October 2025 - Notes from the Chair
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2 (long!) years ago I was elected to the Sorrento Select Board, and as Chair.
I would like to report what Many Volunteer Hours has helped the Select Board accomplish in the past 2 years:
1) Town Website: up and running for over a year now.
2) Town Audits: finally up to date! The most recent audit,
(for FY 2024 which ended June 30, 2025) is being worked on as I write this.
3) Overdue Townwide Revaluation: completed.
4) Town Comprehensive Plan: Hancock County Planning Commission’s draft of the full document has been reviewed by our Comprehensive Plan Committee, and is now back with HCPC. They will send it to the State for approval. After that, we schedule a Special Town Meeting to see if the Town will vote to approve it.
Having a State and Town approved Comp Plan helps guide the Town’s future by providing a long term community vision, legal protection for land use ordinances, and makes the Town eligible for state and federal funding.
This has been a long process with a lot of public input, hundreds of hours of volunteer time, and thousands of dollars of your tax money.
So not to pass a State approved Comprehensive Plan would be a colossal waste of your tax dollars, and of your neighbor’s time and energy.
5) We are trying New Ideas:
- 2 Free metal pickup days this summer, (1 in July and 1 in August), thanks to Danny Carter, were well received. We can consider doing this on a more regular basis.
-Bulky Trash Day 2025 at the Town Center, staffed by volunteers, with more free metal pickup, cost the Town less than $1,300 this year,
versus over $12,000 last year!
-And, for what we believe is the first time in Sorrento history, your property Tax bill may now be paid in 2 installments (first half due 9/30/25 and
2nd half due 3/31/26).
6) We have a volunteer Climate Resilience Committee.
Thanks to them and help from Hancock County Planning Commission the Town has received one Community Action Grant, and they are applying for another CAG for the Town for the benefit of our Community Building.
7) Ocean Avenue! The extreme weather events of January 2024 (called the January Storms) necessitated Major repairs and reconstruction of 4 areas of Ocean Avenue. This work finally began this summer.
Very good progress is being made thanks to Walsh Engineering, Whitcomb Construction, and oversight and help from Rick Knowlton.
We are told that FEMA and MEMA have obligated the funding for this huge project. The Town has a line of credit to pay the bills and we expect 90% reimbursement, eventually.
The Town is responsible for 10% of the total cost.
We acknowledge that the residents of Fuller Road and part of West Shore Road have had to tolerate the daily very loud banging of boulders being unloaded at the sand/salt shed and then reloaded to be taken downtown. And all the residents who live along Ocean Avenue have had to listen to the very noisy daily work in progress. And we acknowledge that the increase in dump truck and other construction vehicle traffic on East Side and West Shore roads, and downtown, has been daunting all summer.
Thank you All for your patience and forbearance.
The project is progressing, looking good, and the end of this work is in sight!
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June - 2025 - Notes from the Chair
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Summer is here! One thing that means is More Traffic on our narrow roads. PLEASE drive mindfully! Just because the speed limit says 40 mph in many places, it really is OK to drive, say 35, or even 30 mph instead of 40.
We have to share the roads with walkers and runners and bikers and strollers and dogs and children... so Please be careful out there. Thank You!
On Monday, June 16th, we concluded Annual Town Meeting, which began with the municipal election on June 10th. Our Fire Chief and Road Commissioner Joey Clark was re-elected, and we elected a new Select Board member: Sue Macey.
We thank Diana Gazis for her term on the Board.
We passed a Budget for the 2025-2026 Fiscal Year. You can read the details elsewhere on the website.
We plan to commit taxes early in August. Then, for the first time in our Town’s history our taxes will be due in 2 installments: half due Sept 30, 2025, and the other half due March 31, 2026. Of course you are welcome to pay it all in full in September!
Our 2024-2025 fiscal year ends June 30th, and 2025-2026 begins July 1.
Our Town Audits are (finally!) up to date and our Auditor, Jim Wadman, gave us a clean bill of health. He suggests getting the books from this year to him by the end of August and he can start the 2025 audit then.
We have one Bulky Trash Day planned for this year: Saturday, August 9th from 8-3. We are trying something different this year: It will be held in the Town Center parking lot and you must Pay before disposal.
There will be 2 Free Metal-Only Pickup Days this summer:
Tuesday, July 15, and Tuesday August 5th. Please put Any Metal items at the end of your driveway by 8 a.m.
This includes things as small as Clean soup can and as large as an Appliance.
The full list of what Will and will Not be picked up will be Posted in the July Newsletter coming your way on July 1st.
We understand that our Ocean Avenue repair work has been approved by FEMA (with the Walsh Engineering Plan) and the money is obligated and in the pipeline. We have a contractor Whitcomb, lined up to do the work, beginning in August.
(Many thanks to Rick Knowlton for his help with All the above.)
Also! The work on Ocean Avenue means parts of that road will be CLOSED. And that means CLOSED to Everyone except the working vehicles.
No walking, running, biking or non-working vehicles may pass through. Please respect the signs that say Closed. This is for your Safety. Thank You!
Meanwhile, may we all have a Good and Healthy Summer.
Whether you are a seasonal visitor or get to live here year-round, Sorrento is a beautiful place to spend some time.
