Who Will Pay for Seawall Road?
Southwest Chief Gives Update on Tremont's Police Coverage
SOUTHWEST HARBOR—A meeting between the Town of Southwest Harbor, the National Park Service, and MaineDOT had, for some, a bit of an unpleasant surprise embedded into its purpose, which was to “develop a joint partnership” between the three for the “purpose of cost-sharing future repairs to the Seawall Road.”
The Seawall Road had been closed after storm surge from a trio of storms destroyed sections of it this past winter. The first storm blew in January 10, and the MaineDOT cleared the debris after. A second storm on January 13 caused additional storm damage. Debris was cleared again. On February 14, the National Park Service gave the MaineDOT a permit to do work in the area and the road reopened. On March 10, a storm caused major damage. The road closed again and stayed closed. The water main at the road was eventually back in service on April 30.
When the road was closed, to get to those areas it serviced, people had to detour through Tremont, which could sometimes take 25 minutes or more.
The Seawall Road reopened in July after six contractors volunteered to create a temporary fix. Earlier in that month, the MaineDOT committed to beginning its own permanent repair to the road in spring 2025. That decision came though the department said it believes the road will continue to be damaged by sea surge and higher sea levels. The hope is that the repairs will increase the road’s fortitude.
Town Manager Karen Reddersen told the Southwest Harbor Selectboard members, November 26, that a concept for the road’s more permanent fix was presented the day before the select board meeting, but she left that November 25 meeting with a good deal of questions.
“I feel like they intend to fix it, but they have to report to their commissioner,” Reddersen said of the MaineDOT and she felt that the commissioner was wondering if the road would go back to the sea or not. She said, it sounded like it might be a challenge for the federal group involved (Acadia National Park) to enter into a MOU.
There were questions about whether the MaineDOT is saying that the spring fix would only occur if the town and federal government committed to a memorandum of agreement, which would commit the town to paying one-third of all future road costs. Who would be in charge of the road’s general maintenance was a gray area, she said.
Southwest Harbor Select Board Vice Chair Natasha Johnson said she wished the town’s board members had known about the meeting so that they could have gone. She said it was inappropriate for the state to make the road fix that is scheduled for the spring conditional.
“This was a very initial meeting,” Reddersen said. “I was surprised that this was part of the discussion.”
“It was very obvious that they had zero interest,” in historical relevance or the town’s love and nostalgic feelings for the road, Johnson said about a past DOT meeting with the town.
At that past meeting, Charlotte Gill, Seawall Motel and Charlotte’s Legendary Lobster Pound owner, told a crowd of approximately 200 at the Pemetic Elementary School MaineDOT meeting about the road’s importance to the community.
“This is not just a roadway. It’s a way of life,” she said.
“The state is very infrastructure rich and population poor,” said MaineDOT Deputy Commissioner Dale Doughty to those attending that June meeting.
Doughty’s July proposal stated that the state would fully repair the road in spring 2025 and add resiliency features.
“To prepare for the likelihood that this road will be damaged again, over the 2024-2025 winter, MaineDOT will enter into an agreement with the Town of Southwest Harbor and the National Park Service that will confirm a joint partnership to address damage from future storm events beyond the 2025 repair,” he wrote.
TREMONT AND SOUTHWEST HARBOR POLICING AGREEMENTS
Southwest Harbor Police Chief John Hall spoke about the policing agreement between the town and Tremont. Between July 1 and November 26, the Southwest Harbor dispatch had a total of 363 calls (police, fire, and ambulance). Just police calls were 195.
“As a comparison, I ran Hancock’s numbers” for the same time period the year prior, he said. There 233 calls for service, but the sheriff’s department counts traffic stops as calls.
Southwest Harbor took over the policing agreement for Tremont from the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department this year. There have been concerns because the town has been short-staffed during the time and has switched over to 24-hour shifts.
“The number of calls that we responded to was actually larger than we had anticipated,” Chief Hall said of the workload so far.
But he said that he believes the coverage by Southwest Harbor is working out better for the Tremont community because Southwest Harbor isn’t chasing down other reports from other agencies and people are more likely to call the police department than sheriff’s department to give information.
During that same time frame, Southwest Harbor Police Department had 17 information calls from Tremont. The highest percentage of calls were 9-1-1 calls. They’ve had 22 traffic accidents in Tremont.
“Which is significantly higher than what was there the year before,” Hall said.
He said he and Tremont Town Manager Jesse Dunbar have met every other week.
“Unfortunately for us, the big problem that we face where we couldn’t do anything for the town was during the Octoberfest,” Hall said.
This is because there wasn’t enough staff to cover the Tremont event. The sheriff’s department was able to provide coverage.
Select board member James Vallette asked Hall to run numbers for calls in Southwest Harbor as a comparison to the town’s work in Tremont.
In a November 18 letter to Reddersen, Hall explained that he is about to begin covering day shifts for his department. Officer James Kamorski will graduated from the criminal justice academy and return to patrol. Hall has reposted an advertisement for a police officer. On January 13, he wrote, he’ll learn if a potential officer can be hired by the town.
“I’ve only been called twice to assist an officer on scene in Tremont,” Hall said. Because some of the officers have not the 18-week full time police academy, they cannot go to all calls without an officer who has.
A local organization has asked if Southwest would do a program similar to Bar Harbor’s Good Morning Program where the dispatcher calls and checks on individuals in the morning.
Johnson asked how increased wages are being covered by the town budget. The two towns are also working on how Tremont is being billed for Southwest Harbor’s services. Southwest Harbor is possibly shortchanging itself. The contract is for $336,393.50 a year.
“We just started this discussion last week,” Hall said.
Select Board member Chapin McFarland had questions about the payroll and officers on-call expenses and needs. He said that there’s a lot of wear and tear on cruisers going to and from Ellsworth every day.
“It’s a lot of money. It’s a lot of wear and tear,” McFarland said.
Chair Carolyn Ball asked if they wanted to go over the memo about scheduling in the future and that the board members have already talked a lot about overtime hours.
Officers will work two 24-hour shifts plus an eight-hour shift on Thursdays (all officers, not Chief Hall).
APPOINTMENTS
Kamorski, who is an officer for the Southwest Harbor Police Department, was appointed as animal control officer until June 30, 2025.
“I’m just worried about our police department being stretched and that’s one more job,” Ball said.
Historically, Mike Miller had been the town’s animal control officer. Tremont and Bar Harbor do not have animal control officers who are part of the police department.
“The ACO usually just handles domestic animals. Dogs,” Chief Hall said. He said he’d prefer if it wasn’t part of his department’s duties.
Because there needs to be an animal control officer for the town to comply with state rules, the town placed Kamorski in the position.
Mark C. Amstutz was appointed to the Warrant Committee until June 30, 2027. He has been the chief investment officer for Swarthmore College.
The board also approved voting for Rebecca Hapgood to the MRC Board of Directors.
FY25/26 Budget Timeline
The select board members adopted the budget timeline for the upcoming year. Rather than having everything in one night, they created a series of meetings. They also had worked with past town manager Dana Reed about the process, Reddersen said. Vallette asked that town staff request that warrant committee members attend the select board meetings.
The next meeting will be Tuesday, November 28 at 6:00 p.m. in the Town Office meeting room.
Correction: This article originally promoted an officer to sergeant. We regret the error!
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