I’ve had family here for decades, and on our many visits, my wife and I dreamed of making Bar Harbor home. We bought a house in 2010, and in 2018, we finally moved here for good. A dream come true for us.
Wanting to get involved in the community, I volunteered for Island Connections and eventually became a board member. Wanting to do more, I applied and was appointed to the Bar Harbor Assessment Review Board and then the Bar Harbor Housing Authority.
I have a bachelor’s degree in accounting and an MBA in corporate finance, and nearly 40 years of professional experience. For most of my career I was a certified management accountant. I started on Wall Street, shifted to the public accounting firm Coopers & Lybrand, then worked for many years as a controller for a defense contractor. I have a wealth of experience in financial management (budgets, financial reporting, and analysis).
THE QUESTIONS
Why are you running?
I want to ensure that our town council is truly responsive to the people who live here. I’m focused on finding a way for all of us to share what our town offers, without depleting resources and harming our environment in the process. I’m running because I believe we need to take better care of our town so that it can survive and thrive into the future.
There are a lot of issues currently that people talk about in Bar Harbor. But, if you had one local issue that matters to you more than any other, what would it be and why?
If I had to pick one local issue that matters to me, it would be to protect and preserve our community and residential neighborhoods. As a “gateway/amenity” town for Acadia, we’re a place a lot of people visit and while that’s a blessing, it also means we face all the pressures that come with such popularity, and we must be good stewards of such a beautiful place. Too much of a good thing can become harmful over time—to our natural resources, our neighborhoods with affordable housing, and it drives property taxes too high. All these impacts are threatening to erode our community and our residential neighborhoods. The business opportunities here are something we must find a sustainable balance with so that it works for everyone.
What is something you love about Bar Harbor that people might not notice enough?
My first thought is the Village Green and how much I love going there on a warm evening with my wife, sitting on a bench with my ice cream and watching people so happy just to be here. I love seeing the kids run around the gazebo playing and laughing, especially when two of them are my grandsons. But as someone who lives on Ledgelawn Ave., I also have to say that celebrating Halloween is one of the most amazing things this town does every year. It’s always a blast and I’m proud to be a part of a town that does so much for its children. It’s one of the many wonderful things that makes Bar Harbor such a great place, a great community to call home.
What skills do you bring to the table that you think only you can bring?
I can only say that we are all individuals, and we are all the sum of our life experiences, and that makes each of us unique. Because of what’s happening in the country, we’re facing an uncertain future. Over a long and successful career in management accounting and finance, I’ve been praised for my calm leadership style, especially during a crisis. As part of senior management teams, I’ve helped navigate companies through recessions, economic bubbles, dramatic surges in demand, financing, mergers, acquisitions and divestitures. I will bring that experience to the town council if elected.
If you could make one change to Bar Harbor tomorrow, what would it be?
To me, success for Bar Harbor means balanced growth. In other words, everyone shares in the benefits of sustainable tourism without compromising our residential neighborhoods, our environment, or our community.
What is your stance on short-term rentals, specifically now that VR2s are capped and decreasing while VR1s are on the rise? Do you have general thoughts about any potential ways to increase affordable housing in the area?
Affordable housing and vacation rentals are such important and challenging issues. While not the only cause of a depleted housing stock, the conversion of homes into revenue-generating investments (or housing for seasonal employees) has created a real threat to year-round housing. So many people must now compete with business interests to buy a home. This is not unique to Bar Harbor, but its effect here is devastating to our community. I support the 9% cap on VR2 lodging businesses and would support looking into further reductions and restrictions.
VR1s, or rentals of one’s primary residence, are, to me, a different type of lodging business. I support them as they allow many in our community to live here.
However, I believe we urgently need to review and better define our regulations to ensure the residency requirement is being met. We need to ensure these permits are used as we intended and then enforced.
As for other ways to increase housing and affordability I support the concept of “gentle density,” but I’m cautious in how we approach it. Outside the areas with town water and sewer service, we need to better understand the carrying capacity of the land for new wells and septic systems and prioritize protection of our critical watersheds. Even downtown, where increases make more sense, I want the residents to have a say in how we define gentle density in areas that many feel are already dense. I believe we can, as a community, come to an agreement on where to increase housing density, how high we want buildings to be, how we define and where we encourage multi-unit dwellings that don’t overwhelm.
With the hospital’s recent announcement of its closure of its maternity wing, what are your thoughts about healthcare and any links to the town’s role (if any) in ensuring that services continue?
I was disappointed to learn about the hospital’s decision to close its maternity center, an important and beloved part of the community. This is especially true at a time when the availability of healthcare services seems to be declining, especially for women. I can only add my voice to those who ask the hospital administration to delay and reconsider this decision. It is unfortunate that there wasn’t a discussion involving the community beforehand and I believe that was a missed opportunity. It might have resulted in some creative thoughts on alternatives to shuttering the service completely. It certainly would have at a minimum, prepared the community for this impactful change. I still think we’re lucky to have a hospital in a community of our size and it’s an asset we want to support and protect to ensure we have a functioning hospital that serves the healthcare needs of our visitors and our community.
Do you think Bar Harbor is a thriving community? How would you define that?
I think Bar Harbor in many ways is a thriving community, but I also feel we’ve come to a fork in the road. Either we become another Key West, completely taken over by tourism, or we manage to become a more balanced gateway community. I’ve made it clear which road I want to take and that’s why I’m running for town council. I have no financial interest in any business and would work to improve trust and transparency in our local government.
This year the town stands to give almost $500,000 to two nonprofit entities (the Jesup and the YMCA). Do you agree with the current application process for nonprofits? If not, what would you change? Is there anything you would change about the budget process itself?
I love the Jesup library and the YMCA. They are both wonderful places and serve the residents in many ways and as community assets they need and deserve our support. I would hope that the community would step up and directly support them.
I believe the current budget process could be improved. Too many people tell me they don’t understand how funding these outside service partners works—we need to do a better job communicating. Our town needs to be more fiscally responsible to keep property tax increases low and housing more affordable. I will actively support more fiscal responsibility in our town budget to ensure that taxes don’t cripple the growth of the town. Public funds generated by the taxpayers should be used to fund services required by the community, administered by the town, and approved in the budget by residents. I will diligently scrutinize any request to spend public funds beyond that definition.
Bar Harbor’s been recently talking about solid waste issues. Do you have thoughts about changes to that?
All my training and experience in accounting and finance tell me there’s an opportunity in our handling of trash disposal to save taxpayers money. But it must be accomplished in a way that’s easy to administer, easy to follow, and easy to enforce. If we can save residents money by transferring the cost of disposing of our trash to the people who generate it, that seems fair to me, and I will support it.
How would you try to create more trust and transparency between people and the town?
If elected, I will try to model transparency on the council. As a retiree, I have no business or financial interest in any business. My only desire is to serve the community I love and care about. First and foremost, that means listening to you, the residents of Bar Harbor. Then I will do all I can to communicate openly. I will bring my experience in finance to ensure fiscal responsibility in all council decisions. Trust is hard won, easily lost, and requires constant diligence. Trust comes from listening to people from every side of the issue, deliberating on best solutions in public forums while responding to comments and questions, then communicating clearly why a particular path was chosen. I hope to lead by example and over time, improve the transparency and trust between the people and the town.
If anyone would like to reach out to me, please email me at: kevinbarharbor@gmail.com Thank you.