As tourism interests tighten grip on Bar Harbor, will voters take back the town?
As tourism interests tighten grip on Bar Harbor, will voters take back the town?
OTHER NEWS: town manager has history of discrimination, volatility; lobster rolls range from $21 to $39 on MDI; Bluenose to halve number of rooms in new hotel; JAX to offer child care
BAR HARBOR, Sept. 3, 2022 - If California can mandate that it will no longer allow gas-powered cars, why can’t Bar Harbor do the same with cruise ships which expel much fouler emissions from its diesel engines?
The town can mandate that only ships with modern, less polluting engines may enter its harbor. Disney Cruise Lines, for instance, operates ships with much lower carbon emissions.
How about requiring cruise ships pay their workers Maine’s minimum wage once they enter local waters?
Or slap a special tourism tax on these floating behemoths once they are anchored about 500 feet from its shores?
There are many legal avenues to pursue besides the singular approach to cap passenger visits. There probably are grants available to enable such pursuits.
The question isn’t whether there are other ways to remedy the choke points foisted on what once was one of the most beautiful seaside villages in the world. The question is whether there is a political will.
The answer: There is not.
To be more precise: There is no political will among the elected and appointed officials who make up rules of engagement as issues arise. The people who run for municipal office tend to have a narrow, self interest.
About a decade ago, voters who felt the the town council and other boards failed them began using the citizens petition as a common mechanism to enact ordinance changes. Hardly a year goes by without some initiative on the ballot.
Bar Harbor is an off-the-charts liberal community. In 2020, it supported Joe Biden 74.9 percent to Trump’s 22.5 - 2,678 to 804. (The town only has about 3,000 households.)
But the progressives do not seek local office.
In the last election cycle, no one in the town with 5,300 year-round residents ran for the town council except two incumbent members with a long record of supporting cruise ships.
The entire slate of candidates at the last municipal election in the spring for the warrant committee consisted of candidates who were not challenged except by one write-in candidate. So the warrant committee now has added more influence on behalf of the tourism industry and the cruise ships specifically.
The Planning Board, arguably the second most important board, got only one candidate for a vacancy Aug. 1.
The low level of participation by residents leaves the town vulnerable to those who have an economic interest to seek office - such as a planning board which up to a year ago was held hostage by restaurant, real estate and lodging interests.
Two-thirds of the taxpayers in town are homeowners. Only one third of taxes come from business owners.
Yet business owners dominate municipal government. Five of the seven Town Council members are members of a household which are or were beneficiaries of the tourism trade. About half of the Warrant Committee fall into that definition.
The Planning Board, under chair Tom St. Germain and three other business owners, oversaw the massive growth of the hospitality segment most of the past decade.
St. Germain decided not to seek re-appointment. Three days before his term ran out, he got the necessary permits to build a 44-room hotel on Cottage Street across from Jordan’s Restaurant using a playbook he helped develop.
In 2017, Tom St. Germain joined other Planning Board members to designate the 31-room Inn of Mount Desert proposed by his friend and former council member Steve Coston as a “bed and breakfast” so that it would have easier permitting requirements. The town attorney had rendered an opinion that the hotel was not a bed and breakfast.
On Hotels.com, the Inn on Mount Desert is described as a “City-center hotel within walking distance of Village Green.”
On July 28, 2022, St. Germain and his partners - his wife, builder Brian Shaw and (tada) Steve Coston - received building permits for the Cottage Street edifice. Five years after he had a hand in creating the loophole end-running the Planning Board, St. German is getting his own bed and breakfast.
Also in July, Eben Salvatore was busy preparing for his role as a new member of the Warrant Committee. Salvatore, who runs the passenger tender business for Ocean Properties and is its chief local spokesman, is now a member of the cruise ship committee, the parking task force and the Warrant Committee.
Salvatore managed to hold those positions and run for Bar Harbor office in 2021 despite not being a Bar Harbor resident. He was a Mount Desert resident from 2008 to 2021, according to his Mount Desert homestead exemption which you may get only as a resident. This seemed not to concern the town manager or any members of the current council or Warrant Committee.
Salvatore made quick work of his fellow Warrant Committee members by convincing most of them that he did not have a conflict of interest on cruise ship matters, and then led them this week to reject recommending the citizens petition to curb cruise ship visits on the November ballot. The vote was 9-6.
Bar Harbor is a sclerotic, insular burg with an Atlantic City sensibility which caters to the interest of a small minority at the expense of most of its voters.
Come November will these voters take back the town by supporting the petition to cap cruise ship visitors to 1,000 a day, or will they continue to forfeit their rights to this small minority?
SWH voters show their mettle, as decisions become more rational with less tension
SOUTHWEST HARBOR - Unlike Bar Harbor, voters here are more active than ever.
