WILTON — Selectmen agreed Tuesday to allow one streetlight to be turned off and to form a committee to look at the other 313 lights in town for potential savings from reducing wattage or shutting some off.

  While collecting information from other municipalities on how they have handled streetlight costs, Town Manager Rhonda Irish also spoke with a representative from Central Maine Power Co. The company wants to shut off a light near the boat landing on Wilson Lake. The light is partially covered by the trees, she said. The board agreed.

The CMP representative also suggested visiting every street to see if wattage of each light can be reduced or the light removed, she said.

The town’s current budget includes $48,197 for streetlights, $2,500 for the ornamental downtown lights and $500 for traffic lights, Irish said.

The total budget of $51,197 could be reduced because some lights may not be needed, Chairman Terry Brann said at the last meeting.

Lisbon has about as many lights as Wilton but serves double the population, about 9,000 people, Irish told the board. Some members said that fact reinforces the idea that Wilton has a lot of lights.

Irish also heard from a municipality that purchased its lights as the board previously discussed. Going that route would involve new expenses including not only the cost of the lights but a new truck and a trained technician to maintain them, she said.

The savings from shutting off 10 lights would be $1,500 annually, Irish added.

The board felt it was worth the work involved in studying the light situation and wanted to form a committee of interested residents, with Brann as chairman, to study the situation.

In other business, the board agreed to ask attorney Lee Bragg to attend the Jan. 19 meeting to provide legal counsel on what options the town has regarding nuisance/dangerous buildings, including the Forster Building on Depot Street.

With concerns about the state of the empty building, the town and Fire Department have developed an emergency plan but “endless contact with the owner” hasn’t gone anywhere, Irish told the board. The taxes haven’t been paid and the building couldn’t be developed for other uses as it is.

The board also endorsed a study of highway entrances on routes 2 and 4 to be done by Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments. AVCOG has obtained funding to undertake the study because the ability to access the highway could affect the potential for future business development. The study would be done next year at no cost to the town, Irish said.

After giving his quarterly report, sewer and water Superintendent Russ Mathers was surprised with a legislative sentiment for his and his staff’s work.

Selectman and state Rep. Thomas Saviello, U-Wilton, presented the especially timely sentiment to Mathers, after environmental engineers from Olver Associates had just told the board how well the staff had managed the plant and kept  it going for years more than was expected.

abryant@sunjournal.com

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