For $4,000 a year, Alna could have ambulance service and not have to cover users’ unpaid debts, First Selectman David Abbott said. As a result of what a Central Lincoln County (CLC) Ambulance Service representative told selectmen Jan. 13, the board wants to consult with Alna Fire Department officials; then the board may consider asking voters in March to switch from Wiscasset Ambulance Service to the Damariscotta-based service, Abbott said later.

He liked what he heard from CLC’s  Warren Waltz about the service’s staffing and equipment, Abbott said. He also liked the offer of a yearly fee with no burden from residents’ debts, he said. The $4,000 Waltz cited is $1,000 more than the town pays Wiscasset, Abbott said.

Wiscasset announced recently it would no longer shoulder other towns’ debts.

That news and other concerns led Alna selectmen to explore the town’s options. The board is still at that stage, Abbott said after the Jan. 13 meeting, its first with CLC.

Asked if the town might use both Wiscasset Ambulance Service and CLC, Abbott said he doesn’t see that happening. “That would just lead to confusion, I think.”

Interviewed separately, Fire Chief Mike Trask said he needs more information before he forms an opinion on whether the town should switch to CLC.

Town meeting is March 19.

Dam committee developments

Selectmen decided Jan. 13 to add Second Selectman Melissa Spinney to the Head Tide Dam Committee.

The panel’s charter ran out Dec. 31, selectmen have said. Abbott said having Spinney on the committee will help ensure objectivity. “She’ll be more or less a watchdog,” he said.

The board will likely renew the committee’s charter, with revisions that Third Selectman Doug Baston will be working on, Abbott said. The board needs to continue to be clear with committee members that they are not to spend time exploring options that would violate the town’s deed to the dam, Abbott said. A half-century ago, the Jewett family gave the town the concrete dam that once powered a lumber mill. The family called for the dam to never be destroyed.

Also Jan. 13, Alna’s alewife harvester David Sutter told the board that fish can already get past the dam, without changes being made to it, Abbott said.

Code enforcement letter

Selectmen approved Code Enforcement Officer Stan Waltz’s letter about a trailer at 191 Dock Road, Abbott said. The Jan. 13 letter tells property owner Clinton Rankin the trailer is too close to a right-of-way, and that no one is supposed to live in it because every dwelling in Alna is supposed to be on two acres.

The letter gives Rankin until Jan. 31 to provide a date, no later than Feb. 29, when the trailer will be placed more than 50 feet from the center of the right-of-way; also by Jan. 31, Rankin needs to state in writing that he will not let the trailer be occupied, the letter continues.

“Absent this agreement, the town will move immediately to take ... legal action including fines and or court action,” Waltz writes. According to the letter, Waltz has sent Rankin two prior ones and has gone to see him several times about the trailer.