Selectmen and other residents debated Tuesday night over a proposed plaque honoring a poet-civil rights advocate who died in a 1938 Wiscasset car-train crash. The board voted 3-2 to have resident Lucia Droby get the board a cost to consider giving voters to decide in an already anticipated special town meeting this summer.

“(James Weldon Johnson) was doing his work during the Jim Crow era (when) it was very dangerous to be a person of color, particularly a black man, and he devoted his life to serving his arts but also to struggling for racial justice, and we’re in a moment that values that effort,” Droby said in the Zoom meeting.

Selectmen and others made cases for and against a plaque and mulled who should pay for it: the town, private funds, or, as Droby proposed, both. Chair Pam Dunning wanted a policy for fielding memorial requests. She, fellow board member Katharine Martin-Savage and some people Town Manager Dennis Simmons said he heard from questioned doing a plaque for someone whose only connection to Wiscasset was dying there.

“Mr. Johnson was a very interesting fellow, very well educated obviously and involved in all kinds of things,” Martin-Savage said. “However, I don’t think the unfortunate fact that he died here in Wiscasset requires a plaque ... He wasn’t from here. He just had the unfortunate accident, and I just don’t see it ... There are probably hundreds of people worthy of a similar memorial plaque who may be Wiscasset native born.”

“Wiscasset was never his destination, it was a drive-through,” Dunning said. “But my biggest objection is we have no policy.”

Droby asked if board approval would come more easily if no town funds were sought. Selectman Sarah Whitfield said she would be hesitant if the plaque was fully privately funded. “I don’t want a snowball issue where people want to honor certain people and if they don’t get town funding for it, they just buy it on their own.”

Resident Linda Adams argued the board should have a policy before acting. She said she was “somewhat relieved” selectmen were talking about having a ballot question. “The principal of the thing is, he never was a summer resident nor resident. If that was the case I’d feel a bit different. But he was just traveling through.”

Selectman Kim Andersson said, since the request for a marker came from Johnson’s birthplace of Jacksonville, Florida where a park is planned, having a plaque in Wiscasset would be being “good national neighbors.” She added, “This isn’t just a guy who was passing through town, or a celebrity. It’s important, this was a civil rights champion.”  

Selectman Jeff Slack also said he supported the plaque idea and, due to the money involved, he wants a ballot question. 

Past selectman Judy Flanagan favored a plaque. She said she had not known about Johnson, nor some other nationally significant figures, until she learned of them as an adult. “This is a wonderful educational issue for our community, for our state and for our youth, and I think it would be a wonderful thing to do and bring attention to that ... This is part of history, not just our history.”

Andersson, Whitfield and Slack voted to have Droby get the cost figure. Dunning and Martin-Savage dissented.

Droby said in a phone interview later, she had hoped for approval that night, but she appreciated that everyone was forthcoming in their views.

Also Tuesday, the board voted unanimously to declare a Lowelltown Road home a dangerous building. The board plans to give the owner 30 days to bring it up to code before the town might consider more action. Attorney Zachary Brandwein of Bernstein-Shur in Portland advised the board its options would then include demolishing the building and adding that and legal costs to the annual tax bill. The 30-day wait coincides with the appeal period for the dangerous building designation, he said.

Wiscasset Newspaper has chosen not to publish the address or owner’s name at this time, to avoid identifying children town officials discussed in the meeting and supporting documents.

Selectmen accepted a $13,000 American Rescue Plan, coronavirus response grant for Wiscasset Municipal Airport. They rejected 4-1 A Silent Way owner Chandler Sowden’s request for a $1,437 sewer impact fee refund after last month’s brick-falling incident in the Wawenock block led to the business’s closure there. Andersson dissented. Other members called it an insurance issue. And the board approved a temporary business license for Sea Bags LLC, with a site for the truck still to be determined. The truck cannot take up parking spaces, Simmons said.