Bar Harbor government in turmoil, as officials sort out collateral damage from two bombshells

OTHER NEWS: DOT to build temporary bridge in Somesville; MRC sends Hail Mary pass; MDI voters show deep blue chops; Ominous signs for BH school project

BAR HARBOR, Nov. 12, 2022 - Two huge news events within a week of each other have left town leaders reeling, groping for answers and flummoxed as to what is the the next step.

The QSJ interviewed numerous stakeholders and legal minds to unpack Tuesday’s unprecedented victory by citizens to cap cruise ship visits and last week’s decision by a Superior Court judge to disallow the charter changes of November 2020.

The fissure between the citizenry and town officials, roiling as a slow burn for more than a decade, is now an open wound - a deep chasm. The default impulse of the town council and other boards to favor tourism over citizens on every aspect of life in Bar Harbor finally hit the breaking point.

Tuesday’s was a solid vote of no-confidence in the local government to protect the citizens, their hopes and aspirations for a reasonable quality of life, as opposed to another developer clomping through town and getting carte blanche treatment.

All you need to do is to drive down Cottage Street and see the the massive hole in the ground next to the town office building. The symbolism could not be more poignant: A 45-room hotel being constructed by former Planning Board chair Tom St. Germain and former council member Stephen Coston (who just got slaughtered in his bid for state rep). The hotel was allowed because it was classified as a bed and breakfast, which has fewer parking and other requirements. St. Germain and Coston are veterans of the insiders game.

The Town Council recently gave St. Germain a proclamation thanking him for his service as PB chair. No one questioned the ethics behind such a project.

In 2021, St. Germain and PB member Joseph Cough, both of whom own vacation rentals, voted against the cap on short-term rentals. St. Germain also prevented member Ruth Eveland from voting remotely.

So it’s no surprise that citizens are pissed off. They registered that anger with vengeance Tuesday.

“Our turnout on Tuesday was quite impressive, only 510 fewer than the 3,608 casting ballots in the 2020 presidential,” Town Clerk Liz Graves stated in an email this week.

“It also represents much higher turnout than the reported 61.7 percent suggests. Our total number of 5,016 registered voters includes many folks who have moved away but have never been removed from our list,” she stated.

“As of 5 p.m. on Monday, 4,032 of our 5,016 registered voters had active status.”

That translated to a 76 percent of the electorate who voted Tuesday.

“What a turnout,” said Joe Minutolo, the only council member who publicly said he voted for Article 3 and consistently opposed the council’s less rigorous Cruise Management Plan. “Great to see so many vote for what they truly feel the direction of the town needs to go. I've always felt that it's hard to get people to participate in the town hall, but put it on a ballot and they will come out and express themselves.

“Now as a council it's time to apply what has risen to the top,” Minutolo said. “It was a mandate, no question about it.”

In adopting Article 3 Tuesday to cap cruise ship visitors at 1,000 a day, 58 percent of the voters who cast ballots did so against the recommendations of four town bodies - town council, warrant committee, planning board and cruise ship committee - and the town manager.

Long-time residents cannot recall that’s ever happened.

If this were Japan, they’d all have to resign in public disgrace.

But this is Bar Harbor, where disregarding voter sentiment has been normalized as a common practice. Citizens have been battling sordid actions taken on behalf the tourism trade for what feels like ad infinitum.

The decision Oct. 24 by Judge William Anderson to strike down the charter changes is a virtual reprise of another Superior Court decision in 2013 by Judge Anne Murray to throw out hundreds of illegal zoning codes.

Dennis Bracale, one of the plaintiffs, told the Bangor Daily News then that there were “hundreds and hundreds of changes” affecting districts throughout that were presented to voters at the 2010 referendums. The changes were not adequately publicized or described to voters before the ballots were cast, he said, and were so numerous and inconsistent with one another as to be incomprehensible.

“Nobody knew what they were voting on,” Bracale said. “[Murray’s decision] gives us great relief. I hope this does well for the town.”

Flash forward to the November 2020 charter change vote. Did citizens know they were gutting the independence of the warrant committee? Did citizens know they were giving the Town Council, the most political of all town bodies, the control over “minor” land use changes?

Of immediate concern is the deadline to appeal the charter ruling which is 21 days after the decision was filed on the court docket. The decision was signed on Oct. 24, but the actual docket date could not be ascertained Friday, which was a holiday.

It could be as early as next week.

The Town Council met with its attorneys from Rudman Winchell of Bangor Thursday night to take stock. It took no action afterward. It is girding for lawsuit from the cruise ship industry.

“The voters obviously want faster changes than the Council has been able to negotiate. The ball is now in the industry's court,” said council member Gary Friedmann.

Not everyone is convinced that such a lawsuit is a fait accompli, that an industry known for its tax evasion tactics, its criminal pollution record, its labor problems and its political influence would not be eager to open its kimono to defense lawyers armed with legal “discovery” rights.

A trial between the $27 billion global cruise ship industry and a small New England coastal village trying to protect its way of life would be a compelling narrative.

