Behind the scenes work continues in Wiscasset toward a possible expansion by wound care products maker Molnlycke.

The latest projected time frame for the company to announce if it will expand its Rynel plant on Twin Rivers Drive has now come and gone.

Hope for the project remains alive, however. Wiscasset selectmen on December 3 held another closed-door discussion with the town attorney, about a possible tax-incentive deal in connection with the expansion.

The Sweden-based company first expected to decide in September if it would expand the Wiscasset plant; then at a September 17 Wiscasset selectmen's meeting, a Molnlycke official said the decision was taking longer due to “normal company stuff.” Word could come as late as November, the official said at the time.

In a November 8 interview, James Detert, Molnlycke's business development director for the Americas, said he expected a decision to be announced by the end of the month.

Detert did not immediately return a message left Friday, Nov. 29.

Although word has yet to come on a decision, Detert has consistently made positive comments about the company's dealings with town officials and on Molnlycke's interest in expanding in Wiscasset.

The $6 to $7 million expansion would nearly double the size of the Wiscasset plant and add 10 to 30 jobs to the approximately 70 there now.

Molnlycke has been looking at expanding in either Wiscasset or Brunswick, where the company just built a plant at the former Brunswick Naval Air Station.

The tax-incentive deal would take voter approval, town officials have said.