School Board Has Three Seeking Two Open Seats

By: David Deschesne

Five people are running for two town council seats in next month’s election. Incumbent, John Herold will be seeking reelection, while Steve Rogeski will not ask voters for another term.

Those running for town council are (in alphabetical order):

Collin Campbell has been considering running since 2005. “I’ve been planning to run for town council for the past four years. I was just naturalized, so I am now eligible to run,” he said. “I’ve lived in Fort Fairfield for many years and as the local barber have heard a lot of complaints and concerns from the local citizenry but knew I couldn’t do anything about those complaints if I was not on the town council.”

Campbell says he would like to see some of the conflicts of interest dealt with in the town council. “There appear to be some conflicts of interest with the process of bidding on contracts and tax acquired property by council members. I would like to work toward correcting that.” He also wants to improve access and seek funding improvements for the local General Assistance fund. “I think there’s a way to deal with the potential for abuse of the system while at the same time better serving those in Fort Fairfield who really do need it.”

Campbell also is looking for creative ways to save money in some areas of town government in order to help the Highway Department have more access to funds for road repair and maintenance.

“We have a great fire department, with a Chief who does an excellent job of taking care of not only Fort Fairfield, but Limestone and Loring as well. I don’t see any reason why our police department can’t benefit from that type of model and work toward cost savings by cooperating with other towns in a similar manner.”

Campbell also wants to more fully develop a local fuel assistance program for those in need during the winter. “I would even volunteer to help deliver five gallon cans of fuel oil under that program.”

John Herold is the incumbent running for reelection to his council seat. He says it was his desire to get involved in the community and try to do something that benefited it that first motivated him to run for election to town council. At 62, and retired from U.S. Customs after 26-1/2 years, Herold now finds more time to give back to the community he has lived in for 31 years.

“Prior to retiring, my time was very limited, now it's less so. One of the things that I find so outstanding about the local Council and town government is that for the most part we all leave personalities and agendas behind, and manage to cooperate well and work with just the one question in mind: ‘What will be best for Fort Fairfield.’ Sure, we have disagreements from time to time, but in the end we agree to work together. I don't think most folks realize how really important this is in enabling us to come to the best solutions and move forward for the benefit of the community, as opposed to becoming bogged down in controversy as some others seem to do."

Herold says the primary issue facing Fort Fairfield revolves around the town's decline in several areas with economic and population issues near the front of the list. “Stemming those declines would also would involve making Fort Fairfield a place people and businesses would want to locate in. Another difficult issue is that in so many ways the State seems to be doing its best to kill small towns. We've discussed this before, and it involves state budget smoke and mirrors, taking some things “off” state budget and adding them to the localities. For example, the Maine DOT has turned back road maintenance to some communities. Fort Fairfield got off easy with 2+ miles on the Maple Grove Road. Some have received over 30 miles.

He believes school consolidation is another area in which the state has abdicated its responsibility. “As you know, we worked on this issue for over 18 months and finally concluded that it would not benefit to the town to consolidate.”

Herold served briefly on the governor's Emergency Communications Policy Board in Augusta. “These are the people, along with the Public Utilities Commission, who brought us the drastic E911 rate increase as well as the proposed near quadrupling of our police/fire/EMS dispatching costs. I had to conclude from this experience that they were mired in ‘Augusta thinking’ and would pay virtually no attention to the needs of Maine's many smaller towns. They were making the State budget look ‘better’ (and I use quotes since in my opinion the state budget looks terrible) while shifting costs onto the counties and towns. I was unable to change any of these things, since they were ‘decided’ before I became a member, but I think I was able to leave them with at least a sense of our position and displeasure on the matters."

Another pair of issues the town will deal with are the proposed TABOR and Excise Tax referendums. “As beneficial as these may sound on the surface, I don't expect benefits from them.. they amount to killing flies with sledge hammers in some cases, and at best amount to oversimplified, one size fits all answers to problems that demand more specifically directed and ‘elegant’ solutions. One thing to remember is that there are seldom if ever simple solutions to complex problems. TABOR sets the bar across the board and could drastically affect schools and social services, while the proposed excise tax change would have no effect on vehicles over six years old."

He believes solutions will need to be ongoing and flexible in order to react to future uncertainties. “Perhaps our biggest issue locally will be how to maintain services in the face of declining revenues, while at the same time not increasing local taxation. We've kept the same mil rate (21.75 mils) for next year's budget, and approved this at the September Council meeting. On the same note, I feel very confident that the town manager and department heads expend a huge amount of talent and effort in order to realize cost savings, secure grants, and manage our assets closely. Examples of this would be the refurbishing of used equipment by our highway department and grants, partnerships (with Limestone and Loring) , cost savings realized by our fire department, and our ability to get Community Development Block Grants, to name a few. If it weren't for this constant effort, we couldn't have nearly as high a community ‘standard of living’ at our present tax rates.

During his first Council term, Herold served on the local school consolidation committee and the committee that successfully dealt with the issue of TAMC proposing to close the local health care facility. “I have been the Council's representative to Northern Maine Development Commission's board of directors and currently serve on the loan review committee. Several local businesses have benefited from financing available through NMDC."

He has also been an active member of Frontier Heritage Historical Society and participates as a community cooperator with service learning projects in local history classes given at UMPI. "I still belong to the Rifle and Pistol Club but while I was very active in past years, I don't get out there much any more.”

Kim Murchison is employed at Acadia Medical Supply in Fort Fairfield. She looks forward to being involved in the community and participating in important decisions facing the town council. “I decided to run for council because I want to be more involved in the community and its growth and improvement,” she said. “I will take great pride in being part of the governing body of Fort Fairfield and will work with the other council members to improve our town for our current residents and make it more attractive for new business.”

