Police Chief Jim Willis' Last Day is August 4

APPLL court case update, Atlantic Street water issue has deadline, and Council News

BAR HARBOR—Bar Harbor Police Chief Jim Willis is retiring as chief for both Bar Harbor and Mount Desert, interim Town Manager Sarah Gilbert announced at the Bar Harbor Town Council meeting last night.

Willis’ last day will be August 4.

"As some of you may have heard, Chief Jim Willis is retiring from the Town of Mt. Desert, and subsequently Bar Harbor.  Bar Harbor has benefitted from Jim's exemplary leadership for over nine years.  He has managed and mentored not only his staff but mentored his colleagues.  I would like to thank Jim for his dedication and wish him all the best in the next chapter of his life,” Gilbert said.

image via WMTW

Willis began in November 2013 as a temporary Bar Harbor Police chief while Nathan Young was on administrative leave. At the time, Willis was chief in the neighboring town of Mount Desert and told the Bangor Daily News that “his main interest in serving as acting chief in Bar Harbor is to ‘help out a neighbor.’”

Eventually, the two towns shared him as chief, an agreement that Gilbert said continues to exist despite Willis’ retirement. Under the agreement, Willis was an employee of Mount Desert, which then invoiced Bar Harbor each month for 60 percent of the costs. Costs include salary, cruiser and cell expenses as well as professional association dues.

Hochman wished Chief Willis the best in his next role. “He has done a great job in Bar Harbor. He really did a great job managing two disparate towns and bringing our services closer together.”

While he has spent nine years as the shared police chief, Willis has spent 19 years at the Town of Mount Desert, a period that included him serving as acting town manager from 2006-2009. Prior to that he was a victim witness advocate at the Hancock County District Attorney’s Office and a patrol lieutenant at the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office. He attended the University of Maine at Fort Kent and Eastern Maine Vocational Technical Institute and had formerly been the chair of the Maine Law Enforcement Accreditation Committee, instructor at the Maine Criminal Justice Academy, and president of the Maine Chiefs of Police Association. He had also been the chair of the Hancock County Drug Task Force Advisory Board.

“He’s been an awesome guy and he’s going to be missed in this town,” Councilor Joe Minutolo said.

Peacock agreed. She spoke of how Willis “has really built the leadership of the whole department and you can see that leadership in the shared mission of all the work in the people below him.” She added, “I’m super bummed that he’s retiring.”

Gilbert said the hiring process has not begun for Willis’ replacement and that it would be a joint venture between the towns. She is not 100% sure who would head the departments (if necessary) before the new chief was hired. Currently, Mount Desert’s Kevin Edgecomb is the patrol lieutenant. In Bar Harbor, David Kerns is a captain and Chris Wharff is the special services lieutenant and harbormaster.

We’ve contacted Chief Willis for a statement. He did not respond by press time.

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APPLL et al vs Town of Bar Harbor et al

The results of the cruise ship lawsuit are months away, Council Chair Valerie Peacock said during  an update about the lawsuit against the town’s land use ordinance changes passed by voters in November. The changes limit cruise ship disembarkations to 1,000 or less a day.

“It's up to him [Walker]. There's no deadline for that one, but we're assuming that we’re going to get it hopefully by the end of the year,” Peacock told the council. “That's a little bit longer than the original timeline that we were hoping for a decision, but that’s where we are.”

Walker refers to Lance Walker, the federal court judge presiding over the case.

Currently, the number of cruise ships that visit is agreed upon by a series of memorandums of understanding between the cruise lines and the town. Peacock said those agreements will continue until there is a legal ruling. If the ruling is in the town’s favor, the town will then institute the changes to the land use ordinance that creates those limits and fines for exceeding those limits.

The suit was filed in December and states why APPLL (the Association to Protect and Preserve Local Livelihoods, a recently created nonprofit ) is challenging the ordinance changes. The Maine Pilots Association also joined the suit with APPLL. Charles Sidman, the lead petitioner for the citizens’ initiative requesting the change joined the defense with the town. Each side filed briefs and motions through the last seven months. There are over 170 filings and documents on the federal court website. Last week there was a three-day bench trial in Bangor.

