The Boothbay Harbor Selectboard presented the Spirit of America award to Boothbay Region Ambulance Service at the board’s July 8 meeting. Boothbay Emergency Medical Service (EMS) Chief Dan Gardner accepted the award on behalf of the organization. 

Selectboard Chair Michael Tomko said the service, the primary EMS provider for Boothbay, Boothbay Harbor and Southport, is made up of highly trained and experienced professionals. However, he said what makes them special “is that when you need help ... when there is a fragile situation, our ambulance service is always there.” 

He said they are at special events to show their presence and be ready in case of an emergency, and are around for checks on homeowners and the elderly. “They are just such a valuable component of our community, so we want to recognize them by awarding them the Sprit of America award this year,” he said.    

The awards were established by the Spirit of America Foundation to honor community members throughout Maine for their volunteerism. According to the foundation, Boothbay Harbor has presented an award each year since 2021.  

“I am honored and humbled to receive (the award) on behalf of the ambulance service,” Gardner told the Register. “It's all about the great medical staff that I have here, and the hard work that they put in each and every day. My staff never settles for anything less than providing the highest level of emergency medical care to the residents and visitors here on the peninsula.”  

Gardner, who has worked for 35 years in emergency service around the country, said his staff is especially consummate and works well together with a board of directors “to provide an unsurpassed service to our beautiful communities ... and that makes me the luckiest chief around.” 

In other business, the selectboard unanimously approved a permit for Maine Department of Transportation (MaineDOT) for paving construction on Route 27, beginning at the intersection of Route 96 and moving north, according to Town Manager Julia Latter. Latter said MaineDOT has not given a start date yet, but the work will likely delay the sidewalk project near the YMCA.  “This is our authorization so that they can make it worse to make it better,” said Tomko. 

The board also approved appointing William Hunt harbor master after Rob Leavitt announced his departure earlier this season. Latter said Hunt, who lives in Southport, is a very qualified applicant with experience in customer service and technology, and has been a Coast Guard-approved captain. Selectman Mark Gimbel added, “he’s grown up here for 60 years and he knows the water as much as anyone else does.” 

The board approved a victualer’s license for Mark’s Maine Donuts to operate at the library. Several members of the public spoke and asked why this was allowed and if it would open a pathway for future mobile vendors in Boothbay Harbor. According to Latter, the business must provide the same licenses as other food vendors. In addition, she said it is an approved use on private property which follows town ordinances in effect for several years. Mark Pond said his business will be selling, not making, donuts at a booth during the library’s arts and crafts guild days.

The town approved a liquor license for Topside Inn with four yes votes and one abstention from Selectman Mark Osborn, one of the inn’s owners.