LUBEC — A fishermen’s safety advocate who lost her 18‑year‑old nephew in a commercial fishing accident is asking Lubec to help build a model for how coastal communities respond to disasters at sea.
Liz Michaud, president of the safety advocacy organization Green and White Hope, presented her proposal Wednesday night to the Lubec Board of Selectmen. She asked the board to consider partnering with her group on an effort to formalize community response plans.
Michaud founded Green and White Hope in April 2025 after her nephew, Tylar Michaud, fell overboard while hauling lobster traps off Petit Manan Point in Steuben in late July 2023. His body was found a month later by a fisherman working near Addison.
At the meeting, Michaud said she is looking for two Maine coastal communities to serve as “pillars of light” for the program and hopes Lubec will be one of them.
Michaud emphasized “the need for speed” when responding to disasters in Maine’s frigid waters and said communities with active commercial fishing fleets should have plans in place to supplement the U.S. Coast Guard and the Maine Marine Patrol, which often cannot reach an accident scene as quickly as local fishermen.
Michaud said her organization’s program combines preparedness and education around marine safety, and she noted that grant funding is available to help communities buy communication equipment.
Audience member Julie Keene said marine safety should not stop at the town line.
“We’re a small rural place, all of us, and we back each other up” in emergencies, she said. “Deer Island, Campobello, Grand Manan, I think, should be included” in disaster planning.
The board voted to take up Michaud’s request and asked the harbormaster, Ralph Dennison, to begin compiling a list of community members who might form a marine safety committee.
In other matters, Michael Brown, a firefighter, addressed the board with a request for town support in starting a junior firefighters’ program. Unless something is done to bring on younger volunteers, he said, “when the older firefighters get done, we’re all done.”
Brown said the Lubec Fire Department had a cadet training program in the 1980s, and audience members noted that Lubec had a youth firefighting program as recently as the early 2000s.
He said the new program — the Paula Tinker Memorial Lubec Junior Firefighters — would be open to youth ages 12 to 16 with parents’ permission. Youth firefighters are covered by the department’s insurance and primarily take part in training, not fighting fires except for grass fires. Brown said they are trying to raise $5,000 this spring to buy personal protective equipment for the seven members who have joined so far.
The board voted to support Brown’s program with $2,500 in seed money and to allow funds for the program to pass through the town accounts.
The Paula Tinker Memorial Lubec Junior Firefighters program is holding a benefit breakfast from 7 to 10 a.m. this Sunday, April 12, at the Masonic lodge, with donations to benefit the organization.
Selectman Dan Daley said he has written a draft of the payments‑in‑lieu‑of‑taxes request letter that will be sent to local nonprofits, which the board reviewed Wednesday night. Discussion focused on what town needs the money could be earmarked for, including infrastructure maintenance, administrative costs and tax relief. The board said seven or eight letters will be sent.
Land trusts in Maine are tax‑exempt, stemming from a 2014 Maine Supreme Judicial Court ruling, yet nearly all of the land trusts with holdings in Lubec opt to pay taxes, albeit at a greatly reduced rate, with only Cobscook Shores keeping its properties tax‑free.
The board decided to discuss the earmarking ideas over email and postponed signing and sending the letter until its next meeting later this month. The letters will be accompanied by a copy of an analysis by Marc Perry, the town tax assessor.
After a discussion of the $23,000 needed to replace the Public Works heating system, which failed late this past winter, Selectman Mark Kelley noted that the Town Office/fire station is the only town building with a formalized maintenance program and proposed creating a townwide maintenance plan that would involve putting contracts out to bid.
There was also a brief discussion of the need for a new pickup truck for Public Works.
Selectwoman Joanne Case argued against purchasing a new vehicle, and the board decided to solicit bids from various dealers and to discuss it further at the next meeting.
The townwide community cleanup is planned for May 2-9, with a cookout planned for the last day. NoSo Rubbish said it will provide a dumpster for the project.
