Nine vye for four Council spots
Election Guide 2011: Meet the Candidates
Nine candidates are competing for four seats on Presque Isle’s City Council, including two four-year terms and two one-year terms.
Candidates for the one-year terms, held last year by Councilor Walt Elish and Council Chair Jennifer Trombley, include:
Name: Sheldon Ellis
Hometown: Presque Isle
Residence: 12 Howard Street
Age: 66
Political experience: None
Other offices held: None
Career background: I was employed with International Paper Co. for 30 years. I served as a landlord for 20 years. I also worked four winters with Presque Isle Public Works and 15 years at Farm Food Transportation in Chapman.
What made you decide to run for this office: I’d like to try to help Presque Isle be a better community in which to live.
What do you see as the most important issue facing Presque Isle: The most prominent issue that I have been confronted with is the trash program.
What do you see as your primary goal, if elected: I’d like to address taxes, funding for schools, police, fire and public works departments and how state and federal government impact local tax rates.
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Name: Richard “Dick” Engels
Residence: Longview Drive, Presque Isle
Age: 70
Political experience: This is my first attempt to hold an elected office.
City offices held: I have served as chairman of the Presque Isle Zoning Board, been a member of the Planning Board and served as chairman of the Industrial Council. I am currently a member of the city-appointed committee to consider a new Community Center.
Career background: Since serving in our Army in Vietnam, I have been a lawyer here in Presque Isle. During my legal career, among other things, I have been president of the Aroostook County Bar Association, a member of the Board of Overseers of the Bar and a founding trustee of the Client Protection Fund.
In addition to my professional activities, I am now or have been the president of the Presque Isle Chamber of Commerce; the Foundation chairman and adjunct professor at the Northern Maine Community College, were I was recently named as one of three Community Star winners; chairman of the Aroostook County Committee of the Maine Community Foundation; a corporate board member of Eastern Maine Healthcare System; and was awarded a Paul Harris Fellowship by the Presque Isle Rotary Club. Active in youth sports, I have served as a director and manager in the Presque Isle Youth Hockey program and as a co-founder and coach with Aroostook Football.
What made you decide to run for this office: I believe that my varied experience not only demonstrates my leadership but also makes me uniquely qualified to serve the city. I do not have an agenda other than to further the best interests of the citizens and, in particular the taxpayers, of Presque Isle. For example, my experience on the Community Center Committee makes me believe we need a new facility, but I don’t know if we can afford it under present economic conditions. We must match our needs with our means and the funding of one new project may mean less for other existing programs. The likely diminution of federal and state help for local projects needs to be considered. In order to make such decisions, we need to establish priorities because tax dollars can only be stretched so far. I am confident that I can help to establish these needed priorities in an intelligent manner.
What do you see as the most important issue facing Presque Isle: Jobs! At the local level, we cannot improve the national economy, but there are still opportunities to increase the number of jobs in out community. One such opportunity is a result of the creation of the Advanced Alternative Energy Facility at NMCC, which was facilitated by a gift from one of my clients. This new project has drawn national attention, including the interest of prospective job creators. I believe my experience may be helpful in allowing Presque Isle to take advantage of any such opportunity that may develop.
What do you see as your primary goal, if elected: I am seeking the one-year remaining term of a previous councilor. Within this short period of time, my goals must be limited. My primary goal is therefore to help assure the best and most cost-effective governance of our city and to make sure the city takes advantage of any opportunity to create new jobs.
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Name: Jessica Chase Smith
Hometown: Mars Hill/Blaine
Residence: Presque Isle
Age: 24
Political Experience: Candidate for Maine State House of Representatives District 5
Other Offices Held: Executive Officer for local nonprofit organization
Career Background: Self-employed, owner of Cloudage Consulting; small business manager.
What made you decide to run for this office: I have a strong desire for public service and believe in the importance of being an active contributor to the community. I want to be a part of the ongoing growth and success of Presque Isle, to ensure that it will provide a safe and prosperous community for future generations, as I plan on raising my family here in Presque Isle.
