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Blue Hill board approves permits and field use, reviews wastewater reports and budget items
Summary
At its May 18 meeting the Select Board approved a mobile vending permit and a field-use request, discussed wastewater upgrade reports, budget items and signage, and scheduled staff training and the next meeting; several other administrative items were addressed without public comment.
The Town of Blue Hill Select Board handled several administrative items and approvals at its May 18 meeting, including permits, field use, budget updates and operational notices.
Votes at a glance: approval of minutes (May 11, 2026) — 4–0 with one abstention (SEG 005); tax abatement for Map 32, Lot 23 — approved 3–0 with two abstentions (SEG 009); Hearth and Soul mobile vending permit (one year) — approved 5–0 (SEG 013); Acadia Fire FC AA Field morning use June 22–26, 2026 — approved 5–0 (SEG 015); vote to enter executive session under 1 M.R.S.§405(6)(A) — 5–0 (SEG 027); extension of an offer of employment for a part-time CEO — 5–0 (SEG 028); adjournment and signing of disbursement warrants — 5–0 (SEG 029–030).
Operational items and discussion: S. Miller said he receives weekly status reports from Olver Associates Inc. on the Wastewater Treatment Plant upgrade and posts them to the File Repository; he suggested coordinating with Steve Brookman, organizer of the Maritime Heritage Festival, to avoid scheduling conflicts. The Town Office will close May 21, 2026, from 1:00 to 2:00 PM for staff training on document retention, with the stated objective of clearing the current file storage room so an Island Institute fellow could use it if needed.
M. Cousins presented a year-to-date budget analysis noting that revenues are low to date because property taxes have not yet been committed; she identified high maintenance costs in Public Works due to truck repairs, higher Board expenditures because of a required grant match, and an animal control line inflated by a late-arriving 2025 invoice. The board discussed sourcing a sign for the newly renamed Steven Johnson Memorial Field and adding signage to Seaside Cemetery to make pet restrictions clearer; B. Adams asked Public Works to add the cemetery signage. The Bureau of Parks & Lands sent notice of an application to place floats by a Mill Island construction site; D. Goettler will post the notice and forward it to the Planning Board and Marine Resources Committee chairs.
P. Norris, Tree Warden, appears to have offered private landowners a 50/50 match to treat elm trees outside the public right of way; M. Cousins has received checks and the board will ask her not to deposit them until the match can be confirmed against the Tree Warden budget. The large elm on the Town Hall lawn requires further investigation after a branch recently fell and pulled down a utility line. D. Goettler raised a concern about a lack of enrolled Republican volunteers for the upcoming primary; A. Woog suggested contacting the Hancock County Republican Party. A. Woog also provided an update on the Safe Streets for All grant and reported that a bench donated by the Harbor School class is nearly ready.
The board agreed to postpone next week’s meeting to Wednesday, May 27, 2026, at 5:30 PM because Monday is Memorial Day. The meeting adjourned at 7:32 PM after the board signed disbursement warrants.
