WATERVILLE — Karen Heck says she will bring creativity, passion and fresh ideas to city government.

Andrew Roy insists he will listen to taxpayer concerns and work to control excessive spending.

Additional Photos

ALL IN THE HOUSE: Waterville mayoral candidates Dana Sennett, left, Karen Heck and Andrew Roy debate Oct. 25 at Colby College. Staff photo by Andy Molloy

Mayor Dana Sennett maintains his extensive experience in city government is critical to keeping the city on track.

All three want to be elected mayor on Tuesday.

Educators who attended or moderated mayoral forums last month at Colby and Thomas colleges say all three candidates have their strong points — Sennett, having been in city government many years; Heck, exhibiting new energy and ideas; and Roy, showing knowledge about business and specifics about how Waterville city government works.

Heck is pointing to her nine years of experience as former deputy director of Kennebec Valley Community Action Program. There, she supervised the finance and human resource directors of the agency, which employed 200 people and had a $13 million budget.

She says she also administered 35 KVCAP programs using a variety of state and federal funding sources.

Heck has 40 years of connections in state government, business and philanthropy, she said.

“My strengths are bringing people together to generate innovative solutions to problems; my ability to bridge the gap between the most conservative and the most liberal leaders of the community as evidence by the endorsements I’ve received from (Republican) Charlie Gaunce and (former state Rep.) Marilyn Canavan; and a passion for engaging the community in creating a prosperous, vibrant city. I suppose my weakness is my impatience to get everything done.”

Roy, a Waterville native and volunteer at Central Maine Recovery Group in Waterville, says he started his DJ business when he was 13. He lost the mayoral race to Sennett in June.

“I can bring to the table common sense, respect for the citizens of Waterville and a strong sense of responsibility to them,” Roy said. “My biggest strength is to know when enough is enough and to be vocal about it in a positive way.”

Roy says his biggest weakness is trying to help everyone who asks for help.

“I have found that not everyone who is asking for help really wants it,” he said. “Most are just trying to have others do it for them and I have grown and put my foot down over the years and have learned to only help those who truly want to do the work to help themselves.”

Sennett, a lifelong city resident, says he has watched the city change over the years, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse.

“I bring to the table the fact that I understand how the local municipal government works and I say that because of my being there and in the trenches for 15 years,” he said.

“It’s not a turnkey operation to understand the departments, what they do, what the responsibility is of the department heads, the employees and also how that affects the taxpayers of the city of Waterville. I’ve been under four mayors and four administrators and learned a great deal about what works and what doesn’t work.

“And I feel that I also have a strong relationship with Augusta because of the current seated representatives and the fact that our past mayor is now the governor of the state of Maine.”

Sennett says his strengths are experience and leadership.

“I listen to both sides of an issue before I make a decision of determining what’s right or wrong and I have a calm capacity to do that,” he said.

His weakness: “I’d like to be more in touch with agencies that are in the know so that we could make sure that funding sources for road repair or school repair or health care reform — that we’re in the forefront.”

Jim Libby, associate professor of business and chairman of the Department of Business at Thomas, moderated an Oct. 17 debate at that college. Libby also teaches both economics and political science.

He said he thinks Sennett has an advantage in that he was born and raised in Waterville.

“I think that always helps in terms of electability,” he said.

Sennett has experience and that showed in the debate, in the way he answered questions in a matter-of-fact way, according to Libby.

“I think Heck brought a lot of energy to the debates — energy and ideas,” he said. “Sometimes, it’s nice to see folks or challengers who have a different perspective. I think that some of her ideas were very good.”

Roy’s knowledge of the issues were apparent in the debate, he said.

“Roy is also somebody who I think had a lot more factual knowledge than I had expected, talking about the city budget. When people asked a direct question, he gave a direct answer. He had a lot of detailed answers.”

Libby said that as a moderator in debates, he must remain neutral. He did not point to any specific weaknesses in the candidates.

“All of them could do the job — I have no doubt,” he said. “I think the incumbent will be hard to beat, but they can all do the job.”

Charlotte Ridge, visiting instructor of government at Colby, said voters’ perspective of the city may help them choose a candidate.

Sennett, she said, seemed to think local government is doing a good job and if people agree with that, then they may tend to vote for him; people who do not think it is doing a good job might be inclined to vote for Heck or Roy.

Ridge, who watched the Colby forum Oct. 25, moved to Waterville in August.

“It seems like the Republican, Roy, knew a lot about business issues. Roy, in particular, seemed a little bit hesitant to take a lot of power as mayor,” Ridge said.

“Sennett seems to have the most experience with the government itself, but if you think that the city government maybe needs a new direction, then Heck, I think, is in a good position because she also does know the area quite well and has a lot of energy and new ideas,” Ridge said.

Amy Calder — 861-9247

acalder@centralmaine.com

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