Town Manager Marilyn Lowell pointed to the remarkable turnout of 83 residents in a special town meeting with little advance notice Tuesday night when they approved 69-14 the $802,000 addition to the budget for the Main Street infrastructure project.
“It’s almost as many people as we get for our regular town meetings,” she said. Unlike Bar Harbor, the municipal elections last spring were actually competitive with five candidates running for two seats which were won by Natasha Johnson and Jim Vallette.
Several speakers praised this new board Tuesday for its leadership - a sharp contrast to the shouting matches and WWE smackdowns that were typical of the previous board.
With any luck, the spring of 2024 will see the completion of the Main Street infrastructure project. Because that stretch of Rt. 102 from 400 Main Street to the Ocean’s End condos is so heavily trafficked, there will be no work during the summer months. Work during winter is also doubtful, leaving only the fall of 2022 and 2023 and the spring of 2023 and 2024 for the heavy lifting.
State and federal grants totally $800,000 will help soften the $3 million price tag to repair water and sewer lines, and to correct drainage problems. A 5-foot-wide sidewalk will make the road safer for pedestrians.
Town Manager has a history of discrimination, volatile interactions
BAR HARBOR - A citizens activist in Saco, where Town Manager Kevin Sutherland was the city administrator for more than four years, said she was threatened by Sutherland who called the police to have her removed from the Saco City Hall in 2016.
Sutherland did not respond to the QSJ’s request for comment.
Barbara Colman, who worked for the ACLU for 13 years, was a frequent critic of Sutherland. In December 2016, while questioning Sutherland in City Hall, she said he told her to “get the hell out” and summoned the police chief.
She said she is not surprised that Sutherland has threatened police action against a 73-year-old Bar Harbor resident who has been using graffiti on downtown streets to protest Leonard Leo’s presence on MDI. Leo is the chief architect of political paths for right-wing judges.
This week Sutherland played down his role in hounding Annlinn Kruger in an interview with Dick Broom of the Islander, even though he confronted Kruger shortly after she got off a bus at the village green last Tuesday. Kruger took the following photo of Sutherland as proof of the confrontation.
On Friday, Kruger said the town’s highway employees were stalking her every move.
“Have just spent 3 hours playing graffiti cat and mouse with the Highway Division,” Kruger stated in an email. “They appeared shortly after I arrived in Town (although not as shortly as Sutherland did on Tuesday;) They followed me down Main Street, from Cottage to West, erasing my graffiti as I moved from one spot to another.
“Passersby alerted me to what they were doing, but when my community activist escort approached them, they returned to their truck and just sort of followed us around a bit. At least they've demonstrated how easily the graffiti is removed. Unfortunately no one had photographed them in the act. But you can see the blank wet pavement.”
Is this the best use of town resources during the busiest time of the year?
Kruger has been escorted by other protesters after an incident last week when someone tried to grab her phone near the harbor, she said.
Sutherland told the Islander that he never threatened to have the police arrest Kruger.
Kruger has in her possession an Aug. 26 email from Sutherland which stated, “After I took a walk to see the graffiti and talk to staff, what you put down is far from temporary … your effort of intentionally ‘tampering with the property of others’ is clearly defined as Criminal mischief, a class D crime. (Title 17-A Section 806 of the Maine Criminal Code).
“Please cease from using these semi-permanent / permanent concoctions to deface the town’s right of way or I will be forced to file a complaint with the police department.
“I have asked staff to track time and the cost of material to remove the graffiti and will be sending you the bill.”
I’ll leave to you, dear reader, to decide whether this was a threat.
In Saco, Sutherland was engaged in multiple fracases. He fired the parks and recreation director who then sued the town. He placed the police chief and deputy on paid leave without ever saying why, according to news reports. They were reinstated two months later.
The most serious of those was a finding by the Maine Human Rights Commission that he discriminated against an older worker who then successfully made a claim against the town.
Former Economic Development Director William Mann was discharged from his job by Sutherland in 2018. Mann is now the economic developer director in South Portland.
The Maine Human Rights Commission voted unanimously in February 2021 that there were reasonable grounds to believe that the City of Saco discriminated against Mann on the basis of age and/or sex.
Mann was employed by the city starting in December 2014 until February 2018, when he was discharged by Sutherland, who began his tenure with the city in September, 2015, about 10 months after Mann arrived, according to the Portland Press Herald.
According to a report by MHRC investigator Alice A. Neal, Mann claimed that co-workers and others told him that Sutherland didn’t want the city’s next Comprehensive Plan to be “written by a bunch of old white guys.” Mann further claimed that Sutherland made additional age-based statements, stating a preference for employing younger individuals, and that the city mainly hired only younger women during his tenure. Mann said every permanent non-probationary employee discharged between 2017 and 2018 was male, and most were over 50. He told investigators that he believes he was discharged based on his age and sex, according to the report.
