Survey to monitor voter support for Vander Zanden

MOUNT DESERT — A survey has been added to the list of initiatives aimed at measuring public opinion about Mount Desert Town Manager Dick Vander Zanden’s employment.

Pretty Marsh resident Lawrence Reeve has mailed a two-page letter to Mount Desert residents explaining his position of support for Vander Zanden. With the letter, Reeve has included a stamped post card for respondents to register their position on the extension of the town manager’s contract.

Reeve’s survey follows on the heels of Vander Zanden’s own initiative in recent weeks to garner support for his continued employment. The town manager has placed petitions in several local businesses for townspeople to show their “confidence in and support (for) the current professional administration of the town.”

Along with the petitions, Vander Zanden has mailed letters to a number of summer residents asking for their support in his “campaign for confidence.” He has asked that his supporters allow their names to be used in a full or half-page ad scheduled to appear in the Feb. 25 edition of the Bar Harbor Times.

Reeve, who was out of town and not available for comment, states in the letter accompanying the survey form that his interest is in “making sure that all taxpayers of the town are fully informed and that the board of selectmen hear the views of the majority and not just the vociferous minority.”

Referring to the low turnout frequently recorded at annual town elections, Reeve indicated the survey would potentially tap the views of a greater number of residents than could be expected to vote on March 1.

On March 1, Mount Desert residents will decide by secret ballot whether Vander Zanden’s contract should be extended. The question, Article 3 on the warrant, was placed there through another petition drive initiated in December by Northeast Harbor resident John Adams.

Adams said the vote, although non-binding, should provide “a clear mandate” to the board of selectmen about the town manager’s future employment.

Reeve has indicated that his survey would do the same. “By offering this survey,” Reeve’s letter states, “all taxpayers can participate in giving the selectmen some direction on how the town should be administered.” Individual responses would be not revealed, but the results of the poll would be passed on to the board, Reeve writes.

In explaining his support for the town manager, Reeve said the “positive thrust of Dick’s work has gone unnoticed because of one selectman and a few vocal critics.

“Residents should beware these distortions and investigate for themselves.”

Selectman Joanne Smith has been a frequent critic of Vander Zanden, indicating at one recent meeting of the board that she would accept any offer by the town manager to resign. Vander Zanden indicated that he would not make such an offer.

Reeve called Vander Zanden’s job “difficult,” but indicated the town manager has performed his duties “professionally and fairly.”

The survey also will gauge public opinion about Article 4 on the warrant, which is the result of another petition drive. The article asks whether residents favor recombining the positions of assessor and code enforcement officer.

Reeve has urged voters to oppose the recombining of the positions, reminding them that the Planning Board also has voted against the consolidation.

“The Planning Board recognized that without enforcement, the Land Use Zoning Ordinance means nothing,” Reeve writes in his letter. “Without plumbing inspection and CEO licenses the assessor cannot perform CEO duties.

“The current petition is litle more than a vendetta by those few who are no longer able to circumvent the law,” Reeve concludes.