MIDWEEK REPORT: Bar Harbor town manager seeks to restore funding for chamber
BAR HARBOR, Jan. 31, 2024 - Town Manager James Smith is proposing to restore most of the funding for the Chamber of Commerce rejected by voters last year when it was disclosed the chamber joined the group of businesses suing the town over the citizens ordinance to cap cruise ship visitation.
As a result of that lawsuit, the town paid a record $313,223 in legal fees which exceeded the FY23 budget by $251,473. With five months still to go in FY24, the town has already spent 82.2 percent of its legal budget of $200,750.
Smith proposed to restore $45,600 of the $60,000 stripped from the chamber last year leaving it with $15,760 for July 4 celebrations, $6,000 for Village Holiday Decorations, and $1,500 for Seaside Cinema. You may watch his presentation on Town Hall Steam starting at Minute 26:52.
Chamber director Everal Eaton appeared at the joint Town Council Warrant Committee meeting Tuesday night to explain how the chamber planned to use that money to help tourists find their way around downtown.
That brought a question to Eaton from Town Council member Earl Brechlin on whether the chamber still advocated an increase in cruise ship visitation which Eaton did not answer fully.
Brechlin added, “I'm sorry if I sound adversarial, but the voters last year sent a pretty strong message.”
Eaton then confirmed Brechlin’s second question on whether the chamber was still a member of APPLL, Association to Preserve and Protect Local Livelihoods, the plaintiffs suing the town.
“Our membership started May of last year and it's a full year so our membership is not up for renewal until May this year.”
Smith said “wayfinding” was a “traditional service” funded by the town to which Eaton, said, “Throughout the years they've traditionally changed as the need for visitor services has changed within town.”
Last June at town meeting, voters stripped the chamber of $60,000 by a vote of 128-49 after the QSJ disclosed on May 26, 2023 that the chamber had joined APPLL.
Former Warrant Committee member Cara Ryan, who made the motion, said, “If we needed harder proof at how the town and the Chamber are working at cross purposes, we just got it. The Chamber told us loud and clear where their priorities are.
“I find it all deeply insulting and I know I’m not alone,” she said.
She said that there were better options than to spend it on “wayfinding” services, which is to “feed the thing that bites us.”
She said that the Chamber has been over-promoting tourism.
Multiple past and present chamber board members spoke at the town meeting last June in support of the funding, including a vice president of the Friends of Acadia, which holds a non-profit status discouraging it from such partisanship.
Moreover, cruise ships are among the foulest polluters on the planet. How do they square with FOA’s mission: “To preserve, protect, and promote stewardship of the outstanding natural beauty, ecological vitality, and distinctive cultural resources of Acadia National Park and surrounding communities for the inspiration and enjoyment of current and future generations.”
Smith, who started his job last November, said he has developed a good relationship with Eaton. “I sort of want to keep that alive,” Smith said.
Full-speed ahead for library funding
Council chair Vl Peacock and member Kyle Shank did not declare their conflicts when asked Tuesday night, clearing the way for them to vote on the proposed increase for funding for Jesup Memorial Library.
Library Director Matt Delaney reduced his request by $50,000 to $330,000, to acknowledge the town’s fiscal challenges. That is still a 105 percent increase over its current grant of $160,000 in local taxpayer money. The library received a one-time grant of $119,320 from the American Rescue Plan.
Peacock asked elected officials to declare their conflict if they were board members of any of the non-profits getting grants. She and Shank actually had a deeper conflict because they helped with the grant application itself, Peacock as a member of the study group which developed it and Shank on data gathering.
The grant amounts to a complete bailout of the library’s mismanaged financial practices. For instance, in its current fiscal year, it is paying its employees only $12,483 in benefits out of a budget of $502,294.
On Dec. 24, 202, the QSJ wrote about the political insiders helping Jesup, the worst performing library on MDI, get its bailout grant.
Food insecurity at ‘crisis’ level
A new request for funding came from an Ellsworth food pantry which stated that the number of Bar Harbor residents seeking its help quadrupled since 2022.
Loaves and Fishes, located next to Darling’s Chevrolet on Rt. 1, is asking for a grant of $750.
