Westbrook man arrested on child sex charges was a school bus driver

with Suzanne Hodgson

WESTBROOK — A Westbrook man who was arrested on child sex charges Tuesday resigned as a bus driver in the Scarborough school system just before he turned himself in to police.

Stephen C. Mitton, 47, of 665 Saco St., was arrested for felony charges of sexual exploitation of a minor and a misdemeanor charge of unlawful sexual touching. According to Westbrook police Capt. Tom Roth, the investigation in the case is ongoing. Roth said Mitton appeared at the police station on his own accord and was placed under arrest. He was scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday afternoon.

"He is no longer an employee," Scarborough Superintendent George Entwistle said Wednesday. "He was no longer employed as of yesterday. Basically the employee resigned and we accepted the resignation. He had not been arrested at that time."

A Stephen Mitton was employed as a school bus driver in Westbrook until 2011, when he resigned. School Superintendent Marc Gousse said Wednesday that he could not confirm the middle initial or date of birth of the bus driver. However, Entwistle said it is his understanding that it is the same person.

"This does not involve a Scarborough child," said Entwistle. "As far as I am concerned, it's a matter that relates to a previous employment in another town ... not Scarborough."

"My only comment would be that there are no pending complaints or concerns as it relates to Scarborough schools," said Entwistle. "It's really, as far as I'm concerned, not a matter that concerns us."

Entwistle added that due to safety concerns, Scarborough school buses are monitored by video.

According to Cape Elizabeth Superintendent Meredith Nadeau, a Stephen C. Mitton drove a school bus for her district from February to June 2011.

"My impression is that it was a temporary position," she said, noting that Mitton was contracted for special event duties on Aug. 19, 2011 and Aug. 17, 2012.

Race opens for City Council seat

SOUTH PORTLAND — Nomination papers are now available to fill the final two years of the District 1 City Council seat vacated Jan. 1 by Tom Coward, who resigned following his election in November to the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners.

Coward was sworn into his new office Jan. 14, where he will represent South Portland, Cape Elizabeth, Westbrook and the Riverton area of Portland in county matters.

Although voting is city-wide, potential candidates must reside in District 1, which includes the eastern part of the city from the shore to a line drawn by Pine, Sawyer and Chase streets, then following Cottage Road to the Cape Elizabeth line.

According to City Clerk Susan Mooney, nomination papers are due to her office by 4:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 1, and must contain signatures from at least 100 registered South Portland voters. Signers do not have to reside in District 1.

The special election will be held on Tuesday, March 12. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Community Center on at 21 Nelson Road, near the high school.

Absentee ballots will be available starting on Monday, Feb. 4. Voters may request a ballot to mail in or vote via absentee ballot in person at City Hall through close of business on Monday, March 11. Residents may register to vote before the election at city hall, or on election day at the polls.

The winner of the special election will serve on the City Council until December 2014.

City fills vacant committee posts

SOUTH PORTLAND — The South Portland City Council made headway in filling vacant committee posts at its most recent meeting, Jan. 7, appointing five residents to various openings.

Colchester Drive resident Peter Stocks was named to fill out a term on the city’s economic development committee until March 23. The seat was vacated by Angela Smith, who resigned in December. However, it appears likely Stocks, president and general manager of Trudy Point LLC – an aquaculture company founded in 2010 to harvest rope-grown blue mussels off the Maine coast under the name Calendar Island Mussel Company – can expect reappointment when the time comes.

“To put an upstarter, small-business owner on this committee is very wise,” said Mayor Tom Blake of the nomination, made by Councilor Linda Cohen. “It’s an excellent choice.”

Stocks, who has lived in South Portland for six years, is a 1988 graduate of the Maine School of Law, with a 1990 degree in comparative corporate law from the London School of Economics.

E Street resident Mitchell Sturgeon, formerly a paper industry chemical engineer and a wastewater superintendent, was reappointed to the Conservation Commission to Nov. 20, 2015. Newly appointed to the commission, also through Nov. 20, 2015, was Monika Youelles of Strout Street. An operations representative and marine agent at Inchcape Shipping Services, Youelles has lived in South Portland for 10 years.

Julie Kingsley and Lynne Joys were reappointed to the library advisory board. Kingsley, of Preble Street, a teacher at Southern Maine Community College, and Joys, a 43-year resident of Kenneth Road, will each serve to Nov. 20, 2015.

South Portland has two openings on the conservation commission, one to Nov. 20, 2013 and the other to Nov. 20, 2014, as well as two seats on the energy and recycling committee, both terms to May 5, 2015.

City councilors also are seeking someone to serve on the board of appeals through July 23, 2015.

WinterFest to honor memory of local boy

SCARBOROUGH — Scarborough’s 24^th annual WinterFest, set for Saturday, will include a tribute to the short but heroic life of Kyle St. Clair, a local boy who died last week at age 8 following a lifelong battle with lung and digestive issues.

