Incumbent Roger Cote faces a challenge from Lisa Ward for the at- large seat on the seven-member Lisbon Town Council. Three councilors are elected at large, and each of the town’s two districts elect two councilors.
Cote and Ward responded to the same set of questions from The Times Record.
Roger Cote
Roger Cote, a lifelong Lisbon resident, said he seeks reelection because, “I want to bring some kind of transparency back to government. I’ve been fighting for that for three years and I want to continue my quest.”
Asked how he would continue that effort, Cote said, “Expose, expose, expose. The only way that I’ve found that you can work with government is to just keep exposing them. It brings it to the people.”
Lisbon’s greatest asset, Cote said, “would be the people. Lisbon has a lot of very talented and highly educated people who know what they want, and they need to be represented in a fashion so that these people can get what they want and have their town the way that they would like to have it,” bringing the power back to the voters.
Cote identified taking the power away from politicians and giving it to the people as “the biggest goal I’d like to try to achieve.”
Cote believes the greatest challenge facing Lisbon is the economy because “the financial situation that we’re in right now is going to (make it) really hard to give the people everything that they’d like to have. But we can certainly work in the right direction and give the people the power,” and let them decide what the budget priorities are, taking it out of the hands of the politicians.
“Some people are willing to pay a little more to have what they desire, like the schools they want, and they want to see things cut like large police budgets, and use the money for the things the people desire, not just for people’s careers,” he said.
“I am not a rubber stamp councilor,” Cote said. “I vote what I feel is correct, and I vote for the people and if it doesn’t fall in line with what the rest ( of the council) wants, too bad, it’s still how I’m going to vote.”
He described some of his colleagues on the Town Council as “ rubber stamps for large police department budgets and fire department budgets.”
Asked if Lisbon should invest in trying to draw more business to town, Cote said, “ Oh, absolutely. For one thing, it’s for the tax revenue. And because of the fact that we have lost so many businesses.”
With the economic downturn, times are difficult, he said, “but I do think there’s opportunity there. We have to sometimes change rules to allow businesses … and to try to work with the businesses as well. We can’t be so strict that businesses can’t work in our town.”
Suggesting tax benefits “or something of that nature that is long term beneficial to the town,” Cote said, “One of the big things is to support our local businesses, even the small mom-and-pops stores, that are what makes Lisbon what Lisbon is.”
When asked how town government could function more effectively, Cote said, “Transparency. If you’re not transparent, it has a tendency to keep people away, and if you’re a transparent government and people can get their desires heard, they’re more apt to participate.”
This includes doing things like putting the municipal budget out to an annual referendum, “and allowing people to speak freely and uninhibited at meetings so that they don’t feel that … the people are working for the councilors,”
Cote said.
He asserted that, at all levels of government, officials have “gotten to the point they think they have the people working for them instead of government working for the people, and that’s not the way it should be.”
What he perceives to be institutional inhibition of free speech in Lisbon has resulted in people not getting involved on boards and committees or once they are involved, to feel like they’re not taken seriously and have wasted their time, “and that’s wrong,” Cote said.
“I put myself out there as a candidate and the people know I stand on my record of what I’ve done in the past, and if they want me to continue, it’s the call of the people. And if they don’t that’s fine too,” Cote said. “The only thing that I can truthfully say that I’ve got on my agenda is transparency, transparency, transparency. That is the most important thing going forward.”
Lisa Marie Ward
Having lived in Maine all her life except when she left the state to attend college, Lisa Marie Ward said she’s lived in Lisbon for about 12 years.
She hasn’t been involved in municipal government before, though she took a citizens police academy offered by the Lisbon Police Department. After that, she got involved in the department’s Volunteers in Police Service group before joining the Androscoggin County Community Emergency Response Team.
Ward said she is running for the Town Council not because she “has a burning question or an ax to grind,” but because, “ I finally feel like I’m a member of the community.”
She said she wants to do something to help.
