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Your Town Matters: McAdam Mayor Ken Stannix
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Plan to cut hours at Maine border crossing has people on both sides unhappy
The Vanceboro-St. Croix crossing may be closed overnight starting in the fall
The dual citizen has more family on the Canadian side than in the U.S., and says he normally crosses the border almost daily. He says most people in Vanceboro have family in Canada.
But if plans to cut operating hours in half go ahead, movement between Canada and the United States would only be allowed 13 hours a day.
Residents of both Vanceboro and nearby McAdam, N.B., say it will hurt families and businesses and leave many vulnerable without some emergency services.
"We're neighbours, we're basically the same community here," Beers said. "And they're just drawing a line right down the middle of us."
WATCH | Vanceboro, Maine residents react to border crossing closing for 11 hours each day:
The crossing is on the St. Croix River, about 10 kilometres west of McAdam. The U.S. Vanceboro Port of Entry plans to reduce its hours of operation to 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Atlantic time in the fall. The crossing now operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
CBC News requested an interview with U.S. Customs and Border Protection about the specifics and the reasoning behind the decision. No one was made available.
But correspondence between the agency and the area's elected officials confirm the plan to reduce hours.
And it seems no one who lives in the area is happy about it.
Community divided by border
The region is just recovering from two years of border closures because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
When the border reopened and the two communities were interacting again, things started to feel closer to normal, Beers said.
But in early spring, construction crews began to build fences and gates at the U.S. border station. Word spread that the crossing would shut down in evenings starting in September.
"They're not actually 100 per cent taking it away from us, but they are limiting our access to it," Beers said. "Just so many things are taken away."
Daniel
Beers, lifelong resident of Vanceboro and owner/operator of Holly's
store, says cutting the hours of the border crossing with New Brunswick
will cut family members off from each other. (Shane Fowler/CBC News)
Beers said it won't just affect family visits, or going to hockey and basketball games in McAdam or Fredericton. It could also harm his business.
Beers owns Holly's, one of two stores in Vanceboro. He sells convenience store goods, hardware and propane. Before the pandemic, half his business came from Canadians crossing the border to pick up packages they had shipped to his store.
"It's stuff people can't find over there or it's cheaper over here," said Beers, who said a lot of customers want to avoid the charges and delays that come with shipping packages from the U.S. to Canada. "If you can save $200 on a part, you're going to do it."
Beers charges $3.50 American to hold packages for Canadians who will often drive the hour from Fredericton after work to pick up their deliveries. The pandemic kept Canadians from coming, but since the border reopened business has started to pick up again.
"I'm really expecting that it will get back to what it used to be," said Beers.
If the border starts closing early, it will deter a lot of people from making the trip.
Surprise decision
Cheryl Long, a Vanceboro select board member, the equivalent of a town councillor, said people only learned of the plan by talking to the staff at the crossing. There was no notice from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
"We don't want to lose being able to go visit our relatives and people and doctors over there," said Long. "It's devastating for a small town."
Long said Vanceboro residents rely on the proximity of Horizon's McAdam Health Centre for emergencies. The clinic is just 10 minutes away and the closest alternative is a 50-minute drive to the St. Croix Regional Family Centre in Princeton, Maine. It's open fewer hours than the McAdam clinic.
Vanceboro
select board member Cheryl Long says the town received no word from
U.S. Customs and Border Protection that the crossing was reducing hours. (Shane Fowler/CBC News)
The nearest alternative crossing is St. Stephen-Calais, a 164-kilometre detour.
People in Vanceboro who work in Calais say it's a 40-minute commute through Canada, as opposed to a 70-minute one stateside.
Long has family across the border, too, and said the earlier closing will make evening trips across almost impossible.
"You wouldn't be able to go to graduations, or soccer games, or basketball games, or Christmas programs," said Long.
Canadian side
The village of McAdam is a bigger community than Vanceboro, but McAdam residents often shop across the border, especially for gas. Mayor Ken Stannix said access to lower-priced items just across the border has always kept costs competitive in McAdam.
He was shocked when he heard about the plans.
"A lot of times [our responders] will go across the river if there's a fire, if there's a medical emergency," said Stannix. "So, what happens then if the gate's closed and that community needs our assistance, how do we get there?"
Ken Stannex, mayor of McAdam, says any reduction in hours is going to
have a negative affect on his community and Vanceboro. (Shane Fowler/CBC
News)
Officials respond
State legislator Jeffery Evangelos, an independent in Maine's house of representatives, is vowing to fight the plan.
"This was intentionally swept under the rug so the public wouldn't find out about it," said Evangelos.
He said he learned about the reduction of hours from upset Vanceboro residents. After talking with border-crossing officials, he started pressing U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
He shared a June 9 email response from port director Herm Gadway with CBC News.
