MARINE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE
AGENDA FOR
December 13, 2011
Meeting will be held in
*****Northeast Harbor****
Members Present: Savage, Litchfield, Johnston, Bright, Black, and HM Murphy.
Members Not Present/Excused: Bromage, Moore, Foster, Fernald, and Jones.
Unexcused/Absent: Haynes
- Call to Order at 5:30 p.m.
Meeting called to order at 17:33 by Chairman Savage.
Approve minutes from October 11, 2011 MMC Meeting
Motion by Bright and seconded by Litchfield to approve minutes as written. 5-0 all in favor.
- Review Aquaculture application from Maine Cultured Mussels Inc., and Mussel Bound Farms for a urchin raising farm in Squid Cove, Mount Desert.
Application was reviewed. After a brief discussion regarding permitting and whose responsibility it was to contact abutting property owners, it was decided to wait and see what/if any potential increase in use/impact on the Bartlett Landing was. Murphy stated that most likely the boat ramp would be utilized as it currently is with the mussel farm operation due to the weight of the product.
- Proposed expansion of the North dock at the marina with float replacement.
Murphy stated that many of the North Dock Floats need to be replaced this coming spring. They are beyond their life expectancy, being of a very old design, and a constant repair. A few of the floats were replaced a couple years ago with the new tub style float design. Murphy stated that since many of the floats will be replaced, he would like to increase the length of several of them and expand roughly 25 more feet into the harbor to allow for larger boats.
Discussion followed regarding adding another berth. Savage stated that the floats should be lengthened and replaced as scheduled, but that a permit consultant should be contacted to see how much expanding can be done and should be scheduled for Next year due to the timing for Town Meeting. Murphy stated that this is possible since floats could be extended out from the end dock at any time, along with additional power cables if needed. It was also decided to include the plan for a boat launch walk way float system adjacent to the boat ramp in Northeast Harbor with the proposal to the permit consultant.
Discussion regarding the progress of the marina renovations from all members present was heard. Murphy stated that walls were up on two buildings, and that a crane was delivered the other day which meant the roof trusses were going to be installed soon.
1. Open
- Review current mooring rental service/ launch boat operation and current mooring agent contract.
Discussion opened with Murphy suggesting that from a management point of view, the current Launch Boat operation and Mooring agent contracted service should be a combined service since they both are traveling to the same vessels in the harbor. Murphy stated that it cannot operate as it did last summer due to the amount of time it took away from his other duties, along with the Deputy’s. Murphy stated that there are three options if the launch boat operation is to continue.
The first option is the two operations stay as is, separate entities:
This will result in hiring additional licensed operators. Discussion followed regarding this option and the licensing procedure for new applicants, seasonal workers. Murphy stated that he had a prospective candidate, but that the individuals health will be an issue and with the stringent requirements of the licensing, he was uncertain if a license would be obtained. For this reason, he stated that already licensed captains would need to be hired.
The second option is to combine the mooring agent and Boat Launch operation as one contracted service:
Discussion followed regarding this. Murphy stated that he preferred this option since both operations visited the same boats and that you were dealing with the same individuals. Though it would be busy on certain days, it is a viable option. Savage questioned Mark Puglisi, who was in attendance and worked for the current 2011 mooring agent, Kerry Taylor. Savage asked if Mark was willing to do this to which he replied that he was not and that the reason was that he just did not want to be a launch boat operator. Mark stated that he felt it would take away from the one on one time away from the visiting boater and that they prided themselves in being able to take the time to “smooze” with the boaters. Mark thought that this would be lost as they would be transporting
individuals along with renting the moorings, and he was not interested in doing this. Savage questioned why he would not want to take advantage of this opportunity to expand his business, even though it may require hiring additional help. More discussion followed regarding the details of this option and how it would work. Murphy stated that it is unknown at this time and an option needed to be decided before this would be known. Continued discussion ensued regarding potential income for parties, the Town and the Mooring agent.
The third option was for the Town to retake operations of the current contracted out mooring rental service and continue to operate the launch service:
Discussion followed and resulted in past history. Savage stated that at one time, the Town did all rental moorings, but that changed to a contracted out service many years ago. Savage stated that he worked for the Town when he was younger and did the mooring rental service. At some point the Town started contracting out the service, the reason was unknown. Murphy stated that if this was the option chosen, all revenue figures would need to be looked at including what the mooring agents take was to see what additional revenue could be obtained. Discussion followed with Mark stating that he would not supply what their income was from their portion of the rentals. Murphy stated that the figures could be calculated, based on the information required from rentals submitted to the Town by the
mooring agent, but that it would take a considerable amount of time to do this.
Savage and bright recommended that Murphy obtain rental income from the mooring agent from the last three years and provide this to the MMC at the January meeting. The combination of the services was favored, and a possible bid process for potential future operators was discussed.
F. Discussions
Motion to adjourn by Johnston, second by Black. 5-0 all in favor at 19:02.
Submitted by:
Shawn Murphy
Harbormaster
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