A petition calling for a new vote on Wiscasset’s planning budget was turned over to the town clerk at noontime Wednesday, July 5. The Wiscasset Area Chamber of Commerce spearheaded the petition effort that garnered 233 names. All must be registered Wiscasset voters.

The petition had 222 valid signatures, Town Clerk Linda Perry wrote in an email later. Next, the petition will be turned over to the board of selectmen to act on.

“There were people outside the Chamber who saw the value of keeping the town planner’s position who helped collect signatures,” Sherri Dunbar told the Wiscasset Newspaper when she turned the petition over the the town clerk. Dunbar is a member of the Chamber’s board of directors and past president.

Perry said the petition had been properly notarized in accordance with state statutes.

The petition calls for a special town meeting to consider raising $66,764 for municipal planning for the 2017-18 fiscal year – the same amount voters rejected June 13: $57,764 to be raised through taxation and $9,000 from Rynel’s tax-increment financing.

Dunbar said the Chamber had no difficulty getting the required 179 signatures. “We collected way more than what we needed and could have gotten more,” she said. “I only had one resident who declined to sign it.”

Funding for town planning including the planner’s position ended June 30, the close of the town’s fiscal year. It’s unclear if Ben Averill will return as town planner should voters decide to fund the planning budget. In split votes, selectmen had recommended the planning budget while the budget committee opposed it. Voters rejected the article 464-256 at the polls.

Select Board Chairman Judy Colby was away and could not be reached for comment.