What do you see as the most important issue facing Presque Isle: I believe the most important issue is encouraging economic growth, particularly in the current economic climate. We need to support our local businesses and attract new businesses and industries that can provide valuable jobs and resources to our growing community.
What do you see as your primary goal, if elected: To work closely with all members of the community and local business owners to encourage further community and economic growth and to effectively represent the citizens of Presque Isle in local issues by supporting continued efforts toward citizen involvement in city governance.
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Candidates for four-year terms held currently by Councilors Don Gardner, who is running for re-election, and G. Melvin Hovey, who is not running again, include:
Name: Micah Desmond
Hometown: Presque Isle
Residence: Presque Isle
Age: 28
Political experience: None
Other offices held: None
Career background: Operations manager, Northeast Packaging Company 2007-present.
What made you decide to run for this office: I moved back to Presque Isle after living in Easton for the past six years and would like to take the opportunity to have a voice in the community and work towards having the city of Presque Isle operate efficiently and effectively.
What do you see as the most important issue facing Presque Isle: At this time the most important issue facing Presque Isle is having all departments work together for the good of Presque Isle and to all take the time needed to be fiscally responsible.
What do you see as your primary goal, if elected: My primary goal would be to work with all city departments to be more fiscally responsible and take the time to work with all councilors and department heads to work through budgetary issues and concerns.
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Name: Donald J. Gardner
Hometown: Presque Isle
Residence: Elizabeth Street
Age: 62
Political experience: I’ve served 12 years as city councilor for Presque Isle.
Other offices held: I spent three years on the Zoning Board of Appeals for Presque Isle.
Career background: For 30 years, I worked in retail management, followed by six years as an account tech at DFAS.
What made you decide to run for this office: I have been on the Council for 12 years. There is still much more I’d like to see accomplished.
What do you see as the most important issue facing Presque Isle: At this point in the economic times, we must find a way to maintain or improve the services we provide, while still keeping the cost affordable to all of Presque Isle’s citizens.
What do you see as your primary goal, if elected: When an item came before the Council, my first consideration always has been “how is this going to affect the working people who go to work every day to provide a safe and comfortable home for their families?” That is a goal I always have strived for and a goal I will always have.
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Name: Jacqueline Goodine
Residence: I’m the daughter of Jesse and Hazel (Dyer) Goodine and have resided in Presque Isle for 22 years. I have a daughter, two sons and one grandson.
Age: 47
Political experience: None
Other offices held: None
Career background: I was employed as an auto mechanic at Sears. I have “raised” teddy bears for the Aroostook Hug-a-Bear and I currently volunteer at the Mark & Emily Turner Memorial Library in Presque Isle. My favorite pastime is walking my dog, Shyloh, all around this wonderful city.
What made you decide to run for this office: The people of Presque Isle are asking for a change and for someone who will listen to and respect their concerns and their ideas. I want to give citizens a voice.
What do you see as the most important issue facing Presque Isle: If elected, I intend to address the important issues now facing the city of Presque Isle. I have spoken to many residents who are concerned about taxes, jobs, public safety and the Pay-As-You-Throw problems. I also want to see a downtown revitalization program that works best for everyone — the businesses, residents and traffic.
What do you see as your primary goal, if elected: I have two primary goals. Goal 1 is to encourage businesses who want to locate here in Presque Isle in order to increase employment, keep our young people from leaving and decrease our property taxes.
Goal 2 is to work with our fire and police departments on public safety needs. I would like our downtown and other areas to be safer for pedestrians, runners and bicyclists by adding more crosswalks and extending our sidewalks. There needs to be a well thought out plan to make our downtown areas work better for everyone.
I will make it my business to go out and talk to people about their ideas and concerns. I will make sure that I’m truly available to advocate for people who want their voice heard at City Hall.
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Name: Peter Hallowell
Hometown: Presque Isle
Residence: 418 Centerline Road, Presque Isle
Age: 45
Political Experience: Appointed to the Presque Isle City Council in April 2011
Other Offices Held: I hold no other political offices but I am on the Foundation of the University of Maine Presque Isle, serve as treasurer and am on the Executive Committee of SAD 1 Music Boosters and the Board of Directors of Crop Growers Insurance Company, LLP.