 “It’s been this sort of fire hose of work happening,” Peacock said.

Each side gathered information, created depositions, and entered the discovery period where each side is asked for documents. “There’s just been this big back and forth for both sides,” she said.  

The trial, she said, was a continuation of the evidence and discovery.

“I think, from our perspective, it went well,” she said.

The plaintiffs have 30 days to file briefs from when they get the transcripts from the court. That is where the bulk of the arguments will be and those will be publicly filed. The town and Sidman will have 30 days to respond to that filing. The plaintiffs will then have 20 days to respond to that. There is no deadline for the judge to have a decision. The bulk of the cost of the attorney’s work is past, Peacock said.

They had a mediation approach to the upcoming season, which gave them a fast-track trial, which could have taken months.

Friedmann asked how they would handle the request for bookings for the next season.

The council in January said that they weren’t going to enforce the land use ordinance changes based on the ruling, Peacock said.

The memorandums of agreement between the town and cruise lines about visits (MOAs) applied to 2023 and 2024 when they were created because cruise ships book out (generally) for 18 months.

“Right now it’s booked under the MOAs,” Peacock said of the 2024 season.

If the town wins and the ordinance is upheld, she said, then they figure out how to enforce the ordinance with the 1,000 per day caps.

There are no MOAs specifically for 2025. There are, however, bookings for up to 2028 or 2029 from older agreements.

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ATLANTIC AVE AND HANCOCK LANE NEEDS RESOLUTION, COUNCIL DECLARES

There is hope for eventual closure for the seven-year saga of water incursion on Atlantic Avenue. After hearing an update on the water issue from Public Works Director Bethany Leavitt, the Town Council unanimously directed her to engage in communications with property owners on Hancock Lane and the council resolved to have a solution to this in hand by December 23.

The issue is that water is discharging from 23 Atlantic Avenue. That discharge is flooding the area, often causing ice buildup and hazardous conditions.  TC Hafford Basement Systems Specialists created the system to contain and remove the excess water on this property. The property is currently listed for sale.

Councilor Joe Minutolo said he went down to the area and talked to a resident. “It is a massive amount of water pumping out of one of the neighbor’s buildings. It’s pumped onto the surface and is basically flooding a neighbor’s yard or close to it.” It isn’t sustainable, he said. “Something has to happen.”

The initial cause likely stems from groundwork done by the town to solve another problem in the extremely ledge-filled area. According to former Town Manager Kevin Sutherland, water had been infiltrating a sewer pipe. When the town repaired that pipe, the surface water went somewhere else rather than escaping through the hole in the pipe.

That somewhere else was a basement in an Atlantic Avenue residence. That resident has to pump water out of his house almost daily.

“When there’s a rainfall, there’s a river running across my property. We’ve all been very patient. We feel very badly for the party who has been pumping their basement for years now,” Einhorn said in November at a Manager’s Minutes meeting at the Jesup Memorial Library.

Leavitt said Tuesday night that the project’s been going on for a while. “One of the things we’ve looked at over time is different ways to address the issue.”

Hancock Lane is a private road. The town looked at three options in depth, but the first two options involved continuing to pump water. The project’s goal is to not require pumping. Going through private property on Atlantic Ave to fix the situation requires dealing with 320 cubic yards of ledge. Using the town’s existing sewer easement between Atlantic Ave and Hancock Lane would also require pumping and the trench of the sewer line, which is a major trunk line of the town, was backfilled with blasted ledge, which is difficult to get out. It’s also in close proximity to the backyards of several houses on Hancock Lane and is higher than those backyards.

The third option involves several easements on Hancock Lane itself. The town has formally requested those easements. Of the seven that they need, only two were received. The next step is to schedule meetings with people who haven’t signed. They have asked to schedule those meetings with the other five property owners.

 “We as a council have to make sure that this is done right and make this a win-win for everybody,” Minutolo said. He suggested sweetening the offer for the Hancock Lane residents to make it more enticing, possible making the road nicer or adding services. “It’s a really tough situation. It’s a hazard down there and really something needs to be done.”