According to the investigator’s report, Sutherland talked about wanting to make Saco a more diverse community, to make the city appealing to millennials and “hipsters,” and disagreed with a prior Comprehensive Plan, which included a senior living housing project. Sutherland stated the prior city administrator wanted to focus on Saco as a retirement community but he believed if that were to happen, Saco would “die on the vine.”
Neal wrote that Sutherland’s statements about “old white guys,” millennials and “hipsters” all stated a preference based on age and/or sex. The city did not refute that.
The report noted that nine persons were discharged between 2017 and 2018; three during their probation, including one woman. The remaining six were men with an average age of 51 1/2 years old.
Legal minds, including state Rep. Lynne Williams, a lawyer who has defended many protesters, have pointed out that Bar Harbor does not have a written prohibition against graffiti on its roads.
The Islander published an editorial Thursday which stated in part:
“Over the last many weeks, area residents have gathered outside the home of prominent lawyer and legal activist Leonard Leo to express their views on issues in which they believe him to be involved. Leo most notably has worked to shape the nation’s court system with a pro-Federalist Society bent. And, politics aside, he has been quite successful. So successful, in fact, that the courts have changed, and a recent Supreme Court decision reversing a near 50-year precedent on abortion rights was made possible shortly after the appointment of three conservative judges that were widely believed to have been on a short list provided by Leo.
“Mr. Leo probably wishes he lived farther off the road because what the protesters are doing is protected under the First Amendment and there is no telling how long they will camp out there.
“According to the American Civil Liberties Union, the right to protest is strongest on streets and sidewalks and in front of government buildings, providing protesters don’t obstruct car or pedestrian traffic.”
This morning, Kruger was back on the green with her graffiti-as-protest campaign, along with an escort - her ‘babysitter” she said.
The lobster roll index: What it tells us about the local economy
SOUTHWEST HARBOR - At $20.95 for a lobster roll (Fridays and Saturdays only), the roadside Rodick’s food truck off Rt. 102 had the best price on MDI in an informal survey.
The most expensive lobster rolls on this holiday weekend are at the three restaurants closest to the dock unloading unsuspecting cruise ship passengers who are happy to wolf down a 4-ounce roll at Stewman’s for $39.
Or they can walk next door to West Street Cafe ($30 for a 3.5 ouncer) or Geddy’s for $35 for four ounces.
The deals are better on the Quietside - Beal’s is at $30 for 4.5 ounces, Charlotte’s at $30 for 4 ounces on a brioche bun, in addition to Rodick’s. The Nor’Easter Lobster Pound in Northeast Harbor offered a 4-ounce roll for $24 and a six ouncer for $35.
The huge delta this year between the price the fishermen get at the dock and consumer prices for lobster meat has economists flummoxed.
Demand for lobster is down significantly all over the world after a pandemic-induced boom in 2021 when prices rose above $6 a pound. That price at the dock has been cut by half in 2022. Adding the cost of bait and fuel, and a shortage of crew, many lobster fishers are simply fishing less.
But the value chain of how that four ounces of meat ends up on a roll at Stewman’s is long and fraught with high cost at every step - from well paid humans loading the lobsters onto trucks which are dependent on $5 a gallon of diesel fuel to travel to a processing plant where the meat is stored and then picked by another cadre of humans making record wages. The meat is packaged and then trucked to restaurants.
That said, there is still some price gouging at restaurants. There is no other explanation for a $19 difference at two venues 20 minutes apart for the exact same product, unless you factor in that a cruise ship passenger has no easy way to get to Southwest Harbor.
On the flipside, some lobstermen are banking that if they wait an extra day or two, their traps will fill up with enough lobsters to make it worth the trip, according to the Ellsworth American.
“This year the effort is a lot less than other years due to [a] poor market,” said Brooklin lobsterman and Zone C Council member David Tarr. “Most fishermen are not fishing six days a week, as it isn’t worth it.”
Tarr, who also serves on the state Lobster Advisory Council, counts himself among those making fewer trips each week. So does Ginny Olson, who helps run Trenton lobster co-operative Lobster 207 while her husband, Danny Olson, lays the traps and hauls this season. He cut one day a week from his fishing schedule to conserve bait and fuel, she said.
“Will that work in the long run?” she wondered. “We don’t have that answer yet.
“What I’m hearing is that lobsters are much cheaper [now] but a lot of other products have a smaller margin [so] they’re trying to make it up with lobsters,” Olson said. “That’s what a lot of the industry is talking about.” She noted that live lobsters are closer in price to what lobstermen are getting per pound at the docks.
SHOUTOUT: Durlin Lunt recognized for lifetime of public service
NORTHEAST HARBOR - Durlin Lunt bleeds public service and is in a special class of town administrators - those who were born in the town in which they hold the top job.
