Tremont Police Calls More Than Southwest Harbor Chief Expected

Angela Chamberlain's appointment as CEO confirmed by select board

Nov 21, 2024

The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Paradis Ace Hardware.

TREMONT—The number of law enforcement calls in Tremont has turned out to be higher than expected according to Southwest Harbor Police Chief John Hall. However, Hall added, a large portion of them have been civil, rather than criminal, in nature, and most of the criminal complaints have been taken care of at the time of the call and have not resulted in arrests or charges.

Hall gave an update on Southwest Harbor’s law enforcement coverage of Tremont to the Tremont Select Board and Town Manager Jesse Dunbar on Monday, November 18 at the regularly scheduled bi-weekly select board meeting. Those services are provided under a contract that started on July 1, 2024.

Currently, the department has three officers working, with one of those officers still at the Maine Criminal Justice Academy (MCJA) attending the 18-week long Basic Law Enforcement Training Program (BLETP) which all law enforcement officers in Maine must attend to be fully certified and able to respond to all call types alone. There is always at least one officer on duty, Hall said.

The officers, other than himself, are working 24-hour shifts. This is a schedule that the officers came up with themselves, Hall said, and it seems to be working out well and actually helping the officers to maintain good morale. The officers are allowed to sleep up to six hours overnight if the call volume allows. Hall works two 12-hour shifts per week, as part of his weekly schedule, to help facilitate the 24-hour officer schedule. If the officers don’t have a chance to sleep because it has been too busy, he will come in and cover for them. This situation has not presented itself yet, Hall said.

According to Hall, some of the officers appreciate that they have the opportunity to delve into investigation and the possible clearing of complaints immediately due to the length of the shifts, and they see this as a way to expedite services to the department’s customers: the communities it serves.

Officer James Kamorski graduates from the BLETP in December and Officer Bradley Russell will begin attending the BLETP in January. Once Russell graduates, there will be four officers working, including Hall. Additionally, Hall told the select board that he has given a potential new hire a conditional offer of employment pending background checks and the rest of the hiring process. Should this potential new officer work out, it would put the department only one officer short of a full contingency of officers.

Board member Kevin Buck asked Hall if the department would be continuing with 24-hour shifts once the department was fully staffed. Hall responded that he would leave that up to the officers and even though he can tell them what they will work, he would rather keep officer morale up and let them work what makes them the happiest.

The only concern brought up during the meeting was the lack of police coverage for the Octoberfest this year and that subject was broached by member Eric Eaton who said that it was a situation that a community member spoke to him about. Hall said that he was out of town during the event and that he had a conversation with the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department prior to the event to see if the department wanted to cover it because he only had one officer available to work.

Before his presentation concluded, Hall asked the select board if there was a way for them to facilitate some sort of public poll or comment collection process so that he could receive feedback from the community regarding the services that the Southwest Harbor Police Department has provided thus far. The select board and Dunbar all agreed that they could make that happen.

There was no action taken on this item.

ANGELA CHAMBERLAIN’S APPOINTMENT AS CEO AND LPI CONFIRMED

After Hall’s update, the select board unanimously voted to confirm the appointment of Bar Harbor Code Enforcement Officer (CEO) Angela Chamberlain as the new CEO and Local Plumbing Inspector (LPI) for the Town of Tremont.

“You excited?” asked Eaton.

“I am,” Chamberlain responded. “It’s going to be a different pace.”

Chamberlain, who has been the CEO in Bar Harbor for 25 years, resigned her position in Bar Harbor on November 14. Her last day in Bar Harbor will be January 1, 2025, and she will start in Tremont on January 6.

“I have been offered, and accepted, the Code Enforcement Officer position in Tremont,” Chamberlain said. “Today my life looks completely different from how it did in my twenties and thirties. As I am nearing my fifties and my life is changing, so too, are my priorities. I’ve spent the last 25 years with the Town of Bar Harbor working long hours, attending countless night meetings, answering emails on vacation, and I’ve realized that there is more to life than this.”

SUBDIVISION AMENDMENTS INSTEAD OF MORATORIUM

Peter Madiera who was representing the Friends of Tremont and Lopaus Point spoke to the select board regarding ideas that the group had come up with involving some “minor tweaks” to the town’s land use ordinances that they would like to present to the town’s planning board and CEO rather than following through on the idea of pressing for a moratorium.

The group had previously circulated a petition seeking enough signatures to place a moratorium on “subdivisions within the Limited Residential Shoreland Zone.” The group has since conferred with Dunbar and the planning board chair and has come to the realization that it may be able to address its ordinance concerns in a more expeditious manner if group members bring the ideas to the planning board and see about bringing the possible ordinance changes to the town meeting.

In response to an email from the Bar Harbor Story asking about the possible moratorium, Dunbar said, “It is my understanding they are holding off on the petition while they explore this route with the planning board. To clarify, going to the planning board would be the routine/usual way to go about requesting changes.”

