Trying to do things right and still make grant deadlines
Dec 05, 2025
TREMONT—A $63,000 feasibility study for a new public safety building gave Tremont officials pause Tuesday, as board members questioned whether the project would fit on town land and whether the investment would be wasted if it didn’t.
Once the Town of Tremont determined that the potential purchase of existing buildings at 31 and 37 Harbor Drive was not a viable solution for a new public safety building, the public safety building committee sent out requests for qualifications (RFQs) for a feasibility study for building a brand-new structure on town owned property by the town office.
The committee sent RFQs to three entities and only one responded. That responding company was Hedefine Engineering & Design Inc., which gave a total price of $62,300.
That price includes $22,500 for “natural resources, geotech, and hydrological,” $34,400 for “architectural, civil, and electrical,” and $5,400 for “cost estimating.”
Member Eric Eaton asked if a cost per square foot (CSF) estimate was included in the pricing.
Public safety building committee member Jim LaPrade said that Hedefine will develop two different schematic layout drawings and whichever design is chosen by the committee Hedefine will then do a CSF estimate for.
“This is a big fire station. Like seven bays is a huge fire station. What if it comes back and … I don’t understand how this works,” said Vice Chair McKenzie Jewett, “So, we spend the $63,000 or whatever it is and they say, ‘Gosh, this is way too big; it’s not going to fit on the property.’ Do you guys need to go back and scale back? Cause seven bays is a lot for Tremont, guys. That’s a big station.”
Jewett then asked if the town would have to pay for additional services if plans need to be scaled back.
LaPrade said that one of the seven bays that is currently in the preliminary design can be eliminated right away because it’s a separate bay for maintaining and washing the vehicles.
LaPrade also said that one of those seven bays is for the ambulance service so really, only five of the bays are for the fire department apparatus.
The overall feeling of the board was concern that it was going to spend almost $63,000 for something that potentially wouldn’t work.
Alan Feuer, who is also a public safety building committee member, explained that the first part of the package was a feasibility study. So, they should be able to determine if things will fit at that stage and if not, shift gears.
Member Eric Eaton said, “As they are doing the feasibility, I guess it would be nice to know if we are locked into the sixty-whatever -housand dollars or, if they say in the beginning stages, ‘Well, this is definitely not going to work, we are going to have to change it now, we will adjust your price.’ To what we are actually going to do. That’s probably what we would like to see.”
“I don’t want to spend $63,000 for them to be like ‘Sorry. Thing doesn’t work, doesn’t fit,’” said Jewett.
Chair Jamie Thurlow was looking for reassurance that the committee was willing to make changes and adjustments to building size and/or design if the outcome of the study determined such steps were necessary.
“I would be totally game for it as long as you guys were willing to change your plan,” Thurlow said, “As long as you guys are game to go along with whatever to make it work, I just don’t want to throw the money out.”
The board then tasked Town Manager Jesse Dunbar with trying to get some questions answered by Hedefine before they made a decision. Some of those clarifying questions are below.
- What exactly are we getting for the money?
- Can the money be charged in phases as the project goes along?
- Will they be willing to stay with the town if the concepts have to change?
Due to time constraints of grant application deadlines and being able to perform site evaluations before the weather negates that possibility the board scheduled a special meeting for Monday, December 8, to revisit the decision. That meeting has been scheduled for 5 p.m., in the Harvey Kelley Meeting Room at the town office.
Tremont Fire Station
55.6MB ∙ PDF file
TREMONT COMMUNITY BUILDING WINDOW REPLACEMENT
Some of the windows in the Tremont Community Building that adjoins the Tremont Consolidated School need to be replaced because they do not meet egress requirements. Students from the school regularly spend time in some portions of the building.
Any maintenance and/or repairs above $5,000 is the responsibility of the town to pay for in the community building, according too Dunbar.
Dunbar had presented the select board with one estimate for the necessary window replacements and associated work. The estimate was from Mainely Vinyl and was for $23,985 for eight window replacements and the removal of three wall air conditioning units. These eight windows are in the areas of the community building that students frequent.
To replace all of the windows in the building, none of which meet code for egress and some of which are broken, the estimate was $36,375.
After some discussion, the select board members seemed unanimous in the feeling that all of the windows are aged and that they should all be replaced and be compliant for egress.
