SWH waste committee mulls 'takeover' of privately owned transfer station

Other news: BH debates code of ethics; Tremont voters head to polls

SOUTHWEST HARBOR, May 7, 2023 - Ken Rozsahegyi and Lee Worcester are not destined to become BFFs.

They are bookends for the town’s next big smackdown, now that the Chris’s Pond imbroglio is in the rear-view mirror.

The former is a retired City of New York mapping expert who owns property here.

He is agitating for the town to take over the waste transfer station on Long Pond Road owned by Eastern Maine Recycling, which was founded by Worcester’s father and one of only three such private operations in Maine out of about 250, according to Rozsahegyi.

EMR’s three-year contract with the town is up for renewal Dec. 31.

The smart money says Rozsahegyi’s quixotic mission is just that - a well-intentioned but naive exercise in futility by someone “from away” who doesn’t understand “how we do things here.”

Three years ago, when I started writing my blog, I heard much of the same refrain.

Who would have predicted that the town now has a select board with three members under 45, a former college professor as chair and an environmental consultant?

The town meeting Tuesday was as much a referendum repudiating the town’s old boy network and handing the reins to a more contemporary collective.

A loud voice vote of 143 residents told select member George Jellison (and his sister) to stop wasting town resources and time on their pursuit of conspiracy theories like how Chris’s Pond is a lair for drug addicts.

But the future carries enormous responsibilities for this board to shape the community for the rest of the millennium and beyond.

Waste disposal is a big piece of the challenge.

At the town meeting when the Chris’s Pond article was approved practically unanimously, the article to re-join the Acadia Disposal District also was approved, despite Jellison’s opposition.

Spearheaded by the Solid Waste Reduction Task Force, of which Rozsahegyi is a member, voters bought into the notion that the town needed a seat at the table as the island’s principal transfer station is located in this town. The district includes Tremont, Mount Desert, Trenton and Cranberry Isles.

The task force was spurred into action when it learned the district had received a $360,000 federal grant to locate a hazardous waste facility in the SWH transfer station.

Rozsahegyi, the mapping expert, produced this map to show how close the EMR facility is to the town’s water supply and Acadia National Park.

As a member of the district, the town now will have an important say on whether dumping hazardous waste at the site benefits SWH, Rozsahegyi said.

But Rozsahegyi is keeping his powder dry for his bigger poke at the bear.

“A municipality (or association of municipalities) may acquire facilities and then operate them as a public service just like police, fire, roads, water & sewer, harbor, schools, etc,” Rozsahegyi told the Solid Waste Reduction Task Force at its meeting April 24.

“The cost for this acquisition results in debt service that is paid for over time by collected gate and other FEES, government FUNDING and GRANTS, and local property taxes. MRC, EcoMaine, The Bar Harbor Transfer station, and others are examples.

“As a municipal service, there is no profit margin, so operating costs will reduce to expense levels. Waste Management as a public service can lead to creative solutions and citizen engagement. Changes to methods and operations will reflect municipal values. Information about waste is readily available.”

Rozsahegyi also questioned the transparency of the vendor, Gott’s Disposal, which provides private pickups for homes and businesses.

“And as I'm talking here, I don't know where that stuff goes. They must have entire garbage trucks full of stuff. Does that go to EMR? Or does that go straight to a landfill somewhere? That's one of the questions that I have.

Solid waste reduction, affordable housing, fair use of the harbor, failing infrastructure - these and others are essential questions for the newly elected leadership.

Rozsahegyi and folks like him are now embedded in the community whether Jellison and his buddies like it or not.

What’s undeniable is the enormous work Rozsahegyi did in preparing his treatise for action.

He appears to have solid support from his fellow task force members, the chair of whom issued this statement:

“Since last Fall, Southwest Harbor citizens have been exploring ways to reduce the amount and cost of managing solid waste generated by our town’s residents, businesses, and visitors. This citizen task force reports to the Select Board and will make recommendations for action by Fall.

“Before the town re-ups its contract with EMR late this winter, the task force will share recommendations to address some costs to the town, which are the highest on MDI. For example, finding ways to reduce dumping by non-residents in SWH bins, which many have mentioned, could be a real savings!”

Rozsahegyi wants EMR to better regulate the vehicles which enter the transfer station unchecked. He is proposing EMR check for permits.

