Tremont Select Board Appears Ready to Try and Build Brand-New Public Safety Building
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Choco-Latté Café.
TREMONT—After much discussion at Monday night’s Tremont Select Board meeting, the board appeared to decide to not move a purchase and sale agreement with Michael and Patricia Wagner to town vote and instead pursue the construction of a new public safety building at the same location as the town office.
The discussion included the introduction of grant possibilities to fund a substantial portion of a brand-new public safety building,
The Wagner property consists of a two-bedroom, two-bathroom residence as well as a commercial steel building with three large garage bays that is currently a boat shop. The agreed upon purchase price for the two properties was $972,000.
The concept for the new public safety building would be to have space for the fire department, the ambulance service, and possibly some workspace for police officers.
In 2023 the Tremont Select Board created a public safety building committee to work on planning, logistics, and financing options.
In July of this year, Town Manager Jesse Dunbar, Tremont Volunteer Fire Department members, and members of the Southwest Harbor—Tremont Ambulance Service had completed a tour of the existing Wagner property, which is located at 31 and 37 Harbor Drive.
Dunbar said that earlier in the day of the select board meeting, September 15, Alan Feuer sent a letter to Dunbar that was an assessment of the properties by fire department personnel. Feuer is on both the board of directors for the fire department and the board of directors for the ambulance service. He is also a volunteer firefighter for the Tremont Volunteer Fire Department and is on the town’s public safety building committee.
During the meeting, Select Board Chair Jamie Thurlow asked Feuer if there was anything that he wanted to present to the board from the perspective of the public safety building committee.
Feuer responded he has been doing research on congressionally directed spending (CDS) grants and has learned that there are two programs that would be applicable to the new public safety building funding. One grant is through Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and one is through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Feuer said that unfortunately Tremont is too wealthy (median income is too high) for the HUD grant, but the USDA program has no such income provisions.
The town could apply for a USDA grant next spring and it would apply to a new building. The grant would pay for 75% of the cost, but there is no guarantee of receiving the grant.
“It doesn’t really matter to me whether we buy this existing building and convert it or build something, as long as we can build something within our budget,” said select board member Eric Eaton. “I just want to know what you guys want to do.”
Fire Chief Keith Higgins said that he believes that there are many issues with the pre-existing buildings and that a lot of work would be needed to make the steel building functional as a public safety building. The house, he said, is beyond repair.
Both Thurlow and select board member Kevin Buck disagreed with the house being beyond repair but acknowledged that it would need some work and the steel building would need modifications.
Chief Higgins stated that he is comfortable waiting for another five years for a new building because the fire department can stay in the current building for that long and the members of the ambulance service and fire department deserve a new building.
The ambulance service has pressing needs in the form of housing for its employees. The hiring and retention of employees is a big concern for the ambulance service lately and those issues are contributing to making the future of the ambulance service unknown.
At the meeting, Andy Kline, president of the board of directors for the ambulance service, said that having a house available for staff on duty and a garage bay to house an ambulance “would be a big plus.”
However, the ambulance service realizes that the fire department has many concerns regarding the Wagner property and the two agencies are working in collaboration so the ambulance service is not pushing for the Wagner property purchase.
The timing is also an issue for the ambulance service, Kline said, wondering how long before there would be a brand-new building.
The ambulance service currently has space for one person to stay while on duty and if there is a second person who is on duty, who does not live in town, they stay at another ambulance service member’s cottage.
The select board spoke about the risk of not purchasing this existing property and gambling on receiving grants for a $4 - 6 million project. However, the board was planning on spending approximately $1.5 million dollars for both the purchase of and modernization of the Wagner property and this amount would cover the 25% that the town would be responsible for if the town was to receive a grant for a $6 million new building.
Feuer said that he spoke with Hancock County Emergency Management Agency Director Andrew Sankey and that Sankey said that applying for the grant with both the fire department and ambulance service collaborating for needs, the application should be very strong especially since the ambulance service serves two different towns.
Eaton said that the Wagner property was just an option and the board was not trying to force the ambulance service and fire department to accept it, but the new building must be something that the town can afford to build.
Thurlow said that he has been very disappointed in some of the communication that the board members have received from some of the fire department members.
Chief Higgins issued an apology and said that he would like a reciprocal apology from the select board members.
During the meeting, the back and forth remained civil and appeared to be an airing out of built-up tensions between the town and the fire department.
Chief Higgins said, “Moving forward, I actually promise you at this very moment, in front of everybody, that I will be more respectful to every one of you and I just ask for the same back.”
“There is no way that we are ever going to accomplish anything if we can’t work together. That’s the bottom line, it will never happen,” Thurlow said.
After much discussion regarding open communication, the need for a firm plan that is not deviated from, and steps to be taken moving forward, the board decided to wait until its next meeting to make a motion and take a vote on not moving the purchase of the Wagner building forward to a town vote.
The proposed location of the new public safety building is the parcel which had previously been set aside for an ice rink adjacent to the town office.
TOWN PLOW TRUCK REPLACEMENT
At the September 2 select board meeting, the board tasked Dunbar with having further diagnoses performed on truck #9, the oldest of the town’s Ford F-550 model plow trucks. Since then, it has been determined that truck #9 would need at least $10,000 worth of work to be back in a usable condition.
At Monday night’s meeting, Dunbar presented the board with prices for a replacement truck of similar size. The two bids received are below.
Dodge Ram – $67,989
Chevy – $63,623
The Chevy is a brand new 2024 truck, but it has an 11-foot bed and that cannot be changed. The Dodge Ram is a brand new 2026 truck and has a 9-foot bed. A couple members of the board agreed that an 11-foot bed is not an optimal situation when placing a sanding body on it due to how the weight would be distributed.
The balance of the town’s truck reserve fund is currently $227,000
The board unanimously approved the purchase of the Dodge Ram for $67,989. Additionally, the board unanimously approved Dunbar spending up to $13,000 for a steel sanding body.
WINTER SAND BID
Last year the sand bid was awarded to Doug Gott & Sons for a price of $10.80 per yard. This year, Doug Gott & Sons offered the same price of $10.80 per yard. The town is not required to hold a bidding process if the provider for a product or service holds the price the same for an upcoming year as the previous year.
However, another company did submit a bid to Dunbar. Beechfront Properties submitted a bid of $10.75 per yard.
After some discussion regarding extra services that Doug Gott & Sons provides, such as mixing sand and salt together or loaning the town a backhoe when needed, without charge, the board unanimously voted to award the bid to Doug Gott & Sons.
SURPLUS PROPERTY SALE
The board unanimously approved Dunbar selling five windows that were removed from the “wharf house” and that the town has no further use for via public sealed bid process.
GENERAL ASSISTANCE APPENDICES
The board unanimously approved the town’s amendments to its general assistance appendices, A-H, for the upcoming year. These amendments are required by the state so that the town’s general assistance amounts stay current with local prices for housing, food, etc.
HEATING OIL
Last year, the town and the school had heating oil provided by Coastal Energy for $2.48 per gallon. This year Coastal Energy’s price was for a lower $2.47 per gallon and the school decided to continue with Coastal Energy as its fuel provider.
The board unanimously voted to also keep Coastal Energy as its fuel provider for the upcoming year.
The next meeting of the Tremont Select Board is scheduled for October 6, at 5 p.m., in the Harvey Kelly Meeting Room at the town office.
Photos: Shaun Farrar/Bar Harbor Story
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