Select chair to SWH businesswoman: Choose marijuana store or select board, not both
Other news: DEP finally clears Bar Harbor of environmental violations; Tremont candidates share views
SOUTHWEST HARBOR, Feb. 26, 2022 - At least George Jellison is consistent.
Tuesday night, the select board chairman scorched another small business owner who happens to be a woman.
This time he voted against Natasha Johnson’s bid to remove clumsy language which may interfere with her goal to sit on the select board and still own the only marijuana store in Hancock County.
The co-owner of Meristem in the Seal Cove shopping strip appeared as an unscheduled speaker at the select board meeting Tuesday to declare that the conflict-of-interest language in the renewal application for her permit would potentially interfere with her candidacy.
The state’s new marijuana law prohibits state police and corrections officers from owning a marijuana store.
But Southwest Harbor in 2020 went beyond that. The previous town manager inserted more restrictive language in Meristem’s application to include “employment” by town boards as conflicts. See this section of the form:
Johnson was not a member of any town board when she and her husband applied in 2019 for the permit. She now wants to make sure that language which she described as discriminatory in targeting one kind of business is removed.
Two select members agreed with her.
Board member Chad Terry said he also has a conflict because his waste disposal service has a contract with the town’s water and sewer division. He simply recuses himself on those issues.
Similarly, Natasha Johnson, if she is elected to the select board, may also recuse herself when Meristem’s permit is up for renewal, said Town Manager Marilyn Lowell.
But Jellison was having none of that.
After member Carolyn Ball moved to remove those limitations placed on Natasha Johnson’s Constitutional rights and Chad Terry also voted yes, Jellison voted no, saying the town has a right to impose more restrictive language than the state’s.
“He did mention that the town could be more restrictive than the state which is true,” said Natasha Johnson. “I totally support that.
“However, there are certain levels of restrictions which border on being discriminatory. And that's my concern.”
Member Allen “Snap” Willey predictably joined Jellison’s no vote, despite his conflict as a candidate for re-election, potentially blocking an opponent.
The motion failed on a 2-2 tie. Member Dan Norwood was absent.
Jellison has perfected the art of the false narrative. He creates non issues to justify his position. (Sound familiar?)
Last year he voted against the town’s seeking grants to improve Chris’s Pond, the popular skating venue, saying he worried about neighbors’ complaints. Then, the abutting neighbor got up to strongly support the project.
That led to select chair Kristin Hutchins’s resignation in protest and Jellison’s ascendancy as the new chair.
He launched a campaign against Charlotte’s lobster pound’s parking on Seawall Road without mentioning his sister lives across the street and was the chief complainant. He actually had the police pounce on Charlotte’s, one of the town’s signature businesses - 68 years running - and created what police chief John Hall called a crime scene.
This town is now a Putinesque playground with one man terrorizing small businesses, particularly women businesses.
Former select chair Lydia Goetze wrote this in the Islander in May 2021:
“I ran for the Select Board in 2014 and served for six years to try to improve the climate and increase women’s participation in our town’s governance. It worked for a while, but I am very concerned that we are sliding back into a culture that makes volunteering for town service hostile to half our population.
“We - the residents of Southwest Harbor - need to clean up our act, to have civil discussions that place the town’s welfare front and center, and to have women as well as men run for office and volunteer for service on town boards and committees. All residents have a right to be heard and a responsibility to speak out with respect. The public servants on our town boards and committees need to put the welfare of the town as a whole ahead of personal preferences, and they should give the residents a chance to vote on important matters like this grant proposal.”
Does anyone other than George Jellison and his side kick Snap Willey truly believe Natasha Johnson should be barred from sitting on the select board because she owns a marijuana store - in 2022?
Three of the five current select board members are small business owners who can do a lot more damage to our climate, homes and financial security than Natasha Johnson’s little store.
Natasha Johnson is proud of her lineage - tracing back to the Mayflower as she works on her application to be a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution (not exactly my cup of tea) and her grandfather, former SWH First Selectman Les King and her great grandfather, former first selectman Stanwood King.
“I love the town that I live in. My roots go incredibly deep. And generations upon generations of my family are from Southwest Harbor,” she said.
“And I deeply care about our community and want to make sure decisions are being made that will serve our community for future generations in the best way possible.”
Jellison did not respond to an email from QSJ.