Max Dietshe, board member, said, “We have not asked you guys for funding before. And the reason we're asking for some funding this year lies in the statistics. In 2022, we had 20 Bar Harbor families registered with us and in the past year that increased to 80.
“Food Insecurity is at a crisis point in Hancock County,” he said.
His comments were echoed by other providers such as Bar Harbor Food Pantry and Westside Food Pantry in Southwest Harbor.
Earlier this month, Dean Henry, director of the Westside pantry, told the SWH select board, “Our greatest challenge so far this season has been the large numbers of new neighbors registering for our help.
“Through January we have registered 40 new households in three months. From those 40 households have come 75 new neighbors. Without checking the records, I am fairly sure that this is more than the numbers registered through the entire Pandemic--February 2020 through June 2021. At this rate we will dig deeply into our reserve funds in order to finish the season in June.
“Here are the January numbers: $27,770 worth of vouchers distributed to 407 neighbors - 94 children, 313 adults - from 228 west side households. We registered 24 new neighbors from 11 households in January.
“It has been awhile since we have been challenged with money concerns,” Henry said.
Dietshe said the crisis stemmed from the sharp rise in food prices and the loss of COVID area benefits which “pushed a lot of people into a bad place.
“Our operating budget for the coming year is $438,000.
“Ninety-five percent of that will come from private sources, local businesses and individuals and some grants. We don't receive federal or state funding. But we do ask municipalities whose residents we serve to chip in and that accounts to a little under 5 percent of our budget.”
Here are the area food services and their links:
https://www.barharborfoodpantry.org/donate
Acadia lists park areas severely damaged
MOUNT DESERT, Jan. 31, 2024 - Numerous coastal sections of Acadia National Park saw significant erosion and loss of infrastructure from the two successive winter storms with ocean surges not seen in northern New England since 1978, the park service reported today.
About 200 feet of the right lane of the Schoodic Loop Road was undermined. The road remains passable and open to visitors.
Some hiking trails have had significant impacts, including sections of Ocean Path.
The lower wooden stairway at Little Hunters Beach is washed out.
Otter Cove Causeway has damage to the riprap retaining wall with some undermining of the road. The park’s seasonal waterline is exposed and twisted for several hundred feet and could be damaged. The portion of Otter Cove Trail that traverses the causeway is destroyed.
Seawall Picnic Area experienced significant damage from debris and downed trees. Seawall Campground experienced significant damage from downed and hazard trees. Seawall Road (Route 102A) is closed at Seawall Pond due to pavement buckling. Maine DOT will repair the road damage.
Several locations in the park, including but not limited to Thompson Island Picnic Area, Park Loop Road, and Schoodic Loop Road, require debris clean up.
The foundation of the Blue Duck Ships Store next to the Islesford Historical Museum has been undermined.
Rockefeller Hall roof leak has caused portions of the interior to experience water damage to the ceiling and walls.
Acadia National Park staff continue to assess storm damage.
Is anyone surprised that a Town Council which hired Kevin Sutherland despite his record of civil rights abuses in Saco, went to the mats for him despite his civil rights abuses in Bar Harbor, were complicit in Sutherland's interfering with the citizens initiative campaign and obstructing implementing its results, and joined Sutherland in effectively begging for someone to sue the Town to prolong and prohibit implementation. A Town Council enamored of and addicted to cruise ship tourism. That this Town Council would then hire a Town Manager eager to shovel town funds to the APPL Chamber of Commerce to facilitate cruise ship tourism. If only he could find a way to do it without looking like he's doing it.
Howdy Lincoln! As always, thank you for your reporting. As a point of clarification: I did indeed introduce, at the beginning of our discussion on the library, that I had offered some advice on data analysis to the Library and asked if we believed that this constituted a conflict. As I'd explained - I am not a board member, had no say in the production of their report, and have no financial involvement with the Library. As such, there was found to be no conflict to require my recusal. That said - I believe transparency is important! - hence why I brought this up on Tuesday. I think there may have been audio issues from the room, so my apologies if it wasn't audible on the video feed.
All the best,
Kyle Shank