Bids for proposed west side water cistern come in well over current reserve account funding

Shaun Farrar

Sep 05, 2026

The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Birch Bay Retirement Village.

---

TRENTON—Twenty years ago, Trenton’s Comprehensive Plan recommended and conceptualized a water supply for fighting fires on the west side of town in the form of an underground cistern.

The town is now currently working on the planning and construction of a third cistern that would be located on the west side of Trenton. The town’s 2006 comprehensive plan recommended this third cistern, and it has been undergoing planned funding for the last five years, according to Fire Chief Steve Heckman.

According to Select Board Chair Fred Ehrlenbach, the town’s reserve account for that planned cistern has $97,300 in it. At its August 1 Select Board meeting, the board learned that amount was far short of construction bid pricing.

In towns without municipal water supplies and fire hydrant systems, water supply can be a huge issue. With the exception of six dry hydrants, two of which are out of service due to maintenance needs, Trenton is a town without a hydrant system and Chief Heckman wants to make the Town of Trenton a little more defensible to fires with the addition of more water cisterns.

According to Chief Heckman, “During the past year, from September 2025 to date, we have needed to set up a water supply at the fire station seven times. About three or four of them we could have easily set up closer to the fire if we had the Bayside water supply available. Having to fill at the station causes a significant amount of travel time to a water shuttle operation.”

Chief Heckman is describing a dry hydrant that is located at the fire station where fire trucks can be refilled with water and then bring that water to other fire trucks when fighting fires. The proposed cistern at the intersection of the Bayside and Goose Cove Roads would cut out a substantial amount of driving when trucks need to be refilled for a fire on Trenton’s west side.

A cistern is a man-made reservoir, usually underground, that holds liquid—in this case water—that is already there waiting to be used.

Trenton has two existing cisterns, one at Acadia Fuel with a 15,000-gallon capacity and one at the Acadia Gateway Center with a 24,000-gallon capacity. These two cisterns are not enough, mostly due to the fact that they are located, by necessity of what they are protecting, in fairly close proximity. Additionally, neither of them meets the 30,000-gallon minimum necessary for a town to receive insurance “credits.”

At the July 21 meeting of the Trenton Select Board, Chief Heckman’s request for proposal (RFP) for the new cistern was approved by the board. Chief Heckman sent the RFPs out to potential bidders and then set a date for a walkthrough of the site with any potential bidders so that they can be more familiar with the site and the project goals.

There were six or seven vendors at that walkthrough, according to Chief Heckman. The town received two bids by the due date of August 27.

Those two cistern quotes are below.

R.F. Jordan and Sons Construction bid the following.

• Total bid price – $473,000.
• Add $53,000 to pave the access drive.
• Add $385 per yard for ledge removal if ledge is encountered.

“That is a very shocking amount,” Chief Heckman said after Chair Ehrlenbach read the quote.

Eaton Paving and Excavation bid the following.

• Total bid price – $192,760.
• Add $18,000 to pave the access drive.
• Add $3,500 for first yard and $500 for each additional yard for ledge removal if it is blown out.
• Add $1,250 for first yard and $350 for each additional yard for ledge removal if it is removed via hydraulic breaking.

Select Board member Susan Sargent asked if it was possible to break the bids down by cost centers and Chair Ehrlenbach responded that the bids were not written up like that and only included a total price other than the options.

Chief Heckman said that he could say that the portion of the bids that made up the actual cost of the cistern would be $62,000-$65,000, plus whatever contractors added to the base price, for the 30,000-gallon cistern.

The start of work was originally planned for this fall or early next spring, according to Chief Heckman.

“We have the information; now we know. We can look at things at the budget in January and February and see what we want to propose moving forward,” Chief Heckman said.

Another cistern is proposed to be located at the Trenton Business (Industrial) Park. The business park, by nature of its inhabitant businesses, can pose a large fire risk and there is currently no water supply at the park. The town is hoping to be awarded a community resilience grant to help fund this project and is awaiting word on whether or not it will be awarded a grant.

---

HELP SUPPORT THE BAR HARBOR STORY

When we started The Bar Harbor Story, we didn’t know if anyone would read it. But you showed up. You shared. You sent tips. Now—over 400,000 views every month later—it’s clear: people here care about their community and each other.

We’ve kept everything free because news should never be out of reach, but every one of our stories takes time to write, and your support keeps The Bar Harbor Story going.

If you value our work, please consider a paid subscription, a founding membership, or a sponsorship.

It truly helps us cover one more meeting, tell one more story, shine one more light.

Even $5 a month makes a difference. Click here to become a one-time supporter now.

Thank you so much for being here.

Founding member information can be found here.

Have questions about sponsorships? Just send Shaun an email at sfarrar86@gmail.com, he’d love to hear from you.