Shonn R. Moulton, 29, hopes to unseat one of the two incumbents in the Gorham Town Council race.

Finishing his undergraduate work in history at the University of Southern Maine, Moulton is making his initial run for elected office. “I have no previous political experience, but with strong business experience, I can provide positive leadership to the town of Gorham,” he said.

He and his wife, Patricia Moulton, own the Dance Studio of Maine in Gorham Village. The couple, who lives on Fort Hill Road, has one child, Bella Moulton, who is 21 months old.

Moulton hopes to bring new ideas to a council post. “I think it’s time to have a couple of new people in,” he said. “We need a change to get people who are excited to help the town.”

He wants to make Gorham more business friendly for small business owners. “We need to strengthen businesses that are in Gorham,” he said.

Advocating council consistency in dealing with businesses, Moulton wants every business to have equal opportunity for financial help from tax increment financing. He doesn’t believe that businesses relocating to Gorham should be required to make improvements to existing roads.

He wants to accelerate land acquisition for the bypass, which would alleviate rush hour congestion in Gorham Village. “Get it done,” he said.

Businesses in downtown Gorham, he said, would also benefit from the second phase of the bypass, which would skirt the village on a northerly route. Although Congress approved money this year for the first phase of the bypass, he would knock on congressional doors to ask for phase two money “back to back.”

“Lets get phase two done,” he said.

Additionally, he said a bypass would ease traffic and speeding on Route 114.

Moulton wants to study changes that a bypass would bring to Gorham. But Moulton doesn’t think the town council is looking at those changes.

He favored talks with the Maine Turnpike Authority about a spur to Gorham. “The spur is a great idea, but you need to look at impacts,” he said.

Less traffic coupled with additional parking downtown would influence more people to shop in Gorham. Then he said businesses would be encouraged to share parking. He also thought the town could work with the university on parking. “We need to develop downtown,” he said.

Pedestrian safety in the village also concerns Moulton. “It’s not very safe downtown,” Moulton said.

Agreeing that the town needed to save “$250,000” consolidating the town’s dispatching services, he said the process should have gone slower and kept people better informed. “The whole cost of a referendum could have been saved,” he said of the citizens’ attempt to overturn the council’s decision to consolidate dispatch.

If he gets elected, Moulton urged people to contact him with their concerns. He said he would provide constituents with his mailing and e-mail addresses, in addition to his phone number. He would be “out there” in the community. “We need better communication with the people,” he said.

Moulton said he’d “fight” 100 percent of the time for the community. “I don’t sit back in my chair,” he said.