Bucksport’s field of Town Council candidates are emphasizing different issues in their campaigns this year but largely agree on major local themes, including the importance of attracting more businesses, the challenges of addressing rising property taxes and a general sense of optimism about the town’s present and future.
Four people are competing for two open seats on the council to represent residents for the next three years.
The candidates voters choose for the seven-member council will help lead Bucksport into the second decade since its local paper mill shut down and its first full budget cycle under a new town manager. The town’s efforts to close an embattled landfill, keep a key dam intact and navigate increasing financial pressure on taxpayers also rank high among candidate priorities.
The candidates are Ralph Chapman, Teri Doty, Ed Rankin Jr. and Steven St. Peter, Jr..
Rankin is a 48-year-old Bucksport native and local garage owner who already is serving on the board and seeks a third consecutive term.
Chapman, 74, is a former industrial process engineer, researcher, science teacher who represented several Hancock County towns in the Maine House of Representatives for eight years and served on Brooksville’s budget advisory committee for six.
Doty, 57, is a Planning Board member and executive director of the Bucksport Bay Business Coalition with fundraising and event experience from other local business and culture groups.
St. Peter, 49, is an electric vehicle advocate who grew up in town.
Steve Bishop is not seeking reelection after serving one term.
All four candidates prioritized attracting more new businesses to grow the tax base as Bucksport continues to recover from losing its major employer and taxpayer, the Verso Paper mill, 11 years ago. Plans to build a salmon farm on part of the former mill site — which is owned by Whole Oceans, the company behind the project — have for seven years failed to materialize and were recently scaled back by 85 percent.
Bucksport has also spent down a cushion of savings it built up over the years before the mill closed so it could keep up services while working to draw in new residents and employers. In recent years, that money was used to artificially deflate property taxes, the town’s auditor said in August.
Without it, tax bills jumped for many home owners. In response, some residents have called on the council to slash spending in next year’s budget.
None of the candidates said they would prioritize cutting services. Instead, they have praised town employees across departments and said they intend to maintain staffing levels for public safety and emergency services.
Rankin wants to preserve the services and amenities Bucksport has worked hard to build in recent years, from its police department to its hiking trails to its skate park. He said towns typically start to decline when they make such cuts.
Instead, he sees the upcoming budget season as a time to streamline and make changes, such as outsourcing billing for ambulance services.
He said he also entered the race in part to provide experienced counsel for Bucksport’s first new town manager in nearly a decade, Jacob Gran, who was hired in April to replace Susan Lessard.
St. Peter suggested leasing electric hybrid police cruisers to save money. Doty wants to work with the school district to find solutions to lower costs and use her business experience for special events, fundraising, sponsorships and increased tourism that will bring people and their dollars to town without using taxpayer funds.
Chapman also proposed looking for efficiencies while keeping personnel, and highlighted that the property tax structure is a complicated problem for many Maine towns that he wants to see changed at the state level.
St. Peter would prioritize trying to attract clean energy jobs, national chain stores and mixed housing along Park Street, electric car chargers and electric car dealerships. He identified reducing wait times for applications at the town office as one way to do this.
St. Peter, who has cerebral palsy, said he would also be a representative and advocate for people with disabilities if elected. Addressing climate change is another major concern for him.
The candidates said they want to help older residents afford to stay in their homes while keeping young people in town amid a statewide housing crisis.
To that end, Chapman wants to see the town’s short term rental ordinance strengthened by adding a fee structure. Doty suggested selling tax-acquired property for low prices with the condition that the buyer turn them into rentals.
All four opposed any efforts to reopen the landfill once connected to the mill, which like its other former holdings is now owned by the scrap metal company American Iron and Metal. Chapman noted his role as a resident in opposing a proposal several years ago for the town to take ownership and reopen it, drawing from his past experience with the Callahan Mine Superfund site in his former home of Brooksville.
The Maine Department of Environmental Protection has ordered the landfill to close by the end of next year due to numerous compliance violations. This summer, AIM proposed using it for dredge material from mercury remediation efforts on the Penobscot River, which the council refused to consider.
The company also owns three area dams it wants to abandon, including at Silver Lake in Bucksport, which supplies the town’s power plant and is a source of drinking water. The company has petitioned the state for approval to relinquish ownership of the dams, which also impound water for Alamoosook Lake and Toddy Pond.
Chapman, Doty and Rankin all identified the dam issue – unprecedented in Maine – as another important challenge for the town to navigate in coming years. Chapman and Rankin highlighted a need to push for Bucksport’s best interests with the other parties in that process.
Chapman said communication from and within the town has also suffered with the closure of its local newspaper, the Bucksport Enterprise, after the death of its owner this summer.
He would prioritize solutions for more communication with residents and also wants Bucksport to reinstate its recycling program, which was paused earlier this year while the town waits for a long-promised facility in Hampden to go online.
Doty also highlighted transparency and communication as a priority, which she said has already improved at the council level recently.
Municipal elections will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 4.
Voters will also decide whether to elect Emily Fitzgerald or incumbent Keith Kneeland to a three-year term on the RSU 25 School Board.
