GOULDSBORO — Mike Pinkham, who knows the city’s six harbors, bays and coastal waters well after years of working in and around them in various capacities, was hired 5-0 as the new harbor master by the Gouldsboro Select Board last Thursday night.
Pinkham will take up the part-time job immediately after being sworn in upon the city manager’s return from vacation.
Pinkham, who lives in Sullivan and serves as that city’s select board chairman, served as both Gouldsboro and Steubens shellfish warden for seven years. He previously served as an officer in the Maine Marine Patrol in Rockland, Machias and eastern Hancock County for 33 years before retiring in 2013. He will continue to work as a Shell Keeper Instructor for the Maine Department of Marine Resources. He succeeds Dana Rice Sr., who has served as a harbor master for over 40 years.
As shell guardians in Gouldsboro, Pinkham and the Schoodic Institute’s Educational Research Director Emeritus, Bill Zoellick, are involved in an ongoing research project funded by the DMR and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Maine Coastal program. Your project has two goals. One is to survey Gouldsboro’s 55 miles of shoreline and propose ways to protect it from erosion and increasingly extreme weather. The other goal is to inventory and maintain public access to the shore in this predominantly commercial fishing community where waterfront properties have changed hands much more frequently in recent years.
As Gouldsboro Harbor Master, Pinkham is paid $1,675 a month. He was one of two applicants for the part-time position. He has already been provided with a truck for his shellfish work.
“He’s experienced, qualified and has the education he needs,” summarized Rice, who petitioned for Pinkham’s appointment. “Michael will take us into the 20th century.”
Coincidentally, the Select Board also voted 5-0 to participate in a grant project led by the Rockland-based Island Institute to help coastal cities cope with coastal erosion and flooding due to rising sea levels, storm surges and increased rainfall in the years to come support. Community Development Officer Abby Roche told the Select Board that an island grantee will work with Gouldsboro and the cities of Cranberry Isles and Swan’s Island to identify needs and apply for government funding to meet them.
Roche said it will work with the city to determine what steps Gouldsboro has already taken to make its operations more energy efficient and prevent flooding of municipal infrastructure and other potentially costly problems related to climate change. In order to participate in the project, they had to write a letter of support for working with the institute and the other two communities in Hancock County.
In other matters, the Select Board Chair advised West Bay Acadia RV Campground co-owner Robin Lawton to resubmit his permit application and submit the plan for a 60-foot ramp descending to the shore to the Planning Board through Gouldsboro’s interim Code Enforcement Officer to sketch. Millard Billings. Lawton’s application is on regulatory hold due to the recent departure of former Code Enforcement Officer Jim McLean.
As part of the legacy deals, the Select Board voted 5-0 to award Ring’s Paving a $274,000 contract to pave the final 2.6-mile section of Paul Bunyan Road in Korea. The difference resulted from Ring and Northeast Paving’s per-ton bid for asphalt. The winning bidder was Blacktop Asphalt’s offer of $426,800 to complete the job.
During the meeting, Rice noted the recent death of Gouldsboro Point Road resident Bob Johnston, a citizen who frequently attended and participated in Special Committee meetings. The Select Board chair acknowledged that he and Johnston had their disagreements, but that he “regarded Bob as a valued member of this community and I respected him immensely.”
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