On Tuesday night, Wiscasset selectmen will learn about what to do next regarding the town’s lawsuit against the Maine Department of Transportation. Voters on April 17 chose not to pursue the suit.

Town Manager Marian Anderson said the board would meet with legal counsel in executive session to discuss steps to exit the suit in keeping with the town’s best interest. The closed-door session is prior to the regularly scheduled board meeting. Because the offer by Ralph Doering III and other interested parties to assist the town in its legal costs was rescinded April 19, the town will have to pay the legal bills already accrued, Anderson said. On Feb. 28, Wiscasset paid Murray Plumb and Murray $53,446, which brought the town current on the legal bill up to that point. Selectmen had voted to take $20,000 out of the town’s contingency fund to make that payment; no additional funds are available for the suit’s costs in this year’s budget, in either the contingency fund or in a contracted services line item.

Attorney Peter Murray estimated in February that continuing the lawsuit might cost at least another $75,000. Anderson said the town had not received another bill since then, but is expecting one soon. She said a special town meeting would be needed to fund the balance due, whatever that is.

MDOT spokesman Ted Talbot said the department could make no comment about the pending end to the lawsuit because the town had not formally ended it yet.  “If the town wants to dismiss its case, they need to file paperwork in court through its attorneys. There is a select board meeting on April 24, and we will await the outcome,”  he said. Talbot said MDOT’s counterclaims were dismissed April 11, and are no longer part of the lawsuit. Those counterclaims  were discussed by both counsel in a court hearing April 13.

Talbot said last fall’s bid to demolish the building at 36 Water St., known as the Haggett building, was never awarded. “Nor will it be.” The contractor has been notified.  “The ... property is not part of the current contract out to bid,” Talbot said. “There are no immediate plans to demolish Haggett’s or pave and stripe parking spaces on this property, although the Department reserves the right to use its own property as a staging area for the contractor or for storage of materials during construction.”