March 28, 2024
Archive

Mount Desert sets public hearings

MOUNT DESERT – Selectmen have scheduled public hearings for next Monday to discuss three issues that will be decided by secret ballot in March.The hearings will begin at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 13 at the municipal office.

Also this week, selectmen approved a final version of the proposed 2003-04 municipal budget, which will increase spending by 8.2 percent to $5.3 million, according to Town Manager Michael MacDonald. The spending plan now goes to the town’s warrant committee for review.

The increase is fueled primarily by higher salaries and health care costs, and new state and federal mandates, MacDonald said.

Meanwhile, MacDonald said Wednesday that a hearing is scheduled for Jan. 17 in Hancock County Superior Court on a lawsuit by nine town residents who have asked the court to stop selectmen and MacDonald from enacting a user fee for the municipal sewer system.

“There are a lot of intertwined issues” converging at the same time, MacDonald said.

The three issues to be aired next Monday include:

. A petition by residents calling for the town to abort its plan to consolidate the town’s sewer operations by closing the Otter Creek sewer plant and pumping waste from that village to the town’s Seal Harbor plant.

The consolidation is part of a bigger plan to meet U.S. Department of Environmental Protection rules. The EPA has directed the town either to close the Otter Brook facility or expand it. Selectmen opted to close it rather than spend money to upgrade both plants.

The petitioners, led by Dennis Smith of Otter Creek, a longtime critic of the selectmen on sewer issues, argue that the consolidation will endanger the health and welfare of Seal Harbor beach-goers; increase the chance of odor problems at Seal Harbor; and cause short- and long-term environmental damage, including the possible pollution of Hunters Brook.

. A proposed new sewer ordinance that would replace the existing ordinance to give the town more control over who uses the system, what they dump into it, and to establish the method of charging fees for the service for the first time.

There appears to be little controversy over the need to update the ordinance, but the town remains divided on whether system users should be assessed a fee to cover the expense of operating and maintaining the system.

Under the plan, all taxpayers would continue to pay for capital improvements to the system, but only users would pay for operations and maintenance, according to town officials.

. A proposed change to the town charter to allow selectmen to work for the school department. The charter presently prohibits the practice, but some selectmen would like to substitute teach or drive bus for part-time work.

Selectmen approved a charter change, at least for voter consideration, but limited the possible school jobs to janitorial, bus driving and substitute teaching because although a separately elected school board governs the town’s elementary school, only selectmen can raise local education money through the property tax.


Have feedback? Want to know more? Send us ideas for follow-up stories.

comments for this post are closed

You may also like