Casavant has been serving as mayor since 2011. He is currently in his third term.
Thus far, Casavant’s tenure has been highly focused on the city’s economic development, which gained a significant boost after the purchase of the Maine Energy Recovery Co. in 2012. Additionally, the mayor has continually advocated for beatifying the city’s downtown mill district, an area that has seen massive growth over the past four years.
“If you look at the beginning of my tenure with the purchase of Maine Energy, and all the changes that have taken place over the five years since then, there’ve been some amazing developments in the downtown and throughout the city in terms of economic development,” Casavant said in a phone call.
Casavant added that if reelected he looks forward to making the budget more efficient, as well as improving the work his administration has accomplished so far with other town officials.
“For me it’s a continuation of all the policies that we’ve instituted over the last six years,” Casavant said. “I’m very proud of what we’ve accomplished … Biddeford’s primed to be so much more than it is in this juncture in history, and it’s just a question of maintaining the will of moving the community forward, and that’s why I want to do another two years.”
Prior to serving as the city’s mayor, Casavant taught U.S. history, global studies, American studies and psychology at Biddeford High School, retiring before running for his first mayoral term. He also served as city councilor and the council president during the 1980s and was a state representative.
In 2015, Casavant won his third term as mayor by defeating Biddeford business consultant and longtime resident Daniel Parenteau, winning 63.4 percent of the vote.
At this time, no one has filled out the necessary documents to run against Casavant — including the mayor. A few names will likely be entered over the next couple of weeks however.
“We’ve had a few people take out the papers, but they haven’t turned them in,” said City Clerk Carmen Morris. “We still have a few weeks left for people to get their signatures in. But as of now no one is running.
— Staff Writer Ryder Schumacher can be reached at 282-1535, or via email at rschumacher@journaltribune.com.
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