Two Write-in Candidates Run for Damariscotta Select Board

Damariscotta Board of Selectmen candidate Jim Cosgrove brings business experience and a strong grasp of town issues to the race. (J.W. Oliver photo)

Damariscotta Board of Selectmen candidate Jim Cosgrove brings business experience and a strong grasp of town issues to the race.

Cosgrove and Dennis Hilton own Newcastle Square Realty Associates, where Cosgrove works as managing partner. Cosgrove, 58, represented Damariscotta on the Great Salt Bay School Committee for three consecutive three-year terms from 2001-2010, including several years as chairman.

Cosgrove was a member of the Damariscotta Investment Advisory Committee and was on the Nobleboro Planning Board for six years prior to his move to Damariscotta. He is a past president of the Lincoln County Board of Realtors and the Rotary Club of Damariscotta- Newcastle, and was Lincoln County Realtor of the Year in 1998.

Today, Cosgrove sits on the Damariscotta Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee, the Damariscotta Harbor Improvement Project Committee, and the Lincoln County Health Care Inc. Board of Trustees. “I think I have a pretty good handle on the issues affecting the town,” Cosgrove said in an interview at his downtown Damariscotta office.

“I think what the position calls for is someone who can listen to all sides of an issue with at least respectful attention and give issues thoughtful consideration, and I would hope to be able to do that,” Cosgrove said. “There’s no one big thing I’m crusading for or feel needs to be fixed,” he said. “I think, just as any other small town or medium-sized business, there are challenges that are going to come up every day and there is planning for the future that needs to be done, and those things, just in the course of business, need to be dealt with.”

Cosgrove is one of two write-in candidates for two three-year terms on the board. “I really had no intention of running for this office,” he said. “I was somewhat dismayed by the tone of the board in recent times, but not enough that I really wanted to run.”

The deadline to file as a candidate passed April 28 with no candidates on the ballot. The blank ballot “was embarrassing for the town,” Cosgrove said. “I think we all need to step up and do our part. That’s just the way it goes in a small town.”

Damariscotta taxpayers have absorbed two consecutive increases in the property tax rate and a third appears likely to take effect this summer. “At least 69 percent of the budget is driven by the schools, and I know from experience there is very, very little we can do about that,” Cosgrove said. “Most of that is state or federal mandates.”

“I don’t care for my tax bill,” Cosgrove said. “I struggle to pay my taxes sometimes. I’ve been running in there at the last minute to keep my name out of the book, but I don’t think there’s any low-hanging fruit that’s magically going to cut taxes.” Nevertheless, Cosgrove is willing to take a hard look.

“I think we’re going to have to make some hard choices around consolidation with a lot of other towns, just as we’ve done with the schools, and we’re going to have to be willing to have everything on the table,” Cosgrove said. Cosgrove supports Damariscotta’s joint public works operations with Newcastle and wants to seek out other ways to collaborate with Damariscotta’s neighbors.

“Anything the town spends money on, every other town spends money on too,” Cosgrove said. “The good news is, we’re all in this together – Newcastle, Bristol, Nobleboro – we’re all in the same boat. We all need to get together and work together.” Cosgrove sits on the Damariscotta Harbor Improvement Project Committee, appointed to plan the rebuilding of the waterfront parking lot and improvements to the area, such as a public restroom.

“I think the basic rebuilding will happen sooner rather than later,” Cosgrove said. “The parking lot is crumbling. It needs to be repaired.” The committee also continues to discuss the summer parking issue downtown.

“There’s a pretty good divide downtown on how much parking we need,” Cosgrove said. He commends the selectmen and Damariscotta Town Manager Matt Lutkus for holding a recent series of public meetings about the issue. The board, however, had an opportunity to purchase a satellite parking lot on Water Street and opted against it. Cosgrove said it was “absolutely” a missed opportunity.

