Board Authorizes Comprehensive Planning Committee.

Shaun Farrar

Apr 23, 2026

The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by the Bar Harbor Music Festival.

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TRENTON—In late 2019 or early 2020, the Trenton School Evaluation Options Committee (SEOC), after several months of meetings, interviews, and research, created a “purely hypothetical” chart that indicated that Trenton’s education budget could rise from around $3.5 million in FY2014/15 to just under $8 million dollars in FY2027/28.

This chart was part of the committee’s 39-page final report.

The SEOC report says that the committee was “appointed by the Trenton Board of Selectmen to investigate how the continually rising education budget could be better met by the town.”

The appointed members were: Susan Sargent, John Bennett, Stephanie Waite, Ron Marshall, Chantal Longo-Guess, and Susan Starr.

According to current Select Board Chair Fred Ehrlenbach, the total proposed Trenton education budget for FY2026/27 is $7,949,837. After drawdowns from revenue, reserve accounts, and other funds, an amount of $6,015,946 is left to be raised from payers of property taxes.

At the April 14 Trenton Select Board meeting, Select Board member Susan Sargent reminded the board about the SEOC’s study and asked if there was any interest amongst Select Board members in looking into some of the potential cost savings options that were discussed in the study.

One of these options was to leave AOS 91 and create a separate school administration in combination with Lamoine, Hancock, and/or Ellsworth.

“We did up a projection that around year 25/26 we would be at $6.2 million for budget and we are right on that now. So, in the next few years, if we keep going the way we are going, we’re gonna reach $7 million,” Sargent said.

Sargent continued, “So, in light of that, there are a few options that we have given in that (SEOC report) and one being to research and get some particulars of what it would cost, a list of pros and cons, if we became our own school unit and shared services with Lamoine and Hancock.”

The AOS has done research on the proposed reorganization to an RSU, Sargent said. She believes that Trenton should put a committee together and investigate other potential options so that the taxpayers of Trenton may have more then one option if one turns out to be more beneficial than the proposed AOS reorganization.

Sargent also believes that now is a good time to do the research since the reorganization vote keeps getting put off.

Select Board member John Bennett asked if the reorganization vote was currently scheduled for November and if it was going to happen then.

“Who knows?” replied Ehrlenbach.

“We are in the middle of this work and transaction with our partners in AOS 91, and I think we owe them our attention and not to be distracted by that,” said Select Board member Judith Sproule. “But that being said, what you’re proposing really could be covered by the next item on the agenda (the creation of a new comprehensive plan for Trenton) that if we engage in updating our comprehensive plan, it will cover all aspects and activities of the town, including education, and allow the town to come together and to look at things.”

“Is that part of the comprehensive plan, to see what the cost would be, what services we could share?” asked Sargent.

“It could be but it is not strictly a state, a necessity (required by the state) chapter for education,” Jared Rollins responded from the audience. “As a town, if our vision was to look towards that, it could be a part of it.”

“See, I don’t think it would be as in depth as I think we need it to be,” said Sargent.

Sproule responded, “But it could establish this specialized committee to do that.”

“But I think we owe it to the taxpayers to look into that,” Sargent said.

An audience member spoke up and said, “We have an elected school board, too. So, I think we should have some respect for them. It’s really not your job here to be doing that. You should be on the school board if you’re that interested.”

But saving the taxpayer money is the job of the Select Board, Sargent said.

At the time of the SEOC work, according to its report, “on several occasions, members of the Trenton School Board were asked to join, but without success.”

Sproule commented that since the Trenton school has joined AOS 91, the school and students have benefitted greatly and the students no longer had to play catch up when they transitioned to high school, no matter which one they chose to attend.

Trenton does not have its own high school. Students typically go to Mount Desert Island High School (in the AOS), Ellsworth High School, or private high schools.

“For the many years that I have had kids in this school district, it has gone downhill. The education has suffered, so … I span 12 years between my oldest, my second oldest, and my youngest,” Sargent said.

Bennett clarified that what Sargent was asking for was to form a committee to study options for Trenton’s school outside of being in AOS 91 and being a part of the potential reorganization.

Bennett said, “I don’t have a problem with forming a committee to study stuff. I don’t see any harm in that.”

A school board member in the audience said that the school board has gone through this process before and the options were not cost effective.

Sargent suggested tabling her suggestion until the Select Board could have a chance to look over the school board’s numbers of its evaluation of other options.

Bennett moved to table Sargent’s idea and the motion passed.

The full SEOC report is below.

School Evaluation Option Committee 3 22 2020

805KB ∙ PDF file

Download

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COMPREHENSIVE PLANNING COMMITTEE

Also at its April 14 meeting, the Select Board heard a presentation regarding the town’s Comprehensive Planning Committee and the final plans of the Comprehensive Planning Steering Committee on how the committee felt the town should begin to move forward with creating a new comprehensive plan.

The state mandates that municipalities update their comprehensive plans and the plans are meant to guide the town and help officials implement plans for Trenton’s future, including development, protection of natural resources, and other pieces that the town deems important.

The town’s current plan was adopted in 2006, according to Rollins who spoke on behalf of the steering committee.

Rollins said that a new comprehensive plan would be “a blueprint of where our town wants to be in the next ten years. It uses community visions and the resources that we have at hand to make that plan.”

Rollins said that Trenton’s current comprehensive plan is outdated and by Maine requirements, it is no longer current.

“It’s a different world than it was twenty years ago,” Rollins said.

The comprehensive plan is also a legal foundation for land use and zoning and protects the town from legal challenges “from outside.”

Rollins said that some of the pressing issues that the town needs to come together to solve as a community include commercial solar, managing Route 3 traffic, drinking water protection, and making sure the growth of Trenton is controlled by its residents and not outside interests.

According to Rollins, the steering committee believes that the plan can be completed in twenty months with 24 months being the outside number but it is “crucial” that it is complete within 36 months.

Part of this process will include public hearings so that the planning committee can insure that its work is inline with the desires and thinking of the community members.

The list of community volunteers recommended by the Comprehensive Planning Steering Committee for the Comprehensive Planning Committee are below.

• Greg Askins
• John Bennett
• Aaron Brown
• Steve Heckman
• Christina Heiniger
• Peter Lazas
• Chantal Longo-Guess
• Ann Luther
• Jarod Rollins
• Judy Sproule
• Mary Turner
• Jacob Wartell

The Hancock County Planning Commission can do the complete plan for around $25,000-35,000. The town already has $10,000 reserved for the planning process and the steering committee felt that if the planning committee volunteers can do a lot of the work themselves and only contract out for necessary professional services, attorneys, map makers, etc. that it won’t be such a budgetary burden on the town.

Rollins said that the ask at this meeting was for the Select Board to “officially authorize the formation of the Comprehensive Planning Committee but also to appoint the residents that have volunteered to serve on the committee.”

Sargent asked if the committee would be just rewriting the old plan or starting anew.

The committee might be able to use some of the old material, and some of that material was good and he would like to see the community get excited about it again, but some of the sections required by the state didn’t exist when the current plan was adopted Rollins replied.

Bennett moved to authorize the formation of the Comprehensive Planning Committee and it passed.

Bennett then motioned to appoint the volunteer residents listed by Rollins to serve on the committee and it passed.

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