Six take out papers to collect signatures for select board seat
In addition to Natasha Johnson, five others have taken out nomination papers for SWH select board, according to Town Manager Lowell. There are two seats up for election in May.
The most serious candidate is Jim Vallette, vice chair of the warrant committee who is familiar with town finances.
In a statement, Vallette said,
“I seek a town that harnesses the goodwill of its residents, serves its needs, and preserves its unique character. As I collect signatures, I am finding that many people desire a fresh perspective for Southwest Harbor’s leadership. I do not belong to any particular camp, nor will I represent any on the Select Board. I believe in service, in the truest sense. My style of leadership is to listen, ask good questions, analyze the facts, consider alternatives, and act accordingly in what I hope to be everybody’s best interest. That’s how I approach my global supply chain research business. I find this approach makes positive change happen.
“We have a great school, hard-working and penny-conscious fire and police departments, and, a knowledgeable and dedicated town manager. But we have some critical gaps in services and excess expenses, especially when it comes to our garbage. Southwest Harbor’s property tax rate is the highest on MDI, yet some of our services are among the worst. Something is off with this formula.
“I have served on the Warrant Committee for the past three years. We hear from service organizations about the growing needs of our community, in terms of mental health, addiction, medical care, transportation, and housing. Calls to our police and fire departments are surging as these needs go unfilled. Island Connections is unable to get to everyone who needs a ride. The Westside Food Pantry is serving more people than ever. It is near impossible for low- and middle-income people to move here. We have no recycling – none. And our roads are crumbling.
“Southwest Harbor is better than this. It is a resilient, beautiful town, one that pulls together for each other when a boat comes loose or someone needs to pay medical bills or a lift. If I run, and am elected, I hope to reflect this community spirit on the Select Board.”
Chad Terry has told friend he is not running for re-election.
QSJ was unable to reach Incumbent Allen “Snap” Willey, a town retiree who is seeking re-election, and Michael Magnani, former chair of the planning board.
Andrew Cline, retired educator, has taken out nomination papers but said he still hasn’t decided.
Natasha Johnson said she will file papers next week and then will have until early May to settle the language issue in the permit renewal for her store.
DEP clears Bar Harbor after four years of storm water, sewer violations
BAR HARBOR - This town is finally crawling out of the DEP dog house for environmental violations involving sewage discharge into Frenchman Bay under two public works directors over four years.
“This email is to notify the Town of Bar Harbor that the Department finds the corrective actions issued on February 11, 2021 to be complete,” wrote Laura Crossley, state water discharge enforcement officer earlier this month. “Thank you for answering the Department’s questions regarding the recent update to address SSOs (sanitary sewer overflow) in the Bar Harbor community.”
But the town is still on a short leash.
The Department of Environmental Protection wants by the end of next week a written plan from the town to eliminate storm water and sewer overflows, after citations in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021. The violations started in 2018 when someone reported sewage backups on Grason Lane which made its way into Frenchman Bay.
Not only did the town not correct the problem, it also failed to report it as required by state law.
The violations started in May 2018 when it was reported that two manholes on Grason Lane were overflowing and spewing sewage into Frenchman Bay. The DEP criticized former public works director Chip Reeves for not being responsive to complaints about such overflows and failing to report them as required by state law.
Under Reeves, the town failed to meet numerous deadlines to correct storm water overflows at Ash Place and Devon Road, the DEP stated.
On April 16, 2019, the DEP refused to grant another extension of its permit requirements.
Chip Reeves resigned on Sept. 4, 2019 to take a job with the engineering firm CES.
“The Devon Road project was completed on November 20, 2019. The Ash Place project was completed on December 22, 2020 with site rehabilitation to be completed in the spring of 2021,” Laura Crossley stated in her “notice of violation” to the town in February 2021.
“Neither of these projects met the conditions of the February 24, 2016 approval letter and the extension granted until December 31, 2018,” she added.
Bethany Leavitt, the current public works director who started in December 2019, also was called out by the DEP several times.
Under her watch, the town failed to submit a Master Plan Update to the DEP as required by June 1, 2020.
“Upon missing the deadline, the Department contacted the Town’s Public Works Director (“Director”), Ms. Leavitt, by phone to discuss the Town’s failure to submit a revised MPU. The Town indicated they were working on the revised MPU and it would be submitted by the end of August 2020.
