Aug 13, 2025
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by First National Bank.
TREMONT—After just over a month off for a summer break, the Tremont Select Board was ready to get back to work at its meeting on Monday, August 11.
Having a special hunting season open only to residents (or one that is open to both residents and landowners) was among the possibilities weighed as the Tremont Select Board continued to narrow down the details for potentially having an special deer hunting season in the Town of Tremont.
At Monday night’s meeting, the board quickly decided that based upon public input and the desire to keep people as safe as possible, an archery-only hunt was the clear way to move forward.
The select board felt that it needed to give Tremont Town Manager Jesse Dunbar at least a rough idea of what it wanted to take to a public hearing, and then town meeting, so that he could start working on the specifics of the plan. Any plan that the select board approves to move forward must be approved by town voters prior to it being presented to the state for possible approval. The soonest any plan could make it to a town meeting would be spring of 2026.
While the select board found it relatively easy to nail down what would be allowed for hunting weapons—bow and arrow—they had much more discussion regarding who should be allowed to hunt and what kind of deer: antlerless (female deer or males with antlers less then three inches long) or antlered (male deer).
Most board members seemed to agree on the fact that female deer produce the offspring, but the state’s definition of antlerless deer is “a deer that has no antlers or has antlers less than 3 inches in length measured from the skull.” So, even with an antlerless-only archery hunt some males may get harvested.
Board member McKenzie Jewett said of who should be able to hunt, “I think it should be landowners, because what if I live in Ellsworth but I own 40 acres down here. I can’t come hunt on my own property because I am an Ellsworth resident?”
In the end, the select board made a motion tasking Dunbar with drafting a proposed ordinance to include deer hunting for residents and landowners for just bow hunting for the month of November with a term expiring the end of November 2026.
The select board approved this motion by a vote of 4-1 with Select Board Chair Jamie Thurlow voting against the motion.
Liquor License for Acadia’s Oktoberfest
After the select board held a public hearing, during which the only speaker was the applicant representative, and after a few questions from board members, the board unanimously approved a state special tasting event liquor license and a special amusement permit for the Southwest Harbor/Tremont Chamber of Commerce’s Acadia Oktoberfest.
Dirigo Permit System
Mirroring her request of the Trenton Select Board, Code Enforcement Officer (CEO) Angela Chamberlain asked the Tremont Select Board to approve the purchase of software to assist her with permitting and improve upon the system that the town currently uses.
The Trenton Select Board approved Chamberlain’s request (she is also the CEO in Trenton) on Tuesday, August 5, but that purchase was contingent on the Town of Tremont also approving the purchase.
According to Dunbar, the company that produces the Dirigo Permit System software, Dirigo Spatial Systems Inc., which is a Bangor-based business, offered the two towns a “discount rate” on the product if they both purchased it since they are similar in size.
“Essentially they are taking about 20% off the yearly fee for the two towns doing it,” Dunbar said.
Chamberlain said that the software program is cloud based and accessible from any device she or any other authorized person may use. The current program that the town is using does not have any support and is device specific so if that device fails, the program and its data are gone.
The system is used for permit tracking, keeping track of inspections, and permit creation among other uses. The data that it holds can be used by others, such as the town’s assessor.
The select board unanimously approved this purchase. The cost is $2,400 for the first year which includes an $800 initial setup fee. It is then $1,600 per year for subsequent years.
Plow Truck Preparation for Winter
Once again, the town finds itself in a position of purchasing a new truck or putting money into existing trucks to keep them on the road and in service.
“We have this same conversation every year, at least this year it’s maybe, what, a month earlier,” said Thurlow.
One of the town’s large plow trucks, which requires a commercial driver’s license (CDL) to operate, is in need of a new body and hydraulic repairs. It is also hard starting but runs fine once warmed up according to new Highway Department Foreman Warren Young.
One of the smaller trucks is having electrical problems, but these trucks, of which the town has three, do not require a CDL to drive and therefore can be driven by more staff members since there are only two CDL holders in the highway department, Young and a part-time employee.
One other full-time highway department employee is currently working on getting his CDL.
Care and maintenance during both the winter and the off season became a discussion point.
“Those trucks were not maintained very well,” Young said.
Eaton said, “Good thing we have a new foreman that can keep right on it.”
“It’s pretty sad to see a 13-year-old pair of trucks in the condition they are in,” Young said. “For Tremont (school) we ran buses until they were 20 or so years old and they were running just fine. It just depends on who takes care of them and how well they are maintained.”
After discussion, the select board decided to task Dunbar with pricing out a new sanding body for the large truck along with any air system, air can, and hydraulic hose replacements that need to be done, including undercoating the frame, to get that truck up to good condition. They also authorized Dunbar to move forward without further approval if he could find a used sanding body for the large truck that was in the price range of the last one the town purchased, which was approximately $7,000.
They also tasked Dunbar with pricing out a sander for the harbormaster’s pickup truck which is shared with the highway department and has a plow along with sending the smaller highway department plow truck with electrical problems out for a diagnostic assessment.
Community Action Grant
Dunbar asked the select board to approve the town applying for the sixth round of the state’s community action grant program. The town has been awarded grant money for four of the previous grant application cycles and the grants require no match so they do not cost the town any additional funds.
