The proposed revisions would update an ordinance that dates to 1995 and reflect changes in the Fire Department’s staffing, responsibilities and mutual-aid commitments.

Carrie Jones

Aug 27, 2026

The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Restaurant Barn.

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SOUTHWEST HARBOR—Voters in Southwest Harbor will have a chance to approve (or not) changes to the town’s fire ordinance.

The Southwest Harbor Select Board moved the potential changes to the voters during its August 25 meeting.

According to Fire Chief Tom Chisholm, the ordinance hadn’t really been revised for 31 years.

So, Chief Chisholm looked at town ordinances both locally and in Southern Maine and had Town Clerk Jennifer LaHaye and former Select Board member Carolyn Ball look at it as well.

“The current ordinance dates back to 1995, and it became apparent that it was time to take a closer look at whether it still accurately reflects the Fire Department and the responsibilities it has today. The Fire Department has changed considerably over the past 30 years,” Chief Chisholm wrote in a memo to the Board members.

Those changes include the services the fire department provides to the town, its mutual aid responsibilities, and what sort of emergencies the department responds to.

Mutual aid refers to the agreements between area towns to help each other during emergencies and calls.

“The intent of this work is not to make significant changes simply for the sake of changing the ordinance. Rather, the goal is to have a document that better reflects the fire department as it exists today, provides appropriate direction and structure, and gives the town a more current ordinance to work from going forward,” Chisholm explained in the letter.

Because it’s not an ordinance replacement, but changes, it will be a simple yes-or-no question before voters.

“The other thing that we focused in on was the full-time, part-time, and per diem,” Chief Chisholm explained to the Select Board members on Tuesday. “Now that we do have those two full-time firefighters and how that kind of plays a role with the budget and those needs. So we did change that.”

Per-diem and part-time firefighters have to be covered under the town’s insurance and because of that are considered employees.

According to Town Manager Karen Reddersen, who attended the meeting via Zoom despite being away, “a lot of that language” in the ordinance “came about for those changes because at whatever level they’re deemed employees and are covered under our insurance as employees.”

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LIQUOR LICENSE RENEWAL

Also during its Tuesday meeting, the Select Board renewed the Causeway Club’s liquor license.

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SCHOOL REORGANIZATION REFERENDUM WORDING

The Select Board also unanimously amended the language of the previously signed order related to the RSU Referendum Order about potentially reorganizing the school system.

The wording is now slightly changed and removes the phrase “alternative education structure.”

Vice Chair Natasha Johnson said she was happy to see the words “alternative education structure” removed from the order because it will make it less confusing for voters.

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LINKS TO LEARN MORE

Select Board packet with the proposed ordinance.

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