By Barbara Scott
Staff Writer
Four local residents are vying to be elected to fill the two (3-year terms) available seats on the Caribou City Council. The candidates include James Cerrato, David A. Martin, Doug Morrell and Kenneth G. Murchison.
James Cerrato, a resident of Caribou for the past 10 years, is a current member of the Caribou Planning Board and the Highway Protection Committee.
During his 20-year service in the U.S. Air Force, the candidate served as a missile guidance technician and a social actions drug and alcohol prevention counselor. He also worked was a hospital administrator for dual diagnosis; administrator for social model detox centers in Omaha and Las Vegas; as a substance abuse prevention specialist for Navajo Boarding School and was a special education teacher at the Fort Fairfield High School.
Cerrato said he decided to seek election to the Caribou City Council because “this city has a poor growth history for new businesses and I want to play a role in inviting more business to come to Caribou. We cannot keep raising property taxes to pay the city’s rising costs. We need to build and make opportunities available for businesses to move to our city.”
He also said, “Our country is in a terrible financial situation and workers around most of our country are making sacrifices to make the recovery work. Yet, here in Caribou the city council continues to approve pay raises when we need to reduce city expenses and find alternatives ways to continue our healthy and vibrant lifestyles.”
“The most important issue facing Caribou is rising property taxes for one and to modify our 40-plus year-old city charter to bring it into the 21st century,” said Cerrato. “My primary goal, if elected would be to best represent all the citizens of Caribou. I am a good listener and an honest man who will commit 110 percent to my role as a city councilman.”
Cerrato, father of four children has 10 grandchildren, with three more on the way and one great-granddaughter. He is the recipient of the Boy Scouts of America Adult Scouter Award of Merit.
David A. Martin, 60, is a current member of the Caribou City Council, seeking to return to the panel for another three-year term. The candidate is also a member of the Caribou Planning Board.
In his 38th year of teaching in the Caribou schools (teaching science for one year the rest as a math instructor), Martin stated he was seeking re-election because “I really love Caribou and I’m trying to give back to the community.”
“The most important issue facing Caribou is that of the community finding the proper balance between the services needed to maintain and increase Caribou’s population and the cost of those services,” said Martin.
“My primary goal, if elected, is to make Caribou a pleasant and vibrant place to live and work. I am reasonable, fair and practical,” he said, “I believe that listening, looking at the facts and using common sense can make for good problem solving.”
Martin and his wife Joan are the parents of a son and a daughter and have five grandchildren.
Douglas Morrell, 48, a former city council member, is co-owner/president of SFE Manufacturing, Inc., serves as board chairman of Citizens for Responsible City Management and is also a board member of LEAD and MEP.
The candidate stated, “the significant problems we the citizens of Caribou face today as a community cannot and will not be solved with the same level of things that was used when they were created. We can do better for all the citizens of Caribou and Caribou’s future with a more sustainable form of growth.”
“The most important issues Caribou is faced with are,” said Morrell, “the cost of burden of local government vs. services provided, reducing future liabilities while increasing sustainable assets, growing Caribou’s future, reducing the cost to live and/or operate a business in Caribou, therefore making it a more attractive city to live and conduct business in.”
“I’m a local businessman that has the experience of managing growth issues,” stated Morrell, “along with the ability and experience to make the hard unpopular decisions that are required to better position Caribou for future sustainable growth. My primary goal, if elected is to reduce the burden of the municipal government size, while maintaining cost effective services, to promote transparency, fiscal responsibility and with more citizen involvement, grow our community for a more sustainable and prosperous future.”
Kenneth G . Murchison, Jr., 49, is seeking re-election to the Caribou City Council. He is currently a council member and is the city’s mayor.
Murchison stated, “I was born and raised in Caribou. Though I left for a yew years to seek an education and to start a family, I returned to Caribou in 1999, and reside here with my wife Jan, and our children Samantha and Alexander. As a family we enjoy the great outdoors; camping, hiking, biking, skiing, canoeing, hunting, fishing and sharing in annual ‘adventure days.’
Elected to office in 2001 for his first three-year term, Murchison has continued to serve on the Caribou City Council and is the current chair of that council (also known as the mayor of the city of Caribou). He as been appointed by Speaker of the House, Hanna Pingree, to the State of Maine Geographic Library (GeoLibrary) Board and is a director and charter member of Maine’s GIS Users Group. He currently serves on the Northern Maine Community College (NMCC) Crafts Advisory Board, the Board of Directors of the Tri-Community Landfill, and is the past president and current director of the Caribou Children’s Discovery Museum.
Murchison also serves as a volunteer to Boy Scout Troop 184 and the Caribou Bread of Life Soup Kitchen. Additionally he is a past chair of the Washburn 3911 Addressing Committee and a past member of the Caribou Planning Board.
“Reflecting on the approaching end of a third term as a city councilor,” said Murchison, “and in the face of trying economic times, it occurs to me that my tenure on the Council has lent me the experience that will be needed to guide the city forward. Caribou has been and will continue to be a fiscally responsible community. In reviewing my record, it is apparent that I am a veteran of nine budget seasons, countless workshop sessions and many working committees. I will take this experience into this next term and work to tackle a city budget that has been adversely affected by a sluggish economy, the loss of our school department and actions taken by government, both state and federal,” he continued.
Murchison continued by stating, “My record will show that I attend Council, workshop and committee meetings faithfully and interact with the public in a fair and thoughtful way, working shoulder to shoulder with fellow councilors and city staff as well. Currently, I sit on the steering committee working toward realigning Caribou’s Chamber of Commerce to insure that our community will have the advantage of both a strong Chamber, as well as an Economic Development arm, to help retain our traditional businesses and encourage quality economic development for our community.”
“As the city begins to emerge from these uncertain economic conditions,” stated the candidate, “it is time to roll up our sleeves and freshen up our City Charter and I pledge my support to the Charter Commission. Caribou has been progressive in planning for the future of our community and it is time to pull those plans off the shelf and to review our goals for the future, utilizing the city’s comprehensive plan. The Comprehensive Plan serves to check our progress and to chart our direction for the next five years with such projects as trails feasibility, riverfront redevelopment and reuse of the former Bird’s Eye Industrial site.”
Murchison added, “It has always been an honor to serve the Ccty of Caribou as a councilor and especially exciting to have served during Caribou’s sesquicentennial year. It was also been a privilege to serve as the Mayor of the city of Caribou. I will continue to work with a positive attitude as we look into one of the toughest budget years in memory, and not bring a private agenda or personal vendetta into city government.”
