Trenton Approves Budget, But Not Island Explorer Funds
Cane Winner Bruce Cameron and Glory, the Maltipoo, the Stars of Town Meeting
TRENTON—Cake waited in one room. Coffee was there, too. Students at the school stood at each main traffic point and at the outside door, telling voters where to go. The kids chased each other outside in ever widening circles, giggling. People caught up, hugged, took their seats, and perused their annual reports, and the Trenton town voters passed almost everything during its town meeting, May 21, at the Trenton Elementary School, and they did it all under the watchful eyes of Glory.
Glory has been working at the town office since just after July 4th 2014 and her popularity catapults her little legs into Trenton star status pretty easily.
According to Town Clerk, Tax Collector, Registrar of Voters and Welfare Director Carol Reed Walsh, Glory is a Maltipoo, (a Maltese and toy poodle mix).
“She definitely is an asset, because when we sometimes have a slightly disgruntled resident, Glory will come out to see them and melt their heart,” Walsh said.
Glory may have also worked her magic on a bigger scale at the Trenton Town Meeting where the process went smoothly and quickly with just a few questions from voters. Most of the questions and discussion focused on funding for the Island Explorer portion of Downeast Transportation’s request, Walsh said. The voters decided to not fund the $1,000, discussing that the service goes through Trenton, but doesn’t seem to benefit the town’s residents.
“This is nice,” one woman said from the door. She raised a hand and motioned at the crowd. “All of this.”
That niceness of a political meeting matters, some believe, especially as the United States gears up for a presidential election and political push-and-pull is creating heated words and emails in Bar Harbor. The Trenton town meeting and votes on Monday kept many from feeling powerless. At this town meeting, people knew the dog by name, cheered for the Boston Cane recipient, and exercised their power via democracy without necessarily having to constantly make every decision adversarial or deride other residents who might not agree with them about every topic.
This is the same town that resoundingly defeated an attempt in 1969 to build an atomic power and aluminum refinery on its shores.
For over 250 years, town meetings are a New England testament to democracy. Direct participation and in-person participation is key. On these days, the voters gather and approve the town’s budget. The town’s budget is, in a way, the blueprint of what the town wants, supports, values, and it impacts people’s bank accounts through property taxes as well as their community through what agencies are supported and what zoning gets tweaked or changed. Here, in Trenton, a town of approximately 1,650, people asked questions, they talked, they voted, they debated. And then a lot of them saw each other with their kids at school the next day, at games, at Hannaford’s, or at a Select Board meeting.
The Trenton meeting came the day after the town’s election when voters rejected proposed changes to the town’s land use ordinance regarding solar farm developments and its Shoreland Zoning Ordinance, but even that didn’t seem to dampen the mood, but elevate it.
John Bennett and Charles Farley Jr. were reappointed as selectmen. Bennett received 144 votes, Farley 141. Challenger Carol Perrault received 123 votes. A total of 234 votes were cast. For the school committee, Aaron Brown and Stefanie Shattenberg were elected with 175 and 173 votes. They ran unopposed for the two seats.
The school budget increased just over 7 percent to approximately $5.3 million, which is an increase of about 7.1 percent from last year. The town’s portion of that increased amount came to approximately $4.8 million.
BRUCE CAMERON RECEIVES CANE
Trenton’s Boston Cane recipient was Bruce Cameron. A surprised and delighted, Cameron received the cane at the beginning of the meeting to cheers from the crowd and applause as he half-skipped to the lectern.
“Bruce has been a dedicated town resident for most of his adult life,” said Town Administrator Carol Walsh. “He chaired the Veteran's Committee that designed and installed our veteran's memorial here at the town office, and he and his committee maintain it year-round.”
For over forty years, Bruce and his wife Nancy have made a mark on Trenton.
“Bruce has been a member of the School Board, the Harbor Committee, and the Budget Committee,” Walsh said.
