Council approves other appointments, housing licenses, and a sandwich board sign.

Carrie Jones

Jul 16, 2025

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The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by The 1932 Criterion Theatre.

BAR HARBOR—The Bar Harbor Town Council’s nomination process had a bit of a hitch, July 15.

Cara Ryan, who had been the appeals board vice chair, was nominated to the appeals board, but the motion failed 3-4. Mike Siklosi was reappointed as an associate member.

There was no discussion on Ryan’s nomination.

Council Chair Valerie Peacock, Vice Chair Maya Caines, Steven Boucher, and Joe Minutolo voted against. Councilors Earl Brechlin, David Kief, and Randell Sprague voted in favor.

In Bar Harbor, applicants for boards, task forces, and committees submit their application and are then interviewed by a three-member nominating committee comprised of town councilors. The committee then brings its nominees before the council. Current nominating committee members are Boucher, Kief, and Sprague.

Past town councils have not appointed nominees before. Ryan was first appointed after a split vote over the nomination committee’s nominee.

In 2022 Nathan Young was up for the board of appeals and had been approved 2-0 by the nominations committee. However, Peacock nominated Ryan during that 2022 meeting. The council voted 4-3 in favor of Ryan. There was no discussion at that meeting either.

“I was surprised and a little disappointed, but also relieved,” Ryan said after the decision. “I’ve been feeling I’ve become a target on this board because I’ve spoken out in the past on various important town issues that have found their way into appeals. That was never my reason for volunteering to serve on this particular board, but since it’s become a distraction, I hesitated to re-apply. I asked the town clerk just before the deadline if anyone else had applied. Hearing no, and knowing we still had another vacancy, I left my application in.”

Ryan said that during the nominations committee interview she was asked about two things and neither felt appropriate. One was about the town’s current moratorium on lodging, she said.

“I wasn’t sure whether I should answer that at all: aren’t appeals board members supposed to be neutral? Yet here I was in the interview being asked my opinion. The second was details about the ethics complaint filed against me by Eben Salvatore and council discussion of which was accidentally broadcast via a hot mic in an executive session. I was asked details about that whole history and though again shocked by the question (since I’ve been told it’s supposed to be confidential), I was as transparent as I could be,” Ryan said. “I tried really hard to be impartial in my work on this board. Apparently, it wasn’t enough for some councilors.”

There has been an ethics complaint in the town against Ryan about her participation in an appeals board case relating to cruise ship disembarkations. The cruise ship changes, approved twice by voters, though more narrowly the second time, have created multiple lawsuits, costing the town more than a million dollars.

One of those suits specifically involves the town’s ethics commission and its handling of the complaint against Ryan.

In March, the Bar Harbor Town Council had accidentally broadcast an executive session (which is meant to be private per Maine law) where members discussed that alleged ethics violation by Ryan and the complaint related to it. Ryan was not at the session. Her name was not meant to be public record nor was the person who made the complaint.

Ryan had previously recused herself from a December appeals board discussion about the Golden Anchor LC because of that ethics complaint. The Golden Anchor runs the Harborside Hotel. The Harborside Hotel has been disputing the town’s new requirements that it have a disembarkation permit for cruise ship tenders.

Ryan had participated in a November meeting concerning the Golden Anchor’s permitting dispute when the Golden Anchor’s attorney had missed a submission deadline.

The original conflict of interest worry was because Ryan had been asked to be a witness in the case against the town and received a $100 witness fee. She did not, however, get called to testify and gave that $100 to Charles Sidman’s GoFundMe campaign. That GoFundMe campaign by the lead petitioner of the cruise ship changes was to help him with legal fees.

Since March, the issuer of that ethics complaint, Eben Salvatore, has filed in Hancock County Superior Court against the town. That filing occurred in April and is now public record.

All other nominations passed unanimously.

Peter Scott was appointed to the board of assessment review.

Rob Jordan and Davis Taylor snagged seats on the conservation commission.

Micala Delapierre and Kaitlyn Mullen were reappointed to the harbor committee.

Chris Petersen and Joanna Fogg were reappointed to the marine resources committee. Lydia Styles joined them.

Ann Tikkanen was reappointed as the YMCA representative for the parks & recreation committee. Because Boucher disclosed that he is on the YMCA board, he recused himself and the council unanimously voted that he had a conflict of interest.

Clark Stivers and John Seavitt were reappointed to the planning board.

The town’s task force on the climate emergency gained Annabel Curry.

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HOUSING LICENSES

The councilors renewed the license for employee living quarters on 119 Eden Street and a shared accommodations license for 278 Main Street. The first is for Witham Family employees. The second is associated with Project Social.

Brechlin asked about parking requirements for the licenses.

