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Port director defends limited cruise policy and lists Port Authority investments
Summary
Port Authority executive director Chris Gardner presented an informational update, saying the authority maintains a one-ship-per-day policy, detailed sizable local investments the authority has funded, and urged residents to use the Port Authority board to raise port-specific concerns. Residents pressed questions about revenue-sharing and limits on ship size and frequency.
Chris Gardner, executive director of the Eastport Port Authority, delivered an extended informational update to the council explaining the port authority’s structure, its role separate from city land-use authority, and its financial and in-kind contributions to the city.
Gardner said the Port Authority was created by state law in 1977 to manage waterfront infrastructure and that the city council president and the city manager sit on the port board in ex officio roles. He emphasized that the authority has a stated policy of limiting cruise visits — describing it as a "one ship per day limited policy" — and that any change to that policy would be a board-level decision.
Gardner listed recent and past Port Authority contributions to the community: purchasing and gifting police cruisers and equipment, rebuilding a collapsed breakwater with federal and local match, funding school boiler repairs, supplying buses to the school department, providing road repairs on city-owned streets, and underwriting security and operational costs for events. He said some of those efforts reduced costs that otherwise would have appeared on residents’ property-tax bills and projected future annual payments to the city tied to a Coast Guard station change (he referenced roughly $50,000 per year in direct revenue under a pending arrangement).
Residents pushed back, asking whether port fees and passenger tariffs (the port collects a $10 per passenger tariff) translate into revenue for the city. Gardner responded that while the Port Authority collects certain fees and pays property taxes by charter, current lease and revenue flows mean the city receives little direct docking revenue; he said the authority has contributed millions in local match and expects to provide net contributions through other mechanisms. He urged residents to raise port-specific questions with port-authority board members and reiterated the authority’s claim that its work offsets municipal costs.
Gardner also said he and the board have turned away very large cruise calls when the vessel size or passenger counts would overwhelm the town, citing a recent refusal of a very large cruise proposal as an example. He said the port brought approximately 35,000 visitors over the prior season and emphasized limiting visits so the town can retain its character.
What happens next: the council and port-authority board will continue discussions about venue use, publication of port meetings, and whether the city should pursue revenue-sharing or service-reimbursement agreements with the Port Authority.
