AUGUSTA — The three-way race for the Ward 1 City Council seat pits two former councilors against a current member of the Planning Board.

Seeking to take the spot being vacated by current Ward 1 Councilor Michael Byron, who is being forced out by term limits, are former councilors Stanley Koski and Mary Mayo-Wescott and planner Linda Conti.

Each say they have the desire to serve the city and the skills and expertise that make them the best choice out of the three. Ward 1 consists largely of the southwest part of the city.

Mayo-Wescott, 74, a television producer who served four two-year terms on the council, from 1993 to 1996 and from 1999 to 2002, and has also served on the Augusta Conservation Commission, said she has the experience, connections and knowledge to make a difference for the city.

“These are very challenging times, and while the council and manager have done a really good job, I believe Augusta is stuck,” Mayo-Wescott said. “It needs something to jump start it and move it forward. And I have a plan.”

Koski, 69, a retired electrical engineer who served two three-year terms as an at-large councilor from 2002 to 2007 and is known for his previous volunteer work for many years maintaining the city’s traffic lights and lights on city streets and ballfields, said he has extensive knowledge of Augusta, an analytical way of thinking about things as an engineer, and passion for serving the city.

“I would do everything I could think of to make sure city government is operated as cost effectively and efficiently as possible,” Koski said. “I look at things in an analytical manner, and, being retired, I have more time available to devote to city matters than a person that works full-time.”

Conti, 54, an attorney with the state Attorney General’s Office who has been an appointed member of the Planning Board since 2007, said she wants to get more involved in the city and can bring common sense and a fresh perspective to the council.

“They’ve had their chance, they’ve both done it before,” Conti said of why she would be a better choice than her opponents. “I think I should be given the opportunity to work with the new City Council to see if we can make a difference. I think I can help.”

Conti said the issues she sees as most important in the city now are making sure residents both are, and feel, safe, making the city attractive to draw in new residents and businesses and revitalizing the downtown. She said a way the council could help continue the revitalization of the downtown would be to create parking and zoning policies that would encourage growth and development there, including residential development.

Mayo-Wescott said balancing the city budget in times of reduced state revenues, maintaining public safety, and revitalizing the downtown and riverfront area by encouraging what she said is a growing new form of tourism are among Augusta’s most important issues. She said her plan to bring new life to the city is the use of heritage tourism with a focus on the city’s historical assets and the Kennebec River to generate revenue and spur development which, in turn, could help reduce the property tax rate by broadening the tax base.

Koski said the city’s high property taxes are a concern to everybody, and he could help find ways to provide city services more efficiently. He suggested working more closely with surrounding communities to find ways they could provide services regionally to save money. He said the city’s aging and deteriorating housing stock is also a concern, and the city should be more vigilant requiring landlords, especially out-of-state landlords who’ve allowed their buildings to deteriorate, to keep their buildings up.

Koski said before any major projects are approved by councilors, he would ask what are the total benefits to the city of the project, what are the actual costs and how could those be minimized, and what are the consequences of not doing the project.

Mayo-Wescott said as leader of the former group Friends of the Flatiron she helped save the old Cony flatiron building, which is currently being turned into housing for senior citizens by a private developer. And she said the city’s comprehensive plan, revised in 2007, needs to be updated.

Conti said the city should explore ways to get the many non-profit organizations with offices and other facilities which are located in Augusta to pay a fee to the city because they aren’t required to pay property taxes, to crack down on apartment building owners with properties that don’t meet safety codes and to work to increase the number of people living in Augusta.

The Ward 1 race is the only contested council race.

Keith Edwards — 621-5647

[email protected]

Twitter: @kedwardskj