WATERVILLE — City Council Chairman Fred Stubbert, D-Ward 1, is looking forward to a new year and hopes to help improve the city’s economy, including marketing it to tourists.

Stubbert was re-elected chairman at Tuesday’s City Council meeting, following the inauguration of Karen Heck as the new mayor.

The vote to re-elect him was 5-1 — he abstained from voting and Councilor John O’Donnell, D-Ward 5, was not at the session.

Stubbert said Wednesday he was pleased to have been re-elected and surprised that the vote was unanimous.

He said he plans to work on several issues this year.

“I especially want to cooperate with the mayor and city manager to improve our economic situation and I think that there are some great opportunities on the horizon, so I’m going to work with them on that.”

Getting natural gas in the city is a priority, but he said those proposing a pipeline do not need a tax increment finance district for it.

“I’m not in favor of the TIF and I’ll vote against a TIF,” he said. “It’s a great project and I want to see it go forward, but I don’t think taxpayers should be funding it.” A TIF give a portion of taxes paid to the city back to the developer for a limited amount of time.

Stubbert said he hopes to promote and market the city to tourists by highlighting its rich history. Many people do not know, for instance, that the pilgrims in the 1600s set up a trading post at Head of Falls, on the banks of the Kennebec River off Front Street. They traded items with the American Indians there and received beaver pelts from them. The pilgrims took the pelts to England and made a great profit, he said.

Stubbert said he’d like to see the city develop an expanded walking tour, highlighting such history. It would include Pine Grove Cemetery, which contains graves of important Civil War veterans, as well as political figures.

“We’ve got a lot of history here that really has never been promoted,” he said.

Stubbert, 74, is entering his ninth year as a city councilor. He has been chairman since June, when former Chairman Dana Sennett was elected mayor.

Stubbert said he has enjoyed being chairman.

“I think under (former mayor) Paul (LePage) we got a lot accomplished and I think with Karen, we can get a lot accomplished,” he said.

Stubbert worked with Heck on the Alfond Youth Center Board of Directors, when she was a member a few years ago, he said. He is secretary of that Board. Stubbert said he thinks he and Heck have a good rapport.

“I like a lot of Karen’s ideas,” he said. “I’m not as liberal as Karen is and she knows that, but I do like her ideas.”

Stubbert, who was born in Waterville, said both he and the new mayor strongly agree that Waterville is a gem.

“As I told Karen last night, in my travels around the country and other places, I’ve always promoted Waterville — I’ve always thought Waterville was a very special place,” he said.

Stubbert said he plans to focus also on making sure the city gets a police station.

The council last year voted to start building a station in the spring.

“We hired an architect and we will hire a construction firm,” Stubbert said. “The only thing we haven’t done yet is pick a site.”

Councilors last month decided to table until Jan. 17 a discussion about whether to build at Head of Falls , to allow for more study and discussion, Stubbert said. He said some councilors opposed building there.

But Stubbert said time is of the essence and choosing a site soon is a priority:

“As I’m going to tell the council, it’s not enough to say, ‘No, we don’t want Head of Falls.'”

The committee that has worked on the police station issue has done so a long time, considering need, cost and location, he said.

“It’s not a situation where it was done on the spur of the moment,” he said.

Amy Calder — 861-9247

acalder@centralmaine.com