By Charlotte Boynton
At the next Wiscasset Board of Selectmen’s meeting April 15, interim Town Manager Don Gerrish said he plans to propose allowing the Seeds of Knowledge Education Center to stay at the Scout Hall until the end of May.
Seeds of Knowledge Education Center holds a Spanish Class at Wiscasset Scout Hall Monday morning. Left to right, Spanish teacher Lissehe Griffin, students Iris Pope and Julia Truesdell, and co-owner Lisa Truesdell. One of their first lessons was to learn how to say “Good Morning” in Spanish. (Charlotte Boynton photo) |
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On April 1, Wiscasset Assessing Agent Sue Varney informed the board the education center has been using the Scout Hall since June 2012, without the knowledge of the town. The visibly irate selectmen voted 5-0 to authorize the town manager to remove them from the premises as soon as possible.
During a telephone interview this week, Gerrish said he has discussed the situation with Seeds of Knowledge co-owner Tanya Albert.
“I will propose to the selectmen to allow them (Seeds of Knowledge) to stay at the Scout Hall to complete a program that has begun, and will be completed around the end of May,” Gerish said.
“This was a innocent mistake,” Gerrish said regarding the education center using the Scout Hall.”
Currently the town doesn’t have a policy in place as to the use of town-owned buildings. According to Gerrish, the town will proceed adopting a policy to address that issue.
In the past the town has not allowed town owned buildings to be used by “for profit” businesses, according to information provided by Varney, April 1.
The education center is a “for profit” business. It is a teaching/education program for K-6 children in a variety of programs. The center is co-owned by Albert and Lisa Truesdell. Both have a Maine teacher’s license for K to 8 grades, with Bachelor Degrees in elementary education, and a certificate in teaching the talented and gifted.
During a telephone interview with Albert she said, “I got very upset when I heard what happened at the selectmen’s meeting, they thought I had done something wrong, by using the Scout Hall without permission.”
According to Albert, in June 2012 she and Truesdell were looking for a place to hold their classes. She called the town office and spoke with a woman, whom she is unable to identify. “I told the lady about our business, and that we were interested in using the Scout Hall,” Albert said. “She gave me the name of Paula Marcus and her phone number. I contacted Marcus as I was directed to do so by the person at the town office.”
Marcus, who was a Girl Scout Cadet Leader at the time, said when she was contacted by Albert, the first thing she told Albert was, “You will need to get permission from the town, the town owns the building not the Girl Scouts.”
According to Marcus, Albert said she already had permission from the town; they had given her Marcus’ name and number to call.
Marcus said she contacted the scout leaders to discuss the education center using the building, and it was determined there were days the scouts would not be using the building, and the education center began using the Scout Hall two days a week.
“I must say they have been wonderful tenants.” Marcus said.
Albert said she asked Marcus about a fee for the use of the Hall, and was told there is no fee, but donations could be made to the Maine Girls Scouts of America.
According to Girl Scout Leader Wendy Donovan, the education center has made donations to the Scouts and the donations they have made are being held in a separate account. Donovan took over the account in September 2013. She said she is unable to say how much the education center donated before that time. When she took the account over there was a balance of $274. Since last September, the center has donated $300.
The donations made by the center are used for paper towels, towel paper, cleaning and maintenance supplies, according to Donovan. “They have been great tenants, and have really spruced up the building.”