He also proposed the town adopt a waste management plan to ensure heavy producers pay their fair share. Businesses have low property valuations and residents are subsidizing the businesses, he claimed.

The task force is meeting Monday May 8 at 11 in the town office building to discuss next steps.

FOOTNOTES:

Ken Rozsahegyi’s fury against the Town Fathers first emerged last December when he discovered that land abutting his property in the section of town near the transfer station and Long Pond was given a subdivision approval by the Planning Board of which Worcester is its most influential member.

Rozsahegyi accused Worcester of conflict of interest for voting for a subdivision over which he still maintained legal rights and ownership of the only access road.

Rozsahegyi was a member of the town’s comprehensive plan task force and learned much about the town through that process.

His accusation against Worcester got support from Planning Board member John Blaine who began asking probing questions as to Worcester’s role and whether it was proper for him to vote on the application.

At a meeting in the spring, Blaine threw a bombshell and accused the board of improprieties, saying, according to a recording of the meeting, “I don't agree with the planning board. I don't want to be on the planning board anymore. If the meeting is adjourned, adjourn it. I'm done with you guys. There's too much stuff that's done wrong here.”

The new select board will need to determine whether it’s healthy to have one person sit on three of the town’s important boards and chair two of them, as Worcester does.

The official result of last week’s municipal election was reported by Town Clerk Jennifer Lahaye:

Select Board:

Carolyn Ball       216 votes

Chapin McFarland 186 votes

MDI High School Trustee:

Chad Terry 223 Votes

School Committee Board:

Alicia M Gordius 123 votes

Clifford Noyes   172 votes

Maria Spallino 163 votes

SWH is the only town on the island which does not swear in the new select board members immediately, waiting until the end of the fiscal year July 1. Member Jim Vallette said at the last board meeting this was inconsistent with state law. George Jellison will continue on the board for May and June.

Bar Harbor debates code of ethics without enforcing current one

BAR HARBOR - When I was business editor of the Boston Globe, “interlocking electorate” was a thing - that of corporate directors sitting on multiple boards together so as to share secrets, information and competitive data to benefit each other.

Could interlocking relationships in a town like Bar Harbor have the same effect?

Let’s say you own a major tourist business in town - like a restaurant. Let’s say you have ambitions beyond the restaurant - like a hotel.

Let’s say you get yourself onto a board for a non-profit which has other like-minded businesses with the same ambition, including one who is suing the town for its cruise ship policy.

Then, let’s say the executive director of such non-profit is a member of the Town Council, which - hazzah! - is able to render decisions favorable to your business.

How would a small town, like Bar Harbor decode such a messy conflict? Or would it at all?

Without the benefit of a public hearing and only relying on an unscientific survey of 100 persons who responded, the Town Council weighed in Tuesday whether to spend taxpayers’ money to have its lawyer draft another code of ethics which it will ignore.

So council member Erin Cough may relax. This council is not about to ask why you expended so much air time at the council meeting April 4 to try to bring to a vote to approve the application on 77 Cottage Street for a loading zone in front of the new hotel being erected by Tom St. Germain and partners and deprive the town of parking meter revenue on the sidewalk in front.

A recusal would have been the proper conduct, but why bother if you know you’re safe in the fellowship of friendly council members - along with the Islander, whose former editor sits on the board of the Bar Harbor Historical Society, along with St. Germain, to which you presumably report as its director.

And no one will mention that you are a member of the Parking Solutions Task Force, which has influence on whether other businesses in town will get the same privilege expected by St. Germain who started his 44-room “bed and breakfast” while as chair of the Planning Board.

Interim Town Manager Sarah Gilbert said she is waiting to see if Nina St. Germain will still request the loading zone designation after the town decided to install sidewalks in front of the hotel.

Police Chief Jim Willis has the authority to recommend the council approve St. Germain’s request if the application hits his inbox.

Tremont candidate use of school bus sows confusion

TREMONT - Select member “Howdy” Goodwin’s use of a school bus as his singular platform for re-election Monday has spawned six emails to the QSJ asking about the propriety of using a public property for such a use.

Fact: That school bus is not town property.

Assuming that it’s owned by Goodwin, he may hang whatever message he chooses on his bus.

But one reader asked whether it was a deliberate effort to mislead the public into thinking that his candidacy had the support of officialdom. Could this backfire on Goodwin?

