Scout Hall, at 7 Lincoln St. in Wiscasset. On Tuesday, July 30, the Wiscasset Select Board voted unanimously to allow Wiscasset EMS to use the building as a training and meeting center. (Piper Pavelich photo)
Wiscasset Emergency Medical Services Chief Erin Bean and her crew are working on transforming Wiscasset’s Scout Hall into a training and meeting center, an operation that was unanimously approved by the Wiscasset Select Board during a meeting Tuesday, July 30.
Bean first brought the idea of a new use for the building on Lincoln Street to Town Manager Dennis Simmons’ attention in April, according to Simmons.
A shortage of space in the town office for EMS training and meetings, as well as Scout Hall’s vacancy, sparked the idea, said Bean.
“The meeting rooms in the Wiscasset municipal building are severely limited and can comfortably only accommodate up to six individuals,” said Bean. “These spaces are not adequately equipped for presentations or hands-on learning, necessitating temporary reconfiguration of available space.”
Turning Scout Hall into a training and meeting center would provide a “hub” for various educational and training opportunities and will alleviate current space constraints in the town office, said Bean.
“It takes 120 hours to become an EMT, so, in order for us to teach those classes, we have to have enough space for 24 students for it to be viable, for us to do this,” said Bean.
The select board put the question of selling Scout Hall on the draft warrant for the June 11 town meeting by referendum. The question was removed from the warrant during the board’s April 8 meeting, following Bean’s presentation of a potential future for the hall.
Since then, Bean has been working on the details of the project, including pinpointing updates to the building and formulating an operating budget.
The center’s operating budget for the first year, which includes personnel, utilities, services, insurance, equipment and supplies, repairs and maintenance, and staff expenses, totals $63,605.
The estimated one-time cost for repairing and updating the building, which includes painting and bringing in furniture, totals $21,050.
The expected revenue to be brought in from EMT classes and renting out the space totals $130,760, leaving a net income of $67,155 to be put toward Wiscasset EMS’s budget, said Bean.
“That’s more revenue than you would get if you sold it,” Simmons told the select board July 30.
Bean said she received a $27,000 grant from Maine EMS that will be put toward acquiring supplies and materials for classes, including training equipment.
Despite attempts to secure grant funding, Bean said the funds for a new heat pump for the building will need to be secured somehow before the center can begin operating. A heat pump is estimated to cost about $10,000, according to the budget prepared by Bean.
Simmons advised Bean to come back to the select board to request the carryover of remaining funds from Wiscasset EMS’s 2024 fiscal year budget.
Bean said she hopes the community will feel welcome to use the hall for various activities once it is up and running.
“I want to see this area be used for other things, like the Scouts again, or individuals who want to have meetings,” Bean said. “We really need this space for training, and I want it to be used for the people, too, because I really care about this community.”
The next meeting of the Wiscasset Select Board is at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 20 at the town office.