April - 2025 - Notes from the Chair
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April is National Volunteer Month! And as you know, Sorrento functions better because of the kindness of our Many volunteers.
We, the Select Board, are grateful for each one of them.
Here below are the things that Volunteers do to help our little Town:
- Serve on the Fire Department
- Serve as Ballot Clerks and Election Warden
- Serve on Town Committees:
Budget, Planning Board, Comprehensive Plan, Community Building, Town Buildings, Shellfish, Roads Group, Harbor, Board of Appeals, Climate Resilience and SALT (Schoodic Area League of Towns).
- Work at the Pollinator Meadow Project
- Helped get the CB backroom ready for renovations
- Built 1 and donated 2 Little Free Libraries
- Helped with Eagle Scout project to build and give a games lending and food pantry shed to Town
- Help with the municipal sewer system
- Help with our FEMA needs
- Organize and participate in Earth Day roadside cleanup
- Organize and participate in Halloween Trunk or Treat
- Organize and participate in Christmas cookie giveaway
- Serve as local Health Officer
- Host Friday morning coffee hour
- Work on fundraising
- Maintain town website
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And all of those who do receive regular town paychecks Also go above and beyond their hours and job descriptions to “do what needs to be done” for Sorrento. Thank You!
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January 10, 2025
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Notes from the Chair:
It is one year since sections of our Ocean Avenue were hit hard by the first of the January Storms! Since then we have contracted with Walsh Engineering to design the plan for Shoreland Stabilization, and we’ve been working with FEMA and MEMA (who have to approve everything so we can get 90% reimbursement after all the repairs and mitigation is done). Walsh is applying for the necessary permits this month and if you live within 1000 feet of Ocean Avenue you will soon receive a notice. Then the bidding process begins, and then the repair work can start (depending where we are in the queue with other Towns that also need work from available contractors).
We appreciate that everyone is still driving mindfully on the one lane and damaged parts of Ocean Ave. and your patience will continue to be needed all spring/summer as this work progresses.
In other Town news: our audits are getting done!
The fiscal year 2023 (which ended June 30, 2023) is finally finished and a few copies are available for you to look at in the Town Office. Please do not take one home!
Now our Auditor is working on FY 2024 (year ended June 30, 2024) and that will finally bring us up to date. This audit should be completed much faster because of TRIO.
As you know, Annual Town Meeting begins with Town (municipal) elections.
This year the election is scheduled for June 10, 2025, which is the same date as our State election. Nomination papers will be available from the Town Office by March 10, 2025 so you can run for office! Papers must be returned to the TO by April 9, 2025.
This year we will be electing 1 Select Board member, Fire Chief, Road Commissioner, and Public Safety Officer.
If you are interested in running for the Select Board, I encourage you to attend our twice monthly meetings (usually 1st and 3rd Wednesdays at 7 pm, unless holidays, weather, or illness/injury intervenes). And you can always ask me what the job entails.
I can tell you that it helps to really care about Sorrento, and you can make between 2 and 12 dollars per hour! (That depends on how much time you give to the job.)
You will not get a designated parking space at the Town Center, nor at the Town Harbor parking lot (only the Clerk and the Harbormaster get those).
At the very least the Select Board is responsible for all Town assets, and must be careful stewards of the taxpayers money.
You will have to deal with all kinds of people and personalities, and most of them are friendly and appreciate the work we do.
If it turns out you are the only one on the ballot for any office, please do Not assume that you will win! In a Municipal election write-in candidates do not have to declare their candidacy.
Even if you do not want to run, registered voters can write you in, and you might win.
If you want to run for office it is worth campaigning, to let the voters know who you are.
Stay tuned for more good news coming soon!
And may this New Year be a Healthy and Peaceful one for all of us in our little Town.
May 15, 2024
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From where I sit this is a banner day!
If you are reading this, you know our long awaited Town of Sorrento website
has finally come to fruition!
We had one hired consultant, Diana Zenzano, (mostly paid for by
donations), and Hundreds of Hours of Volunteer Labor.
Neither the consultant, nor the volunteers were available to work on the
website consistently, so there were many long gaps, and it all took much
longer than we had hoped, and it is still a work in progress.
Nonetheless, here is what we have now.
A Thousand Thanks to those who put in the most time:
Ann Hoffner, Darla Crocker and Daphne Preuss.
And thanks to Sam Younger, Wendy Worrell, Gianna Settin, Crosby Noyes,
Matt Gurin, Rob Wilpan, Mike Gurtler and Marc Perry.
And thanks for photos from: Trina Wellman, Lisa Heyward, Ted Preuss and
Lucian Sharpe.
Your generous volunteering is one of the many reasons I love Sorrento!
And apologies if I forgot to mention someone. Please let me know.
As of now, small changes can be made in-house.
Bigger things, like taking credit card payments, will have to come about in
Phase 2.
If you want new content, or re-worded content, please write it up and
email to:
Webmaster@sorrentomaine.org for review, and the Select Board will
consider the changes.
Meanwhile, please enjoy your tour through the website for
Our Town of Sorrento!
Sincerely, Hilly
Chair of the Sorrento Select Board