The Wiscasset Board of Selectmen canceled a special meeting called for Wednesday, Jan. 18 to sign a warrant for a special town meeting by referendum on the Wiscasset School Department’s proposed $1.75 million energy conservation performance contract.
The Jan. 18 meeting was scheduled after selectmen voted 3-1 against bringing the contract to a vote in an open town meeting, opting instead for a vote by referendum. The meeting was canceled so the recommendations of the budget committee and school committee could be included on the warrant, according to a town official.
Seven members of the nine-member Wiscasset Budget Committee met Friday, Jan. 20 to consider the energy contract. After listening to a presentation by Wiscasset School Department Superintendent Heather Wilmot and considering other information, the committee voted 4-2-1 to recommend the project, Chair Bob Blagden said.
Budget committee members Bryan Buck and Lonnie Kennedy-Patterson voted against the project, citing last year’s 14.1 percent tax hike, Blagden said. Member John Merry abstained from the vote. Merry is also the Wiscasset School Department’s director of maintenance and initially proposed the project.
Blagden voted to recommend the energy contract. “I got the feeling a lot of stuff needed to be done,” he said.
The project started long before the 14.1 percent hike in taxes, which caught a lot of people by surprise, he said.
“We just had a gigantic tax increase and now we’re adding more. It’s poor timing,” Blagden said. “The superintendent is very passionate about this. I’d hate to throw all that work away because of poor timing.”
The Wiscasset School Committee met in executive session Tuesday, Jan. 24 to consult with its attorney, but no action was taken after the meeting, Wilmot said. The school committee will hold its regular meeting Thursday, Jan. 26.
The school department’s proposal to enter the contract with Siemens Inc. has been the subject of heated exchanges between the Wiscasset Board of Selectmen and the school committee. Some selectmen criticized Wilmot and the school committee when they were on the verge of finalizing the contract in December.
Selectmen questioned how the school committee could commit the town to a long-term debt obligation without seeking voter authorization.
While saying it had been following the legal process to enter into an energy performance contract, the school committee voted to reverse course and send the project to a townwide vote.
Wilmot has said that if the project does not begin in April, the school department will lose the ability to access rebates that would help offset the cost of the project.
A special town meeting by referendum requires a 45-day notification period after the warrant for the town meeting is filed with the town clerk.
