By Wayne E. Rivet

Staff Writer

Usually, when the call goes out to the public to volunteer time to serve on a town committee, one or two or three people step forward.

When it comes to addressing problems on local ponds and lakes, however, there is far greater interest and a willingness to do something about it.

The Bridgton Select Board hoped to cast a wide net to lure a varied pool of applicants to serve on a committee to study options regarding use of a harbor master, as well as reviewing — possibly tweaking — an existing proposed Mooring Ordinance to present to voters at the June 2025 town meeting.

The response was encouraging and greatly appreciated. Twelve people — who Select Board members felt all brought certain skill sets and experiences that will benefit this process — put their hats in the ring.

Tuesday, the Select Board met the candidates and found they will likely reconsider their initial charge and expand the committee to bring more voices to the table (officials did note that individuals not selected to the committee would be encouraged to attend meetings, which will be open to the public, to offer input — they simply will not be ‘voting’ members).

Board chairman Bob McHatton opened the workshop noting that one reason he voted against a harbor master last year was he lacked information as the budget consideration process was closing and was unable to make an educated decision on the topic. However, he fully agrees action is needed to address problems occurring at local ponds and lakes. Thus, his call for creation of the study committee.

“It’s a very solid list of applicants, which is nice,” Select Board member Carmen Lone said.

Committee candidates introduced themselves (some were unable to be present) and offered a few comments about their interest and thoughts on the issue:

Will Libby, a lakefront property owner, believes it is highly important to involve other community members in this process if a Mooring Ordinance and adding a harbor master is to pass a town vote.

“I have lots of reasons why they should want to be part of this and why they should want to support an ordinance for the lake environment, but they need to be part of it, without them, it sounds like lakefront people are just trying to put some rules in place. I think we need to avoid that,” Libby said.

Trish Morrissey, a Highland Pines resident, agreed with Libby. “I think it’s really important that non-waterfront property owners and lake users have a voice in this process,” she said. “What I’m afraid of if it’s not a crafted ordinance and it’s not sold well to the community, not well explained, we’re not going to get the support that we need. The long-term goal here is obviously to preserve the quality of life for everyone.”

Brook Sulloway, a Highland Lake property owner, sees a real need for the ordinance and harbor master after an incident involving a houseboat.

“We want to protect all of the lakes here. It’s part of the town’s attraction,” Sulloway said. “My boat mechanic said, ‘I made it to Highland Lake and wow, that’s really an old-time style lake, and you ought to preserve that. So, we ought to preserve that.”

Resident Jeff Houston, a retired law enforcement officer who enjoys recreation on Moose Pond, felt his experience in writing policy and procedure could benefit the committee.

“I could be an asset to this committee to create an ordinance that can withstand some legal challenges,” he said, “and protect not just lakefront property owners, but all people who are going to recreate on the lake. This has to balance the interests of everybody if it is going to work. Cost is something that does definitely concern me. The ordinance is easy. You can write that without any cost. The enforcement of it brings a level of cost.”

Houston feels that the town might “take baby steps” at first, either hiring a part-time harbor master or look at other options such as sharing a harbor master with another town or utilize a current Bridgton employee to fill the role.

“I don’t want to spend a lot of money out of the gate, but I definitely feel the need to regulate our lakes,” he added. “I think we’re behind the eight ball on that. To not have regulations is going to set us up from some issues with our lakes as we move forward.”

Catherine DiPietro, who serves on the Bridgton Planning Board, has expertise in stormwater management and a “little bit of background” on lake water quality.

“I think it’s important to keep in mind that two things kill resort communities pretty quickly — beach shut downs from e coli, pretty ugly; and algae blooms bad enough that there are no swimming alerts. I saw them both happen at a lake in New York. We don’t want that here,” she said.

Via Zoom, Becky Michela said her family has seen “lots of things come and go” while owning property on Moose Pond since 1818.

“What has come in the last 15 or 20 years is an unbelievable number of boaters using Moose Pond. They seem to use it with not a whole lot of respect for property owners,” she said. “This is a really important committee…I think the rules have to be really simple and clear. They have to be enforceable and they have to be enforced. I think it is not fair for boaters to treat property, to treat water any way they want with no recourse…I think there has to be a way for groups to work together…This is a really important topic for Bridgton because Bridgton is not going to get smaller.”

Robin O’Connell, who owns property on Highland Lake, feels there needs a middle ground to be fair to both property and boat owners. She sees the two measures as a way to protect the shoreline and the people who want to use the lake responsibly. 

The Next Step

When trying to fill out the committee roster that included a Lakes Environmental Association rep (in this case, Executive Director Colin Holme), X representing lake associations, and X from the general public, there was some “confusion” regarding whether a home association fell under the lake association designation.

Holme said a lake association “applies to the whole lake.” He pointed out that two of the three biggest lakes in Bridgton — Long Lake and Highland Lake — don’t have associations. Holme would like to see someone from Long Lake on the committee.

“Maybe you might want to rethink having two lake association candidates and maybe broaden it out to have four people from the general public,” he said.

McHatton supported the idea of “having somebody who lives on a lake” as opposed to a lake association so that each major water body has representation on the committee.

One idea was to expand the committee to 12, however, Town Manager Bob Peabody pointed out there could be “unintended consequences” moving in that direction.

“First of all, even numbers don’t work. Then, you have a required majority. We do have a committee that is of that similar size. Very committed people,  but they have meeting after meeting without a majority of people, so they can’t take action. They can just chitchat,” Peabody said. “It’s hard when you get that big, even though I understand the sentiment.”

One option, Selectman Paul Tworog offered up, is to include alternates. If a regular member is unable to attend, an alternate assumes the ability to vote.

“So rather than expand the committee to 12 full-time members, it might be better to keep the committee at seven members and have two or three alternates,” Tworog said, “so that if they need a quorum and the alternates are there, they can actually vote and move forward.”

A revision of the charge will be considered at the next board meeting, and the Select Board will look for formally appoint the committee.