Boats to be banned on Trenton seaplane ramp

ELLSWORTH — The Hancock County Commissioners bid the Acadian Whale Watcher “bon voyage” Tuesday after declaring that the owners of the tourboat had been less than prompt in removing the vessel from the county seaplane ramp in Trenton.

Robert Cossette, manager of the Hancock County Airport, said the county permitted the vessel’s owners to store the tour boat on its property until May 15 for $200 a month, providing that the boat was transported to a specific area away from the seaplane access ramp.

Instead, Cossette maintained, the boat has remained on the airport’s access ramp near the Mount Desert Narrows, blocking the ramp for any other use.

“The boat has not been moved and I can assure you, Mr. Commissioner, that if this party comes back to me next year and asks to park on the seaplane ramp, I will bring the proposal back to you that it not be allowed there,” Cossette warned.

“You won’t have to do that because I’ll make the motion right now that no more boats will be allowed to be hauled up on that ramp or anywhere near it,” Walter Bunker, a county commissioner, answered.

Cossette said there had been a history of broken promises with other boat owners in the area, but specified that Able Marine (located near the airport) was not one of those offenders that infringed upon designated seaplane ramp space.

Bunker and Cossette said that there was a seaplane awaiting servicing at the airport but that it would be difficult to complete a test flight under present circumstances.

“If he wants to launch it tomorrow, we’d have a major problem,” Cossette said. “The point is that a seaplane ramp is a seaplane ramp, and I don’t believe that we can use it as a seaplane ramp right now because of that boat.”

In other business, the county commissioners heard a request from B. Joanne Dority, Hancock County’s register of deeds, who asked the panel to consider a salary increase for her position. Now earning $16,277 a year, Dority is slated to receive a salary increase that would raise her annual pay to $17,091.

The 23-year county employee maintained that, although she is an elected official, she should be entitled to the same consideration on step raises as other county employees. Dority said out that there were registers in other counties who received more pay for handling less work.

Eugene Churchill, a county commissioner, informed Dority that the commissioners could not change her pay at this time and that, as an elected official, she knew what the job paid when she chose to run for office.

“If you don’t want to run next year, you don’t have to,” he said.

Bunker suggested that Dority pursue the issue later this year when the panel begins working on its 1991 budget estimates.