Individual Town Planning Will Be Approach for Sanctuary Communities
League of Town Discusses Storms' Damages
ELLSWORTH—After talking to his police chief and a few others, Mount Desert Town Manager Durlin Lunt is backing away from a proposal for a regional effort to deal with sanctuary community status, but is still working toward preparing for immigrants coming to his community and needing housing. At the League of Towns meeting Monday morning, he invited other communities to join his efforts or learn from them if they would like to.
In a January 16 memo to Lunt, Police Chief David Kerns said that he’d talked to Mount Desert Fire Chief Michael Bender, Bar Harbor Fire Chief Matt Bartlett as well as Hancock County EMA Director Andrew Sankey and Aldred May, the district’s public health liaison
“We believe that focusing on individual town-level planning is the most effective and efficient approach at this time,” Kerns wrote.
In 2017, after a citizens’ petition, Mount Desert voters declared 101-59 that the town would be a “sanctuary community.” The nonbinding resolution hoped to “protect the independence of our local law enforcement by refusing to require police or town employees to serve as enforcers of federal immigration law.”
It was the first town in Maine to do so.
That same year, Bar Harbor residents voted 351-62 to support declaring the town a sanctuary community. The goal of its proponents were to make victims of crime feel as if they could go to police departments to report those crimes.
A response to immigrant resettlement would require integration services, housing and other support, Lunt said.
“I wanted to make sure that we had some sort of response,” Lunt said, but added that Kerns’ opinion makes a lot of sense.
While Mount Desert and Bar Harbor are sanctuary communities, Ellsworth is not. The city has only had one quick ask that was not followed up on, according to City Manager Glenn Moshier, who said that Ellsworth’s general assistance resources are currently “maxed out.”
That’s due to Washington County needs and the needs of people who are staying at the warming center and people who are living in tents and vehicles in area parking lots, he explained. Ellsworth also has various boarding house style housing for people receiving general assistance from the city or funds from the state.
“The situation in Ellsworth is pretty significant considering what we have,” for assistance or aid he said. Any additional need, he said, would be very taxing. The council had a workshop Wednesday evening about the homeless situation in Ellsworth. “We haven’t really seen an influx of true migrants, and if we did, it would probably be problematic for us.”
Bar Harbor currently has a need for more homes as discussed during its comprehensive plan process and earlier.
ELECTION OF OFFICERS AND PROPOSED SCHEDULE
The discussion c about sanctuary communities came during the League of Towns meeting at Ellsworth City Hall Tuesday morning. Several members attended via Zoom. According to the Mount Desert website, the organization is “a Collaborative Unit of Government Serving Bar Harbor, Cranberry Isles, Ellsworth, Lamoine, Mount Desert, Southwest Harbor, Swans Island, Tremont, Trenton and Acadia National Park.”
The League unanimously reelected its current officers as a slate: Durlin Lunt remained chair; Trenton’s Fred Ehrlenbach stayed as vice chair; Lamoine’s Stu Marckoon remained as treasurer. It also passed a schedule of where its rotating meetings would take place.
February 2024-Trenton
March 2024-ANP Headquarters’
April 2024-Tremont
May 2024-Southwest Harbor
June 2024-Lamoine
July 2024-Cranberry Isles
August 2024-No meeting
September 2024-Swan’s Island
October 2024-Mount Desert
November 2024-Bar Harbor
January 2025-Ellsworth
STORM DAMAGE
Another portion of the meeting was an informal discussion about storm damage to the communities during the December and January storms.
John Kelly of Acadia National Park said the Ocean Path has had critical damage. The park has other washed out paths, too. The immediate fixes are being taken care of by park staff, and that they first assess the damages and then ask for federal emergency funding.
The Seawall Road is “probably the worst road in the park that we have,” Kelley said, but it’s a Maine DOT road that they are working with the state agency to facilitate repairs.
The remaining pieces of the Tay were being geotagged Tuesday so that the park officials will know where those pieces are as they move into the ocean or settle beneath sand. Kelly said that it was decades since a storm had last uncovered the wreckage of the schooner.
“That tells you how big the storm is,” Kelly said.
Sen. Craig Hickman, D-Winthrop, has introduced an emergency bill in the state legislature to create a “Small Business Weather Emergency Relief Program,” which , if passed, would create a $50 million relief fund to help small businesses that suffered from Maine’s recent storms. Federal disaster declarations have been requested by Gov. Janet Mills as well.
“The Aid Society’s fish shack had a big whack,” Lunt said of the Otter Creek fish house. Bracey Cove Road and the Seal Harbor Beach and adjacent roads were also damaged. The yacht club’s cribbing was damaged and the comfort station at the pier was moved. There was also water infiltration at a couple of town owned buildings in Mount Desert.
“I’ve never seen waves like that in Lamoine, ever,” Marckoon said.
“The water was just roaring,” Lunt said. “Our pier was underwater…. It was pretty scary stuff.”
Another member asked if the storms and their damages were the new normal?
“Our whole infrastructure could be in danger again and again and again,” Lunt said.
Kelly said Ocean Path is the priority and the roads. “Ironically, we won’t have staff to do it until Spring.”
Ellsworth saw a lot of tree damage in the December 18 storm and road washouts and toppings. “Tree damage was our biggest factor,” Moshier said. And then the Ellsworth Middle and Elementary School lost its roof.
The school didn’t qualify for FEMA or MEMA funds or county totals because it has insurance.
The other storms weren’t as impactful to Ellsworth, Moshier said, though there was a bit of flooding in the harbor. “That’s as a city,” he clarified. “I know there were a lot of citizens who had basements flooded and businesses.”
The city also had damage a lot of damage to traffic lights and signals. There was about $50,000 of storm repair costs for traffic signals and other expenses.
Trenton only had some damage on the Route 3 intersection.
Southwest Harbor’s retiring Town Manager Marilyn Lowell said the Manset pier is being assessed for damage and some was completely lifted off its supports. The town is waiting for a cost estimate for repairs. An area below Manset pier washed out and undermined the road and a utilities basin cover was washed off and now that is exposed and on the shore.
“The fortunate part is that nobody was hurt or killed,” Lunt said.
SOLAR PROJECTS
The members quickly discussed solarization, which is a standard item on the monthly agenda.
“We don’t have any large projects. We don’t want to do any clearcutting,” Lunt said of solar projects in his town.
Ehrlenbach said the grid is going to be the limiting factor for solar for larger projects. Residential areas in Trenton have varying abilities to add to the grid. The large scale solar projects are limited.
Marckoon said the interconnections are often the holdup in the projects.
CONGESTION
The group also quickly discussed traffic and congestion.
Ellsworth has multiple projects with Maine DOT that will occur this summer. The roads include: Bucksport Road out to Orland; High Street from upper light to Beechland intersection; and the Surry Road out through to Blue Hill. The work will be done this summer, Moshier said.
The bids go out in late winter and early spring.
“They are looking at scheduling night work,” Moshier said. He anticipates similar issues and concerns as the Maine DOT work in Ellsworth during summer 2023.
“It’s a band-aid on a wound that needs stitches,” Moshier said of the work.
LINKS FOR MORE INFORMATION
https://www.mtdesert.org/league-towns
To donate to the Village Improvement Association
To donate to the Oceanarium
To donate to the MDI Historical Society
FEMA information