Steve Kramer, an organizer with event sponsor Scarborough Community Services, said a silent auction will be held near the ice skating area for two Boston Celtic tickets, with all proceeds to be donated to charity in Kyle’s name.

“It will probably go to the Robbie Fund, which is a charity the family supports,” said Kramer on Tuesday. ”There may be other things arranged as well, but that’s the only things that’s definite right now.”

The free-admission family festival will take place on the Scarborough High School athletic fields and at the nearby outdoor ice rinks, beginning with a noontime bonfire.

Snow sculpture events get under way at 12:30 p.m. in three divisions (family, under 12, and over 13) with judging to be done at 4 p.m.

Competition for festival king and queen get under way at 2:30 p.m. on the lower ring, with points awarded in slalom skating, speed skating, backward skating and obstacle course events. The high scorers will be crowned at 5:20 p.m., following the popular fireworks display, set to launch at 5 p.m.

This year also sees the return of the “royal family” competition begun last year, with three events on the turf field. In addition to a snow shoe obstacle course, and the human sled dog race – a “very popular” event last year, says Kramer – a “snow sling” competition has been added to the schedule.

“It’s like a giant water-balloon sling, if you’ve seen one of those, only using snowballs,” said Kramer. “It’s safe and fun for the whole family. Whoever can launch a snowball the furthest down the field will be the winner.”

The royal family will be crowned along with the king and queen.

Among other festival highlights, Frosty the Snowman will visit at the ice rink closest to Wentworth Intermediate School.

Other games include milk jug curling at 12:30 p.m. and a Score-O competition at 2 p.m., both on the upper rink. There also will be ice cube hunts for younger children sponsored by Town and County Federal Credit Union on the Wentworth playground at 1:45 and 2:30 p.m.

Families can also take wagon rides from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. Refreshments will be available throughout the festival as will ice carving demonstrations by Wicked Good Ice. Children can visit municipal plow and fire trucks next to the ice rinks from 2:30 to 4 p.m.

Sunday, Jan. 20, will be the make-up date for the winter festival in case of inclement weather.

'Heroic' battle ends for Scarborough boy

SCARBOROUGH — Kyle St. Clair, a Scarborough boy who was the subject of an outpouring of community support over the years, has lost his lifelong battle with lung and digestive disease.

“After 8-plus years of fighting, our love doesn't need to fight anymore. Kyle William St.Clair passed away here, at home, this morning with his family by his side,” wrote the family, Jan. 8, on the Team Kyle Facebook page. “We can't say enough about what joy this boy has brought to us in his short time on earth. So much love. Thank you to all for the support you have given to him and to us.”

St. Clair's funeral was held Monday at St. Maximilian Kolbe Church, Scarborough.

The Facebook posting generated more than 2,500 replies in less than 24 hours, also praising Kyle’s long battle though more than 45 surgeries. Brave” and “heroic” was the common assessment in the messages of sympathy and support.

Born premature, Kyle St. Clair spent the first nine months of his life in Maine Medical Center's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. That, however, was only the beginning of his struggles. As a toddler, he was diagnosed with dysmotility, a disease in which the muscles of the digestive system do not work properly. He underwent 14 surgeries by age 6 and still had to have nutrients pumped into his body through an intravenous system.

More hospital stays followed and the Scarborough community came together for several fundraisers over the last few years to help Kyle and his mother Kate St. Clair traveling back and forth to specialists in Boston and Columbus, Ohio, to treat his medical conditions, while her father Mark stayed home with the families other children, Alexis and Jackson.

Kate St. Clair was elected to the Scarborough Town Council in November, citing a desire to enter public service as a way to give back to the community.

Rosenfeld to retire

The longtime director of the Scarborough Economic Development Corp. will call it a career in March

SCARBOROUGH — Harvey Rosenfeld, executive director of the Scarborough Economic Development Corp. for 24 of its 26 years, has announced plans to retire effective March 1.

Rosenfeld delivered the news last week to the corporation’s board of directors and Town Manager Tom Hall. On Monday, he said he planned to “make an official announcement later in the week.”

“Part of it is that I will be turning 67 in March,” he said the following day, still somewhat reluctant to discuss his departure until the issuance of a press release. “This has certainly been a rewarding career, but I have been here for 24 years. It’s a realistic time to take some time off.”

Rosenfeld said that after stepping down, he may keep his hand in the mix as an economic development consultant for area communities “on a very part-time basis.” But otherwise, he said, he has no concrete plans for retired life.

According to Stuart Axelrod, chairman of the group's board of directors, work already has begun to find Rosenfeld's replacement. With Rosenfeld’s help, the board has begun to craft a job description, something that was not yet fashionable when Rosenfeld first took the job and Scarborough had just 8,000 residents.

