Town Council versus Warrant Committee: Bar Harbor's unabated, fractious power struggle

OTHER NEWS: Council misfires on transient accommodations; Transitions: CEO of the Preserve leaving, MD finance head joining Bio Labs; huge subdivision eyed for Town Hill

BAR HARBOR - Sept. 23, 2023 - Former Town Manager Cornell Knight sent a threatening email on Feb. 7, 2018 to members of the Warrant Committee, igniting a feud which is still being played out in court as reported by the QSJ this week.

“The Town Council wants to see all documents, emails and correspondence, Facebook, Text Messages, or other Social Media that you have or had in your possession that involve Article 12 or 13 between the dates of February 1, 2017 thru June 30, 2017, to assure that ordinances and open meeting laws are being followed,” Knight stated in an email to some members of the Warrant Committee and copied to Town Council members

Knight apparently was referring to any opposing views to the zoning change approved in June 2017 to allow cruise ship use of a town pier.

Some members of the Warrant Committee worried that approval of the articles would open a major vein for the cruise ship industry to exploit the town’s weak oversight.

They attended “salons” and other meetings to learn more, and communicated by email.

Knight was having none of that. He wrote, “As a member of the Warrant Committee the correspondence is public information.  Send the information to me by February 21, 2018.”

To which, Jake Jagel, Warrant Committee member, replied, “Pound sand.”

(Okay, Jagel didn’t really state that.)

Here is what Jagel actually stated verbatim:

“I am concerned to learn that Town Council believes that ‘certain members serving on the Warrant Committee are working behind the scene to influence the position taken by the committee’ and surprised to learn that ‘documents received through the litigation reference a majority of the General Government Subcommittee.’ As Chair of the General Government Subcommittee, I’m confident that all subcommittee meetings have been properly posted by our Town Clerk in accordance with the open meeting law and do not understand what ordinances you believe are not being followed.”

In other words, “Pound sand.”

A lawsuit filed by two neighbors in 2017 against the town’s re-zoning of the ferry terminal property on Eden Street gave the town attorney discovery rights which led to the disclosure that some Warrant Committee members had emailed each other and third parties to discuss the matter.

So began the Town Council and Knight’s efforts to neuter the nettlesome Warrant Committee’s interference with then chair Paul Paradis’s agenda for free-flowing cruise ship and other tourism initiatives, said several members of the current and former Warrant Committee.

In August 2016, the Warrant Committee had infuriated council members when it voted 11-3 to recommend voters reject a proposed parking garage which would have benefitted Ocean Properties, the largest hotelier in town.

“Whose idea was the parking garage?” committee member Michael Good asked. “Why is it so important to somebody to get it into the LUO (land use ordinance)?”

Some committee members questioned the public/private partnership, especially if any municipal debt or tax increases could be involved, the Islander reported.

“There are no numbers in any of these amendments,” committee member John Kelly said. “We have no idea how this tool is going to be used.”

From that time on, the Warrant Committee was a steady thorn in the side of Paradis and other council members, including current member Gary Friedmann, who was vice chair at the time. (Since then, the town has approved paid public parking, but the garage never materialized.)

One of the biggest antagonist was the late Arthur Greif, husband of then Warrant Committee member Donna Karlson. Greif was a celebrated trial attorney who played a watchdog role in town for a decade. And he did years of this complex local litigation for no fees.

After the town acquired the ferry terminal from the state, Greif and a group of citizens helped thwart plans for a half-mile long pier for berthing mega cruise ships.

By 2018, the council had had enough of the Warrant Committee’s obstreperous behavior. A new charter commission was sworn in consisting of Julie Berberian,
Joseph Cough, Anna Durand, Jill Goldthwait (Vice-Chair), Michael Gurtler (Chair) Patricia Samuel, Secretary Martha Searchfield, Peter St. Germain and Christopher Strout.

In all, it made recommendations for 19 changes.

Among the changes approved were to disallow the Warrant Committee members to run as a slate, reduce membership from 22 to 15, disallow Warrant Committee’s recommendation on citizen initiatives and to give the council more power over the Land Use Ordinance.

In September 2020, Greif warned of legal errors in the Charter Commission’s proposed changes in this letter to the Warrant Committee.