Brechlin asked what the objections were of the five people who wouldn’t sign the easements. Leavitt said she felt uncomfortable speaking for them, but that it wasn’t a convenience. One person works from home and blasting ledge would interrupt that, and there are concerns that homes would be damaged during the construction period. She has offered ways to monitor potential damage and impact and offered to perform pre- and post-construction surveys of the properties.

Using the town’s own sewer easement is the fallback position for the town, but it is closer to the homes and it will be a higher elevation, and there are potential difficulties with that option.

Friedmann said that he was disappointed with the letter written by Leavitt and Greg Johnson that was sent to property owners. He wanted it to have the options more specifically laid out in a way that the recipients realized that the town believed the right thing is to go down Hancock Lane with their permission or go behind their houses in the easement the town has, which the town has a legal right to do. “The letter was so poorly drafted.”

Leavitt said that the last time it was brought up that way, it brought tears to residents’ eyes and she chose not to have that happen again.

“I think there’s a way of putting it that’s not a threat,” Friedmann said. He said the town needs to present the options and he understands that it can be upsetting for people to have any kind of change.

“An easement is an easement, we do have the rights there,” Minutolo said, and he thanked Leavitt for taking the more thoughtful approach.

Davin Einhorn of 26 Atlantic Avenue said that there are people on Hancock Lane who are unaffected by this. It doesn’t have to be a threat, he said, you just present it as the two options. “Hopefully, we’ll get them to be good neighbors and pick the most desirable option.”

Another resident, Chad Smith thanked the council and Leavitt for the high level of competence she has in her work. He hoped that a favorable outcome can be achieved. “It’s an intolerable situation to say the least.”

Friedmann said that there should be a deadline. “Seven years should be a limit.”

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HIGGINS PIT SOLAR ARRAY A BIT BEHIND SCHEDULE

Leavitt also gave an update on the Higgins Pit Solar array project.

She said that staff has been working to implement the project with Sun Dog Solar, which won the RFP for development services, and the town is now using staff from a Climate to Thrive to help with the project. They are a bit behind schedule and focused on developing the plans to submit to the Planning Board. The existing access road from Route 3 doesn’t meet all the requirements and they need an additional easement to deal with the stormwater collection and road shaping. A Seabury Drive property owner has contacted them and that may be a way to create permanent access to the site.

On May 23, Beacon Environmental Consultants visited the site and didn’t have any surprises. Its report has not been given to town. By August 11, the requirements and costs to interconnect with Versant will probably be available. She is also looking to schedule a neighborhood meeting with abutting properties.

“There’s a lot of work happening,” she said.

The project was approved June 2022.

“The cost savings to the town are going to be significant once this thing is up and running,” Friedmann said, he said the project has been slowed down a bit since the town currently doesn’t have a sustainability director

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COMMITTEE APPOINTMENTS

Every year in July, the Council reappoints and newly appoints multiple committee members whose terms expire on July 31 of the applicable year. Terms can vary in length, going up to five years.

“It’s awesome to see all the new and old names,” Council Chair Valerie Peacock said of the list.

The Appointments Committee met for 6.5 hours for two days, Councilor Matthew Hochman said of the committee’s interview process for candidates.

Those appointed were:

Appeals Board: Three-year term - Anna Durand, Robert Webber;

Communication and Technologies Committee - Lucas Callado, Bo Jennings, Cosmo Nims;

Conservation Commission: Three-year term - Lucian Smith, Lars Larson;

Cruise Ship Committee: Three-year term except where noted- Amy Powers, Greg Gordon, Jeremy Dougherty, John Kelly (Acadia National Park rep) for a one-year term;

Design Review Board: Three-year term - Barbara Sassaman (Caines abstained), Andrea Lepcio, Erin Cough (Brechlin abstained);

Harbor Committee: Three-year term - Pancho Cole;

Housing Authority: Five-year term - Ken Smith, Kevin Knopp;

Marine Resources Committee: Three-year term - Fiona de Koning, Scott Swann, Natalie Springuel;

Parking Solutions Task Force: Heather Sorokin, Christine Witham, Erin Cough (Brechlin abstained);

Parks & Recreation Committee: Three-year term -  Jeff Dobbs, Erin Cough (Brechlin abstained);

Planning Board: Three-year term - Millard Dority, Joe Cough, Cosmo Nims, J. Clark Stivers;

Task Force on the Climate Emergency: Three-year term - Mary Ann Handel, Ezra Sassaman (Caines abstained), Jennifer Crandall;

Multiple former councilors fill the ranks of the committee. Erin Cough, Jeff Dobbs, and J. Clark Stivers all recently left the council. Bo Jennings and Cosmo Nims both had unsuccessful bids for council seats this June, and were appointed to committees and boards.