It reads, in part: "CBP will be holding a town hall meeting in Vanceboro sometime in the near future to discuss reduction of hours plans and to hear public feedback."
CBC News also requested an interview with Gadway but did not receive a response.
The Canadian Border Services Agency has not made anyone available for an interview to give details on how any changes on the U.S. side would affect the St. Croix border station.
"The Canada Border Services Agency can confirm that it is aware of the proposed reduction of hours at the Vanceboro, Maine border crossing by the US Customs and Border Protection," the agency said in an email. "We continue to monitor this closely for any impacts to our operations."
Mayor Stannex suspects that any changes at the U.S. border will have to
be copied by the St. Croix border crossing in Canada. (Shane Fowler/CBC
News)
Stannix assumes the Canadian border crossing will be forced to mimic the U.S. closure.
Evangelos has been helping to organize a public meeting for July 5 at the Vanceboro Community Centre at 5 p.m. ET. He said U.S. Customs and Border Protection have told him they will attend.
And Beers suspects that once residents from both sides of the border come together to voice their thoughts, things could get heated.
"We're all one family and they're dividing us," said Beers.
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Vanceboro Public Hearing on Proposed Reduction of Hours at the Vanceboro Port Border Near McAdam, NB
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Residents seethe as U.S. officials detail plan to cut hours at Maine-N.B. crossing
Crossing hours to be cut in half under U.S. Customs and Border Protection plan
The communities of Vanceboro, Maine, and McAdam, N.B., are separated by six kilometres and a border.
But on Wednesday night, they were united by their disdain for a plan to close that border crossing 12 hours a day.
More than 100 residents from both Canada and the U.S. gathered at the Vanceboro community centre to voice displeasure with the plan by U.S. Customs and Border Protection to reduce hours at their Vanceboro port of entry from 24 hours a day to 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Maine time.
Port director Herm Gadway gave the crowd the reasons for closing the Vanceboro-St. Croix crossing half the day, beginning with pre-pandemic figures that indicate an average of 7.4 private vehicles and six commercial vehicles cross during the 12 hours to be affected by the cut in hours.
Gadway added that since the border has reopened following COVID-19 restrictions,the Vanceboro-St. Criox crossing sees just three vehicles cross between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m. with "89 per cent of all private vehicle traffic" crossing during the day.
Herm
Gadway with U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the port director
for Calias, Maine, answered questions from residents at Wednesday night. (Shane Fowler/CBC News)
Staffing is another reason for the cut, he said.
"Efforts since 2017 to recruit CBP staff in Vanceboro have been mostly unsuccessful and the port has not been able to achieve full staffing for some time," said Gadway, reading from a prepared statement.
Staff from the Calais, Maine, crossing have been needed to cover staff shortages "at great agency expense," he said.
Finally, an increase in rail traffic at the border crossing has required the relocation of staff.
"An increase of 35 per cent since 2018," said Gadway. "Railroad stakeholders have notified Maine area port management of an expected fourfold increase in rail containers both in and outbound in the coming years with a large increase already starting in June of 2022."
Ottawa recently announced it is sending $21.2 million to Irving-owned New Brunswick Southern Railway to upgrade rail terminals in McAdam, as well as Saint John.
Gadway's case for the cut in hours was not good enough for residents.
For nearly two hours, they pleaded with Gadway to consider the impact of cutting off family members from each other for 12 hours a day.
Some questioned access to emergency services. The McAdam Fire Department often assists in fighting blazes on the U.S. side, they said, and the nearest medical centre to Vanceboro is in McAdam. Gadway said something would be worked out on that issue, but he didn't elaborate.
Residents
and elected officials in Vanceboro, Maine say the Vanceboro Port of
Entry border crossing that leads into McAdam, NB is preparing to close
for 12 hours a day starting in the fall. (Shane Fowler/CBC News)
Ken Stannix, the mayor of McAdam, pointed to a growing population and economy in his village and said shuttering the border half the time would hinder jobs and opportunities on both sides. He urged the decision to be pushed back three to five years to prove it.
"Give us the opportunity to show you that we can increase the traffic coming back and forth across the border," said Stannix. "When you shut things down, it is very hard to get it fired up again."
Not a happy crowd
When Tuesday night's crowd was asked if anyone present agreed with the plan to reduce hours everyone remained silent and still.
Residents took their turns voicing concerns in order, but two points of contention made some visibly agitated. The first was the lack of a formal announcement by U.S. federal officals to the Town of Vanceboro that a reduction of hours was coming.
Select board member Corinna Corpley told CBC News that no town employee or member of the select board, the equivalent of town council, got notice from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
"Nobody from there, from officials, came to any selectman meeting or any selectperson that I know off," said Corpley.