A band of citizens also distributed this flyer:

After the Town Meeting in November 2020 approved eight of the nine proposed charter changes, Grief and nine others, including three Warrant Committee members, filed suit in December 2020.

As reported last week, two judges have now sided with the plaintiffs against the town, which is appealing to the state Supreme Court. Both judges ruled the town illegally separated the nine issues when it should have given citizens a single up or down vote.

The separation of the nine question was done at the urging of Gary Friedmann. “It seems very likely there will be some controversy around a couple of the provisions here,” Friedmann said in 2020. “It would be a crying shame to have the whole thing thrown out if people get their hackles up.” 

Against this backdrop was Knight’s own history. He was the recommendation for the town manager’s job by the search arm of the law firm of Eaton Peabody, which represents the Walsh Family business in Bar Harbor, including its cruise ship tender business.

After he “retired” as town manager in 2021, he went to work for Eaton Peabody’s search business.

He applied to be the interim town manager’s job in Bar Harbor this year, but was forbidden by the Town Council from engaging in any cruise ship decisions.

On Sept. 7, a second Superior Court judge, Patrick Larson, ruled that the town’s position, now under Knight’s administration, was illegal.

Instead of disclosing this information, Knight and Council Chair Val Peacock kept this under wraps for two weeks until the QSJ disclosed it. Several council members said they did not know about it until it came up at the executive session late Tuesday night.

Council misfires trying to regulate hotels, motels

BAR HARBOR - If you want to go elephant hunting, you’re gonna need a bigger weapon than a pellet gun.

What did Town Council member Matt Hochman expect when he proposed in August the town impose a moratorium on new transient accommodations, which consist of hotels, motels, inns, B&Bs, campgrounds and rental cottages?

Angry businesses and workers packed the council chamber Tuesday night and picked apart Hochman’s idea which had no data, no goals and no evidence of harm.

TA is the bedrock of the town’s tourism industry and has been for 75 years. It is distinguished in town ordinance from short-term rentals of the type which frequents Airbnb and VRBO. It is not the cruise ship industry either. Cruise ship visits did not get out of hand until about 10 years ago.

“I don’t know what we’re putting a moratorium on because it doesn’t make sense from the numbers,” said member Kyle Shank, who based his comments on data he sought from the Code Enforcement Officer which showed a paltry 1 percent growth of rooms permitted over the last five years.

Even though Shank missed 10 new approvals on Crooked Road and nine at 300 Bayview Road which hadn’t received their final permits, he was directionally correct.

Where Shank’s cherry picking of numbers distorted the macro view of the problem was his selective use of short-term rental licenses which declined the last two years.

Had he used the same five years, the numbers showed a huge escalation of dwelling units which became STRs, hitting a high of 732 in 2021 before the vacation rental ordinance whittled that number down to 686. In 1019, there were 482.

In 2016, there were only 14 Airbnb listings for Bar Harbor.

Hochman and Gary Friedmann are masters at dictating policy by sound bite. In August, Hochman began lamenting the traffic woes on the island in a council meeting, and suddenly blurted out that the town should impose a moratorium on transient accommodations. The previous week Lamoine’s residents voted overwhelming to impose a six-month moratorium, but that was targeting a 290-acre glampground with 90 units.

With very little data or purpose, some council members pushed to have manager Cornell Knight and the town attorney draft such a proposal.

Meanwhile, the real work of establishing a baseline understanding of the tourism crisis remains:

What is the real impact of STRs, employee housing? The history of every dwelling unit in town may be attained by hiring a couple of COA students to research tax, assessor data, school enrollment and interviews with previous owners.

What is the carrying capacity for sewers, water, public safety, traffic and other infrastructure?

DOT spokesman Paul Merrill reported this week, in response to a question from the QSJ:

“Our traffic engineers are looking into whether new signage and/or signal timings would help improve traffic flows at the head of the island. This part of Route 3 is often at or near its maximum capacity (volumes are up about two percent from 2019 levels), so even a seemingly small increase in traffic or a minor disruption – because of milled (rough) pavement, construction activities, or an accident – can lead to delays.

”The construction of the new Acadia Gateway Center may help steer visits toward mass transit options like the popular Island Explorer bus service. For visitors who still opt to use personal vehicles, a stop at the AGC may help them plan their trips to reduce the time they’re on the roads.

