"We've gotten our money's worth out of this vehicle, and it's just now becoming more of a liability than anything," Wiscasset Town Manager Dennis Simmons said March 11 about a plow truck Public Works Director Ted Snowdon is asking to replace in 2025-26.

Simmons told selectmen the replacement and its plow and sander are figured to cost "somewhere around" $125,000.

Also proposed is $907,000 in paving. Simmons said it is a lot of money but should be about it for about 10 years except for maintenance. He said Hagar Enterprises offered to keep the cost flat with last year's bid if the town will use the firm again. He said the bid was cheaper than all others in 2024.

Snowdon said the fire department's brush truck of several years is not in use, might not take a sticker and needs replacing.

Overall, Simmons described the town's stock of vehicles as good, including the cruisers and ambulances. "We've kind of got ourselves in a good position. Now we need to stay there, take care of the stuff, rotate it out properly, so that we're not having breakdowns or repairs or big expenses ..."

Simmons recommended against replacing Wiscasset Community Center's hot tub. Given the center's likely need for boiler replacement and thousands of dollars in other infrastructure work, the hot tub would be a luxury, he said. He supports proposed work on the basketball and pickleball courts, for safety and liability reasons. The work has been "pushed off" before, he said. 

"(Those courts) are in very bad shape and they are a liability, if somebody trips and falls ... They really need to get done," Simmons said.

And in other talks as the board nears approving the June 10 town meeting warrant, Simmons informed the board the ambulance department is running ahead on revenue so far in 2024-25. The town's new training center at Scout Hall recently had a CPR class that profited $595. This is just an example of what can be accomplished there, he said.

Ambulance Chief Erin Bean said emergency medical technician classes there do not make money because Kennebec Valley Community College is doing them, but the classes have yielded Wiscasset new crew members "we hardly need to train."