Bar Harbor Public Works Director – Chip Reeves Resigns After 22 Years

Chip Reeves, the Bar Harbor Public Works Director, has submitted his letter of resignation, and will be joining CES in Brewer in September as a Project Engineer.

When I asked Cornell Knight, the Bar Harbor Town Manager for a list of Chip's accomplishments, he conferred with Stan Harmon, the Finance Director and forwarded me the following

Chip has been the Public Works Director for over 22 years, starting in January 1997. As Public Works Director he oversees the maintenance of all the Parks (Grant Park & Agamont renovated), ballfields, cemeteries, Glen Mary Pool, comfort stations (2 of which were built/rebuilt). He also oversees the Water and Sewer Divisions. From the time he started in 1997, he has added 2 Highway personnel, but all the other departments have been stable as to the number of employees over the years.

His first big challenge was working with the engineers to completely design and rebuild the main sewer plant for $7.5 million in 1998 on the same footprint as the old plant.  Right after that he worked with the engineers to evaluate, then took over operations of the Water Company until the Town completed its purchase in October 2001 for $5.5 million along with adding a concrete storage tank at Duckbrook.

After the purchase, the Town dissolved the Water Company and made it a department of the Town.  At that point, he began creating consolidated capital construction 5 year plans that coordinated work for the obvious economic efficiencies gained by replacing water mains, sewer mains, catch basins, sidewalk repairs, and intown road rebuilds at the same time.

In 2005, he oversaw the re-construction of Agamont Park and the Seawall.  In 2012, he and the water Superintendent oversaw the design and construction of the $3 million water treatment plant at Duckbrook.  Right after that in 2013, he handled the construction of the new $3.3 million public works facility that replaced the insurance condemned public works building and salt shed.  This effort also included adding the Water Division facilities for operating efficiencies which enabled the Town to sell its two downtown Water buildings.

In 2016, he handled the Town’s interest in the Route 3 rebuild project which also included $2 million of Town funds to replace large water mains and moving sewer lines away from the water lines.  Before  the Route 3 project was completed by MDOT, Chip was involved to help design and oversee construction of the old transfer station to a modern $3 million facility that began operations in 2018.

The Town of Bar Harbor is now accepting applications for a Public Works Director