HALLOWELL — Some of the city’s oldest issues came up Tuesday night at a forum where candidates for municipal offices faced questions from the public.

There are only two contested races on Hallowell’s ballot this year, both for City Council: Councilor Alan Stearns, who represents the whole city, is facing Christopher Walters; and Kate Dufour is running against Larry Morrissette for an open seat in Hallowell’s northern Ward 1.

Another two councilors, Phillip Lindley, an at-large member, and Lisa Harvey-McPherson, of the rural Ward 5, are running unopposed. RSU 2 board member Shawna Corbett didn’t get on the November ballot, but is running for her seat as a write-in candidate.

At the Tuesday forum at City Hall before more than 30 residents, the hopefuls discussed the rebuilding of Water Street and the future of the Stevens School complex. It was a discussion that resulted in lots of agreement among the candidates.

Stearns, who lives on Pleasant Street and is executive director of the Royal River Conservation Trust in Yarmouth, has led the council’s effort to revamp its main road as head of the city’s Highway Committee.

Earlier this year, the council finally passed an agreement to move forward. It’ll cost $3.1 million in state and federal money, but it’s years away.

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Stearns said he considers infrastructure upgrades in the city a high priority and had “no agenda on Water Street.”

“I just thought it was time, if we were going to tackle it, to do it right, keep it on the front burner and hopefully move on and rebuild the heart of Hallowell and then think about the exciting things that are next,” he said.

Walters, a filmmaker from Middle Street, discussed the Stevens School complex, a 14-building, 64-acre state-owned complex off Winthrop Street that looms on the city’s economic development horizon.

It’s largely vacant, and the state has said it wants to move employees out entirely by next year. It could be a challenging plot to develop, but it occupies prime space near the most densely populated parts of the city.

Walters, a former real estate developer, was bullish on the complex, saying with the right developer as a partner with the city, a use could be found.

“I think it’s inevitable,” he said. “The city is going to wind up with an opportunity of some sort.”

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Both Dufour, of Lincoln Street, and Morrissette, of Page Street, would be new to Hallowell’s council; but both have experience involving local issues. Dufour is a lobbyist for the Maine Municipal Association; and Morrissette, a retired teacher and musician, led a recent challenge of a Hallowell Water District rate hike that ended in a settlement.

Dufour said she wants to use her experience to help residents “get value for their investments,” while Morrissette couched himself as a problem-solver.

“I do my research, then I begin to work, find a team and find a way to make it happen,” he said.

An audience member raised a question about fire protection, one of Hallowell’s persistent issues. The city’s volunteer department is housed in a crumbling yet unique and historic building dating to the 1820s. While smaller, recent repairs have helped, the department has said it will need a new home eventually. Intractable problems include a lack of parking space and equipment bay doors that are too small for modern firetrucks.

A private group is raising money to shore up the building structurally, but that’s separate from the question of whether Hallowell keeps its own department, contracts with Augusta or merges departments with Farmingdale — all options that have been discussed.

Walters said he supports the effort to preserve the building, but he doesn’t want any decision on the matter to be made with “historic preservation trumping the needs of public safety,” which he said should be the first concern.

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Stearns said “punting for too much longer is going to end up being the wrong answer,” while Morrissette said a proactive stand on the issue will serve the city better than a reactive approach.

“The problem is we have a modern-day fire department being housed in a historic building,” Dufour said. “It just doesn’t work.”

Michael Shepherd — 370-7652

mshepherd@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @mikeshepherdme


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