THE BIO:
I was born and raised in Fort Lauderdale. My maternal grandmother’s family settled in Fort Lauderdale very early, when the intracoastal waterway was still a natural flowage without concrete bulkheads directing its course. I did all of my schooling in Florida and started easing into adulthood there.
I consider myself lucky to have been raised in a family without prejudice and that was accepting to all. I believe that those beginning years and my life experiences in what is truly one of the biggest melting pots in our nation helped shape who I am today. A person who is able to get along with most anyone regardless of history, beliefs, or other defining qualities.
I moved to Maine, specifically Bar Harbor, in 1997 to work at my aunt’s restaurant. I have since worked numerous jobs, including a short stint as an animal care technician at the Jackson Lab. I began working for the Town of Bar Harbor as a seasonal police officer in the late 90s and was hired fulltime in 2001. I am now self employed as a residential caretaker, small shop owner, and a few other ventures.
I fell in love with Bar Harbor very quickly and decided that I wanted to live here. I did live here for a while, first in rented rooms and then renting an apartment above Sherman’s Bookstore. Even back then, housing issues were abundant. I lived as far away as Kenduskeag, driving to work every day, and then gradually made my way back to Bar Harbor via Bangor and Ellsworth. Now I’m proud to be a home owner and taxpayer in the community I love.
My wife and I have two daughters, one 14 and one 28. We would love for our children to continue to live here should they choose to do so and if they can afford it. We live in town and absolutely love the ability to walk both downtown and into Acadia National Park from our house. We are truly blessed to live in a place that so many love and admire.
I was a Rotary Club member for many years and served as the club president. It was during my presidential year that the Rotary Club took over the Park Street Playground rebuild and was able to bring it to fruition one year later. I am a founding member of the Bar Harbor Book Festival and I have volunteered for numerous community events and organizations. I believe in small communities and good neighbors. I see this kindness every day as neighbors take care of neighbors when they are sick, ailing, full of grief, or just need a hand loading up trash.
I recognize the challenges that are currently facing our community and implore you to keep reading to find out more about myself and the other candidates.
If you’d like to contact me, you can send me an email at sfarrar86@gmail
THE QUESTIONS
Why are you running? How does your why for running delve into your bigger life purpose?
When I first came to Bar Harbor in 1997 from southern Florida to work in my aunt and uncle’s restaurant, I immediately fell in love. I fell in love with the town, the beauty of the area, the lack of congestion and where there was no constant waiting in lines, and most importantly, the people. There was such a marked difference in the way that people whom I had never met prior treated me and interacted with myself and others. I went back to Florida after my first summer, but when I came back for my second summer, I never left.
I did not always live in Bar Harbor once I moved to Maine. Even back in the late 90s year-round housing was tough to find and home purchasing was out of reach for many. When I first got hired by the Bar Harbor Police Department, I was commuting every day from Kenduskeag because I was able to purchase an ancient mobile home in Pray’s Trailer Park for $5,000.00 cash. But that was thankfully short lived and I fought my way back to town.
That is my bigger purpose in life––to set goals for myself and my family and to work as hard as it takes to meet those goals and live the highest quality of life possible for us––and to try and help make that possible for others who dream about living a quality year-round life in Bar Harbor.
The last year or so the news has been full of cruise ships, short-term rentals, and affordable housing. This isn’t saying that those aren’t all tremendously important, but what are some of the things that we might not be focusing on as a town that needs to be focused on instead?
With all of the discussion regarding the town’s budget of late, there has not been enough realistic conversation about how we are going to keep property taxes down. We have a number of very large ticket items, infrastructure needs, a possible school rebuild bond, and a potential high school renovations and wastewater issues project bond heading our way and very little revenue generation other than property taxes.
Our proposed FY24 budget is $26,997,384.00 while our projected revenues other than property taxes are $4,878,156.00. That means that revenues other than property taxes only pay for 18.07% of our expenditures.
In addition, because we have fallen below the 91% town assessed property value to state assessed property value ratio set by the state, we have an upcoming full revaluation for all properties in Bar Harbor.
Budgets—whether they are for a town or a family—are about increasing revenue and cutting expenses. The Warrant Committee has a duty to look at the proposed budgets with a sharp eye toward that.
There’s a school bond on the ballot and a school that’s in dire need of repair. How have you educated yourself on the potential reconstruction of the school and what are your thoughts on how the council, the Warrant Committee, the town, and Conners Emerson School Board can work together to lessen the tax implication for the residents?
