WILTON — The Select Board on Dec. 15, approved Town Manager Rhonda Irish’s pursuit of grant funding for Depot Street sidewalk which would coincide with the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) paving work to begin in 2021.

The sidewalk rehabilitation would range from the intersection of Depot and Main Streets at Academy Hill to just past the Forster Mill site. The DOT will be paving from Route 2 to Main Street, Depot Street and Weld Road.

Through the Municipal Partnership Initiative program (MPI), 60% of the sidewalk reconstruction costs would be covered by the state. Through another grant program, the state would cover 70% of the engineering design cost.

Water and Sewer Department Superintendent Heinz Gossman informed the board that the DOT’s reconstruction of a culvert on Route 2 at McCrillis Corner will interfere with the town’s water line.

“We can’t have them vibrating pieces of steel down next to that old pipe, it’s cast iron pipe that was put in in the 1960s,” Gossman said. 

To prevent interference, Gossman said the town will have to pay $35,000 to $40,000 to burst the cast iron pipe and replace it with a plastic pipe that can remain fully charged and under pressure during DOT’s work. 

Irish informed the board that the Maine Rural Water Association is seeking a partnership with Wilton’s Water Department on behalf of the North Jay water district. Jay’s water operator will be retiring at the end of June and may ask Wilton to absorb the North Jay district.

Gossman said that Wilton has the infrastructure in place for this absorption as the town already supplies water to residents of the North Jay water district.  

“Maine Rural Water has done this before where they’ve looked into combining districts, so this is something that is being totally speared by them as this is above and beyond our realm,” Gossman said.

During the Regional School Unit 9 update, school board member Cherieann Harrison notified the Select Board of upcoming cuts to the district’s state due to declining enrollment.

“The state subsidy for districts is determined on a two year average of our Oct. 1 student enrollment and right now, we’ve had a two year average loss of 105 students for those two years,” Harrison said. “And for this year alone, we’re down 211 students which is 9% of our student body.”

Harrison attributed the pandemic to this increase to low-student enrollment as many parents have opted for homeschooling or private schools this year.

The anticipated loss of state funding is $1-1.3 million for the next two years according to Harrison. The school board will be notified of the state’s subsidy by the end of February.

Harrison urged people to contact their state legislatures to make adjustments to subsidy determinations due to the pandemic causing low student enrollment.

“We’re hoping that the legislatures will vote to change that allocation process at least for those two years when those students are able to return full time to the building,” Harrison said.

Harrison said that the school board has developed an emergency savings fund which should ease the decrease of state funding.

She also said that thanks to COVID-19 relief grants, the district has made recent investments that will have multi-year, healthy budget impacts. With this funding, improvements have been made to the district’s bus fleet, transportation, facilities, the grounds, technology, books and educational resources.

With regard to Superintendent Tina Meserve’s resignation, board member Tom Saviello suggested that RSU 9’s search committee for a new superintendent includes people beyond the school board.

“I would suggest that you include at least a selectman or two from the different towns so that they can participate in that conversation,” Saviello said. “I think it’s important to have the community involved in it.”

Both Swett and Saviello informed the board that the recently completed Forster Mill geotechnical survey presented the site as a promising opportunity for developers. The $26,500 survey by Ransom Consulting Engineers and Scientists provides the town with an analysis of the site for prospective buyers.

In other business, Swett told board members that he had received the County’s budget for the past 10 years and that it showed significant increases in the past three years while social services have been drastically cut. Board members will be drafting a letter to the commissioners regarding these cuts and any potential budget process changes.

The board reviewed further Planning Board revisions to the town’s marijuana ordinance which should reach its final revision in January. Questions were raised regarding the legality of town officials signing confidentiality agreements before visiting a cultivator’s site.

Saviello suggested changing the language to reflect that only a Code Enforcement Officer could be present at site inspections and not planning board members.

Irish informed the board that Sevee & Maher Engineers (SME) had submitted two potential plans for the Wilson Lake retaining wall. A public Zoom workshop with the engineers is scheduled for Tues., Dec. 29, at 10:30 a.m. to provide an overview of the proposed plans.

In other business, Irish explained that part-time town workers with the exception of seasonal workers are now required by law to receive an hour of paid personal/sick time for every 40 hours worked.

She also informed the board that starting Jan. 1, minimum wage would increase from $12/hour to $12.15.

The board approved board member Tiffany Maiuri’s proposal that town administrators receive four hours of paid time off on New Year’s Eve.

Holiday hours for the town office are as follows:

The town office will be closed on Dec. 24-25, and Jan. 1.

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