Waldoboro residents gathered to meet the nine individuals running for three Waldoboro Board of Selectmen seats, May 2 at the American Legion Hall.
Seven candidates, Carl Cunningham Jr., John Heller, Ronald Miller, Stephen Nutter, Susan Price and Melvin Williams and incumbent Ted Wooster are contesting two three-year terms on the board.
Two candidates, James Bodman and Robert Kanewske, are standing for one two-year term. Two candidates are contesting one seat for a two-year term. Voters go to the polls Tues., June 12.
Moderator Andy Benore, of Waldoboro, kept the discussion moving, posing questions that candidates answered in rotation. Benore opened the evening asking why the candidates were running.
Cunningham said there “needs to be honesty to taxpayers.”
Heller, a six-year resident in Waldoboro, works in a small business; he wants to serve the community’s people. Miller said he was concerned about transparency.
Nutter said he brings 35 years working in quality control and has expertise in budgeting and system management. Price, a former teacher, said she is grateful to her community as a small business owner of The Village Bakery and Café.
“It’s now time to give back,” she said.
Melvin Williams, who runs one of three local dairy farms, said his customers asked him to run.
Incumbent Wooster wants to increase the economic base of Waldoboro, and believes there are opportunities to achieve economic success; and, local banker Bodman is concerned about spending and plans to have “many future years in Waldoboro, and decisions made today impact the future.”
Kanewske, who lives on a self-sustaining farm in Orff’s Corner, said, “There are lots of things I didn’t like, and I thought I should put my effort where my mouth is.”
Heller supports the open town meeting choice, but it “must be led appropriately.”
Price likes town meetings for the chance “for expression of opinion, and maybe reconsideration.”
Also endorsing open town meeting, Wooster said there’s a problem with referendum voting, “it’s either ‘yes’ or ‘no'” to difficult questions involving mathematical figures.
“There can be a secret ballot at town meeting to take care of peer pressure, and discussion,” he said
In favor of a repeat referendum vote, Miller believes a “group of people can get together and vote budgets down [at town meeting] where there’s a lower turnout.” In agreement, Nutter said many more people go to the polls than to town meeting where, “there’s peer pressure.”
Williams also favors referendum voting. “The whole town needs to be a part and there’s more turnout,” he said. “At town meeting if you have 120 voters, you’re doing well.”
Bodman believes pertinent budget discussions should come before referendum voting, and understands the problem with inflexibility of ‘yes’ or ‘no’ voting, however, he said, “Referendum voting is fairer and represents more people.”
Kanewske also leans toward referendum voting but called the problem simplistic.
“When people get to the polls they are confused,” he said. “We have to take a look at the whole fiscal process before voters go to the polls. When the cart is before the horse, we have to play cleanup.”
Cunningham supports referendum voting’s larger turnout, with “everybody having 15 hours to vote.”
Calling it “a touchy subject,” Miller said his vote would be what his constituents’ want, regardless of his personal feelings.
Nutter said he would base his decision on the state of the local economy at the time and Price said the library needs funding “on some level” and is a “sign of education and an asset to the community. We need to have it here.”
Williams doesn’t use the library and said, “We can’t have everything that every person wants,” and believes spending should “slow down. We don’t need to match it.”
Acknowledging the cost, Wooster advocated carefully evaluating the level of support with the library’s “considerable value to the community,” adding “there are times we cannot afford [it].”
Cunningham agreed on the concept of supporting the library, depending on the state of the economy and budget. Bodman said it is an “asset,” but did not agree the town should support 50 percent of the library’s budget. “We can cut back a bit,” he said.
Calling the library critical for growth and an “educated infrastructure,” Heller said he was for fully funding the library rather than cutting back. “Let’s be clear, the library receives less than $30 per household per year,” he said. “I pay more in one month for cell phone than I do for the library.”
Kanewske said he was a “big library proponent,” but feels the library needs defining. “We need to know if it is a private or public organization,” he said. “They can’t have it both ways.”
Nutter questioned past budget practices and current operations, and said he found it difficult to answer the revenue question. “The town is not in the business of trying to make a profit,” he said.
Price said her solution for increasing revenues is to bring business to downtown and outlying areas.
“We can budget and budget, but if we can’t collect the taxes, we have to shrink the budget,” Williams he said.
Wooster said he supports business opportunities, citing the recent CLC YMCA proposal to occupy the former AD Gray school building, the need for a local hotel and his desire to see a rail stop in Waldoboro.
Bodman and Cunningham expressed concern about the lack of capital reserve funds in the budget; Bodman said he was concerned about voter “sticker shock” when taxes rise to replace equipment.
“We just don’t have stores,” Cunningham said, addressing the revenue side. “People should buy more cars and increase the excise tax.”
Kanewske suggested finding more revenue from external sources. He advocated gathering local residents together to brainstorm ways to attract business, not using “outside consultants.”
