WATERVILLE — Mayor-elect Nick Isgro was tired but happy Wednesday on two counts — he had been elected Waterville’s 53rd mayor Tuesday night and on Wednesday morning his wife, Amanda, gave birth to their fourth child — a son.

“Amanda’s doing great,” Isgro, 33, said early Wednesday afternoon at Inland Hospital where his wife had a caesarean section that morning. “She’s recovering well and the baby has been eating all day.” He said the as-yet-to-be named baby is 7 pounds, 14 ounces, with a full head of dark hair.

Isgro was operating on about four hours of sleep. He had brought his wife to the hospital before dawn Wednesday for the scheduled surgery.

He said they have yet to pick out a name. “We’ve been mulling it over all day, and names that we thought were going to fit didn’t,” he said.

While he can’t decide what to name his son, Isgro is confident in his ability to lead the city, both financially and in a way that will be inclusive to residents.

A resident of Western Avenue, Isgro will replace Mayor Karen Heck after her term expires in January.

A Republican, Isgro won the mayor’s seat Tuesday with 2,470 votes to Democrat Steve Aucoin’s, 2,047, and Councilor Karen Rancourt-Thomas’ 955. Rancourt-Thomas, D-Ward 7, ran with no party affiliation.

As controller for Skowhegan Savings Bank, Isgro manages the accounting department and does financial and regulatory reporting.

“I do reporting to management as well as to regulatory bodies, making sure our financials are adhering to accounting standards,” Isgro said. “I love what I do. It’s a phenomenal place to work, and they’re giving me opportunities I certainly would not have had in many other places.”

Isgro also is treasurer of the Maine Children’s Home for Little Wanderers. He plans to use his financial skills while serving as mayor, focusing on the basic rules of budgeting.

“In the private sector, budgeting is all about using your assets to generate revenue, and you project a revenue stream based on the actual revenues you are expecting,” he said. “Then you can make decisions about how money is spent.”

LEAD BY LISTENING

Isgro said he plans to work with city officials on budgets with an eye toward encouraging input from others, while acknowledging that success doesn’t happen overnight.

“I understand that the budget is tight — I’ve looked at it,” he said. “There’s not a lot of fat in that. There will be challenges, but hopefully we can really work together to scrutinize that budget as much as we can, as well as start building on opportunities. I talked during this whole campaign about fairly lofty goals that are going to go beyond the term of any one mayor, but we have to start now and that work is expanding the tax base.”

One of the things Isgro wants to do after being inaugurated in January is reach out to people in the community, including representatives of businesses and colleges, to see if they can put together some kind of “think tank,” he said.

“We have an incredible body of successful people and savvy minds, and when you get everyone together, you get a critical mass of ideas. Government is not going to create the jobs we need, but we can work together to create an environment necessary to do it.”

Working on the financial aspect of governing a city is very important as long as officials do not lose sight of the equal importance of reaching out to residents and listening to their concerns and being willing to build a dialogue between city government and the people, according to Isgro.

“Because it can’t just be the goals I think need to be accomplished. We have to make sure we’re pursuing things that the people of Waterville want. One thing we’ve seen is that — whether it’s perception or reality — some people in Waterville feel their voices aren’t heard. I think it’ll be good to have a fresh start.”

TWEAKING TRASH PLAN

Isgro jumped into the mayoral race after regularly attending City Council meetings when the pay-as-you-throw trash collection system was being discussed earlier this year.

Isgro urged city officials to listen to their constituents who were saying that, while they were in favor of recycling, they did not feel they could afford to buy special trash bags that the city required as part of the program. While the bags are $2 each, they must be bought in rolls that cost $10 each and include five 30-gallon bags or eight 15-gallon bags.

Councilors ultimately voted 5-2 to approve a proposed $37.2 million budget that included pay-as-you-throw with the stipulation that a referendum be held in June 2015 so that voters will be able to repeal the program if they wish. Meanwhile, the city hired a private hauler to pick up people’s recycling at the curb as a way to create an incentive for people to dispose of less trash.

City officials emphasized that residents did not have to participate in pay-as-you-throw — that they could hire private trash haulers — and more than 200 people have done so.

Isgro said the city must hold meetings between now and next year to discuss possible alternatives or changes to pay-as-you-throw.

“The reality is, if people want lower taxes, we simply can’t go back to the way it was before,” he said.

It may be that parts of the program need to be changed, he added.

“I think we need to get together and be honest with people about where we are, budget-wise, and I think the people of Waterville will do what they need to do to be on track and get our finances in order.”

FAMILY INFLUENCES

Isgro was born at the former Seton Hospital in Waterville 33 years ago to James and Susan Isgro, who recently moved to a newly built house in Sidney.

Isgro has a brother, Anthony, 35, who this year left the U.S. Air Force after 10 years as an F-16 fighter pilot and lives in Texas, where he sells medical devices for people with sports injuries.

“I lived in Oakland, Waterville, Windham,” Isgro said. “My parents spent careers in the phone company and at various times we would move to locations outside of the Waterville area, but we always came back.”

Isgro attended Temple Academy on West River Road until the fourth grade and then attended Oakland schools, graduating from Messanlonskee High School in 2000.

He was into music, and played guitar in the school’s jazz band. He also loved history, an interest passed down by his grandfather, Salvatore Isgro, who was a Waterville city councilor many years ago, and then to his father, who was a Waterville Planning Board member and once ran for state Legislature.

After high school, Isgro studied history at the University of Maine at Farmington and now attends Thomas College, where he is pursuing a degree in accounting.

Isgro, his wife, who is an executive assistant at Skowhegan Savings, and their children, Anthony, 9, Sofia, 6, and Salvatore, 1, live in the Western Avenue home where his grandfather lived.

“I grew up in a house where politics were always discussed and encouraged,” he said. “One of the things my father taught me, through a lot of active debate, was how to discuss differences in a productive manner. I think he imparted in me the desire to understand how the decisions of elected officials have an impact on our lives.”

From that spark of political interest, Isgro months ago started calling around to see what kind of organizations he might get involved in. He discussed with his wife the possibility of running for mayor and he remembers clearly that she asked him why he wanted to run.

“It came down to, if I don’t do it, who will?,” he said. “After that, she put her support behind it and we made a go of it.”

Isgro said he thinks the pay-as-you-throw proposal became a wake-up call for a lot of people who began to question how things were being done in the city.

“Agree or disagree, it got people interested in what was happening in their city government and it got people paying attention,” he said.

Isgro likes to read — mostly classics by authors such as F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway. He also skis and brews beer as a hobby, but what he loves to do most is work in his flower gardens and landscape his backyard, he said.

“That’s my favorite thing to do. When my grandfather was alive he had just endless gardens, and over the years that became grassed over, and in the last couple of years, we’ve spent a lot of time digging in the dirt and rebuilding the landscape. I love it. I could spend all day out there.”

Amy Calder — 861-9247

acalder@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @AmyCalder17

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