Board Accepts Gift for Ice Skating Rink

Carrie Jones

Jan 23, 2026

The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Havana.

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MOUNT DESERT—A closer look at employee wages and benefits has led Mount Desert officials to propose some changes to the public works’ budget, correcting discrepancies between the current budget and actual payroll costs that Town Manager Alex Kimball said could no longer be left unaddressed.

“One of the big drivers in this budget was me going through and doing a very detailed search through existing employees, current wages, projected next year wages, all according to, and most, for the most part on this one, according straight up to union contract,” Town Manager Alex Kimball said. “And then also taking a look at their existing benefits and running projections from there, which is a level of detail we haven’t quite always done in the past.”

During that review, he said, there were some pretty big numbers that jumped out. The increased numbers, he said, were from the town playing catchup and making corrections.

“Similar things occur where some of the lines are pretty right on, others of the lines have to make some big changes, not quite so bad as the other departments, but really for both of those two departments on the wages, this is really something of a—call it a one-time correction to get everything straight, and then we can be much tighter in future years,” Kimball said.

Some of those rectifications result in changes that vary from 33% to 1%.

Selectboard member Martha Dudman asked, “So…you’re saying they’re not raises, they’re…?”

“There are the COLA (cost of living allowance) raises; there are the union contract raises, but this is where the budget numbers for the present year, for whatever reason, don’t tie to what is going on at present,” Kimball said. “And so I don’t, I can’t speak to why.“

“So the actuals are incorrect?” she asked.

“The budget for the present year is not a good reflection of what everyone is making,” Kimball said. “So we’re fixing that for the next year because we can’t let that go on. We can’t have the general funds start to lose fund balance the way it most likely will this year. We can weather something like that once, but we can’t weather it on an ongoing basis.”

“Getting to what Alex was saying. If you look at the actuals, they’re already north of year-to-date than we’re budgeted,” Chair John Macauley said.

“And again, this can be as simple as switching from one person doing it in the past to a different person and a different set of eyes and a different methodology,” Kimball explained. “But I just think it’s important that we get this straight this time. And in general, that’s, you know, those are the big numbers in these two budgets, that and into the wastewater end of things.”

Kimball was recently hired by the town as its new manager, replacing Durlin Lunt who retired late in the summer of 2025. Nancy Parsons was just hired this month as treasurer and finance director to replace Mae Wyler who resigned this fall.

Public Works Director Brian Henkel went through smaller changes in the budget, including an ultraviolet system, impacts of the solar array, impacts of recycling changes by using a different plant. Overtime costs, which can be dependent on snowstorms and needs can vary year to year and are often hard to predict.

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MOUS AND PARKING ON HARBORSIDE ROAD

During public comment, a woman who did not identify herself but was referred to as Katrina, asked if the village improvement societies in various town villages were in the budget process as memorandums of understanding (MOUs) instead of having to come each year before the board as an annual ask. She also advocated for the Seal Harbor Village Improvement Society and its work.

“I just feel badly that Seal Harbor Village Improvement Society, they have to come every year, they’re grilled, and yet we all say Seal Harbor is the gem, and it’s just, they should be an MOU,” she said. “And it’s the same with Somesville and flowers on the bridge.”

The Mount Desert Historical Society was also referenced for the work it does.

Currently the Neighborhood House, Island Explorer, and the library are MOUs, which was only recently started by the town.

Dudman suggested considering a comprehensive MOU framework.

Selectboard member Rodney King worried about the corner of Harborside Road where a one-ton sander truck and another vehicle were parked on the corner, at least partially in the road.

“Half the people on the road couldn’t drive a cat outdoors with a broom to begin with and when they come up on something like that, they just go right in the other lane,” King said. “It’s a vicious corner anyway.”

Scanner traffic in the morning of January 22 indicated that a police officer spoke to the workers about the problem that day.

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OTHER ACTIONS

The town’s community ice rink will have $152,500 in improvements thanks to a gift from the Mount Desert Community Development Corporation.

The town’s select board accepted that gift during its January 20 meeting.

The select board appointed its new finance director as its treasurer while accepting the resignations of three warrant committee members: Steve Anastasia, Megan Bailey, and Jesse Hartson.

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LINKS TO LEARN MORE

https://www.mtdesert.org/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_01202026-891

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