Here is a recent article on the race.

Nantucket rejects strict short-term vacation rental ordinance

Nanatucket Island voters on Saturday rejected proposed regulations on short-term rentals.

Article 60 - which would have restricted short-term rentals in non-owner-occupied dwellings by requiring the home to be used longer as a residence than a short-term rental - was defeated with 378 voters in favor, and 558 voters opposed. As a zoning bylaw amendment, Article 60 required a two-thirds majority for approval. 

https://nantucketcurrent.com/news/article-60

Mount Desert election results:

Select board:

John B. Macauley                   # votes:  65      - ELECTED

Geoffrey Wood                        # votes:  59      - ELECTED

Scattered Write-ins                 # votes:    1     

For School Board, one member for a term of three years:

Katherine Dube                       # votes:  63      - ELECTED

Scattered Write-ins                 # votes:    0     

For School District Trustee, one member for a term of three years:

Anthony Smith                        # votes:   66     - ELECTED

Scattered Write-ins                 # votes:     0    

Postscript

NORTHEAST HARBOR - A reader forwarded this Washington Post article about summer resident Leonard Leo’s shadowy payments to Ginni Thomas, wife of Justice Clarence Thomas. Leo’s home at 46 South Shore Road here was the site of frequent protests last year.

“Conservative judicial activist Leonard Leo arranged for the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to be paid tens of thousands of dollars for consulting work just over a decade ago, specifying that her name be left off billing paperwork,” according to documents reviewed by The Washington Post.

“In January 2012, Leo instructed the GOP pollster Kellyanne Conway to bill a nonprofit group he advises and use that money to pay Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, the documents show. The same year, the nonprofit, the Judicial Education Project, filed a brief to the Supreme Court in a landmark voting rights case.

“He emphasized that the paperwork should have ‘No mention of Ginni, of course.’”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2023/05/04/leonard-leo-clarence-ginni-thomas-conway/?

READER FEEDBACK

BAR HARBOR - Interesting comment thread in reaction to my recent post on cruise ship fines.

Jim O’Connell May 1

“Millions more should be assessed for their flagrantly ignoring our request to stop emitting extreme levels of Group 1 poisonous shipping fuel chemicals through town. They never turned off their tenders as required and agreed upon in writing. Instead they now also use OP’s new tenders that must have their engines revved up in order to stay pinned safely to the dock.”

Winston Shaw May 1

“Jim, I have no idea where this ‘engine raved up to stay pinned to the dock’ BS came from. Any small boat operator with even basic skills has no need to rev his engine up while at the dock. All that is required for the average small vessel is a bow line, a stern line, and a breast line and they ain't going anywhere. Of course that requires a few minutes to set up, as well as someone who actually knows how to handle lines. From what I've observed over many years few if any of the personnel operating cruise ship tenders have even the foggiest idea of what they are doing. In truth many of them represent a danger to their passengers and to other boat traffic in the harbor. I can tell you I played dodge 'em with Cruise Ship tenders many times over the 25 years I ran boat tours in Bar Harbor! Why the Coast Guard continues to allow this I don't know, but my guess is it has something to with out-of-USA ship registry and subsequent lack of jurisdiction of the Coast Guard.”

Jim O’Connell May 2

“Harbormaster Chris Wharff told me the ship tender drivers are many and do not remember or just don’t take the time to tie up. Chris also said those large double capacity tenders that Walsh had built cannot safely be tied up on account of their size. So they are forced to use tons of fuel just sitting there.”

Winston Shaw May 2

“I haven't been on the Town Pier in 3 years and didn't even know Walsh had tenders …just another reason to reduce or eliminate cruise ships in Bar Harbor I guess.”

ANNUAL STATEMENT OF PURPOSE:

The Quietside Journal is a newseltter written in the tradition of Pamphleteers, the most famous being Thomas Paine, whose “Common Sense” publication stirred the citizenry toward the founding of the Republic. I also fashion my work after Ida Tarbell, Lincoln Steffens and Upton Sinclair - from the era of “muckraking” in the early Twentieth Century. Their work led to antitrust laws, child labor laws and other reforms during a period of growth and enlightenment for a fledgling nation. The QSJ is a member of the Maine Press Association and published by Long Pond Advisors LLC. It is represented by Morgan Lewis & Bockius of Boston.