Mount Desert Selectboard Gets First Look at Public Safety Budget
Bar Harbor man set to be deputy clerk
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Side Street Cafe.
MOUNT DESERT—The police portion of the proposed public safety budget in Mount Desert went down by 2.8%, select board members in Mount Desert learned on January 6.
That portion of the proposed budget went from $1,155,094 to $1,122,597.
The fire department’s budget proposes an increase of approximately 7.5% to $2,689,046, and part of that is because Fire Chief Mike Bender is trying to make sure that someone can take his place to run the department in the future. To do this, there’s an assistant fire chief position in the budget with a salary of $105,337.
That position may be pulled out as the chief speaks to the Bar Harbor Fire Department.
Officer Lucas Keene is the next person heading to the academy for the Bar Harbor and Mount Desert Police Department, according to Police Chief David Kerns. The communications budget is proposed to increase by 1.41% to $484,686. The emergency management budget will increase from $1,000 to $4,500.
The entire public safety budget that is proposed increases by 4.2% from $4,429,157 to $4,614,168. It includes communications, hydrants, emergency management, animal control, shellfish conservation, street lights, police, and fire.
Appointments and Resignations
The board approved the appointment of Evan Sweeney as deputy clerk, the appointment of Alan Kimmerly to the board of assessment review, and the appointment of Shoshona Smith to the comprehensive planning committee. They also acknowledged the recertification of Elizabeth Yeo as a tax collector. She is the town’s deputy tax collector.
Sweeney replaces Jen McWain Buchanan who resigned from her position as deputy clerk. There had been eight applicants and three applicants went through two rounds of interviews. One applicant withdrew.
“We believe that Evan will be a valuable addition to the front office team,” Town Clerk Claire Woolfolk wrote in a memo to Town Manager Durlin Lunt. “He has fifteen years of customer service experience with local financial institutions and front office management in a prominent hospitality company.”
Sweeney will receive an hourly wage of $27.74, increasing to $29.29 after a six-month probationary period. He was a mortgage assistant at Bar Harbor Savings and Loan
“I'm incredibly excited to start working for the town of Mount Desert. My wife currently works for the Town of Bar Harbor in the finance department, so she helped me get interested in Town Work,” Sweeney said in a message Monday night. “It's a big deal for our family and we are all very excited to embark on this new journey.”
Vehicle Purchase and Trade-In
The board approved the purchase of a 2025 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 pickup truck for $39,107, trading in a 2016 Ford F-150 for $7,000 and using an additional $1,302 from the equipment line to cover the difference. Board members authorized the harbormaster to execute the necessary paperwork.
”It’s been nickel and dimeing us pretty hard since the January 10 salt water bath it took,” Harbormaster John Lemoine said. The salt water bath was the result of a destructive winter storm that caused flooding and other issues along the Maine coast in 2024.
Increase in Processing Fees
The board approved increasing processing fees by $20 per application for business licenses, liquor licenses, catering special events, and other services such as family burial recordings and using public space in the Village Green. Board members discussed potentially revisiting the policy for single-day vs. multi-day park usage fees.
It is currently $10 and some haven’t been changed in more than ten years. Some have not been increased in more than twenty years. The increase would be from January 7 submittals onward.
Fire Department and Ambulance Service
The board approved releasing up to $9,720 from the fire equipment engine reserve account to cover repairs to the fire department's ladder truck.
The truck failed its annual Maine commercial vehicle safety inspection because of corroded rear springs. The repairs to those springs can’t be done by the town’s mechanics.
Select board members also discussed plans to offer comprehensive cancer screenings for all firefighters, recognizing the higher cancer rates in the fire service.
Board members approved an ambulance service agreement with Southwest Harbor – Tremont Ambulance Service and authorized Chief Bender to sign on behalf of the town.
It is not the mutual aid agreement, Bender explained, but for when the paramedic in Mount Desert is being requested and/or intercepts the other ambulance at its request for advanced life support (ALS) services.
“This type of service is most often provided for emergency ambulance transport in which a local ambulance that can provide only basic life support (BLS) level of service is dispatched to transport a patient,” Chief Bender wrote in a January 2 memo.
When Southwest Harbor-Tremont Ambulance goes to receive Medicare reimbursement, this agreement has to be in place.
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
To watch the meeting:
Correction: An original version of this story misspelled Elizabeth Yeo’s name. The story was corrected at 11:36 a.m., January 8. We apologize for the error.
If you’d like to donate to help support us, you can, but no pressure! Just click here (about how you can give) or here (a direct link), which is the same as the button below.
If you’d like to sponsor the Bar Harbor Story, you can! Learn more here.