Vanceboro
selectwoman Corinna Corpley told CBC News that no one with the Town of
Vanceboro got any notice from U.S. Customs and Border Protection about
planned reduction of hours at the Vanceboro-St. Croix border crossing. (Shane Fowler/CBC News)
The second point was Gadway's insistence that the decision to reduce those hours is not yet set in stone. Residents said they have spent weeks watching new gates and protective infrastructure being built at the crossing, a process Gadway termed as "hardening the port."
It's a process he says is necessary if the crossing is closed 12 hours a day.
While U.S. Customs and Border Protection couldn't say what the cost of that new infrastructure was, its simple existence is enough to convince seething residents that the decision has already been made.
Herm
Gadway spent close to two hours fielding questions and concerns from
attendees at Tuesdays meeting but would not take questions from any
media outlets. (Shane Fowler/CBC News)
They include Jeffery Evangelos, an independent in Maine's house of representatives who helped facilitate the meeting.
"Where I work, in the Maine legislature, when anything is purposed the first step is always consultation with the public, not the last step," said Evangelos. "You don't make a decision and then talk to the folks. That is ass-backwards. I'm sorry."
State
legislator Jeffery Evangelos is an independent in Maine's house of
representatives, who helped facilitate Tuesdays meeting. (Shane Fowler/CBC News)
Although Gadway took questions from Wednesday's crowd ,he would not take any questions from reporters.
Ryan Brissette, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, said that because a specific date for the reduction of hours has not yet been confirmed because of setbacks in the port "hardening," no public notice could be given.
"The construction has been on/off, had its issues, taken a little bit longer than we thought it might, so we didn't have a secure date," said Brissette.
He said the agency only has to give notice a month before a reduction of hours.
"We really only have to do the 30 days and we're kind of ahead of that now," said Brissette.
Spokesperson
Ryan Brissette with the Department of Homeland Security only needs to
give 30 days notice for any reduction of hours. (Shane Fowler/CBC News)
For residents, the next step is organizing efforts to modify the planned cut, according to Evangelos and Cropley.
"We're going to follow up with Mr. Gadway and try to get like a stakeholders meeting to maybe try and reduce the hours a little less," said Cropley.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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CANADA OPERATIONS
John Kilbride, New Brunswick
Tel: 506-784-9003
Cell: 506-447-0919
Fax: 506-784-9004
jkraisin@nbnet.nb.ca
Vanceboro
- Municipal Clerk
-
Louise M. Labossiere
9 Winchester Way
PO Box 33
Vanceboro, ME 04491
Phone: (207) 788-3854
Fax: (207) 788-3900
- Municipal Registrar
-
Same as Clerk
180 International Avenue
Calais, ME 04619
Field Office
10 Causeway St
Room 801
Boston, MA 02222
United States
Herm.Gadway@cbp.dhs.gov
https://www.cbp.gov/profile/ryan-brissette
Ryan Brissette
Home: (207) 832-7378
Seat Number: 148 House District: 91 - (View Map)
Town(s): Friendship/ Union (Part) / Waldoboro/ Washington
Committee(s): Judiciary
Sen. Marianne Moore (R - Washington)
Senate District 6: Washington County, all municipalities and unorganized territories. Also, Gouldsboro, Sullivan and Winter Harbor; and the part of East Hancock Unorganized Territory
Address: 28 St. Croix Drive, Calais, ME 04619
Home: (207) 454-0501 or (207) 952-2050
State House: (207) 287-1505
Email: Marianne.Moore@legislature.maine.gov
Website: www.mesenategop.com
Term Limited: 2026
Committee Assignments:
Health and Human Services
131 Pea Ridge Road, Chester, ME 04457
Home: (207) 290-1321
Seat Number: 103 House District: 141 - (View Map)
Town(s): Alexander/ Burlington/ Carroll/ Chester/ Codyville/ Cooper/ Crawford/ Danforth/ Dennysville/ Drew/ Grand Lake Stream/ Kingman Township/ Lakeville/ Lee/ Lowell/ Mattawamkeag/ Meddybemps/ Prentiss Township/ Princeton/ Springfield/ Talmadge/ Topsfield/ Vanceboro/ Waite/ Webster/ Winn/ Brookton Township/ Cathance Township/ Edmunds Township/ Forest City Township/ Greenlaw Chopping Township/ Kossuth Township/ Marion Township/ Pukakon/ Twombly Ridge Township/ Whitney (Pukakon) Township/ Berry Township/ Lambert Lake Township/ East Central Washington/ North Washington (Part) / Big Lake Township
Committee(s):
Health and Human Services - Ranking Member
Victoria Fenner Discusses the Local Journalism Initiative with Brad Henderson & CHCO's Vicki Hogarth
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