CRANBERRY ISLES, Maine — With an eye toward residents’ transportation needs, voters at a local special town meeting last weekend gave selectmen authority to contact and possibly negotiate with ferry service operators.
But they rejected a proposal to raise $40,000 to spend on continuing consulting services to develop and perhaps start implementing a long-term ferry service plan for the islands that comprise the town.
Denise McCormick, Cranberry Isles’ town clerk, said Tuesday the proposal to give selectmen authority to contact and possibly negotiate with ferry operators was approved by a 33-6 vote. The $40,000 question, however, was rejected by a 23-19 tally. The meeting, held Saturday morning at the Congregational Church on Great Cranberry Island, lasted about 90 minutes, she said.
The special town meeting was held so the town could explore its options in securing long-term public marine transportation between three of the town’s five islands, only two of which have year-round populations, and Mount Desert Island, which is connected to the mainland by a causeway. The town has a summer population of between 400 and 500 but, according to the U.S. Census, had an estimated year-round population in 2013 of slightly more than 100.
Richard Beal, Cranberry Isles’ first selectman, said Tuesday that he is not concerned that voters did not approve raising $40,000 for continuing consulting services. He said the town’s transportation task force has been doing a good job identifying and investigating issues and options related to ferry service and that the town has the funds to continue looking into the matter for the next several months.
If more money might be needed for consulting services, he said, voters can always consider the matter again at Cranberry Isles’ regular town meeting in March.
“They’ve done a wonderful job,” Beal said of the task force.
For decades, town residents have traveled back and forth between the islands and Northeast Harbor on MDI by riding private Beal & Bunker passenger ferries, which also carry the U.S. mail back and forth year round. In recent years, a competing ferry service operator has provided seasonal transportation between the islands and Southwest Harbor and has operated a subsidized commuter boat service for island residents trying to get to jobs or school on MDI.
Town officials have taken an active interest in recent years in trying to ensure that locals have adequate transportation to and from MDI. Insufficient ferry service, they have said, could threaten the survival of the year-round communities on Little Cranberry and Great Cranberry islands.
The town’s interests became more urgent this past summer when David Bunker, owner of Beal & Bunker, indicated that he planned to retire and to sell the family ferry business. Town officials say Bunker has assured them that he will keep the ferries running until a new owner is in a position to take over operations.
Some residents have said the town should set up its own comprehensive ferry service, similar to the morning and evening commuter runs it hired Cranberry Cove Ferry to provide, but others are opposed to the town having any sort of role in overseeing ferry transportation. One option that town officials have said they may consider, depending on additional voter approval, is setting up a nonprofit service similar to the ferry that operates between Stonington and the offshore island town of Isle Au Haut.