AUTHORIZATION FOR THE PUBLIC SAFETY BUILDING COMMITTEE TO SPEND MONEY

The public safety building committee is moving forward with its plans to build a new public safety building in Tremont and asked for some allocated funds from the public safety building reserve. The top site of possible locations for the new building is on the same lot as the town office building.

The committee is requesting money for site planning and engineering along with possible building designs to make sure that the current town office site is feasible for the building and all associated infrastructure.

The select board unanimously approved the committee to spend up to $15,000 for site planning and engineering.

WHARF GARAGE LEASE

The select board had previously approved discontinuing the lease that it had with D&R Bait who had been leasing the garage for bait storage so that the town could utilize the garage as a space to perform equipment repairs and off-season work. D&R Bait recently expressed an interest in continuing the lease to Dunbar.

Dunbar told the select board that he and Harbormaster Tyler Damon had come up with a plan to satisfy both parties. The town could, with select board approval, lease the garage to D&R Bait from April 1 until October 31 for a $7,000 per year or $1,000 per month for seven months. The lease would carry a stipulation that the garage must be cleaned and ready for the town to use during the off-season by October 31.

This agreement would put $7,000 back into the town’s wharf fund. The select board unanimously approved for Dunbar to sign a lease with D&R Bait under these conditions.

REPAIR OF SEAL COVE BOAT RAMP

The select board had previously authorized replacement of some concrete panels at the Seal Cove boat ramp and had thought that spare panels the town already owned would work for the replacements. Apparently, the approximately 50 excess panels that the town currently possesses were originally made for the Bernard boat ramp and are too big for the Seal Cove boat ramp.

Dunbar was seeking authorization to purchase 30 new concrete panels from American Concrete for $6,800 that will be made to the correct size for the Seal Cove boat ramp and will come with stainless steel fasteners. The overstock panels that the town currently owns have steel fasteners that don’t last nearly as long in the saltwater environment.

The select board unanimously approved Dunbar to make the purchase for the quoted purchase amount.

SNOWPLOW AND SANDER FOR THE TOWN’S NEW PLOW TRUCK

At its meeting on October 7, the select board voted to purchase a new Dodge 5500 chassis for $69,000 as a new plow truck. At that time, the town had two plow trucks out for major repairs and thought at least one of them would be unrepairable. Therefore, the town was planning on using the sander and plow from whichever truck did not get put back into service for the new plow truck.

As of Monday night’s meeting, both of those plow trucks had been repaired and put back into service and the select board had to choose whether to keep one as a spare and use the gear from it for the new truck or to purchase a new plow and sander for the new truck.

One of the older trucks has an electric sander and one has a hydraulic sander. This means that the new truck would have to be rigged for an electric sander or a hydraulic sander and the older truck whose gear was being used on the new truck would be unusable as a plow truck unless the new truck broke down.

At its September 16 meeting, the select board had canceled an order for a new International chassis to be used as a plow truck. That chassis was going to cost $223,000. Because of the large cost savings from cancelling the International chassis and purchasing the Dodge 5500 chassis instead, the select board voted unanimously to purchase a new plow and sander for the new truck at a cost of $19,700 which is $10,400 for the sander and $9,300 for the 10’ plow.

OTHER BUSINESS

The select board had previously signed a consent agreement for a property at 54 Clark Point Road regarding code violations. The CEO has since determined that all conditions of the agreement have been met and that the property is back in compliance and was requesting that the select board sign a letter to the property owners stating that the consent agreement has been fulfilled. The select board voted unanimously to sign the letter.

The select board and Dunbar went over a potential select board meeting schedule for 2025 meeting dates. After the removal of one meeting date, the select board voted unanimously to adopt the schedule.

The select board and Dunbar went over a potential select board budget preparation schedule. The select board voted unanimously to adopt the schedule as presented.

Normally the town office closes at noon on Christmas Eve and is closed for Christmas and reopens the day after Christmas. Dunbar said that historically both Christmas Eve and the day after Christmas are very quiet at the town office and he asked the staff what they would like to ask for it off. Dunbar asked the select board if they would approve the town office being closed the day after Christmas if the staff worked a full day on Christmas Eve.

Board Chair Jaime Thurlow said, “You don’t think you need time on Christmas Eve?”

Thurlow then proposed and made a motion that the town office be closed at noon on Christmas Eve and the entirety of the day after Christmas. The select board unanimously approved the motion.

The last order of business for the select board was to appoint someone to the Municipal Review Committee Board of Directors. City of Bangor Public Works Director Aaron Houtari was unanimously chosen from the list of candidates.

The next meeting of the Tremont Select Board is scheduled for Monday, December 2, at 5 p.m., in the Harvey Kelley Meeting Room at the town office.

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