“The current board worked hard and cut where it can,” Heller said. “We need a better job of branding and marketing ourselves to visitors. The problem is we’re a pass-through. We need to start growing.”
Miller said the town’s “huge” tax burden was never designed to be paid with property taxes. “Wake up, we need businesses here,” he said. “Some are afraid to allow a big business [in]. I say, you snooze, you lose. We’ve got to get with modern times, here and promote business.”
“We should focus on bringing here [business] that fits with the community character,” she said. “I don’t want a big box store.”
Williams said a broader tax base is needed. “The land trusts and parks generate no revenue for the town,” he said. “They should pay their fair share on every ounce of land here and then taxes would be low.”
“A magnet is needed and what better magnet than a big store, with satellites around it?” Kanewske said. “There’s some downside but with proper planning with locals, we can figure out how to get out of this fiscal mire.”
Cunningham said imagining a big store in Waldoboro was hard, but he hopes the AD Gray/YMCA plan comes to fruition. Heller agreed the YMCA would create an anchor for the community, but added it would draw more families and not necessarily attract people passing through.
Miller said he feared what’s going to happen if Waldoboro does not promote itself.
“The economy is just bumping along,” he said. “How are we going to go uphill when every time 100 acres goes into conservation, we pay the taxes? Someone should pay some sort of tax. We have to have a big box in order to keep the town. We don’t have a calling card – we lost all our businesses.”
Nutter suggested developing the village and outlying areas. “Small business is a growth economy,” he said. ” We should allow expanding beyond Rt. 1.”
In response, several candidates generally blamed schools for not teaching basic life skills and accountability and cited a disconnect between the use of technology and positive test results.
As an employer of students, Williams said he doesn’t see evidence of much “practical education.” “A lot of money is thrown away,” he said. “There should be reading, writing and arithmetic, but they’re lost without their machines.”
Wooster cited what he said was a direct corollary between parent involvement and honor students. “Parents need to do their share at home,” he said.
Price agreed noting that a great deal has changed in classrooms in recent years. “There’s a lack, of parenting at home,” he said. “Parents need to be involved, limiting TV, videos and getting kids outside.”
Kanewske, a former educator, said he sees no correlation between funding and education results. “We have computers, new buildings but we’re not dealing with accountability,” he said. “It’s lost. There’s no connection between funding and [test] results.”
If a student is not capable, Kanewske said they should not grade advance. “There shouldn’t be “social” promotion,” he said. “It doesn’t take money to hold students accountable.”
Cunningham endorsed increasing class sizes, and notwithstanding the union, believes that poor “teachers need to go.” Cunningham said mandates are expensive, like the high cost of special education teachers, education technicians and bussing.
“We don’t place enough importance on education,” Heller said. There’s no accountability as a society. [Education] is not working… We can only hope they get through high school. There are no manufacturing jobs; no farming jobs. Digging worms is not a viable solution.”
Miller also supported increasing class sizes. Calling special education “great,” he added it is important not to “force a youngster on if they aren’t ready. They need to stay back.”
A former school board member Nutter said state and federal mandates require too much paperwork, take away too much teaching time. “There is no control of that. Each time we tried to make a change, there was ‘no’ from the special interests.” Nutter also believes the system is designed to have all “kids at the same level. The smart kids are held back.”
In his single household, Bodman said as a positive, pay-per-bag does promote recycling. “I’ve lived with pay-per-bag and it made me more conscious of recycling, but I’m concerned about large families with limited budgets. I don’t support it.”
Kanewske advocates a study before committing to a pay per bag system, and Cunningham said the voters should choose, adding he is concerned pay-per-bag leads to dumping “everywhere.” Nutter agreed.
Price also wants the question to go to voters, but said people don’t recycle. “People are dumping and will do it anyway,” she said.
Heller said he doesn’t believe the transfer station is enforcing current fees. Miller said a pay-per-bag system would shift costs from taxes to out of picket. “It would cost more in the long run,” he said,
Not in the spotlight May 2 were the candidates for seven seats open on the school board. Incumbents Sandra O’Farrell and Lynda Letteney seek to remain on the board, with Christopher Duffy, Debra Tillou, Mary Controvillas, John Higgins and Darrell Goldrup seeking election.
Newcomer Duffy described himself as having the time and he’s motivated to serve on the board; incumbent Letteney served for 38 years in public education and wishes to retain her seat; incumbent O’Farrell has served four years and “wants to keep going.”
Newcomer Tillou has raised children in the school district and “wants to give back to the community;” and, Higgins (who also seeks a seat on the budget committee) commended the sitting board, but believes fiscal restraint is called for and can be improved.
Joining Higgins for election to the budget committee are incumbents Bill Blodgett and Craig Lewis. Lewis wants to continue on the committee and Higgins said he’d like to help the committee get better fiscal control.
Utility District candidates are incumbent Jeffrey McNelly and former district member David Starr.
Waldoboro voters go to the polls on Tues., June 12, open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Waldoboro Town Office/fire station.