I have been following the school repair/rebuild issues very closely. We had a child there last year and it was impossible to walk into the building and not notice the temperature differences between rooms, the water stains on the ceilings, and the buckets scattered throughout the school to catch water from roof leaks. Our child is a special needs child and required a lot of one-on-one time which normally either took place in the special needs room, with two to four other children present, or a very small office space assigned to a staff member.
The need for a new school is very real. The desire to achieve this is paramount in the minds of school staff and parents. The 58-million-dollar price tag is incredibly daunting! Community members who serve on the different school boards, some of whom don’t even have children in the school system, are working tirelessly and diligently to find alternative means of funding.
In order to make this dream possible it is incumbent on the Town Council and the Warrant Committee to closely guard spending in other areas. I am a data, numbers, and facts driven person who also recognizes the power of the heart.
The school rebuild is a project that has the potential to epitomize the definition of small town. It will take all of us, the town, individuals, and businesses, both for profit and non-profits, to allow this need to come to fruition without overburdening the taxpayers. And it’s a perfect example of how in a time of need, a community can come together to make something happen.
What have you done for yourself that you’re the most proud of? What have you done for the community that you’re the most proud of?
I am proud to have served our town for 15-plus years. I am proud to have adopted a child who has autism, ODD, and anxiety disorder and having to been able to adapt my life and parenting style to navigate these challenges. I am proud to live in Bar Harbor.
I have been a Rotary Club member and served as its club president. It was during my presidency that the Rotary Club took over the Park Street Playground rebuild and was able to bring it to fruition one year later. I am also a founding member of the Bar Harbor Book Festival, which has been on a slight hiatus due to COVID and other issues, but which will be back this year, and I have volunteered for numerous community events. I also believe in small communities and good neighbors. Helping my neighbors in small quiet ways—ways that don’t make the papers or social media or news blogs—is what I’m proud of. It’s what I’m the most proud of when I think of other community members who do this every day, too. It isn’t about glory for these people. It’s about kindness. And the reason I love Bar Harbor and stayed here all this time—even while seeing the worst moments in people’s lives as a law enforcement officer—is because of that kindness, the way neighbors help neighbors. Not looking for glory. Just being good.
Have you ever travelled to another town and thought to yourself, what an amazing place! I would love to live here. I wonder what it is like to live here? Well, we live in such a place. A place filled with magical beauty, a place where others wish to live, and a place where many wish to visit. All of us have been blessed, somehow, with the ability to actually live behind the curtain of wonderment! It is not always perfect, sometimes that snow globe gets shaken a little too hard, but working together and sensibly, we will continue to make Bar Harbor a fantastic year-round community.
The Warrant Committee considers, investigates, and reports on all of the election warrant articles except for the candidates for Town Meeting. What particular skills do you have that you think will help you perform that role?
As stated prior, I am a data, numbers, and facts driven person. In my years as a police officer, I have had to deal with many situations that involved more than one party and more than one set of emotions and beliefs. There is very rarely a simplistic solution. I have learned to gather the facts and the data, the evidence if you will, and then make a knowledgeable decision.
In order to do this, you have to be able to listen to all sides involved and have the ability to recognize that your beliefs are not always correct or the best and be willing to have an open mind accepting of change. Being unwilling to do this, creates a massive divisiveness in our town. Divisiveness ends positive forward movement.
What’s a question that I should be asking you that I’m not asking? Feel free to answer it if you’d like to!
Question – How do we create a thriving year-round community that doesn’t pit any one faction of the residents against any of the others and allows for adjustments that can work for all?
Bar Harbor currently, and almost always, has had a seasonal economy. In order to have a more robust year-round economy, we need to be thinking of not only affordable housing but also business attraction and/or incubation programs that help diversify the economy and pay a wage that allows people to build and live here.
Our blossoming property values and associated rising property taxes tend to work hard at nullifying attempts at affordable housing. By working diligently to attract more year-round businesses with better paying positions available, we would be providing more income for many seasonal businesses on a year-round or nearly year-round basis while at the same time helping to break the ever-increasing struggle to find seasonal workers.
In addition, better paying year-round job opportunities would hopefully attract employees who can afford to purchase houses in this very popular location, to maintain the properties, and to pay property taxes.
Shaun Farrar often writes for the Bar Harbor Story.