Saucier says he doesn’t have any list of specific issues he wants to deal with. “I just want to look at the agenda and if I see a flaw I want to generate a discussion and see where we go from there.” He notes most of the town council decisions seem to be unanimous with little or no discussion. “When it comes to spending taxpayer money, I think there does need to be discussion and as a member of the town council, I would be in a position to ask those important, and often unasked questions.”

Saucier has identified areas that have duplicative services, such as the police department and would like to explore other opportunities for law enforcement, such as contracting with the County Sheriff for those services. “We have multiple law enforcement agencies all providing the same service in this area. There might be a way we can consolidate some of those services and save Fort Fairfield some money. While I may not have all the answers, I think we should at least be discussing it.”

Saucier looks forward to a time when all decisions made by the town council are done so out in the open, rather than in polite gentlemen’s discussions prior to the meeting, as some towns do. “I’m not running to advance any pet projects of my own, I just want to make sure things run smoothly and all decisions are done out in the open.”

Carl Young grew up in Houlton and served eight years in the Air Force, then 38 years as Senior Systems Analyst for BAE Systems, working on the U.S. Navy’s Polaris, Poseidon and Trident Ballistic Missile Submarines. He retired in 2006 and he and his wife of 45 years decided to make Fort Fairfield their home. “Growing up in the County I have many great memories of Fort Fairfield, especially the Potato Blossom Festival, and thought Fort Fairfield would be a really nice place to retire,” he said.

Young doesn’t site any one issue in his determining to run for town council, but does have a sense of wanting to ‘give back to the community’ with what he can with his time and experience. “Wherever one lives, he is part of that community. I just want to be a part of Fort Fairfield and offer some help and guidance where I can.”

As a current board member of the Fort Fairfield Chamber of Commerce, Young has been actively involved in investigating incentives that would help businesses decide to locate in Fort Fairfield. “I think we have some tools we can use with tax breaks, Economic Development Zones, and the Tax Increment Financing. However, we need to learn to better answer the question, ‘Why should my business locate in Fort Fairfield.’ I submit that in Fort Fairfield there is a big sense of oneness to the community in that we come together and help each other on so many things that benefit the community as a whole. When businesses see a supportive town, they are much more likely to decide to locate there.”

Young sees the town council as a legislative body that can help work toward putting in place the necessary incentives that businesses would like to see in order to attract them to Fort Fairfield. “The town council needs to maintain open communication with the citizens, businesses and government. If we listen to all points, we can develop that sense of oneness across the spectrum of ideas.”

Young lists as his goals; downtown revitalization, economic development, enhanced quality of place, maintain a vibrant educational system, promote community pride and oneness and to market Fort Fairfield.

He has served on the Fort Fairfield Planning board, where he helped tailor the State Shoreland Zoning Guidelines Document into Shoreland Zoning Ordinances for Fort Fairfield, the Maine Potato Blossom Festival planning board, Agri-business trade show coordinating committee and was an active member of the public during the recent school regionalization process.

There are currently two seats open for MSAD #20 school board in Fort Fairfield. Former school board member, Ted Bowker is planning on regaining a position there, and is joined by Shawn Murchison, currently on the board, and newcomer, Dawn Martin.

Ted Bowker is a veteran of the SAD#20 school board, having served a total of nine years in the past. “I didn’t run last year because I wanted to take a year off and do some sailing on the ocean,” he said. “But I am interested in becoming actively involved in making sure our kids get a good education.”

Bowker followed the recent Regional School Consolidation plan with great interest. “Fort Fairfield elected not to go with the RSU for a number of reasons, but that doesn’t mean Fort Fairfield isn’t interested in educating our kids. I believe there are ways we can save money by voluntarily sharing costs with other schools and team up on some of the services that are currently being duplicated.”

Bowker is a retired math teacher of 21 years, from Limestone High School and has taught some American History as well. He currently lives with his wife, Catherine in Fort Fairfield.

Dawn (Churchill) Martin is a Fort Fairfield High School alumnus and currently owns a hair dressing business in Fort Fairfield. She recently decided to run for school board in an effort to become more involved in her community. “I just decided to run a couple of weeks ago. A friend of mine said a couple seats were open on the school board and suggested I run for one of them. I gave it some thought and decided it would be a great opportunity to do some public service.”

Already busy with two children currently attending school in Fort Fairfield and operating her own business, Martin has gone back to school herself. “I’m attending classes at the University of Maine, Presque Isle where I’m working on achieving a degree in education.”

Dawn has supported many local organizations in the past, but admits if elected to school board this would be the first community organization she would actively been involved in. “Some people buy Harleys when they turn forty, others look to community service. I guess I’m the latter because after attending one of the school consolidation meetings I started looking at what I could do to make a positive impact on Fort Fairfield’s schools as they wend their way forward in the coming years, searching for new and creative ways to stay within budget and potentially cooperate with other schools in voluntary cost sharing measures similar to our current school lunch program with Caribou schools and the speech therapist we share with Limestone schools.

Shawn Murchison is also a Fort Fairfield High School alumnus. He and his wife, Kim have 3 children in the Fort Fairfield school system.

He is employed at Acadia Medical Suppy, in Fort Fairfield, and has already served a one year term on the school board. "I look forward to serving for a 3 year term. I have enjoyed the past year very much," he said. "This position is very important to me because we have an obligation to protect our students, assure that they are receiving a top-notch education, are provided a good selection of activities to be involved in, and are provided a safe environment to do these things. In addition we have an obligation to the taxpayers of Fort Fairfield because a portion of their tax dollars support our school system. If re-elected, I will work with my fellow board members to continue to improve on all aspects of SAD#20."