Wiscasset won’t be getting a new town planner for Christmas. It doesn’t make sense to start advertising the job around the holidays, Town Manager Marian Anderson said Dec. 3.

Instead, the coming weeks will provide an opportunity to look ahead, Anderson said.

“We’re just going to sit back and evaluate our options and see what would be the best next steps,” she said in a telephone interview. Asked what those options might be, Anderson said one might be to add some hours back onto the code enforcement officer, now a 20-hour a week job.

She is not looking to do away with the planner job, however. It’s essential, Anderson said. The planner serves on many local boards, including the Wiscasset Area Chamber of Commerce, and works with the town’s planning and ordinance review boards, the waterfront committee and the new Historic Preservation Commission, she noted.

Plus, the planner helps people with code enforcement questions when the CEO is out of the office, Anderson said.

Selectmen’s Chairman Ben Rines Jr. on Dec. 4 said he would like to see a town planner hired in time to help with the budget process and other items that face a spring vote, including a proposed blasting ordinance.

He had not talked with Anderson about the timing for filling the position, but he defers to her judgment on when to start advertising it, Rines said Friday.

The planner job has had some close calls with funding in recent years, surviving close votes and a proposal to lower it to part-time.

Town Planner Jamel Torres is leaving the job after one year, to become a transportation and land use planner with Southern Maine Planning & Development Commission. His last day as Wiscasset’s planner is Dec. 18; however, his last day in the office will be Dec. 15, Torres said Dec. 3.

The decision to resign was definitely not easy for him, Torres said in an interview. The new job, with the Saco-based organization that serves 39 communities, was the right professional move, he said.

His resignation letter to Anderson states that he has enjoyed working with the town’s dedicated volunteers, the chamber’s board of directors and the hard-working town staff. “Thanks for the opportunities for growth that you have provided me,” Torres writes.

The letter describes the past year as a rewarding experience, including Torres’ work on a local commercial property inventory, a business and resource guide and a preliminary design for a boardwalk project. Torres is most proud of helping get the new Historic Preservation Ordinance passed. Asked why he was most proud of that accomplishment, Torres said he had often heard people ask why the town didn’t have one. The historic buildings are one of Wiscasset’s biggest assets and should be protected, he said.

“We wish Jamel the best,” Anderson said Dec. 3. The new job is a great opportunity for him, she said.