“We want to do a job design that hopefully captures the tradition of SEDCO as it has existed and been very successful in the town, but also recognizes that our world is changing,” said Axelrod. “We want to be able to mold SEDCO going forward and take on a more modern, forward-looking bent.

"When Harvey started, Scarborough was small,” said Axelrod. “Now it's big and almost the preferred town to live in from a business perspective. It’s a different marking approach that we had 25 years ago. So, we just have to be careful to find the right person.”

Hall said he’d been invited to sit on the search committee, along with a town councilor and a member of the Scarborough Community Chamber of Commerce. The committee will likely report a “short-list” of potential candidates to the full SEDCO board, he said, adding that the town’s human resources department has been offered to help administer the recruitment process.

“Harvey has a very strong legacy,” said Hall. “For all intents and purposes, he and SEDCO are synonymous, so he leaves some very big shoes to fill.”

“Any time you have a changing of the guard for anyone of that tenure, it presents real problems, but it also presents real opportunities,” said Axelrod. “We’ll never replace Harvey as ‘Harvey.’ But can we replace the position with someone who will make it their own and move it forward? We think so.”

Hall and Axelrod agree that there could be an “interim of a couple of months” between Rosenfeld’s departure and his replacement’s first day on the job. Both expressed confidence in Rosenfeld’s assistant, Karen Martin, whom Hall said is “eminently capable of handling things in the meantime.”

In fact, Martin has been the one holding down the fort most days for the past year, they said, ever since Rosenfeld dropped to part-time status to test semi-retirement.

“We’re going to move along as rapidly as we can,” said Axelrod. “The No. 1 overarching goal is to hire right the first time. We want to be sure we get everyone’s input on what the right candidate should look like.

“I’ll only say that while Scarborough has gotten much bigger, the world is smaller and there’s lots of rapid communication where everything’s visible,” said Axelrod, when asked what he seeks in a candidate. “We want to have somebody who can portray Scarborough and SEDCO very appropriately while building consensus among the various interested parties in town.”

“I think this is going to be a very attractive job opportunity for someone,” said Rosenfeld. “I came here a long time ago to a lot smaller community. I think things have gone well here, but after nearly 25 years it’s time, I think, for some new blood and for someone to take economic development in new directions.  

“After all,” Rosenfeld joked, “I’m old and kind of set in my ways.”

Among the immediate new ways that may tried, the organization is already “about halfway” to the goal of $12,000 in revenue it hoped to generate on its own this year, Axelrod said.

Last year, the group’s budget was cut nearly 25 percent to just more than $175,000. The move followed outcry from former Councilor Karen D’Andrea regarding the independent corporation’s return on investment since the start of the recession. The budget cut was about equal to the money the group used to get each year, until the fund ran dry, out of proceeds from the sale of lots in the industrial park.

“We’re doing well,” said Axelrod. “There’s a high degree of confidence that we will make our self-funding targets.”

“I certainly appreciate the effort,” said Hall. “This year is the first time they’ve tried to do something other than utter reliance on tax dollars, but I also appreciate that it takes time.”

Also on the horizon is a potential partnership with the Scarborough Community Chamber, which operates under the auspices of the Greater Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce. SEDCO moved into the town office last year as a budget savings device, and could move out again in the coming year if an agreement with the community chamber comes off.

There have recently been what Hall terms “very fruitful discussions” on that front.

“Where we go with a shared space or moving back out of the town office is a discussion point,” said Axelrod. “It’s definitely a possibility if it can be done in way that supports the overall goals of SEDCO, the chamber and the town.”

“It makes sense to me,” said Hall. “They both have important and independent functions, but on business retention there is a real overlap, in my opinion, and the chamber has been dying to hang a local shingle.”

Rosenfeld, 66, came to Maine in his 20s with a background in home restoration and dreams of a career in boatbuilding. But before long he applied “on a whim” to a home weatherization job in the administration of Gov. Jim Longley in the Division of Community Services. That department, like two others Rosenfeld worked for during his seven years in state government, no longer exists.

But the experience led to social services work and two years as Saco’s city administrator – a post Rosenfeld admits was too political for his laid back, practical style – and then to the SEDCO job. He came along just as Scarborough was beginning to earn its reputation as the fastest-growing community in Maine.

“I definitely feel good about the fact that, although there have been a few disappointments along the way, I’ve been able to affect things in Scarborough in a pretty positive way,” said Rosenfeld, as a sort of coda on his career.

“I think of this in 25-year increments,” said Hall. “That’s about how old SEDCO is and I’m really excited about the next 25 years. I think the strides we’ve made can really be surpassed in the next 25 years. If we hire right, hopefully that person will be here as long as Harvey and really see us in to the future.”