Infiltration and old pipes: Mount Desert will look for a methodical plan to fix private and public lines.

Carrie Jones

Dec 02, 2025

The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Window Panes Home and Garden.

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MOUNT DESERT—If you’ve ever wondered what’s going on under Mount Desert’s streets, the town’s selectboard does, too. In a twelve-minute meeting on December 1, board members zeroed in on the town’s aging sewer lines that are often connected to private properties.

“There are a lot of sewer lines that are connected that come from a private home,” Public Works Director Brian Henkel said.

There are sometimes sumps or roof drains that are connected to the town line that shouldn’t be.

The other issues are leaks and cracks in the pipes. This can cause infiltration and other problems. The public works department can do smoke tests by putting smoke into the system and watching where the smoke exits to see where some issues are. If smoke appears in the middle of a lawn, a sidewalk, a road that would likely indicate a problem. Then a camera can be run through the pipes to that point and the public works department can target those areas. The department can also do basement inspections.

“We’ve started that process,” Henkel said.

“That’s time consuming,” selectboard member Martha Dudman said.

The problem, Henkel said, is how to address the likely many issues in the pipes.

He advocated the town creating a program that would also make sure that property owners know what’s going on with their pipes and how it can be addressed. He’d like to meet with the selectboard so that the town can have a methodical approach to creating the program and addressing the system.

“I’ve said for a long time that Tony (Smith, former public works director) did a great job with updating the plants and pump stations. There’s a lot of that work that was done. It was very expensive. They were all relatively old—40, 50 years old,” Henkel said. “They had some updates through time. And the rest of my career here could probably be just getting rid of the inflow and infiltration in all the lines, whether they’re the private or the public. It’s going to be a long-term process, but one that we do need to address.”

The responsibility would be the homeowners for the private lines.

“It seems like a big challenge,” Dudman said.

Old clay pipes can be infiltrated over time and move a bit. Even cast iron pipes can get broken joints. The surface pipes are checked annually and covered by the town’s code enforcement office.

“The underground ones, people just don’t see,” Henkel said.

That makes it hard to spot a problem. The town is currently getting ready to hear the conclusions of a study about its Sea Street pump station and to come up with remediation.

In a November 25 memo, Wastewater Superintendent Ed Montague explained that the town received a letter from MeDEP (Maine DEP) in May regarding “an exceedance of our Waste Discharge License and Maine Pollution Discharge Elimination System , which sets a monthly average effluent discharge limit of 0.33 MGD (Million Gallons per Day).”

The town exceeded that limit in March 2025 with a .387 average flow.

“The MeDEP was already aware that we had contracted with Olver Associates for an inflow and infiltration (I&I) study of the Sea Street pump station service area, as that station experiences surcharging during major rain events and has occasionally discharged through its overboard discharge line into the harbor. The MeDEP has set a deadline of December 31, 2025 for us to submit the conclusions of the study along with a remediation plan and schedule. We will have the completed study by the end of this month. Preliminary results indicate that much of the I&I getting into the system is due to private sewer lines that are in poor condition,” Montague wrote.

He continued, “During the I&I study, Olver also identified a section of sewer line running along the shoreline from the Asticou Inn to the Sea Street pump station that is being undermined. Because this area has limited access for construction equipment, we will need to have an appropriate plan developed to ensure its effective repair.”

The town board approved contracting Hedefine Engineering for $8,600 to address stormwater drainage from 2 and 4 Steamboat Wharf Road properties. The town’s portion is $3,440.

According to a memo from Henkel, “Significant overland flow from both properties currently runs onto Steamboat Wharf Road and then continues to flow south along the curbed sidewalk on the west side. The stormwater eventually enters a catch basin more than 200 feet away. The flow across the roadway and along the curb leads to significant icing during cold weather.”

The cost is for the town’s portion of the design of the improvement project. The private home owner will bear 60% of the design cost.

The design will likely include a new stormwater catch basin on Steamboat Wharf Road and a stormwater collection system on the homeowner’s property.

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APPOINTMENT, AMBULANCE SERVICE, CRANBERRY ISLES’ LEASE

David MacDonald was appointed to the town’s warrant committee. The selectboard accepted department reports and discussed the Cranberry Isles Fiscal Year 2027 parking rate, and also accepted a change to the ambulance service agreement with the Southwest Harbor-Tremont Ambulance.

The rate adjustment for the Cranberry Isles’ parking lease was 3.03%, increasing it from $52,399 in 2025 to $53,986, which is payable by July 15, 2026.

The Southwest Harbor-Tremont Ambulance Service change is to bill MaineCare at a rate closer to the one they use for Medicare when it is for advanced life support services.

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BUDGET PROCESS, ELECTION CLERK PAY RATES

The budget process has begun Town Manager Alex Kimball said; it’s a bit behind as he gets up to speed with the town.

The board unanimously approved adjusting pay rates for the election and ballot clerks as well as the election warden and deputy moderator.

“It’s been almost six years since we amended their pay rates so I thought it was time,” Town Clerk Claire Woolfolk said.

“Considering the many years of experience and reliability of the Town of Mount Desert’s election workers, I would like to raise the hourly rate of pay to $22/hour in recognition of their years of service and mastery of the skills needed to perform their duties,” Woolfolk wrote in a November 26 memo. “Seasoned election clerks currently receive $20/hour. For new election workers with less than three years of experience, I recommend a rate of $18/hour from $15/hour. I also propose that any election clerks that are minors (under the age of 18), be paid the current State of Maine minimum wage, unless they use the election work to meet their community service requirements for graduation.”

She suggested the warden’s pay be $25/hour, rising to $28/hour once they have served three years in that position. The current rate is $20/$25.

“It was a very persuasive memo. I move approval,” Dudman said.

Woolfolk believes it will be a $1,000 total overall increase for the year.

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/PETVjgoRErQ?rel=0&autoplay=0&showinfo=0&enablejsapi=0

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