The Town of Standish announced the list of candidates running this spring in their local elections.

Each candidate was allowed 40 days to obtain the required 25 signatures from Standish residents. The filing deadline was Friday, April 29.

There are two men running for Town Council-at-large. Paul Mosley, age 54, lives at 470 Bonny Eagle Road. He is a Republican who owns his own business, Varney Point Lumber.

The reason he is running for Town Council is twofold: “I started five years ago on the Planning Board and I don’t think I’ve accomplished as much as I could have and should have…There are changes that need to be made that the Planning Board still deals with today that we haven’t made any changes to. So I’m moving to the Town Council because, as the legislative body, they make the changes to ordinances. Secondly, I would like to put my efforts forward…to improve the environment toward businesses. I heard a comment recently that the town is not business friendly. How many times do we need to hear this before we do something about it?”

Phil Pomerleau, the incumbent, has been on the Council for the past six years and before that was on the Planning Board for five years. Pomerleau, an Independent, age 52, lives at 57 Northeast Road and owns two businesses, Mainely Heating Oil and Standish Trailer Sales. In answer to why he’s once again running for Town Council, he said, “I bring a lot of common sense to the table. I’m the chairman of the Capital Improvement Committee. We run it more like a business. We started buying used equipment instead of new, saving the town well over $100,000. I’m on the Route 113 Corridor Committee. In regards to economic development, I’m more concerned about growing the businesses that are in the town than looking to bring new businesses in. We need to ask, ‘What can we do to keep you in town and keep your business growing?’ I support Fire/Rescue, the new fire chief, and on-call paramedics. I believe you have to spend money to keep good employees. I truly enjoy working with the Council. We disagree but we get over it. I want to see the Community Center through. I also support senior housing. We need to relax some zoning ordinances to build affordable housing for the elderly.”

Dolores (Dolly) Lymburner, Democrat, age 62, of 10 Smith Ave. in Steep Falls is unopposed in her bid for Town Council Area 2. When asked her reasons for running, Lymburner said, “I served two terms before and enjoyed my time. Before I made my decision to run, I asked several people for advice and they encouraged me. I am particularly interested in the Route 113 Corridor Committee that’s being established. I’d like to be a part of it coming to fruition. I’m also interested in keeping budget at a reasonable rate for the taxpayers.”

The candidate for Town Council Area 4, incumbent Gerald Spencer, age 67, is also running unopposed. Serving on the council for the past five years, Spencer, a Republican who lives at 47 Whites Point Road in Standish, said, “Property taxes are extremely high and we just had a reevaluation last year. We were hoping for some property tax relief from Augusta but the money went to the schools and wasn’t passed back to the town. Standish is a wonderful town, and I enjoy living here. I like the chance to give back to my community. I want to try to keep the property taxes in line so citizens can stay in their homes.”

There are two candidates for SAD 6 Director, Michael Delcourt and Corey MacDonald. Delcourt, the incumbent, has served as Director for the past fifteen years. He is a 60-year-old Republican who lives at 1218 Richville Road. As for running again, Delcourt said, “I’m not done yet. There were drug problems in the schools fifteen years ago and those problems are still there. I support the children in SAD 6. I don’t agree with the school budget eliminating six teachers. This is an educational institution. You don’t eliminate six teachers. I also support extracurricular activities. We have no boys or girls clubs and without extracurricular activities we will not have students, we’ll have gangs. These children have nothing else to do and they deserve it [the activities]. The budget has gone from 16 million to 36 million dollars a year. And MEA test scores are horrible. Something needs to be done about that.”

Corey MacDonald, age 46, of 5 Beech Street, is a Republican who is an engineer for Verizon. As a concerned parent of a daughter at Bonny Eagle High School, he felt compelled to run. “I’m not a politician, but I hope I can make a difference. I have concerns about the high school’s structure and about the way it’s being run and I’d like to have some input in that. As a parent who’s attended school board meetings, I’ve felt my input hasn’t had much weight. I am concerned about the block scheduling with four 90-minute blocks per day. I find many teachers still teach for only 45 minutes, leaving half the class time for students to work on their own. I also am concerned with the number of teacher absences, especially with a block schedule. If two of a student’s teachers are absent on the same day, that student spends 50 percent of the day with substitutes.”

There are no candidates running for Planning Board Area 1. The position can be filled one of two ways. Twenty-five write-in votes are required to elect a candidate who is not on the ballot. If there is no write-in candidate elected, the Town Council has the authority to fill the position until the next municipal election.

Wayne Newbegin is the sole candidate in the race for Planning Board Area 3. A 65-year-old Republican residing on Harmon’s Beach Road in Standish, he is retired from the military. His reason for running: “It’s always been something I’ve wanted to do. I think we have to be very careful in how we grow. Growth management and affordable housing are my priorities. To provide more housing, zoning could be changed and land trusts could be developed.”

While the Budget Committee has three seats, there is only one candidate. When questioned by this paper as to why he is running, Dana Lampron, a Republican, age 44, of 129 Westerly Way, declined to comment.

Standish residents are encouraged to get out and vote for their candidates. Elections will be held Tuesday, June 14.

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