At first glance, the dichotomy between Belfast’s mayoral candidates is a bit jarring.
Samantha Paradis is a 26-year-old Aroostook County native and registered nurse at Belfast’s Waldo County General Hospital. Incumbent Mayor Walter Ash, 72, is a retired mechanic and lifelong Belfast resident who has been in public office at state and local levels since before Paradis was born.
The candidates sat down Thursday night for a forum at the Belfast library, where they took questions from locals trying to decide between the newcomer and the man whose name they’re used to seeing on the ballot.
“I’m tickled to death that I have an opponent this time,” Ash said. “Do I want my job? Sure. But I know Samantha wants this job, too.”
Paradis has been campaigning hard, knocking on more than 2,000 doors in town since she decided to run for mayor earlier this year. She said she decided to forgo a bid for a City Council seat as her first foray into politics because she believes she can instigate more change as mayor.
“I’m running for mayor because I love living here and I want everyone to have a seat at the table,” Paradis said during the forum. She said she came to Belfast as a traveling nurse, and quickly decided this was a community where she wanted to settle.
Paradis said that, if elected, she wants to take an active role in pushing policies and priorities for the city. Among her focuses as mayor, she said she’d push to make the city a leader in clean energy by striving to shift Belfast municipal electricity use to 100 percent renewable sources. She also wants to help tackle the city’s ongoing struggle with a shortage of year-round rental properties, something the city has been focusing on during the past year, and improve broadband internet access.
She also founded Aging Well in Waldo County, an organization that represents area seniors and seeks to make communities more accommodating to all people of all ages.
Ash is closing out his fourth term as mayor. If he wins, he’d become the city’s second-longest-serving mayor in the past century. Page Worth served 14 years as mayor, ending in 2000.
“I have my roots deeply in this community, and they’ve always been in this community, and they’ll stay in this community,” Ash said. Those roots gave him an institutional knowledge of Belfast and its government that have helped him in his role as mayor, he added.
Ash and Paradis said they both hope to prevent property tax hikes, but Ash said changes at the state level have dramatically reduced the amount of state aid Belfast receives, and other costs formerly covered by the state have been unloaded on municipalities, forcing cities to shoulder a greater financial burden. If elected, Ash said, he would continue to work with other mayors across the state to restore some of the lost revenue sharing.
Belfast’s mayor typically doesn’t vote on issues, unless it’s to break a tie among city councilors. The mayor does serve as a sort of figurehead representative of the city, and is responsible for moderating meetings and facilitating discussions.
Two Belfast councilors, Mike Hurley and Eric Sanders, also are up for re-election, but both are running unopposed.
Belfast residents can vote at their ward’s polling place on Nov. 7, or can cast an early absentee ballot at City Hall or by mail.
Follow Nick McCrea on Twitter at @nmccrea213.