Bar Harbor voters will decide Tuesday whether the town should form a charter commission.
The municipal referendum will be held in conjunction with the state and federal elections on the same day.
A “yes” vote on Question 2 on the municipal ballot would authorize the town to form such a commission to examine the structure of Bar Harbor’s town governance.
According to a copy of the town’s sample ballot, among the options that could be considered by such a commission are the “consideration of electronic voting at town meeting, streamlining the budget [development] process, and the purpose, function and structure of the Warrant Committee.” The town’s 22-member Warrant Committee considers and makes recommendations on each question that is presented to local voters at Bar Harbor’s regular and special town meetings.
Voters also will get the chance to determine who would serve on the commission, if it gets approved. Seven candidates for six positions on the commission have their names listed on the ballot. The candidates for the commission are Joseph M. Cough, Joey M. Engling, Michael A. Gurtler, Patricia L. Samuel, E. Martha Searchfield, Peter St. Germain and Christopher A. Strout.
There also are six spaces available on the ballot for names of write-in candidates for the commission.
There are no other elections on next week’s municipal ballot. Members of the town council, school board, and other elective bodies are elected at Bar Harbor’s annual town meeting every June.
Another question on the municipal ballot is about whether a certain parcel of land in the local village of Town Hill should be included in that village’s rural zoning district.
If approved, the boundary of the district as now shown on the town’s official neighborhood districts map would be moved to encompass the property, which is where Downeast Horizons has its operations building on Route 3. Downeast Horizons is a nonprofit organization that provides support services to people with developmental disabilities.
Janna Richards, the town’s planning director, said Tuesday that the Downeast Horizons property currently is split between two zones — rural and residential. By changing the zoning to make the entire 4-acre property part of the rural district, it would allow the organization “to expand at some point,” she said. As it is, the operations building is a grandfathered use in the residential zone and is not allowed to expand on that part of the property.
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