Southwest Harbor’s Former Harbormaster Will Be Its New CEO

Carrie Jones

Dec 17, 2025

The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Acadia Shops.

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SOUTHWEST HARBOR—The Southwest Harbor Planning Board approved the written description of the soil tests for the Trundy Farm Subdivision required for its approval.

“I’m very fine with it,” Priscilla Ksionzyk said.

The board had originally asked for a soil test for the 12-lot subdivision, which is by the six-acre Worcester Landfill off the Long Pond Road. That landfill has been categorized as a Maine DEP (Department of Environmental Protection) uncontrolled designated site.

An initial test by Hayley Ward was not considered sufficient by some board members, mostly because it only tested to a depth of six inches and other aspects of the methodology.

Members then proposed to retest the soil in the subdivision at a deeper depth at multiple sites with non-composite results.

The board had conditionally approved the subdivision, September 30, stipulating it needed soil sampling first to make sure that homes weren’t built on soil contaminated by toxic chemicals or heavy metals.

However, the board didn’t stipulate the depth of those test sites or explicitly say where those samples should be collected.

The samples, collected October 3, were meant to be the final part of the approval process for the subdivision.

Haley Ward focused on arsenic, barium, cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury, selenium, silver, volatile organic carbons (VOCs) and perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroakyl (PFAS) levels. The company had been hired by Ben “Lee” Worcester, the applicant.

Worcester is also the planning board’s vice chair. He has recused himself from the planning board discussion, but participated as an applicant. Member Mike Levesque also stepped down from the conversation because he lives close by.

Worcester’s family owns Eastern Maine Recycling, which is a local transfer station. The family also owns the landfill on Long Pond Road, which is being monitored by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. The subdivision is near both the Eastern Maine Recycling (EMR) facility and the Worcester landfill site.

James Vallette, a former select board member and Southwest Harbor director for the Acadia Soils District, submitted a letter from Doug Rissing, a licensed geologist who lives in Southwest Harbor, which was his analysis of Haley Ward’s proposal for soils testing.

Rissing wrote that the plan “does not adequately account for the inherent heterogeneity of an uncapped, unlined legacy landfill. Such sites are characterized by highly variable waste thickness, composition, permeability, and structural integrity, with abrupt lateral and vertical changes that cannot be reliably predicted using conventional subsurface assumptions. The plan appears to treat subsurface conditions as relatively uniform by calling for only 5 sample locations, which increases the risk of incomplete characterization and undermines the representativeness of the data collected.”

He also worried about avoiding the water table while sampling.

“From a geologic and hydrogeologic standpoint, this approach is not technically justified in a legacy landfill setting. The water table commonly represents the primary zone of leachate accumulation, contaminant mobilization, and lateral groundwater transport at unlined landfills. Deliberate avoidance of this interval risks overlooking the most environmentally relevant contamination and may result in a biased or incomplete understanding of site conditions. Samples should be collected at the water table and not above when the water table is encountered.

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NEW CODE ENFORCEMENT OFFICER

Jarrod Kushla became Southwest Harbor’s next code enforcement officer this week. Kushla has been previously employed by the town as its harbormaster from 2022 to 2024. He replaces John Larson, who initially announced his intention to resign in October. Larsen passed away recently.

“With full support by the interview committee, Jarrod Kushla was recommended and was hired as the full-time code enforcement officer for Southwest Harbor,” Town Manager Karen Reddersen said, Thursday.

Kushla was most recently the facilities manager at Somesville Landing Corp. Prior to becoming the harbormaster in Southwest Harbor, he served in the United States Coast Guard for over 20 years. He is originally from Silver Spring, Maryland.

“He will also be the 911 addressing officer and health officer. He will start full-time on January 5, 2026,” Reddersen said.

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LINKS TO LEARN MORE

Near a Century-Old Landfill, a Subdivision Stalls Over Questions of Soil Safety

Carrie Jones

·

Dec 3

Read full story

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A NOTE FROM US

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