Career Background: I am vice president of commercial lending at Farm Credit of Maine, ACA. I have been a commercial lender for the past 19 years and have been the branch manager of Farm Credit since 1997. The Farm Credit System is a national lending cooperative for rural business which was chartered by the U.S. Congress in 1917. The system is not part of the U.S. government, although we are regulated by the Farm Credit Administration.
What made you decide to run for office: The city of Presque Isle has an annual budget of more than $21 million and each year in excess of $12 million is raised in property taxes from the property owners in the city. In my professional career, I have challenged my customers to operate as efficiently as possible and to have an understanding of their individual cost structures. I have also managed my staff to operate as efficiently as possible and to think “outside the box” to provide value to our customers.
With my background in financial management and personal core values, I feel that I am an excellent steward of the people’s money. I will continue to help management and staff of the city to look for more efficient ways to provide service and provide value of these services. The city of Presque Isle is in competition with every other community for new homes and new businesses; we must provide value to our existing property owners as well as future property owners.
What do you see as the most important issue facing Presque Isle: Presque Isle faces the same challenges as all communities at the present time. We are in an environment whereby the city is facing an increase in input costs such as insurance, fuel prices, paving, steel prices, etc., and we are also facing heavy decreases in revenue sharing. As with other communities, we are also seeing a decrease in growth of new valuation due to the lack of spending on new homes as well as business investment. Most economists agree that this is not a situation that will reverse itself in the near future. As with other communities, businesses and individuals, when facing these challenges, we must look to prioritize and live within our means.
Since every challenge creates opportunity, Presque Isle is in a good position in that we already have a great infrastructure in place and we will be able to compete with other communities very well in the future. We have excellent employees in place that will place an emphasis on economic expansion and efficiency of service.
What do you see as your primary goal if elected: Partnering with the private sector as well as other communities, both in reducing the cost of service without reducing the quality of the service. The city should also look to increase revenue by helping other communities to provide services that Presque Isle can do more efficiently. It’s important to live within our means. The city cannot pass all cost increases on to our customers, otherwise known as taxpayers. We must prioritize investments and levels of service.
It’s important to always remember the private sector. We cannot expand services that will take away business from our tax-paying private sector. We must also look to create opportunities for our local businesses when a service can be provided better and more efficiently by the private sector.
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Name: Robert “Bob” Jackson
Hometown: Presque Isle
Residence: 77 Tompkins Road
Age: 66
Political experience: None
Other offices held: None
Career background: I was a volunteer firefighter with the Presque Isle Fire Department for 22 years, then spent 22 more years with the department as a full-time firefighter. I also served as a certified fire instructor. Prior to that I worked in auto parts sales.
What made you decide to run for this office: I retired in June 2011 and want to see what and who makes the city run.
What do you see as the most important issue facing Presque Isle: I want to see more new businesses and new jobs in the city.
What do you see as your primary goal, if elected: I’d like to get more voters involved in what is going on. If elected, I’ll work to keep them informed on important issues that affect them and their families.
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Name: David G. Perry
Hometown: Lynn, Mass.
Residence: 485 Houlton Rd., Presque Isle
Age: 59
Political experience: I currently serve on the Zoning Board of Appeals in Presque Isle.
Other offices held: Treasurer, Aroostook County Shrine Club.
Career background: I’ve held several positions, including: Essex Agricultural and Technical Institute, Adams Russell Cable Co., underground telephone construction in Boston and as truck stop manager in Peabody, Mass. For the past 25 years, I’ve owned and operated Perry’s Mini Mart in Presque Isle. I also volunteer for the Presque Isle Fire Department’s Emergency Management Team.
What made you decide to run for this office: Customers suggested that maybe I could make a difference.
What do you see as the most important issue facing Presque Isle: I think getting new businesses to come to Presque Isle to keep our tax rates down and put people to work should be a priority.
What do you see as your primary goal, if elected: First, I will listen and learn. It’s all about what the people want. We need to stick to core essential services, including fire, police, water, sewer and solid waste, as well as get out of the businesses that are unprofitable to the city, where private enterprise could make them work better.
