Wiscasset Community Center, the town-owned recreation, fitness and event hub, is getting nine ambassadors. Selectmen March 3 agreed to create a "support committee" to promote WCC.

"This advisory committee would focus on fundraising, sponsorships, partnerships, and community engagement, providing additional support that complements staff efforts and helps bring new resources and visibility to the Center," Town Manager Dennis Simmons told selectmen in his written report for the meeting. Simmons and Selectmen's Vice Chair Pamela Dunning took part remotely in the nine-minute meeting. 

The only discussion on the advisory-only committee was Chair Sarah Whitfield's confirming to Selectman Alissa Eason, Parks and Recreation Director Duane Goud had seen the proposal. Goud did not immediately respond to Wiscasset Newspaper's requests for comment March 4 on the new committee. But in a Feb. 26 board workshop on the 2026-27 budget, selectmen, Goud and Simmons talked over the committee. 

In that workshop, Goud asked if the committee's aim would be to attract "big money."

"No, not necessarily," Whitfield answered. She told Goud, Central Lincoln County (CLC) YMCA in Damariscotta has a committee that fundraises. "I feel like we're just missing an opportunity by not having one for the Community Center, partially because, there are a lot of people in the community who may not even go (there) but they think it's a really worthwhile thing, who probably would be willing to support it monetarily," she said.

"If they're asked," Simmons added.

And Dunning, longtime director of Wiscasset Public Library, told Goud about the five-digit donations the Friends of the Wiscasset Public Library group makes to the library each year.

The new committee is not meant to add to Goud's burden or to tell him what to do, Whitfield and Simmons continued.

"OK," Goud said. "I just (am) pretty proud of where we have been," upping the department's budget without increasing taxation a lot, he explained. "So I actually feel pretty good about that. But I do agree that there is money out there, or the opportunity ... ," Goud said.

"And I think it'll be great to have a group of people who can make the argument of why the Community Center is important each year, if they want to make that argument," Whitfield said.

Simmons said the committee can always be disbanded. "If it doesn't work, it doesn't work. We can disband it and call it a day. But to try something and fail is better than not trying at all."

"No, I agree," Goud said.

The proposal selectmen passed March 3 said the board will appoint seven residents and two other members who may be residents of the Center's partnering towns; the parks and recreation director will be an "ex officio" member; and a selectman will be a liaison. Committee members will "serve as ambassadors for the Community Center within the community, help raise awareness of the Center's value and offerings (and) encourage resident involvement, participation, and support," the proposal said. 

March 3, besides nodding the committee, selectmen nodded an artificial intelligence policy requiring town workers to have written approval from Simmons or a designee before using an AI tool; approved Lincoln County's latest Hazard Mitigation Plan; and noted Wiscasset's county tax of $977,935, an increase of about $55,000, Simmons said.