Category: Government & Politics

The Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program will open a satellite food pantry in a conference room at the Town Office.

Rather than continue to pursue sole ownership of Little Mark Island and Monument, the town of Harpswell now plans to submit a joint application with The Presumpscot Foundation, which owns Harpswell’s Halfway Rock Light Station.

The town is conducting a brief survey about affordable housing. The 14-question survey is available online now, with a paper version to be offered soon.

Dozens of Harpswell residents gathered Tuesday, Aug. 22, to discuss the town’s lack of affordable housing, share their concerns and offer possible solutions to the complex problem.

Harpswell has promoted one of its part-time municipal firefighters, Mike Drake, to serve as the town’s next full-time fire administrator. Drake replaces Arthur “Art” Howe III, who retired July 13 after six years on the job and nearly a half-century in public safety.

The Harpswell Select Board set the 2023 tax rate at $6.10 per $1,000 of valuation, 20 cents higher than last year, on Thursday, Aug. 10.

The town of Harpswell has at least one rival in its bid to acquire Little Mark Island and Monument from the federal government. The Whilde School, a Yarmouth-based nonprofit whose founder lives on Orr’s Island, hopes to use the property as a “hands-on learning laboratory.”

Residents on both sides of Gurnet Strait say they have been living with speeding and dangerous driving for years. Many are frustrated that these issues persist despite their pleas to authorities.

“Affordable housing” might be a pejorative term to some, but members of a working group appointed by the town of Harpswell say the community’s lack of it could lead to a host of future problems, including economic stagnation.

As the town of Harpswell continues to ponder the future of the administration building at George J. Mitchell Field, it is engaging the Midcoast Council of Governments to review options for the building’s use and estimates for rehabilitation or demolition.

The town of Harpswell is taking an initial step to explore the acquisition of Little Mark Island and Monument from the federal government, which is offering the approximately 1-acre Casco Bay island and its 196-year-old stone tower at no cost.

The town’s plan to paint “advisory shoulders” on Basin Point Road is on hold pending a Federal Highway Administration review of the experimental striping pattern.

Harpswell’s annual meeting for nonresident taxpayers will return on July 5 after a three-year hiatus caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Select Board has hired a consultant from New Hampshire to help the town explore the issue of affordable housing.

In addition to the budget referendum for Maine School Administrative District 75, Harpswell voters will see a town ballot with one question on June 13.

The Harpswell Select Board has contracted a Gorham firm to build a new, 100-foot-tall emergency communications tower at the Orr’s Island Fire Station for $121,720.

Central Maine Power is nearly finished with a project to upgrade more than three miles of power infrastructure leading to the Harpswell Town Office and surrounding facilities, according to the utility. The town needs the upgrade to make planned improvements such as a new office HVAC system and recycling center enhancements.

Completing the first major update to Harpswell’s comprehensive plan in nearly two decades will require input from a wide variety of local interests, said officials at an open house on Wednesday, May 24, designed to explain individual components of the plan and gather residents’ feedback and suggestions.