Almost all the votes were unanimous. There was only one no vote on a nomination; Caines voted against Joe Cough being reappointed to the Planning Board. The appointment passed 6-1.

Brechlin abstained from all votes on Erin Cough. Cough is the director of the Bar Harbor Historical Society and Brechlin has been a board member for ten years and is the immediate past president. “Erin as director there reports to the board, so I’m in effect one of her supervisors,” he told the Bar Harbor Story Wednesday via email. He also left the room during her interviews with the Appointments Committee.

Similarly, Caines abstained from the votes involving Sassamans. Caines asked if she should explain the reasons for her abstentions and the chair told her not to. Caines is in a long-term relationship with Ezra Sassaman. Barbara Sassaman is his relative. She also recused herself from the votes and interviews for the Sassamans and Mike Rogers during the Appointments Committee meetings.

Mike Rogers had been thought of as an appointment to the Planning Board. Since he is already serving on the Design Review Board, which is quasi-judicial, the Appointments Committee rethought this recommendation and nominated Cosmo Nims instead. This was not reflected in the Town Council packet, but in Hochman’s remarks during the council meeting.

MDI High School Trustees. Joe Cough was nominated to the normally elected position for the board governing the high school. Cough had been previously elected. His term was up this year. He decided not to run again. However, no one else ran. The nomination was unanimous.

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FINANCIAL REPORT

Despite higher than expected expenditures, Gilbert expects the town to end up with a surplus of approximately $200,000.

Gilbert quickly discussed the fiscal year that ended in June. Expenditures were a little over 100%. “We will probably be just a tiny bit more than that,” she said.

Municipal wages were at 101% mostly due to overtime at the beginning of the year when union contracts were being negotiated.

“We still haven’t seen the June legal cost,” she said of that expenditure line and she’ll update in August.

The town is at 121% for revenue thanks to higher than expected payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT from non-profit organizations who do not have to pay property tax that they would if they were a residence or commercial business), vehicle excise tax, and the town’s interest income.

Higher than originally budgeted expenditures include the town’s legal fees which are currently 446.6% over budget through May.

During the June tax collection, the town served 184 delinquent notices and 69 parcels had liens recorded. There were 65 last year and 79 in 2020. Of this year’s 69 parcels, 16 have paid in the last 17 days. The average lien is $2,929.

New parking rates went into effect on July 1, and from July 1-17 the revenue from parking was $428,00.

The council also approved James W. Wadman as the auditor for fiscal year 2023.

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PARKING FEES AND PERMITS AND DISCOUNTS

The town moved forward in further tweaking its parking ordinances and policy. There will be a public hearing on some of the changes on August 15.

The town proposed adjusting the violation fees for the vehicles and traffic ordinance and amending the parking and paid parking policy. Councilors also discussed the discount cards which give 50% off to residents throughout Mount Desert Island.

According to Special Services Lieutenant Christopher Wharff, the fine amount changes approved at the last council meeting also had to be changed in the ordinance and not just the schedule of department fees. Those changes were increases. The fee violation went from $30 to $40 for the first violation. The late fees increased from $50 to $80.

According to the packet of information handed out to councilors and available to the public, “Additional changes recommended by the Parking Solutions Task Force were accidentally omitted in the last revision, including 15-minute spaces and extending the hours of permit parking from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Contractor/dumpster and special events permit fees also need to be increased to match the new base fees.”

The council adopted those amendments.

Caines asked if they have the bandwidth as a town to enforce the permit spots on side streets.

“We do,” Wharff said. “Just because someone has an out of state plate or a park pass doesn’t mean that they don’t have a permit.” There are guest permits and bed and breakfast permits as well, he said.

