Police department will now perform animal control duties at no extra cost.
Aug 13, 2026
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Edward Jones Financial Advisor: Elise N. Frank.
TREMONT—At its August 3 meeting, the Tremont Select Board approved an amended contract with the Town of Southwest Harbor for policing services. One of those amendments did away with the town providing animal control services in the form of longtime Animal Control Officer (ACO) Heath Higgins who said that he has been the Tremont ACO for 10 years.
The Southwest Harbor Police Department provides ACO services for the Town of Southwest Harbor and, according to Tremont Town Manager Jesse Dunbar, “has provided it on and off for Tremont when our previous ACO was not reached or unavailable.”
The contract in effect at the time of the meeting stated that the police department did not provide ACO services to Tremont, but if the amended contract was approved by the Select Board, it would state that the police department would be providing ACO services for the town at no additional charge.
Maine statute, Title 7, Part 9, Chapter 725, Section 3947 reads, “Each municipality shall appoint one or more animal control officers whose duties are enforcement of sections 3911, 3912, 3916, 3921, 3924, 3948, 3950, 3950‑A, 3952‑A, 4041 and 4042 and Title 17, section 1023, responding to reports of animals suspected of having rabies in accordance with Title 22, sections 1313 and 1313‑A and any other duties to control animals as the municipality may require.”
Who the ACO is in each municipality varies widely and can be a member of the public who is certified and designated by the town, a member of a police department (whether a law enforcement officer or civilian employee), or a contracted ACO. The Town of Trenton contracts with Hancock County to utilize the county’s ACO.
The same section also reads, “An animal control officer must attend advanced training programs as described under section 3906‑B, subsection 4 to maintain certification. An animal control officer must have a minimum of eight hours of training each year.”
During the August 3 meeting, Select Board member Eric Eaton asked Higgins, “Did you get your training done?”
Higgins replied, “Still haven’t gotten my tablet or my email, so no. That’s stuff that I have been asking for for a year and a half.”
Eaton then asked, “Is it impossible to do the training without a tablet?”
“Well, it’s for record keeping, to keep my certificates, to share with the town. I had one that was an old fire department one, but I couldn’t do the training on it,” replied Higgins.
This week Higgins explained in an online correspondence response to the Bar Harbor Story that in “February 2025, my tablet crashed trying to take a course. At that time I went to see Jesse (Dunbar) to request a new tablet and town email, pretty unprofessional to have pictures and documents sent to my personal mail. I asked multiple times at the town office and at public meetings when I would get them. I sent an email to the selectman chair asking why I never got the tablet and email I requested, knowing I needed it to keep current on records and training. No response yet.”
The town’s animal control webpage now reads, “For Animal Control Related Issues Please Contact the Southwest Harbor Police Department at 207-244-7911, in an emergency please dial 911.”
According to Southwest Harbor Police Chief John Hall, Sgt. Rick Graham is the department’s designated ACO. Any officer can respond to an animal complaint that falls under the ACO’s areas of responsibility, however.
The second amendment was budget related and, according to Dunbar, the new contract removed “the paragraph that previously stated the Town of Tremont paid the police chief directly, the recent budget moved that stipend into Southwest Harbor’s payroll department.”
A motion was made to approve the amended policing contract with the Town of Southwest Harbor and it passed unanimously.
ROAD PAVING BIDS
The town had put out requests for bids for a number of road paving jobs.
- Bernard Road – paving the entire length of Bernard road with two inches of 12.5 millimeter pavement.
- Cape Road – three separate locations of repaving.
- Clark Point Road – a section of repaving between 92 and 137 Clark Point Road.
- Jasper’s Way – replacement of a section of the road with two inch thick 19 millimeter paving and some ditch improvement.
Bids were received back from Rings Paving, KJ Dugas, Northeast Paving, and Eaton Paving but not all of the companies bid on all of the jobs. The completion dates for the projects ranged from August to October in the different bids.
The town currently has $173,092 in its road improvement reserve.
Bids were awarded on the following projects to the following companies.
Bernard Road – Ring’s Paving for $107,937.
Cape Road – Ring’s Paving for $18,137.
Jasper’s Way – Ring’s Paving for $24,028.
The Clark Point Road project was postponed due to the Select Board not wanting to use all of the funds in the reserve account so that there is some left for unexpected emergency repairs and the Select Board’s assessment that it was the lowest priority project.
Select Board Chair Jamie Thurlow owns multiple properties on Jasper’s Way, so he did not vote on those bid proposals nor did he make any motions regarding those bids.
All of the votes were unanimously in favor with the exception of the Jasper’s Way vote due to Thurlow abstaining.
SALE OF SURPLUS PROPERTY – EV CHARGER
The town has replaced its free electric vehicle charger that was located at the back of the town office with a model that requires payment. At the Select Board’s July 6 meeting, Dunbar said that the new charger was already generating income and he would like permission to sell the old one as surplus property.
The Select Board unanimously approved the request to sell the old, no fee, charger as surplus property.
Since then, a public bid process was advertised for the charger and the town received one bid from Select Board member Eaton in the amount of $100.
The Select Board, with Eaton recusing himself, unanimously approved a motion to award the sale of the EV Charger to Eaton in the amount of $100.
CHANGE IN I.T. SERVICE PROVIDER
The town previously contracted with an independent IT provider and has recently switched to Coastal Computers for IT services. Coastal Computers offered the town a retainer package rate for 50 hours that would save the town $35 an hour off the normal hourly rate charged by Coastal Computers.
Utilizing this retainer package would save the town $1,750 versus paying the standard hourly rate over the course of the 50 hours. When the 50 hours is used up, the town can then purchase another 50 hour retainer package.
The Select Board unanimously approved contracting with Coastal Computers for the 50 hours of IT services for a total amount of $7,500.
The next meeting of the Tremont Select Board is scheduled for Monday, August 17, 2026, at 5 p.m., in the Harvey Kelley Meeting Room at the Town Office.
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
Representatives from the Southwest Harbor-Tremont Ambulance Service were at the Tremont Select Board meeting on August 3 to give a status update regarding the ambulance service. These same representatives gave substantially the same update to the Southwest Harbor Select Board on July 28 and you can read about that presentation in a previous Bar Harbor Story article written by Carrie Jones here.
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