Wilson Stream rages under Cemetery Road in East Wilton on Monday afternoon. Pam Harnden/Livermore Falls Advertiser
WILTON — The Wilton Board of Selectpersons managed to keep its regular meeting date on Tuesday, Dec. 19, despite the flooding and power outages following Monday’s storm. The meeting was moved to 5 p.m. after discussion between Town Manager Maria Greeley and Chairperson Tiffany Maiuri.
The Franklin Journal observed at noon on Monday, Dec. 18, flooding between Routes 2/4 and Main Street in Wilton, as well as other parts of Franklin County. The estimated rainfall for the towns within the county that have reported in averages to roughly 5.6 inches of rain, with Kingfield getting 6.06 inches and Farmington getting 5.16 inches.
Gov. Janet Mills urged people to stay safe in the days following the storm as flood waters raged and nearly 250,000 Mainers were still without power as of Wednesday afternoon. “Maine people, we’re no stranger to hard times,” Mills stated.
Selectperson David Leavitt asked Greeley if there were any major washouts, to which she responded with a few. Greeley did not specify which areas, but stated that she had spoken with Public Works Foreman John Masse about the washouts and the response from both the Public Works Department and the Fire Department.
She reported that all roads, as of their meeting on Tuesday night, were open. “No roads are 100% closed,” she stated. Greeley also added the Fire Department had 34 calls as of Tuesday morning.
“Some of [the roads] may be one lane,” Greeley said. “I just wanted to extend some caution to driving, especially late at night with it being dark.”
Greeley added that Masse had spent Tuesday afternoon assessing damages for a potential report to the Federal Emergency Management Agency [FEMA]. She stated they have until Wednesday, Dec. 27, to notify FEMA of any damages they may have in town.
Selectpersons Keith Swett and Mike Wells gave kudos to Wilton Fire and Rescue and the Public Works Department for their response to the efforts.
“[It was] pouring down rain yesterday, just torrential,” Wells told the Select Board. “[A public works employee] was walking around and cleaning out the culverts, to keep things from overflowing.”
“And they all did tremendous work and worked really well together,” Greeley added.
In other business, applications for Director of Parks and Recreation Department officially closed on Wednesday, Dec. 20, according to Greeley. She added that two applicants had filed and asked the Select Board if any members would be interested in being a part of the interview process. Swett volunteered with no objection from the other members of the Select Board.
The application process began shortly after longtime director Frank Donald announced his formal retirement from the position on Tuesday, Nov. 21, after serving in the role for 35 years.
Donald’s last official day in the role will be on Friday, Feb. 2, 2024, but he maintains that he will stick around to help in any way he can.
“It has been a labor of love,” Donald said. “I won’t miss the six o’clock in the morning calls, saying, ‘Hey, I missed my kids’ sign up last night’. There’s lots of parts of the job I’m going to miss tremendously, but there is other parts I won’t miss a bit.”
The Wilton Town Office will be changing the holiday office hours to be closed Friday, Dec. 22, and Monday, Dec. 25, and will be open Tuesday, Dec. 26, at normal business hours.
Greeley made the request to the Select Board in an effort to be more accommodating to the public. Currently, state offices are set to be closed Monday, Dec. 25, and Tuesday, Dec. 26, but Greeley pointed out that with normal business hours, the town office would not reopen to the public until Thursday, Dec. 28.
The Select Board voted unanimously in favor of the motion.
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