Carrie Jones

Dec 31, 2025

The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Acadia Psychiatry.

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SOUTHWEST HARBOR—The Southwest Harbor Select Board released a public statement near the end of its meeting, December 30, expressly about the town’s board members.

“Over the recent weeks, the select board has received concerns from the public about a manner in which some appointed town boards and individual board members have conducted themselves,” Select Board Chair Noah Burby read from a statement. “As a select board, we want you to know that we have heard those concerns and taken action to address them.”

On December 3, 2025, town board members, both elected and appointed, received legal training on proper board conduct, rights and responsibilities, executive sessions, and other procedural issues, he said.

Throughout the fall, the board has held multiple executive sessions about board appointees. The Southwest Harbor Select Board accepted the resignation of appeals board ​member Scott Preston and removed Alyson Meiselman from the board, on November 25.

There have been multiple executive sessions, which are not open to the public, that detailed only that they were about appointees. Appeals board members—and all other members of non-elected town boards and committees such as planning board members and harbor committee members—are appointed.

“Second, we are proactively reviewing the conduct and performance of appointed board members and will act if appointed board members do not adhere to our standards and expectations,” Burby said.

If any appointed board member needs additional training on how to conduct themselves, the board will direct that member to attend such training, he said.

“The citizens of the town of Southwest Harbor deserve to have board members serve them honorably, ethically, fairly, and efficiently,” Burby said. “We as a select board do our part to ensure that those we appoint not only meet our expectations, but yours as well.”

There were no additional comments about current board and committee appointees.

The select board had held two closed executive sessions prior to the start of its regular December 30 meeting for the “discussion of a personnel matter related to the employment of an individual wherein the discussion of this personnel matter could be reasonably expected to violate the employee’s reputation or right to privacy” and “for discussion of a personnel matter related to the appointment of an individual wherein the discussion of this personnel matter could be reasonably expected to violate the appointee’s reputation or right to privacy.”

Within an open meeting, Maine law allows boards and committees of towns to have an executive session. Minutes are not taken. The public does not attend. The contents are considered confidential. As detailed in state statute, those closed sessions can only be used in certain matters which include:

“Discussion or consideration of the employment, appointment, assignment, duties, promotion, demotion, compensation, evaluation, disciplining, resignation or dismissal of an individual or group of public officials, appointees or employees of the body or agency or the investigation or hearing of charges or complaints against a person or persons subject to the following conditions:

• “(1) An executive session may be held only if public discussion could be reasonably expected to cause damage to the individual’s reputation or the individual’s right to privacy would be violated;
• “(2) Any person charged or investigated must be permitted to be present at an executive session if that person so desires;
• “(3) Any person charged or investigated may request in writing that the investigation or hearing of charges or complaints against that person be conducted in open session. A request, if made to the agency, must be honored; and
• “(4) Any person bringing charges, complaints or allegations of misconduct against the individual under discussion must be permitted to be present.”

Also during the meeting, two men were appointed to the town’s warrant committee, December 30, prior to Burby reading the public statement.

Bryan Stevens and Colin Samuel were both unanimously appointed to the committee.

Stevens and his wife have owned multiple inns in town. He said another warrant committee member leaned on him heavily to join. Samuel has lived in Southwest Harbor with his family for approximately 18 months and applied, deciding it was an opportunity to volunteer.

Both were unanimously appointed to terms ending June 30, 2028.

“Welcome aboard,” Select Board Vice Chair Chapin McFarland said.

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RECENT BRIEFS

All briefs can be seen on the Bar Harbor Story’s website, here.