Fire Chief Keith Higgins asked what the monetary threshold was to require more than one estimate for projects.
Dunbar responded that the school had gotten the estimate but that he could surely ask them to get a couple more.
The select board decided that they should have more than one choice in estimates and the discussion and possible approval was tabled until more bids are received.
FY27 BUDGET PREPARATION
The annual opportunity for the select board to make requests for money in the FY27 budget was not utilized as none of the select board could think of anything that they needed to request money for that wasn’t already being addressed.
CHANGING ASSESSOR CONTRACT
At the November 17 select board meeting, one of the items of regular business was the town’s assessing contract.
The town currently contracts with RJD Appraisal for property assessing services. The assessor from RJD Appraisal who most often works with the Town of Tremont is Matthew Caldwell. Caldwell will be leaving RJD Appraisal and starting his own firm, Caldwell Municipal Assessing & Consulting.
Dunbar was asking for the select board’s permission to withdraw from the contract with RJD Appraisal, which is allowed without penalty with 30 days’ notice, and enter into a new contract with Caldwell Municipal Assessing & Consulting, effective January 1, 2026. The pricing for the new contract would be very similar to the existing contract.
Dunbar’s request was based upon the fact that Caldwell has been providing a high level of service as a representative of RJD Appraisal and Dunbar feels that the town would be best served by retaining the same service level.
The request was unanimously approved to withdraw from the contract with RJD Appraisal and enter into a new contract with Caldwell Municipal Assessing & Consulting.
Member Howard “Howdy” Goodwin was absent from the December 1 meeting.
The next regular Tremont Select Board meeting is scheduled for December 15, at 5 p.m., in the Harvey Kelley Meeting Room at the Tremont Town Office.
All photos: Shaun Farrar/Bar Harbor Story
A NOTE FROM US
This is Carrie and Shaun, and as you’ve probably noticed, we’ve been working hard at the Bar Harbor Story, providing local news in a way that keeps you informed, but also embraces and promotes community and the good that is within it.
We take so much time—just the two of us, with a special needs kid that has to be homeschooled—to cover our island community’s (plus, Trenton) local news in a way that’s timely, daily, and remembers that underneath the news . . . there are people who are our neighbors.
We are working hard to get the news out there—for free—for everyone. But it’s taking its toll on our family financially and honestly, sometimes, emotionally, because frontline local news in a small community? It’s hard.
Most media isn’t local (even when it claims it is). Most media has paywalls and advertisers. We don’t. That’s not a smart financial decision for us. It’s a moral one. And we’re going to try to do it for as long as we can because we’re local, we’re passionate, and we’re all about getting the news to everyone—no paywalls.
Why?
Richard Stengel, writing in The Atlantic, said, “Paywalls create a two-tiered system: credible, fact-based information for people who are willing to pay for it, and murkier, less-reliable information for everyone else. Simply put, paywalls get in the way of informing the public, which is the mission of journalism.”
As a paper that is owned and staffed only by locals, we make every attempt to gather all of the facts for our readers, information that might not be part of the main story and/or information that may not be known even to our towns’ officials, but is still just as important, if not more important, to the story.
We currently have well over 5,000 subscribers, the vast majority of them free, with over 401,500 article reads every month. Every one of our stories is opened at least 3,500 times. Most are opened well over that amount.
To continue to provide you with fact-based, non-editorialized news, we really need your support! If you’d like to support us or subscribe? It would mean the world to us, and to the Bar Harbor Story!
There are a few ways to do that:
- You can send us a one-time support via this link here. It will say “Carrie Jones Books” because that’s what our PayPal account is through.
- You can become a paid subscriber at either site here (scroll to bottom) or here (scroll to bottom).
- Your business or nonprofit can sponsor the Bar Harbor Story with a banner ad. More information on that is here.
THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING OUR COMMITMENT TO ALL OF OUR COMMUNITY
You can help us keep bringing your community news with no paywalls for the community. No pressure though!
Make a monthly donation
Make a yearly donation
Choose an amount
Or enter a custom amount
Your contribution is appreciated.
Your contribution is appreciated.
Your contribution is appreciated.
Discover more from Bar Harbor Story
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.