Four candidates are on the ballot this year for one seat on the Waldoboro Board of Selectmen. Whichever candidate wins the one-year term will be filling the seat vacated by John Blamey earlier this year.
Despite repeated attempts, one candidate, Craig Cooley, could not be reached for comment.
Originally from Brunswick, Hurd has been living in Waldoboro for the last eight years.
“There’s a voice out there that’s not being heard,” he said. “There are very few young people in positions to affect where the town is going.”
The future of Waldoboro and working to improve it is just business as usual for Hurd, he said. Along with the Narrows Tavern, Hurd owns a hot dog stand on Rt. 1 in Waldoboro and plans to turn his home into a bed and breakfast. He also served on the Downtown Taskforce as part of the Waldoboro Visioning process.
“I’m trying to revitalize the town,” Hurd said. “Waldoboro is under utilized and a lot of people don’t feel like the town is doing anything.”
When asked what he would change about Waldoboro if he were elected, he said his number one rule is to keep it simple.
“We have to try to use what we have, not just spend money,” Hurd said. He mentioned the Waldo Theatre as an important and under utilized resource. “The theater needs to be open all the time. That would bring in 550 more people every weekend.”
Hurd also said the town needs better signage to direct people to the downtown village area.
“My mom couldn’t find it when she came up to visit,” Hurd said. Putting up a sign on Rt. 1 would bring a lot more traffic to downtown businesses, Hurd said. “Let’s do it next week. It took four days for me to get a new sign for the tavern.”
“We’re right on the edge of deciding as a community how we want to move forward,” Merritt said. “It feels like energy from many groups is coming together and we’re in a really good place.”
Merritt said because of her widespread role in town affairs, she has the opportunity to hear a lot of different perspectives from around town. Merritt believes it’s the role of town government to hear those perspectives and incorporate them into town policy, she said.
Merritt is the president of the Waldoboro Business Association Board of Directors. She is on the Waldoboro Economic Development Committee, the Gateway 1 Transition Steering Committee, the Lincoln County Economic Development Advisory Board, she is the treasurer of the Friends of Midcoast Maine Board of Directors and is on the Mid-Coast School of Technology Advisory Committee.
With her time already stretched so thin, Merritt said if she were elected she would need to cut back her involvement. “A lot of the out of town work will have to go,” she said.
Merritt said one of the most important goals she will have as a selectman will be to leverage the spirit of volunteerism in Waldoboro.
“More than 10 percent of people in Waldoboro are involved in some kind of volunteer effort,” she said. “We need to harness that energy, and coordinate better between different groups that may be working on the same things.”
“I’d like to see Waldoboro go back to the friendly town it used to be,” Lichtman said. “I’ve made so many suggestions over the years, and they’ve all been turned down.”
Lichtman said she is concerned by the number of businesses leaving Waldoboro, and that the town needs to do more to encourage them to stay.
“It’s not going to be easy, but that’s why we need to be more open to different ideas,” she said.
Fixing the sidewalks in downtown, building a gazebo on the river behind Friendship Road and adding informational signs about the history of Waldoboro are just a few of Lichtman’s idea for improvements the town could make.
Lichtman served on the Waldoboro Recreation Committee from the early 1990s until it was dissolved about three years ago. She is highly involved with Waldoboro Days every year, and is a member of the Waldoboro Lions Club.
She said she wants to be a selectman out of a “desire to work for the town.” In the coming years, she hopes that people can come together to help Waldoboro move forward.
“People say there’s no reason to come to Waldoboro, but I think it’s our fault,” she said. “We don’t give people any reason to come here.”
Lichtman said she would make a good selectman because she can stand her ground.
“People know me, and they know I’m not a ‘yes-woman,'” she said. “People either like me or they don’t. If you like me, vote for me.”
Clinton Collamore is running unopposed for a three-year term on the board of selectmen.
Danny Jackson is running unopposed for a three-year term on the RSU/MSAD 40 board, and Francis Cross is running unopposed for a one-year term on the RSU/MSAD 40 board.
A write-in candidate is needed for a three-year term on the utility committee, as no candidate filed for that position.
Charles Maxcy is running unopposed for a one-year term on the budget committee, and Jodie Ruano and Valdemar Skov are running opposed for three-year terms on the budget committee. A third, write-in candidate is needed for a three-year term on the budget committee.
