Selectmen unanimously approved a Wiscasset Ambulance Service subscription program Tuesday night. Toby Martin, EMS director, outlined the plan.

By paying an annual fee, members won’t be billed for the co-pay or other charges their insurance doesn’t cover for ambulance services, Martin said. If the subscriber has no insurance the entire bill is covered. The program is limited to Wiscasset residents.

The fees are $25 for a senior citizen’s plan (ages 62 and over) and $40 for a senior couple. A single membership is $50, a family plan, $100, and a business plan, $250. Martin added he’d like to do a mass mailing to notify residents of the program.

Selectmen liked the idea but asked Martin to wait until after the June 14 town election before launching it.

Martin noted the ambulance department had responded to 89 calls in May.

Nuke waste meeting

Officials from the Department of Energy will be in Wiscasset Friday, June 3 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the community center to discuss finding a permanent storage site for Maine Yankee’s nuclear wastes.

Andy Griffith, associate deputy assistant secretary for fuel cycle technologies, and Melissa Bates, acting team leader for nuclear fuel and transportation planning, will facilitate the meeting. Representatives from the offices of Senators Augus King and Susan Collins and Congresswoman Chellie Pingree will attend.

Selectmen insisted DOE officials hold a meeting in Wiscasset similar to the one scheduled for June 2 in Boston. The Maine Yankee nuclear plant operated from 1972 until 1997. After the plant was decommissioned, nuclear wastes were put into storage using above ground dry casks. Similar storage facilities are located in Connecticut, Vermont and Massachusetts.

The DOE Office of Nuclear Energy is in the initial phase of developing a consent-based process for siting the facilities needed to store and dispose of the nation’s spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste.

At the meeting, area residents can ask questions or submit testimony.

Merchants share concerns, support

Business owners again aired their concerns about the Maine Department of Transportation’s proposed downtown improvements and the potential loss of parking on Main Street.

Paul and Sharon Mrozinski, owners of the Marston House, asked to have a letter signed by 25 business owners entered in to the selectmen’s minutes.

“We’d like to be part of the design process rather than it be an all-or-nothing approach,” Paul Mrozinski said. Along with the loss of parking, he and others were concerned about the future maintenance of the sidewalks, disruption of store deliveries and loss of business during construction.

Not all the downtown business owners are against MDOT’s plans. Several stepped to the podium and spoke in favor of the changes including Option 2 that eliminates Main Street parking.

Brad Sevaldson, an owner of the newly opened BIRCH on Main Street, referred to MDOT’s proposals as a gift to Wiscasset that will attract more shoppers to the downtown. “Build it and they will come,” he commented.

Selectman Judy Flanagan said it was encouraging people were making an effort to be involved in the discussion and have their voices heard. “I have faith we can work through your concerns and move forward in a positive manner,” she said.

Voters will decide June 14 in a non-binding referendum which MDOT option they prefer. Option 3 is to do nothing.

Solar proposal

Marty Fox of the Wiscasset SunCATs told selectmen there had been questions regarding how the failure of the State Solar Bill LD1649 affects the warrant article to install solar panels on the municipal building and town garage.  

He said the article gives the board authority to raise the funds and proceed with the Solar Project, but does not require them to proceed immediately or set a deadline when they should proceed. The Sun CATs group hopes the warrant article passes. If it does, Fox suggested selectmen hold off going forward with the project until the PUC decides what to do about net metering.

Direct deposit for firemen

Selectmen voted 4-1, with Chairman Ben Rines Jr. dissenting, to require direct deposit for payments to firemen.

Town Manager Marian Anderson said town policy requires all town employees, union and non-union, to be paid through direct deposit. “They (members of the fire department) are not being treated differently, they’re being treated like everybody else,” she said.

“I don’t know of one fireman that wants this and I don’t consider them employees, I consider them volunteers,” Rines said.

Police cruiser update

Police Chief Jeffrey Lange said the department’s SUV would be back on the road in another week or two. The vehicle sustained approximately $9,000 in damages in a recent accident. In the meantime the police department has been relying on a 2008 Crown Victoria cruiser purchased from the town of Paris for $1,000. Selectmen authorized the purchase prior to the accident.

Bistro patio approved

Selectmen approved a request from restaurant owner Tony Bickford to add an outdoor patio at the Little Village Bistro at 65 Gardiner Road. The planned 400-square-foot patio will have seating for 25. Approval included modifying the restaurant’s liquor license to include serving outdoors within the enclosed patio area.

The board granted a temporary liquor license to the Lincoln County Historical Association for an outdoor fundraising event from 5 to 8 p.m. Sunday, July 24 at the Sortwell residence at 104 Churchill Street. The application was made by Edward Kavanagh, LCHA president, of Federal Street.

Nancy R. Wyman was appointed to the Wiscasset Community Center’s scholarship board of trustees.

Selectmen entered in executive session to discuss town properties with the town’s real estate agent.