Town leaders praised the outcome of Harpswell’s June 10 special referendum and thanked voters for approving a new municipal fire station and other items.
But some residents, particularly those who oppose the voter-approved demolition of a 70-year-old building at George J. Mitchell Field, voiced frustration with the process.
Harpswell Select Board Chair Kevin Johnson said he was relieved that voters approved the proposal to build a $6 million central emergency services facility. The vote, 818 to 734, was closer than many had expected.
Johnson noted that opponents distributed a mailer about a week before the referendum encouraging residents to vote against the fire station proposal. Still, he said more than 600 residents returned absentee ballots, many before the mailer went out.
“Long story short, I was really happy to see it pass,” Johnson said. “I was happy with the way everything worked out.”
Mike Drake, Harpswell’s fire administrator and emergency management agent, said he was “very pleased” that the fire station was approved. He said the new facility would cut emergency response times and have no impact on fire and rescue volunteers, as some opponents have suggested.
“I don’t think it will have an effect on volunteers,” Drake said. “We still need the volunteers.”
Drake said the next step will be to work with the project’s architect, Port City Architecture, to finalize the design. The town will then request bids from contractors. From bid through completion, the station is expected to take 18 months to build.
Ted Merriman is the president of the board at the Orr’s and Bailey Islands Fire Department, one of Harpswell’s three independent fire departments. The OBIFD board had called for more study and floated an alternative plan in the months before the vote. Merriman and other OBIFD officials have said they would rather the town improve Harpswell’s existing volunteer fire and rescue stations.
Still, Merriman thanked voters for weighing in on the matter and said his organization would adjust to the plan they approved.
“OBIFD will continue efforts to recruit and train volunteers, fundraise for much-needed operational dollars and work closely with the other two departments to perform our jobs to the best of our abilities,” he said in an email. “We look forward to the future of fire and rescue in town.”
The other controversial referendum item was a proposal to demolish the former administration building at Mitchell Field, which voters approved 877 to 676.
A group of residents had proposed renovating the building with private funds for use as a nonprofit recreation and event space, but the Select Board voted 2-1 against putting their plan on the ballot.
Town officials said they liked the group’s ideas but felt the administration building wasn’t the right location, in part because it would conflict with the planned road configuration for a voter-approved boat launch nearby.
Bob Gaudreau, a member of the rec center group, said he still believes the administration building’s waterfront location would have been perfect for a community facility. He and other supporters believe the vote could have gone differently if town leaders had included their proposal in the referendum.
“We had our hands tied before we started,” Gaudreau said.
Group member Dorothy Rosenberg agreed. She said omitting their proposal from the ballot was part of a “well-used playbook” to dispense with grassroots proposals that town officials don’t want voters to approve.
Rosenberg and Gaudreau dismissed Harpswell leaders’ suggestion that the group continue pursuing its rec center concept in a different location. The renovation plan would have cost an estimated $1.4 million, in part because the project would have been built on an existing foundation.
“The cost of starting all over again (on an undeveloped site) would be three to four times that much,” Rosenberg said. “It’s a ridiculous (suggestion).”
Don Miskill, chair of the town’s Mitchell Field Committee, said he was glad residents finally got to vote on the administration building’s fate. He added that the building’s removal would improve traffic flows and visitor safety at the popular town-owned park.
Miskill said the committee will work on a plan to install permanent bathroom facilities at Mitchell Field, something that would have been included in the rec center concept.
“I am happy that so many voters got to participate in this decision,” he said.
