ALFRED — Incumbent York County Commissioner Democrat Richard Dutremble of Biddeford faces a challenge by Republican Paul Bennett of Kennebunk for the District 2 seat.
The district includes Arundel, Biddeford, Kennebunk and Kennebunkport. Terms are four years.
We asked the two candidates a bit about themselves, their priorities, and why people should vote for them.
Paul Bennett Courtesy Photo
• Bennett, 58, said he works as an operations and business owner. He served two terms in the Maine Legislature, representing part of Kennebunk, from 2010 to 2014. Single, he has three daughters.
He said the county should hold off on spending federal funds.
“For the average county resident, they are just looking to survive,” said Bennett. “They are being eaten alive financially and going backward. Markets (real estate, financial), are facing serious pressure. The county should consider waiting to spend federal funds until 2023. A lot of debt in this country has gone into the landfill.”
He said he would like to see the county government take on new initiatives.
“I would love to see county government pivot and focus on all of the needs of a forgotten age group, the elderly,” he said. “Meals on Wheels type programs etc. Let’s open up a broad scope discussion as the new State Board formed for the elderly takes shape. And keep a very keen eye on the exponential rise in mental health challenges in York County. My prediction is that all of the plugs that have been injected into the financial system here in this country will take hold … soon.”
Bennett said the county’s proposal for a training center — the county is poised to build a new center to train police, fire and emergency medical personnel — reminds him of The Hutchinson Center in Belfast when he was in the Legislature.
“The building was vacant most of the time. Dead money,” said Bennett. Similar to when Sears closed at The Maine Mall. No students/customers every day of the week. Is the labor available to do the work and construct the building? Is the supply chain healthy and will costs rise precipitously? Will future staffing be available? ”
Bennett said people should vote for him for several reasons.
“I was a part of a great number of battles in the Legislature,” he said. “I have been involved in building businesses from the ground up, which is very difficult. I’ve been known to launch some tough questions which seem to keep people off balance. Best of all, I come from a very large family where scarcity was as normal as consistently having your back to the wall. Many in government don’t know this feeling.”
Richard Dutremble Courtesy Photo
• Dutremble, 74, is seeking his fifth — and, he said his last — term as a York County commissioner. He is retired after serving 30 years as a comptroller for the city of Biddeford, and is a former two-term Biddeford city councilor.
One of his priorities is ensuring York County’s $40 million allotment from the American Rescue Plan Act is used to benefit taxpayers, he said, and added that one of his goals is to ensure that the My Place Teen Center to be located in Biddeford, to which county commissioners committed $1.5 million in APRA funds, is completed in a reasonable time.
The teen center, he said, “will benefit the city and towns of Arundel, Biddeford, Kennebunk, Kennebunkport, and other communities.”
A planned, new 60-bed recovery center to be built with ARPA funds would replace the current 24-bed Layman Way facility and serve those who might otherwise be at York County Jail.
“This will help to keep people out of the jail that don’t belong there,” he said, as well as be available to others in the community in need of recovery services.
Dutremble said York County government is also working with Sanford Housing Authority, as that agency looks to provide housing for those completing programs at the recovery center.
He said he also wants to make sure the planned First Response building, designed to provide police, fire and emergency medical services training, to be built with ARPA funds, is completed, and noted the county is working with York County Community College to help develop training courses.
Dutremble is widowed. His daughter and her husband have two children.
He said people should vote for him because of his 30 years financial experience working for the city of Biddeford, 16 years as a county commissioner and balancing the budget; and eight years — two as treasurer — of the executive board of Southern Maine Planning and Development Commission.
“(This has) enabled me to have a sense of what the taxpayer needs for services and at a reasonable cost,” said Dutremble. “Since I have been a County Commissioner, the average, yearly increase in spending has been less than one percent.”
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