Alna’s lawyer has proposed a way to turn over the town’s share of a lot that a woman wants to sell near Bog Road, First Selectman David Abbott said Feb. 4. A past board of selectmen signed the property over to two men, years after one of them had died, according to a lawyer for the Wiscasset woman who has sought the new deed.

Town attorney David Soule has further reviewed all the information in the matter, and determined that selectmen could agree to grant Nicole Moore’s request if her lawyer has the deed show that it was being done to resolve a clerical error, Abbott said.

Third Selectman David Reingardt said he would like to see a written statement from Soule before taking a vote. Second Selectman Jonathan Villeneuve was not at the meeting.

Abbott’s report on his conversation with Soule was the latest turn in several board discussions on Moore’s request since her lawyer Nathaniel Hussey first contacted the town in November 2014. Moore’s grandfather William Rines and his brother Glenwood Rines had owned the lot together before the town took it for unpaid taxes, town officials have said.

Selectmen signed it back over to the brothers in 2001 after the taxes were paid off. But Soule has agreed with Hussey that the transfer to Glenwood Rines didn’t count, because he died in 1995. So the town still owns half the property, Soule has told the current board.

Hussey has made the same point, in asking that the board execute a deed for Moore.

Making it official

Alna Fire Department’s president Kathy Pendleton and secretary Beth Whitney gave selectmen a letter confirming what Fire Chief Mike Trask announced a week earlier: that the First Responders program will stop at the end of February.

“It’s too bad,” Abbott said. Wiscasset Ambulance Service will continue to serve Alna, the letter notes.

“The Alna First Responders will cease responding to medical calls ... as of 12:01 a.m. March 1 .... None of us wants to see this much needed service end but, for now, it appears we would only be providing false hope to the citizens of Alna if we attempted to continue it without the essential personnel,” the letter states. “Despite our (recruitment) efforts ... we have no new volunteers and only one trained responder who lives in town.”

The town could be exposed to fines if there was no one to keep up with regulations and paperwork connected with the program, the letter continues. It also pays homage to the First Responders’ retiring leader, Marcie Lovejoy. She was dedicated, and was available to respond to calls day or night, the letter states.

“No one knows this any better than the fire department members, past and present, and the many citizens she has assisted in their time of medical need.”

Fossel pegged for economic panel

Also on Feb. 4, the board named former legislator Les Fossel to serve on the Midcoast Economic Development District. The point of his serving would be to protect the town from “any crazy things” that some well-intended person might think are a good idea, Fossel told selectmen in accepting the seat. According to a handout he distributed, the district’s aim is a thriving regional economy.

Fossel also serves on the Lincoln County Regional Planning Commission.