Wiscasset selectmen approved the appointment of former Brunswick Town Manager Don Gerrish during their Jan. 19 board meeting to act as interim town manager for Wiscasset.
Among other items on the Tuesday night agenda, selectmen held a budget workshop with department heads and heard from Wiscasset Airport manager Ervin Deck. Selectmen also accepted a contractor bid for the reconstruction work of the Wiscasset Police Dept. office.
According to Assessor’s Agent and Human Resources officer Sue Varney, Gerrish will provide his service to the town at a rate of $400 per day. Varney and Gerrish convened after the last board of selectmen meeting when selectmen decided the two should work out the details, still leaving the final decision up to the board regarding whether or not to hire Gerrish.
“I look forward to being here with the board and working with citizens,” Gerrish said.
Approaching the podium, resident George Green commended selectmen for their decision.
“I want to compliment the board,” Green said. “These are tough times and you have the right man in the right place.”.
The town sought the bids for reconstruction after a heating system pipe burst and caused significant water damage to the office walls, floors and equipment late one Saturday morning last month.
Board chair Bob Blagden read aloud the bids as follows: $13,499 submitted by Eddie Goud, $14,900 submitted by Peter Dalton, and $15,747.17 submitted by Doug Merril.
Selectman Pamela Dunning excused herself in advance of possible discussion of the matter for personal reasons, though selectmen accepted the low bid following Blagden’s recommendation. Selectmen awarded the contract to Eddie Goud for his bid of $13,499.
The discussions ensuing from a series of questions submitted to the board from some department heads could have extended late into the night as several people rose to the podium to offer their recommendations. Blagden suggested they address the questions as budgets are formulated and could be worked out with Gerrish.
Selectmen discussed overdraft accounts in the airport budget needing to be rectified. Selectman Phillip Divece mentioned an overdraft of $11,400 from last year’s budget following Deck’s summary of the airport update.
Selectmen agreed the overdraft funds proposed be allocated from another portion of the town budget that were placed on last year’s warrant and had been voted down.
Even with the overdrafts, Deck mentioned $80,000 was raised by the town for the airport some time ago. He said less than $2000 of that money was spent on runway striping.
“It was raised and never used,” Deck said. “At some point we’re going to have to put some funds into the airport. We’ve been patching it up for too long.”
He mentioned a number of repairs and upgrades needed, including runway taxi lights and repairs to a couple of buildings on site. He has been communicating with a contractor and seeking counsel from Efficiency Maine to see about the installation of more efficient lighting and better windows in the airport maintenance building.
The last airport master plan was created 10 years ago, Deck said, and the plan needs revitalizing. He said he wants participation from town officials in the first stage of the master plan called the “scoping process,” where a planning committee will establish airport and community goals.
The process requires town funds to hire a consulting firm in the establishment of the master plan. Deck said the town’s portion of a state and/or federal grant will be 2.5 percent, though could not say how much the grant would come to.
The scoping process should be completed in about 30 days, he said, after which grant funding would start the planning process. Community members would then be able to participate in the process, requiring a planning and advisory committee, working in conjunction with the state, the Federal Aviation Administration, the town and also neighboring Woolwich.
The subsequent dialogue addressed whether or not to consolidate insurance costs, how pay increases would be handled, and what the budget should look like.
Budget Committee chair Steve Mehrl said he and former Town Manager Arthur Faucher got together with the department heads to get input as to what was important regarding their budgets.
The questions, much of which people hashed out at the meeting Tuesday, emerged from the previous discussions with Mehrl and Faucher, the answers of which they hoped would provide guidance in the formation of the budgets they have yet to submit.
Mehrl said there would be a presentation of the 2009 audit with budget committee members at the Wiscasset Town Office on Thurs., Jan. 21 at 6:30 p.m.