His entire career has been spent helping others. He graduated from high school on MDI in 1965, went onto UMaine, got a graduate degree in public administration, taught school for a while before latching onto his passion for training others to excel in the workplace.
At the UMaine Cooperative Extension, he managed a program for people 55 and older who were having trouble getting back into the workforce.
He worked for a similar nonprofit in Bangor to assist veterans to re-enter the workforce, particularly homeless veterans.
“I spent most of my whole professional career within the realm of job training,” he said. “And I'd also served as an elected official here in the town for 17 years back in the late 70s to the early 90s. So I did some municipal experience and had the academic training on it as well.”
Lunt, who has been town manager for 12 years, was honored this week as the 2022 Manager of the Year by the Maine Town, City and County Management Association.
He was nominated for the award by the Mount Desert Select Board.
Jay Feyler, president of the MTCCM, presented the award to Lunt at a surprise dinner in his honor Tuesday at the Nor’Easter Pound & Market.
Lunt’s wife Jean and their son Jeremy attended the event, along with all the town’s department heads and all five members of the Select Board.
Congratulations, Durlin! Thank you for your service!
Northeast Harbor group wants yacht club to haul out four moorings approved by harbor master
NORTHEAST HARBOR - The Harbor Committee will hold a public hearing on Tuesday, Sept. 13 at 4:30 p.m. at the Mount Desert Town Hall to “consider an appeal filed by the South Shore Cove Association of the Harbormaster’s June 8 decision to grant four (4) moorings to the Northeast Harbor Fleet in South Shore Cove.”
The Harbor Committee is also conducting a site visit of the moorings in South Shore Cove on Sept. 6 at 4:30 p.m. Any member of the public that would like to attend the site visit should contact the Town Clerk in advance.
Any written comments opposed to or in support of the appeal must be filed by Sept. 7. The South Shore Cove Association may file a written reply by Sept. 9.
Filings shall be made by email to the Harbor Committee at jrankin@eatonpeabody.com. Rick Savage, Chairman Mount Desert Harbor Committee.
Savage did not return a call for comment. Neither did Mia Thompson, president of the Fleet. The QSJ was unable to find a representative of the South Shore Cove Association. They were probably out sailing.
Bluenose to reduce rooms in plan to rebuild after fire; JAX to build own child care center
BAR HARBOR - The owner of an inn in Bar Harbor that was partially destroyed by a fire last February is proposing a rebuild, Mainebiz reported.
The Bluenose Inn, which is owned by Lafayette Bluenose LLC in Bangor, was closed for the winter and no injuries were reported when the fire destroyed one of the property’s two buildings in a blaze that drew fire companies from more than a dozen area towns.
The proposal calls for construction of a four-story hotel building with a 9,725-square-foot footprint in the approximate location of the former Bluenose Inn structure.
The new building would have 21 suites. The project location would encompass 4.65 acres.
The destroyed building had 45 guest rooms.
The plan was submitted by DuBois & King Inc., an engineering firm in Bangor.
John Kenney, a senior civil project manager with DuBois & King Inc., told the board the proposed structure would have some parking under the structure and the first level would have a lobby and elevator in the central part of hotel. The second, third and fourth levels would house the suites. Stair towers would be located on both ends of the structure.
The reduction from 45 guest rooms to 21 suites is expected to reduce the property’s level of traffic and use of water and wastewater systems, he said.
Jackson Lab seeks to build childcare center to recruit and retain employees
The proposal for a wood-framed, single-story building of 6,800 square feet.would serve 53 children and 20 staff.
The proposed facility, at the southern end of the campus in an undeveloped area, would include a fenced outdoor play space and a drop-off loop with 10 parking spaces, on a parcel that encompasses 21 acres.
John Fitzpatrick, the lab’s senior director of facilities services, told the Planning Board at its meeting earlier this month, that affordable housing and childcare for employees are important issues for the lab.
“We see childcare as an essential part of our recruitment and retention strategy,” Fitzpatrick said.
Building the facility is also envisioned as an opportunity to allow former employees, who had to leave the workforce because they couldn’t find childcare when the pandemic started, to return, he said. Bringing employees back to the campus would be an opportunity to boost the type of synergy and culture of collaboration that takes place in person, he added.
On-site childcare is considered an attraction for new employees as well, especially given the more than 125 job openings at the Bar Harbor campus, many of which have been open for quite some time, he said.
The lab would subcontract the Down East Family YMCA to run the facility, he said. The two organizations are partners in a childcare facility in Ellsworth, the Beechland Road Early Learning Center.
The proposed facility would be for lab employees. But if space is available, it will accept applications from the larger community as well, Fitzpatrick said.
“We think this offers an attractive benefit to our employees,” he said.