“When the Department did not receive the MPU by early September, staff e-mailed the Director on September 9, 2020 to request an update. The Town responded on September 29, 2020 that they were working with their consulting engineer and requested more time.
“On October 13, 2020 the Department e-mailed the Director for an update and did not receive a response. On November 10, 2020 the Department contacted the Town’s consulting engineer to get an idea when the MPU would be submitted. The consulting engineer indicated they were not under contract with the Town and were not working on the project. On December 9, 2020 the Department learned that the Town had brought the consulting engineer back under contract to assist in completion of the MPU.
“On January 11, 2021, the Department received the MPU. The Department reviewed the MPU and requested in a February 4, 2021 letter, that the Town revise the MPU to eliminate potential variations to the West Street pump station and force main project schedule. As of this date the MPU is not approved by the Department,” Crossley wrote on Feb. 11, 2021.
Council member Gary Friedmann credits Leavitt for getting Bar Harbor back into compliance, but the challenge of maintaining an equilibrium is constant, he said. At one time during his 10 years on the council, the town faced a $10 million price tag to correct its overflow problem.
The construction of new hotels combined with the elimination of an “impact fee” for new construction by the previously business-dominated council made things worse. The Town of Saco, for instance, charges $31.23 per gallon per day of water anticipated to be used at the site. Town manager Kevin Sutherland is the former town manager there.
“For now, it appears that the Town is in compliance,” stated Pam Parker, chief of water discharge enforcement for the state DEP. “Compliance is an ongoing process, not static,” she added.
Tremont candidates have clear differences
TREMONT - The election in May to replace outgoing select chair Jamie Thurlow will be a true test of the emerging class of year-round residents who want the town to retain its rural character and not “Bar Harborize” it.
That group is represented by Jane Ashworth, a retired IT professional who moved here in 2010, and who supported the moratorium to halt campground development.
She will be opposed by Ben Harper, who worked 37 years as the dispatcher for the Southwest Harbor police department and retired to his home in Bass Harbor.
Harper voted against the moratorium.
“I don’t like moratoriums,” Harper said. “If people don’t like an ordinance, we should work to change it.” He said citizens should abide by existing ordinances.
“Tremont is a unique community on the island because it hasn't hasn't embraced the culture of a Bar Harbor,” Ashworth said. “And it's going to be a challenge to find a way forward where we find ways to encourage business because communities need businesses, but also find a way to have the kind of growth that we want to have and support people living here as residential year-round and which I hear a lot of people saying they would like to see more of.”
Perennial Tremont candidate Jed Campbell has taken out nomination papers but as yet to file with the town clerk.
Mount Desert select board tells bicycle excursion company to take a hike
NORTHEAST HARBOR - For the second year in a row an off-island bicycle excursion company attempted to use the village’s scenic harbor area as a destination for its customers but was rebuffed by a vigilant select board.
The board this week unanimously denied the request by Trek Travel LLC which wanted use the town-owned space next to the harbor as a picnic spot for its cyclists and to park its vans for more than five hours for seven straight Sundays this summer.
These land-based excursion companies are proliferating on the Quietside, exploiting the beauty of our coastline to very little benefit for residents.
In Tremont, for example, the town charges a $350 parking fee for a kayak company which parks its vans at the Seal Cove dock, where it may unload the kayaks and ferry the tourists from Downtown Bar Harbor.
The company rejected by the select board Tuesday night is based in Wisconsin and ferries the cyclists from the Residence Inn in Bangor, according to its web site, https://trektravel.com/trip/acadia-national-park-bike-tour/.
Temporary use of parking lot approved for condo construction
The select board was friendlier to Tim Murphy, a local entrepreneur who is building several residential condos in the village, allowing him to park 12 tractor trailers at the town-owned lot off Old Firehouse Lane parallel to Kimball Lane.
The trucks will be ferrying prefab buildings which will be lifted by cranes. The work will be conducted in tranches starting April 8 and ending by Memorial Day.
Murphy is co-owner of the furniture story at 146 Main Street. He did not return a call.
FOOTNOTE: Former select board member Rick Mooers is running for the seat being vacated by Matt Hart. Incumbent Wendy Littlefield is also running for re-election. Unless another candidate emerges this week they will run unopposed.