Friedmann's run for state rep will leave council with opportunities if Sidman is elected
OTHER NEWS: BH Campground is sold; owner says sale enriches 'another billionaire'
BAR HARBOR, March 24, 2024 - Town councilor Gary Friedmann’s decision this week to run for the state legislature got me thinking ….
Could a council with two new members, especially if one is activist Charles Sidman, begin to move the needle on making some tough decisions?
Councilors already have begun to buck chair Val Peacock’s proclivity to “kick the can down the road,” as characterized by Friedmann toward the end of its nearly three-hour meeting on March 19.
The very last item on the agenda that night was worth viewing starting at 2:37, as it encapsulates in 15 minutes every dysfunction of the current council.
Peacock is the queen of process. She would have been a perfect policy wonk at some obscure think tank. She loves the workshops, the community forums, the study groups. She loves giving updates on the comprehensive plan which has been under review by a working group since December 2021. In three more years, it will be two decades since the town adopted the last comprehensive plan.
Earlier in the evening on March 19, the councilors engaged in a spirited discussion of the out-of-control cost of trash disposal, which has increased from $731,000 five years ago to $1.22 million annually today. It is the fastest growing expense item in town, accounting for 5 percent of the property tax.
On Feb. 4, 2023, I wrote that Bar Harbor leads all 115 towns in the region’s solid waste district with the highest per capita output of 1,839 pounds of garbage a year, because of the invasion of tourists in the summer.
Say you’re a homeowner on Ledgelawn who pays $6,700 in property taxes a year. That’s about the same amount paid by Havana Restaurant on Main Street. Both you and Havana are paying about $335 a year to dump your trash at the town transfer station.
Only you’re generating five bags of trash a week, and who knows how much Havana is producing a week? 50 bags, 500 bags? 5,000 bags?
You are both paying the same, but Havana is getting a much better deal. You’re subsidizing Havana and all of the restaurants owned by Michael Boland and his investors.
Anyone with a vehicle registered in Bar Harbor may obtain a transfer station sticker. How many non-profits who don’t pay much property tax use such stickers is unclear. More than just the inequity of payments, there is the ecological cost as methane is among the foulest carbon producing agents. (Climate emergency task force, take note.)
There was great consensus among councilors Kyle Shank, Friedmann, Maya Caines and Joe Minutolo that trash disposal subsidy is grossly unfair and the town needs to implement a better system.
The denouement March 19 was the discussion on how to actualize this and other low-hanging fruit. That’s when Peacock defaulted to her wonkiness, where ideas get flattened onto a canvas of indistinguishable priorities. “But where are we ultimately trying to go to? What is our three-year goal we’re looking at?” Three years seem to be her favorite time frame to get anything done.
She then moved to table the whole discussion for a new council to consider after the June municipal election.
That brought a quick response from Friedmann:
“Why are we waiting?” he asked in a rare, direct challenge to Peacock, who answered that this was a process agreed to by the council.
In quick succession, councilors Maya Caines, Joe Minutolo, Kyle Shank and Earl Brechlin supported Friedmann. Peacock capitulated on their desire to shape some wins to showcase at the town meeting in early June when the council will need to defend a proposed 15 percent tax increase.
Friedmann was not enthusiastic about showing up in front of an angry mob without any peace offering, especially if he needs their vote for state rep.
He will not escape their wrath completely, however, as there is plenty of residual anger over the $4.5 million Higgins Pit solar array mess which some have dubbed “Friedmann’s folly” as he was its major champion.
Simply put, when the town voters approved the $4.5 million project in June 2022 to install a solar array on 40 acres of otherwise unusable town-owned land, the estimates given to voters were wildly off - on the connection fee charged by Versant, the cost to clear the access to the site, the environmental easement required by the DEP and the final financial payback.
The QSJ broke the first story on Dec. 4, 2023 questioning the viability of the project.