“I have a question. I talked to some of the residents down there on the street and they talk about parking and I didn’t know how much parking was provided on the lot where these folks live,” Brechlin asked.

Code Enforcement Officer Michael Gurtler said the licensee meets all the requirements for the license.

“This certainly, actually, kind of points out some of things we’re looking at with the moratorium with employee living quarters and adequate parking. Residents tell me of cars that don’t move for a week or more at a time down there,” Brechlin said. “There’s just a lot of cars, not a lot of churn.”

The moratorium is a pause on multiple types of lodging uses, but not shared accommodations and employee living quarters, which are considered housing. During the moratorium process, the town is collecting data on current building uses, town infrastructure and services use, and traffic congestion.

Kief said he had a conflict of interest because he was an abutter with the property at 278 Main Street. “It’s a parking conflict.”

The council unanimously agreed Kief had a conflict of interest.

Once recused, his concerns, he said, were mentioned by Brechlin.

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BLACK FRIAR INN GETS A SANDWICH BOARD SIGN

The Black Friar Inn, which is behind the Pathmaker Hotel and abuts the town’s municipal building, asked for a small sandwich board sign on Cottage Street, pointing people to its business at 10 Summer Street.

Deborah Vickers, one of the Black Friar Inn and Pub, said, “We’d just like the opportunity to support our business since we’ve been completely blocked off.”

She said the sign wouldn’t impede foot traffic, visual line of sight, and could be removed every night.

“We would love to be able to do this. It has an impact on us—not being seen directly from the road,” Vickers said.

Vickers said they’d pay the town for the use and the approved council order authorizes the town manager, or designee, “to negotiate and execute a one-year lease agreement with the tenant, including but not limited to setting lease terms, rates, and conditions.”

Minutolo worried that the sign would be too low for people to see. Vickers said that they’ve had a trial period, approved by the town, and the results were immediate.

“We definitely see an impact. We don’t want a big sign. We don’t want to be obnoxious,” she said.

Peacock said there wasn’t any perimeters or policy about how town land can be used. While it feels okay on a request by request basis, she worries that there are currently no ways for the town to think about it more comprehensively. She wants the town to figure that out.

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TOWN ACCEPTS STATE GRANT AND ENGAGES AUDITOR

The council accepted a Maine Department of Public Safety grant for medical screenings for MDI first responders.

The town also engaged James W. Wadman, CPA firm to perform the annual audit for Fiscal Year 2025.

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COUNCIL COMMENTS

During councilor comments at the end of the meeting, Minutolo said he never sees anyone get tickets for speeding and would like enforcement stepped up.

“It’s nothing against the police force,” Minutolo said and thought that everyone was doing a good job but that there needs to be more traffic calming efforts.

Other councilors thanked the town for its efforts for the Fourth of July. The Fourth of July events were supported by the town’s police, fire, and ambulance departments as well as public works, but hosted by the Bar Harbor Chamber Commerce and Bar Harbor (MDI) Rotary, the MDI YMCA, and sponsored by local businesses and Rotary. Many of the events use the town property.

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LINKS TO LEARN MORE

To watch the meeting

Council packet

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JOBS IN BAR HARBOR TOWN GOVERNMENT

Highway Division-Equipment Operator

Posted April 7, 2024 4:30 AM | Open Until Filled

GENERAL RESPONSIBILITY The primary responsibility of an Equipment Operator position is the operation and routine maintenance of heavy equipment: backhoes, loaders, graders… Full Description

Maintenance Worker

Posted April 7, 2024 4:31 PM | Open Until Filled

GENERAL RESPONSIBILITY The primary responsibility of the position is to support all manners of operation and maintenance of the highway and parks and recreation facilities… Full Description

Mechanic

Posted April 2, 2025 | Open Until Filled

OVERVIEW The Mechanic positions primarily serve the Highway, Parks and Recreation, and Transfer Station work areas of the Public Works Department, but also maintain the… Full Description

Patrol Officer

Posted February 20, 2024 9:00 PM | Open Until Filled

Nature of Work: A Police Officer is responsible for the prevention and repression of crime, ensuring the safety of inhabitants and visitors, and maintaining the security of… Full Description

Solid Waste Foreman

Posted November 21, 2023 9:04 PM | Open Until Filled

Job Posting: Solid Waste Foreman – Transfer Station Organization: Town of Bar Harbor Department of Public Works Primary Work Area: Solid Waste/Transfer Station Job… Full Description

Water Superintendent

Posted April 15, 2025 | Open Until Filled

GENERAL PURPOSE The Water Superintendent is responsible for the overall operation, maintenance and construction activities of the Water Division while ensuring compliance… Full Description

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