Michael Boland

Bar Harbor Town Council Candidate

MICHAEL BOLAND

THE BIO:

I was born and went to high school in Philadelphia and have lived in Bar Harbor for the last 35+- years.  I was living in Bar Harbor and realized that COA seemed to be a great fit for me, so stayed, transferred in, and graduated.  

My wife and I and our two daughters live in downtown Bar Harbor and always have. Both of our daughters attended Conners Emerson.   

My wife, Deirdre Swords, owns Artemis Gallery in Northeast Harbor and together we've owned and operated multiple businesses for the last 30 years, including Rupununi, Havana, the Criterion Theatre (from 2000-2008), and others.

I co-own Copita, Choco-Latte Cafe, and Brasserie Le Brun with one partner, the Islesford Dock with another, and the Chart Room with my Choco-Latte/Copita/Le Brun partner and one additional partner. 

I served on the Chamber Board as president for four years and currently serve on the College of the Atlantic Board of Trustees and the Board of the Maine Conservation Voters. In the past I've served on various other committees and boards including the Abbe Museum, the Criterion, and the Beatrix Farrand Society, amongst others.  

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OUR QUESTIONS FOR MICHAEL

Why do you think so many people are running this year? 

Certainly, it would be foolish to chalk it up to just coincidence; but I do think coincidence plays a part.  And of course the highly emotional issues of cruise ships, affordability, taxation, housing, and various others seem to have driven an interest. Some folks seem to be running focused on just one or two issues that they're extremely passionate about. That's not where I'm coming from.    

Why are you running? 

I'm running because I believe that my identity as a downtown year-round resident and simultaneously as a business owner gives me a balanced view on complicated issues. I believe that my time serving on boards and as the president of the Chamber of Commerce board for multiple years has also given me the skills needed to be able to work through a complicated issue and come up with a solution that might not make 100% of residents happy but can at least get into a very high percentage of satisfied folks. And I enjoy it—problem solving, policy development and policy tweaking, increasing efficiencies in systems, etc. 

How does your why for running delve into your bigger life purpose?

Well, that would assume I've identified a bigger life purpose.    

How would you try to create more trust between people not on town boards/committees and those who are? 

I think it's a small minority of residents that don't trust those serving on council or committees—a very vocal minority.   Bluntly, anyone that truly believes that any of the councilors have some nefarious and ulterior motive for serving, and volunteering hundreds of hours of their time, needs to reassess their assumptions. 

While we do have very clear divisions on a number of important topics, just because a council or committee member has a drastically different opinion than yours, doesn't mean they're out for self-glory or to line their pockets somehow. There should be room for discussion, negotiation and hopefully understanding. 

That doesn't fully answer your question, but there's part of my answer in there.  Simply put, dialogue. Which I believe the vast majority of the councilors are actually excelling at presently.  Look at the stats, present the stats, talk about the stats, and try to find common ground.  And don't make ultimatums. They never work. 

What are some things that you feel like the town should be focusing on, but isn’t? 

Well, we've got a lot of work to do with limited funds, always a conundrum.  

But certainly streetscape plans that have been sitting on shelves for 20+ years is a frustrating thing. I believe we should have been much more proactive in funding public works than we have been—it's embarrassing: our streetscape, sidewalks, crosswalks, and general appearance in comparison to Rockland, Camden, and Belfast.  How did those communities figure out how to do those projects within similarly limited budgets?   That's not to take anything away from our hard-working Public Works crew. It's our fault as a town that we didn't provide them the resources and the guidance on what we wanted done.  Instead we've ended up with asphalt sidewalks and crappy (and dangerous) crosswalks, along with folks in Town Hill and downtown Bar Harbor having to raise their own funds to build playgrounds. Not to mention a pool that's unable to be used. Thankfully, that seems to be a priority but that along with these other things take time and we're behind the eight ball.      

We asked this last year, but I think it’s really important to ask again. Do you have any ideas for increasing revenue to the town and alleviating the tax burden on property owners? 

Given the recent projection of double-digit property tax increases, I suspect this topic will be crucial for the next council.  Given my lack of involvement thus far with town budgeting, I can't yet speak to specifics but the old saw of "don't just look for more revenue, cut your expenses as well" seems apropos. 

With regards to revenue, I've been a proponent of a local options tax for over 25 years, even though many in my industry (hospitality) aren't.  In fact, I believe a local options tax should be allowed for both dining and lodging.  But the devil is in the details of course—we'd need to ensure that there was a ceiling on that tax—for instance, if we come up with a 1% tax, the legislation also should state that it can't be raised for a period of ​perhaps 10 (?) years.  There's nothing more than politicians like doing than going back to an easy pool of revenue and simply raising a tax. Look at the parking meters—we've already raised the rates twice in four years and we were talking about possibly raising them again this year.   

