Select Board Schedules Special Meeting Regarding Acquisition of Wagner Property
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Acadia Psychiatry.
TREMONT—At its September 6, 2025, meeting Town Manager Jesse Dunbar told the Tremont Select Board that on Monday, September 22, he had received an email from Planning Board Chair Mark Good stating that he intended to resign from the planning board. Good’s position would have expired on June 30, 2026.
Good wrote, “I’m writing to inform you of my decision to resign from the Tremont Planning Board effective Sept. 22, 2025. I appreciate the opportunity I have had to serve the town of Tremont.”
Dunbar said that the select board needed to accept Good’s resignation, or not, and also decide if it wanted to advertise for his position and try to fill it until June 30, 2026, or just leave it open until then.
After some discussion regarding advertising the open planning board seat, member Kevin Buck made a motion to accept Good’s resignation and thank him for his years of service to the town. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.
The board members decided that they wanted to go ahead and advertise for the position to see if there was any interest and a motion was made to advertise for the open planning board seat, expiring June 30, 2026. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.
LAND ACQUISITION
The board discussed the possible purchase of 31 and 37 Harbor Drive, which had originally been discussed as a potential site for the town’s new public safety building.
Dunbar gave a quick summary of where the town is currently in the decision to purchase, or not, the Wagner property and Buck said that he has heard that the town’s public works department has expressed an interest in the property because it is larger and offers more storage space than the current garage which sits on the town office site.
Member Eric Eaton said that he thinks that it is too big of an investment for the amount of space that the public works department would need.
“I know we have mentioned before, the ambulance service, trying to accommodate them somehow,” said chair Jamie Thurlow. “We could house the ambulance service in that house if there was some interest for public works and then they (the ambulance service) could have a bay over there or something. Or a bay here.”
Southwest Harbor-Tremont Ambulance Service President Andy Cline said that housing is “the most dire situation” currently for the service and they have been band-aiding it by the generosity of Kristin Hutchins who has been letting employees stay at her cottage.
Ambulance storage space is not currently such an issue, but the service will be getting a new ambulance next spring and having a space, especially an overnight space, a bay and sleeping quarters, in Tremont, would be beneficial.
Thurlow said he felt it would be a hard sell to the taxpayers to purchase the Wagner property simply for sleeping quarters, but if it meant bringing an ambulance back to town, it might work.
According to ambulance service board member and EMT Bonnie Norwood, the ambulance service is also looking at a para-medicine program where people go into patients’ home to assist them with needs. She said that there is a need for that now and it is increasing with the continued closure of the smaller clinics.
If they can get this program up and running, it would add another non-ambulance vehicle that needs to have a bay.
Ambulance service Crew Chief Hutchins said, “If I were a Tremont taxpayer, I wouldn’t want you guys to make a decision to satisfy an expedient need with the Southwest Harbor-Tremont Ambulance Service. We do have a housing problem. We are okay right now with vehicles, but we do have a housing problem. I think any decision we make around these things, considering the money that’s going to be spent, it should be a comprehensive, cooperative decision.”
After more discussion about possible uses for the Wagner property to include the town’s public works and the ambulance service and alternative uses for the existing public works garage, including possibly being converted into the new public safety building, the select board decided to hold a special meeting on October 16, at 5 p.m.
The purpose of the special meeting is to try and come to a decision in time to get any items that need to be voted on by residents at town meeting on the warrant in time for November voting.
PUBLIC SAFETY BUILDING
While not necessarily a part of the decision-making process regarding the possible purchasing, or not, of the Wagner property at 31 and 37 Harbor Drive, the needs of the fire department and ambulance service are intertwined but differ somewhat when it comes to a new public safety building.
While the fire department has stated that it can wait comfortably for five years for a new building, the ambulance service has more pressing needs for housing staff.
The select board had asked the public safety building committee for updates on how the committee’s work was moving forward to help the select board honor the fire department’s preference to build a brand-new facility near the current town office location.
Representing the building committee, Jim LaPrade said that the committee has submitted a draft request for proposal (RFP) to get an engineering study done for the lot next door to the town office and for the adjacent smaller pieces of land.
LaPrade said that the committee is hoping to get the RFP through the approval process and have it publicly noticed so that the committee could hopefully find an engineering firm that was willing to take on the project.
This RFP should give the committee (based on a rough order of magnitude, square footage, and related functions) a pretty accurate cost per square foot estimate, according to LaPrade.
Dunbar cautioned about getting too far ahead in planning phases due to grant restrictions stating how Southwest Harbor got into a little bind with the same, or a very similar, grant program for its new public works facility and having completed too much planning work prior to grant application/approval.
Because Dunbar had not gotten a copy of the RFP until the previous Friday, the board had not yet seen it. Based upon this fact, the board took no action and decided to wait until its next meeting to look at the proposed RFP.
BERNARD WHARF HOIST UPGRADE
The select board unanimously approved contracting with Lonnie’s Hydraulics in an amount of $13,850 to upgrade the electric hoist at the Bernard Wharf. This will make all three of the hoists hydraulic. All three hoists will have electric controllers but will also have a manual winch handle should the controller fail.
There will be some additional costs for hydraulic hoses and an electrician to do the electrical work. Harbormaster Tyler Damon estimated these additional costs to be around $3,000.
FY26 WHARF FEES
Wharf fees are set annually and this year there was no increase over last year’s fee schedule. However, starting this year, the late fee kicks in on October 1 rather than December 31. This allows the wharf fee late fee to start at the same time as the late fee for mooring fees, which is 30 days after the initial fee due date.
The select board unanimously adopted the wharf fees from September 1, 2025, through August 31, 2025.
The next meeting of the Tremont Select Board will be a special meeting to discuss the potential acquisition of the Wagner property at 31 and 37 Harbor Drive on Thursday, October 16, at 5 p.m., in the Harvey Kelley Meeting Room at the town office.
All photos: Shaun Farrar/BHS
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
Tremont Select Board Appears Ready to Try and Build Brand-New Public Safety Building
Tremont Select Board to Enter Into Agreement to Possibly Purchase Properties as New Public Safety Facility
Local Ambulance Service Doing All It Can To Survive
Carrie Jones and Shaun Farra·
What is the Future of the Southwest Harbor-Tremont Ambulance Service?
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