“There is not currently a Route 3 corridor study in MaineDOT’s three-year Work Plan. We have encouraged representatives of the communities along this corridor to submit formal requests to the department if they would like the department to initiate a study.”

State Rep. Lynne Williams of Bar Harbor sits on the legislature’s transportation committee. She stated in an email this week that she is working the DOT commissioner’s office for more attention to the Rt. 3 corridor.

The council did unanimously endorse a new tourism management committee to replace the cruise ship committee. Will this new committee become “corrupted” as council member Maya Caines described the latter days of the cruise ship committee, or will it attempt to seek real solutions?

Rodney Eason stepping down as CEO of the Preserve, heads to Arnold Arboretum

Photo by Katherine Emery Photography

MOUNT DESERT - Rodney Eason, CEO of the Preserve, announced earlier this week that he will be leaving Nov. 17, 2023, to become the Director of Horticulture and Landscape for the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University in Jamaica Plain, Mass.

“The Preserve is deeply grateful to Rodney for his eight years in the role of CEO during which he led the organization through a slew of major accomplishments," said Kate Macko, board chair.

“Beginning with successfully incorporating the gifts from David Rockefeller of the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Garden and 1,400 acres of natural lands around Little Long Pond with Thuya and Azalea gardens, through steering the important groundwork of our new strategic plan, Rodney has worked incredibly hard on behalf of the Preserve.

“Additionally, he and his family have become an important part of our island community, and we wish them all the best." He will start his role at the Arnold Arboretum on Dec. 4.

“My new position will give me the opportunity to immerse myself more in horticulture, landscape design, and connecting people with plants. It will also allow my wife Carrie and me to be closer to our families while staying in New England, which we love. Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to lead this wonderful organization through such historic changes. It has been an honor and a privilege,” stated Eason.

The board of directors will begin a search for a new Preserve CEO in the coming weeks.

MD finance director to join MDI Bio Labs

NORTHEAST HARBOR - Town Finance Director Jay Wright is leaving to become controller of the MDI Bio Labs, Town Manager Durlin Lunt said.

“He'll be very difficult to replace in that he had a both a bachelor's degree in accounting, and a bachelor's degree in finance,” Lunt said.

The Texas State University graduate has been finance director since early 2020. He moved here with his wife, who is a native of Hancock and still has family there, Lunt said.

Lunt plans to start a search for a replacement next week.

On Linkedin, Wright posted, “After several years as an auditor, specializing in various types of municipalities, and serving on the Board of Directors for a fast-growing municipal utility district, I now serve as the Finance Director and Treasurer for the Town of Mount Desert, Maine. Mount Desert has total assets exceeding $61 million, a budget exceeding $23 million, and a total assessed valuation of over $2.3 billion.

“Besides the fact that he's a wonderful person, I think he just has a great background. That really hit a sweet spot that we needed,” Lunt said.

Mass. couple seeking to subdivide 180 acres in Town Hill

TOWN HILL - The town has received a pre-application sketch plan to subdivide one of the largest parcels of land on the island into 14 residential lots on Crooked Road.

The applicant is a couple, Christopher and Denise Bettencourt, from Uxbridge, Mass., who acquired the land - 207 acres - in June 2021 for $1,520,200 from Millicent Carey.

The lot on Crooked Road across from Fern Meadow Drive was briefly on the market with an asking price of $4.9 million.

Landscape architect Perry Moore, agent for the couple, wrote,

“The project proposes to build a subdivision road and divide the parcel into 14 residential lots and set aside 12 acres as open space. Subject property is 179.24 acres, located on the southern side of Crooked Road, generally between the sharp curve west of Gemstone Way to the intersection with Fern Meadow Drive.

“The first phase would involve Lots 1 through 5. Lots 1 and 5 would be offered for sale upon filing of the plat with the registry and confirmation of lot monuments having been set as detailed in §125-85.A.,” Moore wrote.

“The second phase would involve constructing the subdivision road to the first cul-de-sac with a gravel surface and allow for sale of lots 6, 7 and 8. The third phase would be the construction of the road to the second cul-de-sac and sale of the remainder of the lots.

“The final phase would involve correcting the road surface for grade and compaction then paving it. The section from Crooked Road to the first cul-de-sac is anticipated to be dedicated as a Town road, with the portion between the first and second culde-sac to be a private road governed by a homeowner’s association.”