Wiscasset Selectmen’s Chairman Pam Dunning said Tuesday that before the board starts talking about the future of the Wiscasset Primary School building, she would want to know when the town’s school department will be out of the building.

“The board of selectmen have not had any discussions and I haven’t talked about it individually with anyone,” Dunning said in response to a question from resident Steve Mehrl at Tuesday night’s board meeting. Mehrl suggested the board start its talks soon.

“We’re burning through the months,” Mehrl said.

Wiscasset voters in December 2014 backed the Wiscasset School Committee’s September 2014 decision to close the school after this school year. Dunning said the selectmen will need to know if the building will still be in use for all or part of the summer.

Mehrl raised the topic during the public comment portion of the Jan. 20 meeting. In other remarks to the board, he spoke against a possible land buy the town has been exploring on Gardiner Pond.

“In these times, the last thing this town needs to do is acquire more property,” Mehrl said.

Taking ‘e’ out of Rumerill not so easy

In asking Wiscasset to take the letter “e” out of a Rumerill Road sign, local resident Don Jones sought to restore the road’s name to reflect the early Wiscasset, Rumrill family. The road was named for the family, according to Jones’ written request.

Selectmen on Tuesday kept the “e” in the name, however, after Board Chairman Pam Dunning explained what its removal would trigger: Dunning said she called the post office and was told that mail delivery would stop for the road’s residents if the name changed. The automatic mail sorter wouldn’t recognize the name without the “e,” she said. The town’s tax records for properties on that road list the property owners’ addresses with the “e” in the road’s name, she added.

If the name changed, the residents would need to complete paperwork for an address change from Rumerill Road to Rumrill Road, Dunning said. Plans now call for town officials to ask the road’s residents if they would be interested in doing that paperwork.

Cushman Mountain tree-cutting

In a report Town Manager Marian Anderson released Tuesday night, Wiscasset Code Enforcement Officer Stan Waltz praised the job the Chewonki Foundation has done in managing its forest.

“I have no problem with the present harvest .... It is my opinion that Chewonki is doing a great job in their forest management practices and are very diligent in seeing that operations are done to the highest standards,” Waltz writes.

Wiscasset resident Larry Lomison recently cited his concerns about the extent of cutting the nonprofit was doing on the mountain.

Selectmen dedicated Tuesday’s meeting to Wiscasset Police Officer Donald H. “Donnie” Smith. Smith, 48, died unexpectedly at home in Wiscasset on Jan. 7.