By Wayne E. Rivet

Staff Writer

HARRISON — As people rely more and more on cell phones for alerts, news and communication, the expectation for service is growing.

Harrison has known cell phone “dead spots,” but the instances of dropped calls in areas that service was spotty but usable has grown.

“No doubt, service is spotty in Harrison and we all know where the bad spots are,” Select Board Chairman Matthew Frank said at last week’s meeting. “It’s a problem. We’ve all grumbled and groaned about them for years. It may be that we need another tower, or maybe two towers. I think we need to map out where the problems are and brainstorm with the help of Verizon or one of those companies to what would make the most sense.”

Citizens have told Select Board members that they feel the situation is getting worse.

“I’ve heard this from citizens. I’m experiencing this on my road where I never had a problem. Now half my road is a problem. I don’t have a signal at all,” Town Manager Cass Newell said.  

Newell encouraged citizens to contact their cell service provider regarding where and when calls drop.

“They can track the amount of calls that get dropped, and the amount of times that you tried to call out and a call failed,” she said. “You can ask for a credit, not the entire bill, I don’t think. But you can certainly ask for a worthy credit depending on how much time you spent losing calls in and trying to make them.”

Newell and Selectman Phil Devlin plan to take a closer look at the problem, and research the feasibility/possibility of placing towers on town-owned property. The town owns some land at “high points” which towers could cover existing gaps.

Newell said the parent company of the existing cell tower, which is located on private property, is willing to assist Harrison in determining whether one, two or three towers are needed.

“They have said that you can either have a WiFi tower or you can have a cell phone tower. They can’t mix because of their needs. So, you can’t have a little bit of WiFi and a little bit of cell company on the same tower. The town would just need to really look hard at what we need and make some decisions on how to go forward with that,” Newell said. “There’s a lot of information out there that we certainly can gather.”

The town, however, could look at installing a tower for cell and a tower for WiFi.

A committee, consisting of five to eight people, could be formed to study the issue.

In other business:

Mil rate set. The new mil rate is going to be $12.95, up from $11.90. Tax bills will be due on Sept. 11.

New Public Service Director named. Harrison has a new Public Service director — Dennis Michaud of Casco. There were five candidates, and Michaud emerged as the successor to Andrew Ward.

“I am very pleased with our choice. He comes with a ton of experience from a variety of towns and private places over the years. He is very well versed in leadership,” Town Manager Cass Newell told the Select Board. “He has a lot of experience in the equipment necessary to effectively maintain a town and its roads and all of the infrastructure included. I have a great deal of confidence in our selection.”

Selectman Nathan Sessions took part in the interview process.

Newell publicly thanked the other candidates for applying, and added “they were all fantastic” and “it was a very hard choice.”

Bean to leave board. Finding her day job is taking more and more of her time, Penny Bean has decided to resign as a Select Board member.

But, Bean plans to continue to serve until Nov. 7, Election Day.

“She has done a terrific job. I’ve served on the board for four years with her. She loves this town and she loves the people of this town and always has well thought out thoughts on issues. She will be missed,” Board Chairman Matthew Frank said.

“It’s been a real pleasure to work with you and get to know you. I’ll say very publicly that it was a very difficult decision to make,” Bean said. “My job has become incredibly busy. It’s ever changing, and more and more is being put on my desk every day. So, unfortunately, that’s where my focus needs to be.”

The legal question was whether the resignation had to be effective upon Bean’s announcement so the town could put out nomination papers for a successor to be voted on Nov. 7?

Town Manager Cass Newell said Maine Municipal Association indicated Bean could stay on until Election Day, but she would inquire again to verify that position.

“That was my understanding. I could be wrong because they sent a flurry of information my way. But that was my understanding that we could,” she told the board.

Town Clerk Kristen MacDonald said to get the position on the November ballot, she needs to submit information to the print company by Sept. 8.

“I know that we can do a shortened time period for the nomination papers. It’s usually a hundred days before an election, but they do have a shortening process,” MacDonald said.  

Best use of fed funds? What might be the best way for Harrison to spend $87,500 left in American Rescue Plan Act federal dollars awarded during Covid-19?

Already, the town has earmarked $35,000 to purchase buses to transport children to after-school activities and rec programming. Newell is still in the process of landing a bus or two with “some phone calls out there to some of the school districts” and waiting to her back from them before the school year begins.

The town has to commit the remaining funds by December 2023.

Newell felt one item to consider is seeking a fire department study — a point sharply made at the annual town meeting when the town proposed various options regarding fire department staffing including a full-time chief.

To date, Newell and the town’s grant writer, Daryl Sterling, have not found any group or agency that conducts such studies at no charge.

“I’ve reached out to the State of Maine. I’ve reached out to the State Fire Marshal’s Office. I’ve reached out to other towns. We have reached out to other states. Unless I’m missing something so far, there’s nothing that’s free,” Newell said. “So that can be funded in part by grants, depending on how expensive it might be. We can get creative with how we do a fire study. But I think a fire study absolutely needs to be done. I think the town made that very clear.”

Other possible uses for the federal funds include putting some money away for future fire truck purchase, or an UTV (utility task vehicle) which could assist firefighters to transport gear into the woods to fight fires, or extending the role of the public health officer to act as a navigator to assist residents to find needed social services, or constructing a public bathroom facility somewhere near the Long Lake boat launch area, or developing a better changing area at Crystal Lake Park, or a new playground there accessible by differently-able children.

Newell encouraged the Select Board to pass along ideas, and then over the next month, narrow down the list to ultimately vote on projects and commit those federal funds by the end of 2023.

“A vote constitutes a commitment,” Newell said. “As long as there’s a vote that you are intending to do something.”

Quick numbers. A new daily record high for Transfer Station visits was reached on July 5 at 329. Total visits for the month were 3,662.

Harrison shipped the following items this past month: eight loads of trash, four loads of recycling, four loads of demolition, 282 units of bulbs, 73 units of batteries, which are big batteries. Recycled 31 mattresses and box springs.

Code enforcement during the month of July, there were 16 building permits issued. To date, there were 98. A total of two new single-family homes were permitted, bringing the year to date to total of 16. Eight new plumbing permits were issued, to date, 42 have been issued. 44 inspections were conducted with a month of July for a yearly to date total of 219. Since they began tracking walking customers in April, there have been 278 customers that have come through the door with 71 alone coming in the month of July.    

CCSO 267 total incidents in June, six traffic citations, 67 traffic warnings.

Money back. Harrison has received a $4,117 dividend check from Maine Municipal Association because of its good performance and loss prevention programs.

Info meeting on Tucker’s House Harrison. A public information meeting will be held on Thursday, Aug. 24 at 6 p.m. at the town office meeting room regarding Tucker’s House Harrison, a sober residence for men.

A similar residence for women is located in North Bridgton.

Summer Rec Awards. Leadership Awards were presented to counselors Wynter Smith, Grace Milo and Grace Barker, while Camper Awards were handed out to Noah Frost, Eliza Roach and Robert Dyer.