BRUNSWICK

Brunswick native and local business owner Katherine E. Wilson is running for the atlarge seat that could be vacated by the council’s current chairman, Benet Pols.

Wilson said she has not held elected office before, but has served on the town’s Master Plan Implementation Committee and Bicycle & Pedestrian Committee.

“I’ve been going to council meetings pretty regularly for the last couple of years,” said Wilson.

Wilson said she has deep roots in Brunswick, and grew up selling hot dogs alongside her father in the family’s lunch truck. Today, she owns Kathy Wilson’s Pet Grooming on Pleasant Street.

She said she served in an executive position at the Coastal Humane Society from 2000-02, and has lobbied state legislators on animal welfare issues.

Locally, Wilson has recently spoken out at council meetings on the school budget and on the passenger train layover building planned for the West Brunswick neighborhood.

Regarding the school budget, Wilson said that there were more minor cuts the council and the school board could have made that would have kept taxes lower.

“I firmly believe education is the most important thing in the world, but it can’t be to the exclusion of everyone else, specifically seniors,” she said.

Wilson is in favor of building the train facility in West Brunswick in part, she said, as a way to promote alternative modes of transportation in the face of rising gas prices.

“I live less than 1,300 feet of the railroad tracks,” she said. “We have to look at what it could do in Brunswick. I spoke very much in favor of the the facility being here. It would be foolish not to have it come to Brunswick.”

This year, she also spoke out in favor of preserving the Black Bridge, the lower portion of which is being removed out of safety concerns.

In previous years she has spoken in support of the town’s new police station and in favor of allowing chickens within Brunswick’s Growth Zone.

“Having grown up in Brunswick, I’ve seen a lot of changes. And I love Brunswick. It’s as simple as that,” Wilson said.

While the council has done some things very well, Wilson said Brunswick needs to be more business-friendly in order for the town to grow and to lower taxes.

“The tax rate is pretty high,” she said.

Wilson noted that her own business dropped by half after the Brunswick Naval Air Station closed, but that she was encouraged by the growth starting at Brunswick Landing.

If elected, Wilson said she would not start her time on the council with a “predetermined set of rules,” but would have the flexibility in order to find the middle ground on issues.

Wilson declined to be more specific on what those issues may be, however.

“I have to admit, I don’t have all the answers,” Wilson said. “I’m learning. … I don’t know what the solutions are up front.”