Everyone wants to live in a nice place, she said, and “I want to make that happen. … I think lots of issues have importance. I really just like to look at the big picture.”
One of those issues recently brought to her attention by an elderly acquaintance is transportation for seniors.
Education is another area on which Ward plans to focus, if elected.
“I think it is important for the Town Council to stay abreast of what’s going on with the school board and work with them, because it’s the education of the kids in our community, and is what’s going to make our community better in the long run,” Ward said.
It is also important for the council to work toward making the town “a nice place for businesses; for people who want to retire here, for people who want to raise families here,” she said.
“ I feel I’m fairly good at critical thinking and helping to make things happen. I try to be fair and listen and communicate,” Ward said.
“The thing I like the most about Lisbon is how warm the community is. You see that in some of the small businesses or whenever you walk into a small restaurant here or small business, and I think it’s a real reflection of the kind of place people in Lisbon would like Lisbon to be more of,” she said.
“I think one of the greatest challenges, especially for the Town Council, is to come to a consensus on taxes and where they’re being put to use,” Ward said. “There’s still a lot of disagreement, and I know the town is working on that constantly, but it is a challenge, because it’s one of those ongoing things that really requires a lot of attention and work, but I think it can be done.”
Ward added, “Communication within the council and then communication between the council and other entities in the town really helps make a difference.”
In talking about how she differentiates herself from her opponent, Ward listed two of her strongest characteristics that make her a strong candidate, the first being her ability to communicate with people, and “I think 90 percent of communicating with people is listening to them first. And I also pride myself on being able to learn quickly. The combination I think would make me able to make decisions based not just on the opinions of people around me.”
Ward then explained that she coached debate and speech for several years at Brunswick High School. “It was a great opportunity for me to improve my own critical thinking,” she said, because it allowed her to look inside herself and help herself improve. If elected, she wants to bring that openness, an open ear and a desire to work hard for her neighbors.
“I want to hear how everybody feels, whether I personally agree with them or not,” she said. “It’s still important to hear everyone and make decisions based on all of the facts.”
Asked if the town should invest in trying to attract more business, Ward said if not money, a lot of time and energy is being invested currently to attract businesses to Lisbon. The town’s location between Interstate 295 and the Maine Turnpike, and between the Topsham- Brunswick area and Lewiston Auburn area serves as a major asset, she said.
She also praised Economic and Community Development Director Scott Benson’s enthusiasm.
“I think it’s important to maintain a great relationship with (local business owners) throughout and make it inviting for them and other businesses to do business here,” she said. “Whether it’s big or small business, it’s all good business.”
Someone from one of the senior groups she works with told her, “‘I just want to go have lunch in Lisbon; I don’t want to leave town.’ I think that’s a great statement.”
When asked how town government could function more effectively, Ward said that when she first started going to Town Council meetings, “I felt lost.” After the meetings, she’d still wonder what was going on.
“People would circle around issues, avoid saying certain things,” and though she wouldn’t call herself blunt, Ward said, “I like to get to the point and I think communication is the most important thing above all. If you don’t tell people what you need, then how are you going to get it?”
When the discussion veers off topic or becomes cryptic, confusion emerges “and I like to separate opinions from facts, and I like to look at as many sides of the issues as I can,” as opposed to being in the dark, she said.
“If people just talk to each other and tell each other what they’re thinking instead of walking around the issue, it helps get things done faster,” she said.
BALLOT QUESTIONS
LISBON — In addition to electing municipal officials to local boards and committees Tuesday, Lisbon voters will consider eight proposed charter amendments and an advisory referendum question.
The proposed amendments are listed on the Nov. 8 sample ballot posted on the town clerk’s elections page, which can be found on the town’s website, www.lisbonme.org, using the town departments tab.
The advisory referendum question asks Lisbon voters if they wish to vote on an amendment to the town charter that, if enacted, would require voter approval at a referendum election for each annual municipal budget.
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