Since then, the town has returned with a cut-down version and an endorsement from the town’s climate emergency task force. The same town which is letting 100 cruise ships befoul its harbor and air this summer is going to continue spending taxpayers’ dollars to mitigate only a fraction of the carbon damage from those cruise ships.
Of the $4.5 million borrowed, the town has spent about $1.2 million so far - $200,000 to consultants and a $1 million deposit to Sundog Solar, the vendor, who can use that to install arrays on municipal buildings and the new school.
That leaves more than $3 million in cash which can be diverted to other, much more practical capital needs, such as road repair.
But that would challenge Town Manager James Smith to think out of the political straitjacket which would be an unnatural act for the “32% man.” (Smith got a 32 percent raise to take the Bar Harbor job.)
He only cut the proposed FY25 budget after warrant committee did all the heavy lifting. And a quarter of that was a financial maneuver to make bond payments with interest earnings from the cash the town has in the bank. As interest rates decline, that benefit will dwindle.
Smith is not about to take on Friedmann, even though the latter may be a lame duck.
At the public comment period of the March 19 council meeting, resident Kevin Knopp challenged Smith’s claim that Bar Harbor residents will benefit from all the capital projects in the pipeline.
“You said something about all the better services and things we can expect,” Knopp told Smith.
“Who expects it? Me, the community or the tourists?”
“We keep coming back to the community and we're subsidizing all these people's vacations. We're a small community. We can't keep doing this to ourselves.”
An example of Knopp’s point: Smith’s decision to unlock the spending for the Chamber of Commerce’s driven “Streetscape” project to pretty up sections of Cottage, Maine and Mount Desert streets for tourists.
Bar Harbor Campground is sold to out-of-town corporation
BAR HARBOR - Bar Harbor Campground, one of the town’s oldest, continuously owned family businesses, has been sold to an out-of-town corporation, according to owner Roger Noble in Facebook comments evincing a strong dose of sentimentality.
“After at least 160 years of my family being here, both as summer trash and as residents, we're selling out here on the island,” Noble wrote.
“This beautiful place, with its incredible sunset views to the west over Blue Hill Bay will become another rich man's toy. Oh well, I can't fight it, I'm just going to roll with it.
“Luckily, I'll still have my schooner so I'll be able to sail these amazing islands. Don't cry for me Mount Desert, but maybe shed a tear for a way of life lost to billionaires.”
Its website has the logo of the new owner, Modern America Campgrounds.
There were 43 comments on Facebook as of this writing. Many expressed regret at the transition to an out-of-town owner. Here are some of the comments:
Yep…front and center on their website, owned by Modern American Campgrounds. Grew up camping there for 2 weeks every summer for probably 20 years. Best blueberry pancakes on the island were the ones Mom made with the blueberries we picked on the hill. Lots of great memories there.
Sad to hear this news. We have been going there the last few years, usually for 3 weeks and had a great experience and the cost was exceptional. Now our camping experience will change again on MDI.
Even tho we lived in BH it was fun to camp there on weekends once in a while when not camping out of state. Craigs dad Aldean was managing it then.
From my experience that means the prices will go up and the service at the campground will go down. Corporations just don’t care the way a family owned business does.
It's definitely featured on their website I honestly never thought the family would let it go.
This truly is sad news. Been going for years and just recently was able to go again last year after the pandemic with the border closed.
Oh well. On to new adventures
You can’t blame Craig. With the state of the economy I would sell as well
The US is on the verge of bankruptcy
The area will be ruined in no time with outside influence because sadly, it will just be all about the money.
That’s a shame. My cousin, Craig, managed it forever… another one bites the dust.
Been staying there for almost 45 years. I'm beyond heartbroken to hear this. No reservations needed was the best part of going there.
I definitely believe that we need to charge everyone their fair share for garbage, water and sewer, there is too much money being made here to be subsidizing the businesses.
Fees, taxes etc with no promise from council? Be careful what you wish for