Department will be down to four beginning next week.
Jan 28, 2026
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Edward Jones Financial Advisor: Elise N. Frank.
SOUTHWEST HARBOR—The Southwest Harbor Police Department continues to have changes for its staff.
Earlier this month, Sgt. Ryan Blakeney was let go. Also this month, Officer Kristen Roulet was approved to be a school resource officer in both Pemetic Elementary and Tremont.
Now, Officer James Kamorski has resigned to take a position in Old Town. His last day will be February 1 according to the town manager. He began in April 2024 and the department brought him through the Maine Criminal Justice Academy’s 18 weeks of training in Vassalboro in August of that year.
“He had some family issues and decided to change where he’s living because of a family issue and the location that they chose is too far to keep commuting back and forth,” Chief John Hall told the select board January 27.
Old Town will pay for some training reimbursement. This will likely result in approximately $38,500 returned to the town.
Also, on January 27, the board decided not to hire a replacement for Officer Kamorski.
The department still employs Officer Bradley Russell and Officer Rick Graham as well as Chief Hall and Officer Roulet. The now-four member department, including the chief, is responsible for both Southwest Harbor and, through a contract, the neighboring town of Tremont.
The decision came during one of the select board’s many budget discussions during the last week.
At the beginning of the meeting Town Manager Karen Reddersen said of the police department’s portion of the budget, “Police is at 36.9% with wage increases and overtime.”
“There’s some significant changes with this,” Vice Chair Chapin McFarland said of the police department budget as it was presented Tuesday night.
Now, without filling Kamorski’s position, the salary line increases have decreased from 44% to 22%.
The salary increase involved covering of the officers’ contract related to their 12-hour shifts. Those shifts equal 48 hours a week. The contract stipulates that eight of those hours be overtime pay on top of the regular work week. This equates to just less than $110,000 annually for those officers in Southwest Harbor if they don’t have overtime on top of that weekly eight hours. The sergeant’s pay increased to $121,887.
“It’s a significant increase.” Overall, Vice Chair Chapin McFarland said, ”That’s eight hours of built-in overtime, which ended up in over $120,000 increase to the budget.”
For comparison, Bar Harbor’s top-paid police sergeant’s base annual pay is $94,536 without overtime.
“We reduce the position by one, and it changes the way we work on our scheduling,” Chief Hall said. “How does that effect anything with Officer Roulet working in the school and stuff like that? I can’t even answer that question because we haven’t even met with the school yet.”
He hopes to meet with school administrators this week about Officer Roulet’s duties and schedule as a school resource officer in each community.
The town hopes to advertise for a sergeant to replace former Sgt. Blakeney, looking first to its existing officers, Chief Hall said.
“So I don’t like the idea of losing a position, but I do understand where we’re at,” Chief Hall said.
The board unanimously voted to remove the position for the year.
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
QUICK BRIEF RELEASED THIS AFTERNOON
Water Main Repair on Edgewood Street, January 29, 2026
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