Further, we'd need to ensure that the vast (90%?, more?) amount of any monies raised comes directly back to the Town and that the Town be required to spend a certain percentage of that on the industry that collected it—visitation and hospitality.  That could be in the form of improving our streetscapes or in contributions to various NGO's—the Chamber, Library, YMCA, etc., etc. 

And of course all of this has to be done at the state level, so some serious public relations work and perhaps work with other similar communities to bond together has to start happening.  It was Nina St. Germain that suggested that perhaps the only path forward on this would be to work with the Camdens, Rocklands, Kennebunks of the state together in Augusta.   

Do you have any ideas for decreasing expenses? 

Analysis and then increasing our efficiency. In all departments.  Easy to say, much harder to achieve.  And easy to be shortsighted about it.  Cut the PD and eventually you have a pedestrian getting hit—direct correlation, perhaps not entirely, but the connection is there.  More speeders, more accidents, etc. Cut the planning department and all they can do is tread water with no time to work on and enact the kinds of zoning reform that has already been so successful—e.g. the Witham employee living quarters project that will eventually free up multiple single family year-round residences in downtown. That was only made possible because the planning department was robust enough to do the legal, logistical, and political work to make it happen. 

What skills do you bring to the table that you think other candidates might not bring?

I can't compare myself to other candidates because I don't know enough about them.  What I can tell anyone interested is that I've successfully run multiple businesses with complex budgets, some quite large, for many years. I've lived the reality of being overstaffed and had to make difficult decisions, and of course also the reality of being understaffed and trying to find employees in a difficult job market.  I've also worked on budgets for organizations that are significantly larger than the town's.  

But most importantly, I've spent my whole career making decisions collaboratively— not always successfully, but the intention to involve a diversity of opinions for important topics is one I take seriously in my businesses. It just makes for a better final decision.   

That all said, the issuance of bonds and several other areas of municipal budgeting will admittedly be new to me.   

What is it about Bar Harbor that you love? 

Too many things to list but I'm a big fan of the size of the community.  Being a downtown resident, in a walking town, that's safe and vibrant, is the best kind of living for my family and myself, personally. That said, the diversity of our neighborhoods and landscape is fantastic—if someone prefers to live in a rural setting with 1-3 acres, they can find that too. 

Obviously, the proximity to Acadia National Park is a high point. I do also love the diversity of the population—the fact that we still have a solid fishing community (although that needs constant analysis to ensure it can remain financially healthy) along with the hospitality, banking, legal, retail, and other service economy is what makes a small town great and feel real, despite the large influx of visitors for part of the year.  On that note, I personally love the influx—not just because it's what my personal finances are based on but because that's just who we are as a community and have been for almost 200 years!  

Additionally, I greatly value the non-profits that are in Bar Harbor. It's really quite amazing for a town of 5,000 to have a world class genetic research lab with over 1,000 employees, a fantastic hospital that's amazingly still independent, a brilliant and internationally regarded biological research lab, a nationally renowned and highly ranked college, one of the first and strongest Friends groups in the country, and so many thriving non-profits supporting other aspects of our lives.  

What is it that worries you? 

Housing affordability.  Sure, there's a lot of other concerns but that's at the core of the community. That includes affordability for those already living in homes here, including property tax increases, and also ensuring that there's a continuing development of affordable options for those that want to stay or move here. 

What have you done for yourself that you’re the most proud of? 

For myself?  Unsure what that means.   If that question refers to my personal life, then of course being part of a happy and healthy family that supports each other is number one.  Much lower down, I've managed to collect a good number of antiquarian books and birds (for my life list).   

What have you done for the community that you’re the most proud of?

I've served the larger community in multiple ways including serving on various boards such as the Abbe Musuem, the Beatrix Farrand Society, the Chamber of Commerce and the College of the Atlantic.  I'm particularly proud that I was involved in a rebirth/renovation/rejuvenation of the Criterion Theatre not just once, but twice, first buying and renovating it as a for-profit from long time owner BJ Morison (20002008), and then founding a non-profit and raising the funds ($2.5mm) to buy it back from the group that I sold it to, and directing a $1mm+ renovation in 2014/2015.  Bringing live music, live theatre, dance, opera, classical music and multiple other performance art to the stage has been extremely gratifying and I believe, quite important for the community. 

And of course I'm quite proud of the multiple restaurants I've opened over the years, some of them lasting 25+ years and providing not just enjoyable and meaningful places for locals and visitors alike, but well-paying jobs for several thousand people over the last 30 years.   

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