Cameron is also a veteran of the Korean War. A quick newspaper search shows Cameron mentioned well over 100 times. That’s just the newspaper stories. From helping with the Hancock County Vocational Tech Center in 1970 to battling a “boiling inferno” at the Bargain Barn as a volunteer firefighter, Cameron has shaped the town and the community with his service and his time. He has pulled a man from a burning car, competed in curling finals, putted across many greens, spoken at countless meetings, and weighed in on dozens and dozens of projects in the town. He has helped create Trenton and has done so with verve, persistence, brains, and kindness.
That sort of commitment to a town and a community makes a mark.
In May 1971, when Cameron and neighbor Charles Swanson woke at almost 3 a.m. to the sound of a car going off the Oak Point Road and into a ditch, he and Swanson didn’t hesitate. The car caught fire. The driver, a Bar Harbor man was thrown out, and another young man, just 22, was thrown into the back seat. They pulled him from the burning vehicle, moved the other man, and then put out the fire with dirt and water from the culvert. They are credited with saving the twenty-two year old, the other man died from his injuries.
The Ellsworth American quoted Trooper Bill Robinson as saying, “It’s hard to get people willing to help. They deserve recognition.”
They do and they did. The Boston Cane is passed from the oldest member of a community to another. It acknowledges longevity and sometimes a life well lived. It isn’t an award that expressly celebrates service and kindness and the willingness to help, but this time? This time with Bruce Cameron? It sure feels like it.
NEXT STEPS WITH SOLAR DEVELOPMENT
On Wednesday, Christina Heiniger shared that “with this week’s NO vote on Article 3 (50 yes, 180 No), the Town of Trenton must now consider our next steps” about solar farms.
The voters’ rejection of revisions to Article III and Article VIII in the Land Use Ordinance means there are no current changes.
“That means the issue of large scale commercial solar energy systems in Trenton is still not resolved. The current solar moratorium, initiated by citizen petition, will expire on September 29,” Heiniger said.
The town currently has a moratorium on large and small scale solar projects. That expires September 29.
“The Planning Board must decide whether to re-write Article VIII Solar Energy Systems again with the voter input in mind,” Heiniger said. “Their options are to re-write Article VIII more in accord with what many citizens have been asking for at the public meetings regarding this issue (that would be reducing the size of large scale commercial solar from the 30 acres they had on the ballot and leaving the current definition of our residential zones as is in Article III of our LUO), or put what they already wrote before the voters again or do nothing and leave things as they are.”
Another decision is what to do about Article 4, the shoreland zoning changes, which failed by 14 votes (101 yes, 115 no).
The Planning Board meets at 7 p.m. at the Trenton Town Office, June 12.
According to Heiniger, “Neighbors Against More Large Scale Solar having anticipated a NO vote on Article 3, has planned ahead past this vote, and we are now taking the next steps we feel are prudent.”
They’ve been circulating a petition for an Article VIII revision for approximately two weeks. As of Wednesday morning, the group had 245 signatures. The group hopes to present the petition to the Selectboard at its June 11 meeting. Only 85 signatures are needed to present it to the voters.
“Proposed changes to Article VIII: Solar Energy Systems of Trenton’s Land Use Ordinance which include limiting large scale solar projects to 3 acres in size, prohibiting large scale commercial solar projects from the Residential Growth and Residential Rural zones, limiting the number of large scale solar projects which can be permitted to 2 per year, as well as regulation changes for setbacks, site planning, decommissioning process, and fire safety for large scale solar energy systems. The purpose of this revised ordinance is to protect sensitive areas, protect property values, and address acceptable sites for siting solar energy systems, striking a good balance between the development of renewable energy and protecting Trenton’s residents, forests, ecosystems, and shorelands,” reads the summary.
After the signatures are verified, Heiniger said, the town will need to hold a public hearing and then put it before the voters within 60 days or on a warrant at the next town meeting.
“Because the next town meeting is so far down the road (a year away), we have put language into the petition asking for it to be put before the voters by September 15,” Heiniger said.
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
The full version of the citizen's rewrite of Article VIII is linked below as is a copy of the petition.
To read the Trenton Annual Report.
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