Oct 21, 2025
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Thrive Juice Bar & Kitchen.
MOUNT DESERT—In less than 15 minutes, October 20, the Mount Desert Selectboard moved to take care of the infrastructure in its town.
Their decisions also included approving a liquor license and purchasing furniture for the fire station.
The board members okayed work on a South Shore Road sidewalk near the Northeast Harbor Fleet property, which will cost approximately $5,300 in a contract with Gartley & Dorskey.
The board also approved paying $11,350 to Hager-Richter Geoscience to perform GPR assessment of the integrity of the infill and structures around the Seal Harbor Pier.
The new sidewalk is meant to help people walking along the South Shore Road. The Seal Harbor Pier work is meant to gather a better understanding of where there might be voids in the parking area and under the pier’s asphalt surface. Bar Harbor had a similar study done for its Ells Pier after January 2024 storms.
The Seal Harbor Pier has been damaged by two January storms in 2024. The comfort station at the site was destroyed and the pier at Seal Harbor has been patched and repaired multiple times.
“Public works and the harbormaster are concerned about the condition of the infill material that underlies the asphalt surface of the pier and parking lot. Previous settlement indicates that the infill material may have washed away. We are proposing to contract for a condition assessment using ground penetrating radar (GPR). The use of a GPR device can help to determine the types and density of the infill materials and identify void spaces. The proposed contract for GPR services will help public works and the harbormaster determine if further investigation is needed or if there are preventative measures that can be taken to support the structure of the pier,” Public Works Director Brian Henkel wrote in an October 16 memo.
The new sidewalk comes after recent work to an adjacent property.
“The Northeast Harbor Fleet has completed a significant upgrade to their facilities and had contacted public works for a potential upgrade to the adjacent town infrastructure. The primary improvement to town infrastructure is the addition of a sidewalk on South Shore Road adjacent to a portion of the Fleet’s property,” Henkel explained in another October 16 memo. “A sidewalk along this segment of South Shore Road would provide significantly improved pedestrian access from the Fleet’s parking lot at South Shore Road and Maple Lane, to the Fleet facilities.”
There is only sidewalk on the road’s north side, which Henkel said limits the sight distance of pedestrians.
“A secondary improvement to town infrastructure would be to remove that portion of the existing sidewalk that follows the inside curve (north side) of South Shore Road,” he wrote.
FIRE DEPARTMENT
Despite some initial hesitation and questions from board member Rodney King, it unanimously approved authorizing Fire Chief Mike Bender to purchase furniture from Fire Station Furniture Company., Inc. at a cost of $10,125.95 in association with the Mount Desert Fire Station #1 (Northeast Harbor) building project.
“As much as it pains me to think about spending $10,000 on furniture, I would move that we approve that purchase,” Geoff Wood said.
The purchase required an exemption from the town’s purchasing policy for 11 personal lockers and four more kitchen chairs.
“That seems like an awful lot of money for kitchen chairs and lockers,” King said.
The chairs cost approximately $260 each. There is also shipping costs.
“Now that we’ve been here for almost three years, we’re learning that as the staff rotates through, they don’t have their own lockers for the station,” Chief Bender said.
The lockers are approximately $700 apiece and store turn-out gear. They’d been previously purchased in 2023 and 2024, but there are not enough to cover on-call firefighters, volunteers and new staff.
“It will be funded with the remaining construction budget. As of June 1, 2025, there is $488,693.39 left in the construction budget,” Chief Bender wrote in an October 16 email to Town Manager Alex Kimball.
With the purchase the bunk and day rooms in both fire stations is complete.
“The additional lockers will provide each full-time staff member with their own personal locker in the bunk rooms, eliminating the need for sharing. If approved, we anticipate delivery by mid-November,” Chief Bender wrote.
The board also authorized Kimball to sign an agreement and general release of all claims with CBC Holding Corporation for the purpose of fire department training.
“The agreement is for the fire department to use a building owned by Camp Beech Cliff for non-live fire training. It has been edited, reviewed, and approved by our attorney. The training is schedule to take place the weekend of October 24 – 26,” Kimball wrote.
OTHER BUSINESS
The town approved Good Wolf’s request for a liquor license for 123 Main Street. It also appointed Alex Kimball as interim treasurer as of November 1.
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
“Massive destruction on a proportion never seen”
Storm Smashes Into MDI
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