The question is whether the Town Council has the stomach for such a narrative.

The Town Council made no effort to negotiate with resident Charles Sidman, who led the citizens initiative to place the cruise ship question on the ballot.

Town Manager Kevin Sutherland, chair Val Peacock, member Jill Goldthwait, the harbor master and a Maine tourism consultant, with virtually no input from other council members and the public, plowed ahead and negotiated with the Cruise Lines International Association a reduction to 4,000 passengers a day (from 5,500) as measured by the number of beds in the “lower berth” of a ship, not including crew. They unveiled it in September, but only partially.

It was later discovered the agreement allowed for it to be renegotiated every year, a fact that was not first disclosed.

Minutolo said the council had no opportunity to discuss the CMP before the plan was put on rails and expedited. Peacock rammed it through in October, but not before Minutolo objected and asked for a public hearing first. Friedmann also objected and the vote was 5-2 to approve the plan. The council never held that public hearing. It had several public comments session after the measure already had passed.

“Our town manager talks the talk but does not walk the walk of openness and collaboration,” Sidman stated in a letter to the Islander a week before the vote. “He has repeatedly but falsely insisted that the cruise reservation system operates in a certain way, denied Freedom of Access (FOA) requests regarding future reservations by erroneously citing Maine law that does not apply, made numerous dire but unsupported claims about staffing needs and financial impacts, and even ludicrously warned of the town having to penalize itself for noncompliance.

“In all of these, he has functioned more as an enabler of the cruise industry and its local acolytes than for our citizens. It may be significant that this manager came to us via a search by the law firm of the chief local cruise industry agent and beneficiary, and left a previous employer in legal entanglements while insisting that only his CMP can save us from similar here.”

Tuesday’s vote “was a sober reminder that we are not the chamber of commerce,” said one council member after the drubbing - 1,780 yes votes and 1,273 no votes for the initiative to cap the passenger visits.

DOT will build temporary bridge in multi-year project to replace bridge at critical MDI junction

SOMESVILLE - The state has decided to build a temporary bridge to allow for two-way traffic during the reconstruction from 2024-2026 of the Babson Bridge, the major connector between the two sides of the island at the junction of Rtes. 198 and 102.

That’s a relief to anyone who must traverse the bridge from Bar Harbor and Northeast Harbor to Southwest Harbor, Pretty Marsh, Tremont, Somesville, and vice versa. (Town Hill has Crooked Road and Knox Road as its main access to the east side of the Island.)

The state DOT released plans and schedule for the project …https://my.mainedotpima.com/public/event-registration/search?project_id=15508&pe_guid=895cf97f-e60f-43a9-91e3-7b6ab172ee8b

The temporary bridge is highlighted in yellow and gray.

The end date is one year later than previously reported.

MRC gives waste plant operator 6 months to complete financing

SOMESVILLE - The Municipal Review Committee is giving the preferred operator of its defunct waste plant in Hampden extraordinary time to come up with the financing needed to restart the plant.

“Recapitalization to fund the Profit Improvement Plan and other restart costs will now take place in the spring on or before April 30, 2023,” MRC announced Thursday, which was the deadline for Revere Capital Advisors to prove it had $20 million or more need to restart and run the plant profitably.

A person familiar with the discussions said the MRC has simply exhausted all other options but to give Revere more time.

The MRC also gave Revere more time to complete the first stage of the transaction - to acquire 95 of the plant’s assets not including the land which is owned by MRC.

During Thursday's special directors meeting, the board voted to accept an additional $150,000 non-refundable deposit and negotiated terms with Revere extending to Nov. 30 the closing for Stage 1. That is expected to pay back the MRC the $1.17 million it spent to buy the asset from the creditors and other expenses which would bring the total cost to about $2 million.

In September, Revere paid $250,000 for a 60-day extension.

It remains to be seen if Revere will put down $2 million by Nov. 30, which would bring its total commitment close to $3 million. That’s real money which would be lost if Revere cannot raise the operations cost, estimated to be at least $20 million by the MRC.

As part of the terms, Revere has agreed to pay the carrying costs of the facility, which includes heating the plant.

Revere is getting more time to come up with the money than was given the previous operator of choice, Delta Thermo Energy, demonstrating the dire nature of the drawn out fundraising challenge, said the person with knowledge of the negotiations.

“We remain encouraged by Revere’s continued interest in this project and significant financial investment to date,” the MRC stated in its letter to its 115 member towns. “The additional time agreed to yesterday is necessary to finalize the numerous complex legal documents required and to allow Revere to further confirm financial and operating plans for a profitable facility restart.”

The Hampden plant closed in June 2020, when the then operator, Coastal Resources of Maine, ran out of money after only six months of running the waste-to-energy facility. Since then the waste from the towns have been taken to an incinerator and to landfills.

If Revere does indeed raise the money by April, it will still be unlikely the plant can start in 2023, the source said.

MDI struts deep blue as voters lean heavily toward Democrats

SOMESVILLE - Mount Desert Island is now an unquestioned bastion of progressives.

