The South Berwick Town Council on Jan. 13 authorized several administrative and procedural actions aimed at advancing the town-hall renovation and planning work.

Owner's-rep interviews: Council authorized the town manager to schedule interviews with three firms — Dovetail Consulting, Cobalt Construction Manager, and Kleinfelder Construction Services — for the owner's-representative role on the town-hall renovation. The interviews were scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 20, beginning as early as 5:00 p.m. Council members discussed expected time commitments (committee members estimated roughly 5 to 6 hours per week for the owner's-rep role) and agreed to conduct interviews promptly. The motion was approved 4-0.

Food-truck application: Councilor Sam presented a draft welcome/cover letter intended to accompany the town's new food-truck permit application. Staff raised concerns about including promotional language as part of an approval. Council voted to send the draft and application back to staff for refinement and to return a revised draft at the next regular meeting. Motion passed 4-0.

Comprehensive-plan process (LD 1829): Staff outlined a compressed schedule to amend the comprehensive plan to respond to LD 1829, which modifies allowable development densities in growth areas. The planner recommended the council appoint itself as the planning committee to meet statutory deadlines, but councilors raised concerns about time availability and workload during the budget season. After debate the council voted to appoint the planning board to act as the formal planning committee for the comprehensive-plan amendment and designated Councilor Paul as a council liaison to coordinate and receive updates. Motion passed 4-0.

Other administrative actions on the agenda included approval of the treasurer's warrant and authorization for the town manager to sign quick-claim deeds for foreclosed parcels; a tentative FY2026-27 budget schedule was adopted and will guide coming budget workshops.

What happens next: owner's-rep interviews will proceed Jan. 20; staff will revise the food-truck materials and return to council; planning board will begin the comprehensive-plan amendment work with council liaison updates.