Hochman asked about people buying local discount cards in bulk and if you could limit it to one per day per customer. According to Betsy Spear, one person bought $1,000 worth of discount cards. Each card can hold up to a $100 value. There was no limit set on what MDI residents can purchase at one time. The council unanimously voted to limit purchasing of the discount cards to one per transaction.

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SCHOOL BUILDING PROJECT

Conners Emerson Vice Principal Michael Fournier and School Superintendent Mike Zboray gave a quick update about the school building project, which was approved by voters this June. During this stage, the project is further refined by the building committee with input from teachers. Next, the firm the school is working with, Harrimans, creates construction documents. That occurs from December until around May 24.

“There will likely be community forums then,” Zboray said.

The project then goes out to bid in May. Construction begins in June, 2024 with completion July, 2026.

The fundraising committee met two weeks ago and will meet again this Thursday. The committee will be meeting with lawyers about the dos and don’ts of fundraising and the legalities.

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SENIOR TAXPAYER ASSISTANCE PROGRAM

There will be a public hearing on August 15 to clarify some aspects of the Senior Taxpayer Assistance Program.

According to Tax Collector Betsy Spear, staff wanted to clarify renter qualifications, change the timeline so that they can administer the program properly, and update how the rebate was calculated. The program is anticipated to cost $3,000 this fiscal year. The FY2025 budgeting will be based on this year’s requests for assistance.

The council also requested that the property owners not be notified when renters ask for rebates.  

PUBLIC HEARINGS

Special amusement permits were given to Stewman’s Lobster Pound Downtown (Class 3a); the Dog and Pony Tavern (Class 4); Ivy Manor Inn, (Class 2ao); and West Street Hotel (Class 3a).

No members of the public spoke during the hearings. All the permits passed unanimously.

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COMPREHENSIVE PLAN

Councilor Kyle Shank gave the update on the Comprehensive Plan. He said about 170 people attended the May visioning sessions and the feedback was thorough. People wanted more concrete aspects to the vision. Planning Director Michele Gagnon and town staff are talking to town committees and boards to get feedback from them. There are currently no plans at the moment for further public engagement, but he’s sure there will be.

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COUNCIL COMMENTS

Brechlin asked about possibly changing the speed advisory devices’ flashing.

Shank congratulated Angie Chamberlain for the 24 years she’s been with the town. He also plugged the College of the Atlantic’s upcoming Summer Institute.

Friedmann thanked staff for the work with glass jar recycling. Friedmann also said that the town has passed the tipping point in what it can take for tourism. There’s too much traffic, he said, and the park is overcrowded.

“There’s no place to park on trailheads anymore,” he said. “We’re all here because we love the quality of life, but we’ve surpassed that.”

He said he wanted to make a plea to the business community to be part of the solution. He said he wasn’t against tourism or visitors, but “I’ve kind of had it and people that I talk to are expressing similar frustrations.”

Minutolo agreed and mentioned that his son and his friend who is visiting couldn’t find easy access to the trails.

Caines said she had a great deal of fun on the Appointments Committee and that it might be good to dig into the structure of committees and take time at the next meeting to talk about conflicts of interest. She said she heard during the interviews that there was redundancy of work and lack of quorums. “It’s a big conversation for sure,” but worth having, she said.

Peacock said the manager search posting is live currently. She hopes to have all the applications by the first week of August.

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EXECUTIVE SESSIONS

The council went into executive session to discuss the town manager search and also transfer sick leave. When councilors left the executive session, they voted to to approve a sick bank for an employee..

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PUBLIC COMMENT

There was no public comment during that designated time.

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LINKS TO LEARN MORE

https://www.townhallstreams.com/stream.php?location_id=37&id=50531

https://www.barharbormaine.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/3245?html=true

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UPDATE! I forgot to disclose that a very long time ago, I was a dispatcher in Mount Desert. Jim was my boss. Also, I started my writing career as a freelancer for the Ellsworth Weekly and Earl Brechlin was in charge of both that paper and the Bar Harbor Times, so he was my boss, too. I’m probably going to forget to disclose that every time I write a council article because my brain is like that. Apologies!

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