BRUNSWICK — Brunswick voters will choose two town councilors and a school board member on Nov. 4.

In the District 5 council race, incumbent Councilor Gerald Favreau is facing a challenge from Daniel Harris.

A Vietnam-era veteran and Brunswick native, Favreau has been a councilor since November 2006, and is an electrical/combat systems designer at Bath Iron Works.

“I’ve been on the appointments committee, elementary school building committee, facilities committee, union negotiations committee, old high school farewell committee, teen center advisory board, and I was town council vice chair in 2011.That’s to name a few,” he said.

Harris retired in 1998 from his position as vice president and general counsel at ABB Combustion Engineering, and moved to Maine with his wife. He said his experience directing large projects will aid him in examining the current potential projects on Brunswick’s table – particularly the recent underestimation of costs associated with new town offices.

“If we had the kind of cost overruns that I see here, we would have gone out of business,” Harris said.

John P. Portela and Katherine Wilson are running for the councilor-at-large position being vacated by Benet Pols.

A lifelong Brunswick resident, Wilson said she’s looking to give back after finding she took a liking to politics and had a knack for mediation.

“I think there are solutions to everything, but there has to be a little give and take. I think I’m the type of person who can listen to people without losing my cool,” Wilson said.

Portela has been a resident of Brunswick for 20 years, and has been involved in a number of nonprofit organizations in the area, including serving as president of the Tedford Shelter and as a board member of Habitat for Humanity. He’s been an employee at BIW for 40 years.

“I think it’s important that we’re engaged in civic activity. I think that’s a requirement of citizenship,” Portela said.

The District 5 School Board race features current Board Chairman James Grant, who wants to continue work he’s begun on the board, and challenger Christopher Watkinson, a native of Topsham and technical director of Bowdoin College’s Studzinski Recital Hall.

Chris Chase can be contacted at:

cchase@coastaljournal.com

Twitter: cchaseCJ