The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Acadia Psychiatry.
MOUNT DESERT—Mount Desert Assessor Kyle Avila issued a formal apology during the town’s September 15 selectboard meeting following a spitting incident in town.
The first meeting of new town manager Alex Kimball began with an executive session.
“Our assessor has a statement he’d like to read to you,” Selectboard Chair John Macauley told those attending immediately after the executive session ended.
The statement and apology stems from an incident on September 10 when Adam Bradshaw was in downtown Northeast Harbor trying to get lunch for himself and another coworker who had stayed behind at the job site where they were working. Bradshaw was driving his employer’s long bed, crew-cab pickup truck.
Bradshaw said that all of the parking lots in the area were full and hard to get through and “it’s a big unit (the truck he was driving) to get around and I didn’t want to be sideswiping anyone.”
Having eaten at the Docksider on Sea Street a couple of days prior and knowing that they did take-out, Bradshaw decided to get food for himself there and then run down the street and grab a sandwich for the coworker who had stayed at the job site.
Bradshaw opted to just park on the street in front of 12 Sea Street with the truck’s passenger’s side tires on the sidewalk.
According to Bradshaw, he hadn’t been parked for more than two minutes when a man walked by the truck on the sidewalk and spit on the front passenger’s side window. There was a second coworker, Matt Curtis, sitting in the front passenger’s seat eating the lunch that his wife had prepared for him for the day.
Curtis got out of the truck to confront the man who eventually identified himself as Kyle Avila, and he said that he works in the town office, Bradshaw said.
“You didn’t know I was in the truck and I caught you redhanded and now you feel like an idiot,” Curtis said he said to Avila.
“You’re right,” Avila allegedly responded.
Curtis waved Bradshaw, who was in Docksider ordering his lunch, back to the truck and Bradshaw went over to see what was going on.
Bradshaw alleges that Avila said that he does this to all the commercial vehicles that he sees “parked like that” because “you guys are ruining the roads, the sidewalks.”
According to Bradshaw, Avila did not apologize for spitting on the truck nor did he offer to clean off the window.
Avila shared with the Bar Harbor Story on Monday morning the draft of his apology letter, which was almost identical to his statement at the meeting.
“I speak tonight to offer my apology for an incident that happened last week while out walking. I wholeheartedly regret my behavior that day and wish I had handled the situation very differently. I never should have spit on the truck. And then once confronted, I should have apologized immediately and offered to clean up the mess I had made. I missed that opportunity, to apologize right then and there,” he said.
He continued, “I want to be clear to all involved that no malice was intended, but understand that my actions caused unnecessary harm. To the two gentlemen that were there, please accept my sincere apologies.
“In hindsight, my behavior in this matter does not represent who I want to be, nor of how I want to be perceived in our community. I fully own my actions and want to take full responsibility. I hope to heal the harm that I’ve caused and offer restitution. I am filled with so much remorse and sadness for my regrettable behavior. After reflecting on my inappropriate actions, it’s clear that I’ve been in denial of just how stressed I am. I pledge that I will seek stress management counseling and want to assure you that this behavior will never happen again.
“I offer my humble apologies to all who were affected. I also want to extend my apologies to the police department, town manager, town hall staff, and selectboard for having to spend their valuable time on this matter. Likewise, I apologize to the residents of Mount Desert for the negative reflection this incident has cast upon the town.
“I am truly sorry.”
Selectboard Chair John Macauley then opened the meeting up to public comment asking any speakers keep it civil and short.
“Kyle did does and will probably continue to do is uncalled for and is criminal,” a man who identified himself as Adam from Bar Harbor in the audience said of the spitting incident. He eventually addressed Avila and said, “You need to go.”
He was called for to be more civil after he said aspersions on Avila’s character.
“Civil, please,” Macauley said.
”I’m being as civil as I can,” the man responded.
“No, civil is civil,” Macauley responded.
“Yeah, if that’s all you can do, then beat it,” Rodney King said.
The man was allowed to finish his statements and he also asked that Avila be charged with criminal mischief and vandalism. He was the only one who spoke.
Bradshaw said last week that he didn’t understand why Avila didn’t handle the situation in a more professional manner like standing by the truck and waiting for the driver to return. He wouldn’t have had to wait long because Curtis would have gotten out to see what he needed Bradshaw said.
After Avila walked back into the town office and lunch had been procured, Bradshaw went to the Mount Desert Police Department and spoke with an officer about what had occurred.
Bradshaw said that he told the officer that he wasn’t “looking to press charges” but he did think this should be addressed.
“It’s just him making a stupid decision, spitting on a window,” Bradshaw said that he told the officer.
Bradshaw also spoke with the town manager who, according to Bradshaw, apologized to him and asked him to email the photos that he took. Bradshaw said the officer he spoke with also asked for him to email the photos to him and that both the officer and the town manager were professional and nice to deal with.
An email response to an inquiry to Police Chief David Kerns shows that on September 10, there was a complaint where Officer Troy Stanwood “took a report of someone spitting on a vehicle that was illegally parked. I warned a male for disorderly conduct.”
Photos courtesy of Adam Bradshaw
The meeting should be up and available to view tomorrow on the town’s YouTube channel, which is here.
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