Gives property owner $1,500 for his time and aggravation
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Window Panes Home and Garden.
TREMONT—At a special meeting on Thursday, October 16, after some quick discussion with representatives from both the public safety building committee and ambulance service, the Tremont Select Board voted unanimously to terminate the purchase and sale agreement with Michael and Patricia Wagner for 31 and 37 Harbor Drive.
The town had been entertaining the purchase of the property, which consists of a two-bedroom, two-bathroom residence and a commercial steel building with three large garage bays that is currently a boat shop, as a possible new public safety building or more recently a possible new public works facility.
When the idea of purchasing the property had originally been introduced, it was proposed as a possible alternative to building a brand-new public safety building on the same property as where the town office resides now, which had been the original plan.
The Wagners’ property has been looked at by multiple parties involved in the potential transformation and the fire department decided that the existing steel building at 37 Harbor Drive would need many renovations and updates to meet its needs and would still be lacking a lot of details that could be tailored for emergency services in a new building.
The possible purchase has been discussed at multiple select board meetings and at the last couple of meetings it was pretty well determined that the course of action moving forward would be for the public safety committee, via the town, to apply for a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) grant program that would pay for up to 75% of the building price.
If the public safety building could be built for the committee’s target price of $5-$6 million, that would make the town’s contribution a maximum of $1.5 million which would most likely be below the combined purchase price of $972,000 and the cost of modifications to the existing metal building and residence at 31 and 37 Harbor Drive.
The two items in question for the October 16 meeting were if the existing public works garage could be utilized as a new public safety building and the ambulance service’s fairly urgent need for housing of staff.
At Thursday night’s meeting, Jim LaPrade who is a member the public safety building committee as a Tremont Volunteer Fire Department member said, “We discussed the use of the building across the way (the current public works garage), I came out and took a look at it, and again, it’s another case of a lot of compromises that have to be addressed some way. We are going to have to change a lot of the way the building is configured and then kind of customize the way that we would handle our equipment, rather than just having something that was built to suit.”
LaPrade continued, “There is not a great deal of enthusiasm about going that route because there is quite a bit of modifications and construction that would have to go along with that.”
Board Chair Jamie Thurlow asked LaPrade if he had inquired with the fire department about where the proceeds from the sale of the current fire station, which is owned by the fire department and not the town, would go when the time came to move into a new facility and be done with that current building.
LaPrade responded that he had to wait until a department member meeting and a fire department board meeting could be held. Both of those meetings should take place around the end of October and beginning of November according to LaPrade.
Thurlow then asked Southwest Harbor–Tremont Ambulance Service Board President Andy Cline if the ambulance service had any update.
Cline responded that he had polled the board and a little bit of the crew membership and the ambulance service would be happy to and grateful for the opportunity to utilize the house for housing if it passed all of the tests normally associated with a house purchase such as radon and water testing.
But Cline then said, “I don’t think you should buy the property because it would help us. As grateful as we are for your interest in supporting the ambulance service, I think you should make the decision based on what’s best for the town, fire department, and everything, not because it would help us.”
Thurlow then asked the rest of the select board members what they thought.
“I think they both have said no. I mean we have presented two good options to the fire department as far as building a fire station and they turned both of them down. So, I mean we have had good compromises; it doesn’t seem to be good for them,” said member McKenzie Jewett who then suggested that they “pull the plug” on the purchase and sale agreement.
Jewett also said that she feels really bad for dragging the process out for so long and keeping the Wagners waiting on a decision.
Jewett added, “I am not in support of calling a special town meeting for funding for this fire station. I am not in support of a $6 million building or whatever we are at this point. We have offered a couple of good choices and we have been turned down each time, so that’s where I am at.”
Alan Feuer who is on the ambulance service board of directors and is also a Tremont Volunteer Fire Department representative on the public safety building committee said, “In the interest of the town, I think this is really the best solution and we are going to get the best building, or the better building, because it will be purpose built.”
What Feuer was referring to was applying for congressionally directed spending money via a USDA grant that would hopefully keep the town’s monetary commitment around $1-1.5 million which would most likely be less than purchasing and refitting the Wagner building.
Board member Kevin Buck said that he was also pretty skeptical of the grant, actually being awarded the money, and the risk of funding disappearing as it has been lately from federal sources.
Feuer said, “One of the strengths of our proposal is the fact that the ambulance service would be a participant because that makes us larger than just Tremont. It is now almost regional, and of course, the fact that we service thousands and thousands of people that come to this park. So even though we are applying as a town of less than 2,000, our service community is much larger. It’s much bigger than that. That’s why I think it is such a strong, strong case.”
“Yeah, and I hope you are right,” said Thurlow.
Thurlow brought forth the idea of giving the Wagners some compensation for their time and aggravation in the potential sale process.
While the select board was worried about whether or not the town would actually receive the grant and members did not necessarily agree with all of the reasoning behind turning down the offered options, it decided to move forward with the brand-new building option and made two motions, both of which were unanimously approved, to help facilitate the public safety building committee’s plan.
Member Eric Eaton made a motion that the town “pull out of the purchase and sale agreement with the Wagner property and the town compensates him $1,500 for his time and aggravation.”
Member Howdy Goodwin seconded the motion.
To further get the project in motion, the select board quickly deliberated a request for qualifications (RFQ) that was submitted by the public safety building committee to Town Manager Jesse Dunbar on October 3 and Buck made a motion to approve the RFQ as presented and Eaton seconded.
The next meeting of the Tremont Select Board is tonight, October 20, at 5 p.m., in the Harvey Kelley Meeting Room at the town office.
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
Tremont Planning Board Chair Resigns
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
What is the Future of the Southwest Harbor-Tremont Ambulance Service?
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