According to Dunbar’s manager’s memo for this meeting, if the town receives funds from this round of grant applications, one of the ways the money may be spent is “developing a Storm Debris Management Plan, a map that identifies coastal properties in Tremont that have ‘unstable’ or ‘highly unstable’ coastal bluffs and are also in areas heavily impacted by storms, research on shoreline mitigation approaches appropriate for Tremont’s coastal conditions, digital and print ready informational materials for outreach and communication with Tremont property owners that may be impacted by coastal erosion and storm impacts to raise awareness of conditions and solutions.”
The select board unanimously approved Dunbar applying for the grant.
Seal Cove Security Cameras
A user of the Seal Cove wharf reported having summer lobsters stolen earlier this summer, according to Dunbar. At that time, the town reached out to a security company to get a quote for installing a camera system in Seal Cove and updating some of the other town security systems.
Last Sunday night, someone removed all of the anti-slip roofing paper and the aluminum strips that helped secure the paper that the harbormaster had placed on the Seal Cove ramps.
Dunbar was asking the select board to approve spending $4,615 to have Omega Security install a router, cameras, and a weatherproof box at the Seal Cove wharf location. There would be some expense above and beyond this amount due to the need to install a pole and run electricity to the pole for the system.
The select board unanimously approved this request.
Steamboat Wharf Road Repair
After waiting for approximately a year and a half, Dunbar finally received notice that FEMA had initiated the town’s award of $64,606 to repair damage done to the Steamboat Wharf Road during the January 2024 storms.
In the interim, the town did have an emergency repair done in an area where power pole was in danger due to erosion from the storms. This emergency repair cost $9,800.
The remaining repair work is to repair banking along the road that was eroded up to and under the edge of the roadway during the storms.
There were three estimates received for the remaining repairs.
- Iron Coast Construction – $79,900
- BFP Trucking – $66,085
- Doug Gott & Sons – $20,175
The select board unanimously awarded the work to Doug Gott & Sons.
Traffic Control and Parking Ordinance
There has been a vehicle parked in the town’s Reed Store Lot, which is at the northwest corner of Harbor Drive and McMullen Avenue, for several years according to Dunbar and that vehicle has never had a permit for parking and it has now fallen into obvious disrepair.
The Reed Store Lot is a permit-required parking lot and is covered in the town’s traffic control and parking ordinance, but the ordinance does not specifically say that the town may have a vehicle towed due to being parked in the lot without a permit (in violation of the ordinance).
Dunbar wants to strengthen and clarify the language of the ordinance and was requesting that the select board schedule a public hearing for its September 2 meeting.
Traffic And Parking Ordinance – 4.23MB ∙ PDF file
The changes would also remove the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office as the enforcing agency and add the Southwest Harbor Police Department.
The select board unanimously approved a public hearing at its September 2 meeting for these proposed ordinance changes.
Assessing Contract
Dunbar requested that the town allow him to make a change to the ending date on the town’s assessing contract and add withdrawal (from the contract) language “to better align with our fiscal year, making budgeting more user friendly, and adding language for withdrawal, as that is recommended in all of our contracts.”
Assessing Contract – 5.31MB ∙ PDF file
The select board unanimously approved Dunbar signing the ammended contract.
Surplus Property
The town has been trying to sell, via a public bidding process, 40 surplus concrete pieces that had previously been extra boat ramp pieces but no longer worked with what the town is currently using.
According to Dunbar, after waiting 45 days, only one bid was received in the amount of $751. The bidder was select board member Kevin Buck.
With Buck recusing himself from the vote, the select board unanimously approved the sale of the concrete pieces to Buck for $751.
Quitclaim Deed
The select board unanimously approved signing a quitclaim deed for 14 Arnold Road to release the property owner from a tax lien that had been filed in 2024. The taxes had since been paid but the lien never discharged.
Election of MMA Vice President and Executive Committee
Maine Municipal Association member towns in Maine are asked to vote on the election of Maine Municipal Association vice president and executive committee members for the association.
The select board unanimously voted for the slate as presented as did Southwest Harbor’s select board, August 12.
The next meeting of the Tremont Select Board is scheduled for September 2, 2025, at 5 p.m., in the Harvey Kelly Meeting Room.
Follow us on Facebook or BlueSky or Instagram. And as a reminder, you can easily view all our past stories and press releases here.
Bar Harbor Story is a mostly reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Thanks for being here with us and being part of our community, too!
Thanks for reading Bar Harbor Story ! This post is public so feel free to share it.
If you’d like to donate to help support us, you can, but no pressure! Just click here (about how you can give) or here (a direct link), which is the same as the button below.
If you’d like to sponsor the Bar Harbor Story, you can! Learn more here.
THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING OUR COMMITMENT TO YOUR COMMUNITY
You can help us keep bringing news for you every day. No pressure, but it really helps!
Make a monthly donation
Make a yearly donation
Choose an amount
Or enter a custom amount
Your contribution is appreciated.
Your contribution is appreciated.
Your contribution is appreciated.
DonateDonate monthlyDonate yearlyDiscover more from Bar Harbor Story
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.