Councilor Brechlin Appointed Vice Chair. Appointments Committee Will Be Boucher, Minutolo, and Sprague.
Jun 11, 2026
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BAR HARBOR—The Bar Harbor Town Council voted to appoint Maya Caines as chair and Earl Brechlin as vice chair during its June 10 organizational meeting.
Councilors Caines and David Kief returned to the council after Tuesday’s election. New councilor Deborah Vickers joined them.
After swearing in all of the councilors, who sat around a group of tables in the Council Chambers, Town Clerk Liz Graves began the Bar Harbor Town Council’s reorganization meeting with an unofficial round of suggestions for the upcoming year’s positions of chair and vice chair.
Councilor Steven Boucher quickly suggested Caines for chair and Councilor Earl Brechlin for vice chair.
There were no other suggestions before Boucher nominated Caines as chair. It was unanimous.
Boucher then nominated Brechlin as vice chair. It was unanimous. They took their chairs and then by order of seniority, the councilors chose their remaining seats.
Joe Minutolo began that selection process having served multiple terms on the Council. The chairs are typically assigned for a year by seniority.
Graves then assigned people to pick seat, not by time served, but by terms served, she said.
Both Sprague and Kief—with his reelection the day before—have been sworn in twice though neither has yet served a full term.
Sprague was an incumbent in the 2025 race when he was elected for a two-year term. He had been appointed in January 2025 and had seniority over both Boucher and Kief by a few months.
However, Kief chose his seat first, then Sprague, then Boucher.
Boucher and Kief have been on the Council for the same amount of time since 2025.
Boucher was elected to a three-year term in 2025. Kief was elected to a one-year term in 2025. Kief was reelected for a full term, June 9, 2026.
APPOINTMENTS COMMITTEE
Three councilors are picked to be on the town’s appointments committee each year.
This committee goes through committee, task force, and board applications, makes a suggestion on who should serve, and then brings that suggestion to the entire town council for a person to be nominated to that task force, board, or committee.
According to Graves, the appointments committee policy says that the term on the appointments committee is one year and a councilor may serve a maximum of two one-year terms before being required to take a break from the committee. The period of time mandated to be off the committee before serving again is three years.
Last year, Boucher, Sprague, and Kief volunteered and were unanimously voted onto the committee.
This year, Boucher, Minutolo, and Sprague were appointed to the committee.
LICENSE APPROVED
The Council also approved a license for Cadillac Mountain Summit Shuttle. There was no discussion and it was unanimously approved. Ellen Finn, David Closson, Ian Schwartz, Douglas Robinson, Patricia Lamotte, Dave Tomlinson, Francis Snyder, and Carl Peter Christop are the drivers listed for the shuttle.
COUNCIL COMMENTS
Sprague welcomed Vickers to the Town Council and said he looked forward to serving with her.
Brechlin said that people are confident and have faith in the direction the council is moving as evidenced by the return of two incumbents.
Minutolo also welcomed Vickers and welcomed Caines and Kief back.
Kief said there was a lot of work still left for the Council to do.
“Forward we go,” he said.
Caines thanked everyone who ran for elected office and congratulated those elected to the Warrant Committee as well.
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