Feb. 17 at the town office. The agenda will have a Zoom link.