The Blue Wave rang up never-seen-before numbers here Tuesday.

Bar Harbor did its usual Election Day Tarantella. Governor Janet Mills got 75 percent of the vote against 22 percent for former governor Paul LePage, the Trump candidate before Trump.

U.S. Rep. Jared Golden received 69 percent of the 3,095 votes cast here, versus just 20 percent for Republican Bruce Poliquin, and 8.6 percent for Tiffany Bond.

State Senator Nicole Grohoski racked up 71 percent against 27 percent for Brian Langley, the Ellsworth Republican who was once so popular he held the District 7 Senate seat for eight years until terming out in 2018. This time he flew too close to the flame-throwing LePage. Democrat Lynne Williams received 68 percent against 29 percent for hotelier Stephen Coston, who forgot what zip code he lived in.

The rest of the tally on MDI was slightly less robust for Democrats than Bar Harbor’s.

Mount Desert gave Mills 74 percent of its 1,250 votes cast, against 24 percent for LePage. Jared Golden clocked in at 70 percent against 29 percent for Poliquin. It was Grohoski 70 percent, Langley 29 percent and Williams 69 percent versus Coston’s 28 percent.

In Southwest Harbor, Mills grabbed 64 percent of the 1,020 votes, while LePage came in at 32 percent; Grohoski 60 percent, Langley 37. Golden received 60 percent and Poliquin 29. For state senator, Holly Eaton won 58 percent, while Jason Joyce got 41 percent.

In Tremont, Mills got 57 percent, and LePage 41 percent out of 923 votes. Golden won 56 to 36 percent; Grohoski 54-45; and Eaton 51-49.

The only Republicans who won were uncontested Hancock County officials.

Independent Robert Granger captured almost 60 percent of the votes on MDI against Republican District Attorney Matthew Foster.

The irony on MDI is that these progressive votes do not translate into local races which often go to a sizable bloc of libertarians because they often are the only folks running.

Susan Collins remains the only Republican member of Congress in New England after Tuesday’s shellacking of her party. Perhaps that will give her some freedom to break away from the GOP stranglehold which turned the once moderate into an indistinguishable MAGA acolyte.

One Tremont resident said she was grateful to Leonard Leo, the dark money operative who lives in Northeast Harbor, for helping progressives shine a light on his deeds and raise support.

Three Maine towns reject bonds for new school - an ominous sign for Bar Harbor

BAR HARBOR - There are stormy clouds on the horizon for the school committee’s proposed new Conners Emerson PK-8 building.

Three towns in Maine overwhelming rejected bond issues for new school buildings on Tuesday.

Cape Elizabeth voters rejected a $116 million bond issue that would have transformed the school campus in the town center. The vote was 3,817 to 2,337, with 62 percent of voters deciding against borrowing money to design, build and equip new elementary and middle schools and renovate Cape Elizabeth High School, according to the Portland Press Herald.

Borrowed at 4 percent for 30 years, the bond would have added $1,934 to the annual property tax bill for a home valued at $400,000 for tax purposes – roughly a 25% increase, according to town officials.

Voters did authorize spending an $5 million, to be raised in gifts and grants, to build more auditorium seating, add solar panels and make other upgrades to the new schools. Voters supported the added spending 3,041 to 2,999.

Voters in Cumberland and North Yarmouth rejected a $73.9 million school bond referendum aimed at solving a stubborn crowding problem in their combined district.

The proposal failed overall with 4,443 votes against, or 55 percent, with 3,596 in support. Cumberland voted  2,894 against and 2,407 in support. North Yarmouth voted 1,549 against and 1,189 support.

A majority of the funding, $70.3 million, would have gone toward building a new primary school for 732 students in pre-K through second grade; $1.2 million would have bought a 76-acre site at 80 Gray Road in North Yarmouth; and $2.4 million would have renovated Mabel Wilson School in Cumberland.

After the renovations, Mabel Wilson would house grades three through five and Greely Middle School in Cumberland would house grades six through eight.

Borrowed at an estimated 4% for 20 years, the property tax impact would have been phased in. It was projected to cost $46 per $100,000 of assessed property value in 2026, district officials said. It would have peaked at $920 on a home assessed at $400,000 in 2030, then decreased gradually over the remainder of the bond.

The plan to build a single building to replace two dilapidated schools at Conners Emerson will certainly undercut any idea of an island-wide middle school similar to the high school which opened in 1968. That idea was discussed widely until the pandemic halted the meetings.

Bar Harbor so far has pursued only one idea, to build a new school. Others in town, including some town council members, have wondered whether the middle schools in Bar Harbor and Mount Desert could be merged in face of declining enrollments. CES has seen a decline from 483 in 1998 to 341 today. MDE has seen a decline from 239 to 152. Lack of affordable housing has forced families with school-age children to move off island.

Having just voted for a $43 million bond to correct the town’s sewer and runoff problems, will taxpayers be ready to fund a new school which, given inflation, could exceed $50 million at high interest rates?

The school committee would like to test that question at the Town Meeting next spring.