{"id":2534,"date":"2026-05-22T00:01:39","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T00:01:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/candidates\/william-bill-follett\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T15:08:29","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T15:08:29","slug":"william-bill-follett","status":"publish","type":"candidate","link":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/candidates\/william-bill-follett\/","title":{"rendered":"William ‘Bill’ Follett"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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About the Candidate<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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My varied work experience has provided me the perspective to work respectfully with people with different viewpoints and cultures.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Education<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Bachelor’s degree, Maine Maritime Academy<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Previous campaigns and elected office(s) held<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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None<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Top three priorities<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Responsible growth \u2014 working to manage growth in Cumberland, one of the fastest-growing towns in the state, while understanding the impacts of new state legislation on existing zoning. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Find ways to encourage housing that is affordable for young families, the workforce and seniors that is connected to existing services and that fits in the community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Continue to work to preserve the rural character, open space and natural resources that are defining characteristics of Cumberland.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Why are you running?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Cumberland is continuing to grow and will continue to do so over the next decade. I want to help shape and manage that growth in order to maintain the character of the town.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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What is the biggest challenge facing your community? The biggest opportunity?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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The biggest challenge and opportunity facing our town is how we maintain the character that residents love while allowing for growth that is more affordable for residents and those looking to move into town.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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If you could change one thing about how your community functions, what would it be and why?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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I would like to see more sharing of services between nearby towns, focusing on municipal services such as road maintenance, police and fire. I would also like to see more engagement with the school district to support long-term planning and development of facilities.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Do you support more development in your community? Why or why not?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Yes, I support more development where it is most appropriate. This includes considering the use of existing infrastructure and focusing growth in areas that are most suited to support it. Growth in town needs to consider our natural resources, open space and wildlife habitat. Once we build on it, it is unlikely that we will get that area back. Cumberland has done a great job managing growth and conserving open space and natural areas and I would like us to continue on that path.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":3879,"template":"","meta":{"voter_guide_candidate_first_name":"William \"Bill\"","voter_guide_candidate_middle_name":"","voter_guide_candidate_last_name":"Follett","voter_guide_candidate_suffix":"","voter_guide_candidate_race_id":2532,"voter_guide_candidate_age":59,"voter_guide_candidate_hometown":"","voter_guide_candidate_occupation":"Engineering consultant","voter_guide_candidate_bio":"","voter_guide_candidate_education":"","voter_guide_candidate_years_in_state":0,"voter_guide_candidate_years_in_municipality":0,"voter_guide_candidate_time_in_area":"32 years","voter_guide_candidate_website":"","voter_guide_candidate_headshot_url":"","voter_guide_candidate_date_filed":"","voter_guide_candidate_incumbent_years":"","voter_guide_candidate_is_clean_elections":false,"footnotes":""},"vg_party":[],"vg_residence_municipality":[407],"class_list":["post-2534","candidate","type-candidate","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","vg_residence_municipality-cumberland"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates\/2534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/candidate"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates\/2534\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3832,"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates\/2534\/revisions\/3832"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"vg_party","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vg_party?post=2534"},{"taxonomy":"vg_residence_municipality","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vg_residence_municipality?post=2534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}