Lifelong Bailey Islander David Johnson, a small-business owner and community leader, has joined the board of Harpswell News, the nonprofit publisher of the Harpswell Anchor.
Johnson owns Safe Harbour Property Management & Rentals. The family business manages more than 100 properties in Harpswell and Brunswick.
Johnson has a long history of service on local school boards. He currently sits on the Region 10 Cooperative Board, which oversees Region 10 Technical High School in Brunswick. He has logged more than 20 years on the board, including numerous terms as chair.
He was a member of the Maine School Administrative District 75 Board of Directors for more than 25 years and co-chaired the Building Committee for the new Mt. Ararat High School.
He is a former member and chair of the Harpswell Recreation Committee, served on the committee that built the Trufant-Summerton Athletic Field on Great Island, and has volunteered as an administrator for local youth sports leagues.
Johnson attended Harpswell Islands School, now Harpswell Community School. He was a member of the first class to graduate from the then-new Mt. Ararat High School in Topsham in 1974. He earned a business degree from the University of Maine in 1979.
Johnson’s descendants have lived on Bailey Island since the 1800s or earlier. He worked on lobster boats from a young age and continued as a full-time lobsterman until about four years ago. His boat is named Erin Chelsea after his daughters.
He and his wife of more than 40 years, Darla, have three adult children and five grandchildren.
Johnson’s grandfather was a caretaker for local cottages, a sideline he passed on to his grandson. Johnson’s business “exploded” during the COVID-19 pandemic, he said, as buyers snapped up Harpswell real estate and needed someone to take care of it.
Johnson advertised with the Harpswell Anchor during its previous incarnation as a traditional, for-profit newspaper run by the late Bob Anderson from its founding in 1998 until it ceased publication in the fall of 2020.
When the nonprofit Harpswell News acquired the Anchor and resumed publication in 2021, Johnson was a founding sponsor.
“I could see what the founders were trying to do and I understood how much everyone missed the paper,” he said. “I did.”
He has been impressed by the new version of the Anchor.
“I think it does one heck of a job of showing both sides of an issue that might be controversial,” he said.
“I love the paper,” he added. “By the time the month’s up, I probably have read just about everything in it.”
Board President Greg Bestick said the organization values Johnson’s insight into the community as a multigenerational resident and community leader.
“We want the Anchor to be a newspaper for all facets of our community — natives and newcomers, working families and retirees,” Bestick said. “As we make decisions about the present and future of our local news organization, we want to ensure all residents feel they have a voice on our board.”
“We are grateful that David, whom Harpswell has turned to time and again for calm, steady leadership, is willing to join us as we pursue our mission to promote civic engagement and provide the community with nonpartisan, trustworthy, in-depth news and information,” Bestick said.