Cosgrove lives in Damariscotta with his wife, Linda, a nurse at Bristol Consolidated School. The couple has two adult children, Natasha and Alex.

Damariscotta Board of Selectmen candidate George Parker brings experience on several town committees and the perspective of a longtime Damariscotta small-business man to the race. (J.W. Oliver photo)

Damariscotta Board of Selectmen candidate George Parker brings experience on several town committees and the perspective of a longtime Damariscotta small-businessman to the race.

Parker, an architect, has a practice on Elm Street. High-profile projects in the area include the Newcastle headquarters of R.H. Reny Inc. and additions and renovations to The First, Lincoln Theater, and Renys Underground. His resume also includes projects around Maine and out of state, such as a project for the U.S. Navy in Key West, Florida; and even as far as Japan, where he traveled in 2011 to design repairs to pump stations after the tsunami. He also designs homes.

Parker was a member of the Damariscotta Planning Board from 1986-2009 and the chairman of the board from 1994-2009. His record of service to the town also includes many years as a member of various committees, most with a focus on planning or economic development efforts.

Today, he sits on the Damariscotta Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee and the Damariscotta Harbor Improvement Project Committee, and he represents Damariscotta on the Lincoln County Regional Planning Commission Board of Directors. He also sits on the Skidompha Public Library Board of Directors. As one of two write-in candidates for two three-year terms on the Damariscotta Board of Selectmen, Parker appears poised to add another role after the election Tuesday, June 10.

A couple of Damariscotta residents approached Parker to ask if he had any suggestions for possible candidates, and “in the course of that conversation, they said, ‘Well, what about you?'” Parker said. “I think the opportunity is there,” Parker said. “Turning 70 and then making a decision to run for selectman has people either saying ‘That’s great!’ or ‘Have you lost your mind?'”

“I want to continue doing work for the town,” Parker said. The Damariscotta Board of Selectmen will face a number of challenges in the next three years. The town’s property tax rate has risen steadily the last two years, from $13.95 in fiscal year 2012 to $14.375 in 2013 and $15.10 in 2014. A third consecutive increase appears likely to take effect this summer.

As a service center town, Damariscotta has a lot of needs. “The work that has to be done strains the tax base, there’s no question about it,” Parker said. Damariscotta also has a high number of residents who receive pensions or Social Security and struggle to absorb tax hikes.

The selectmen, however, only have direct control over the town budget, and town budget increases have been modest, Parker said. The majority of Damariscotta property taxes fund the education budget, which can change dramatically as the budget grows and student enrollment fluctuates.

Damariscotta faces another challenge in the form of the deteriorating municipal parking lot, which it hopes to rebuild in the near future. The town and the Great Salt Bay Sanitary District will pursue grants and could look to low-interest bonds to rebuild the lot and the sewer and stormwater infrastructure underneath it, Parker said.

“We can’t do anything else until that work has been done,” he said. The Twin Villages Alliance plans to raise money for improvements to the area, possibly to include a public restroom facility, a visitors’ center, and a boardwalk.

“The effort is obviously to do as much with as little impact on taxpayers as possible,” Parker said. The Damariscotta Board of Selectmen will decide in the next year whether to renew an agreement with Newcastle for joint public works operations. The contract between the towns will expire June 30, 2015.

Damariscotta and Newcastle share employees and equipment through an arrangement unique among Lincoln County towns. “I certainly agree with the concept,” Parker said. “I haven’t seen the figures of how, cost-wise, it’s worked out.” Steve Reynolds, the public works superintendent for both towns, “has done a very good job being proactive in Damariscotta,” Parker said. Parker said he would support further collaboration with Newcastle if it makes fiscal sense for both towns.

Parker lives on Elm Street with his wife, Carolyn. The couple has two adult daughters, Andrea and Melissa, and two grandchildren. The polls will be open at the town office from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Tuesday, June 10. To vote for a write-in candidate, voters must check the write-in box and write the candidate’s name.