Sanford residents on Nov. 5 will elect two city councilors and vote on three referendum questions that would pay for infrastructure projects and secure land for a future fire station.
The slate of City Council candidates includes both current and former councilors, while the school committee race features two experienced board members.
Councilors Robert Stackpole and John Tuttle Jr. are seeking re-election. They are challenged by former Councilors Fred Smith and Dianne Connolly.
Stackpole was elected in November 2016 to a three-year term. He currently serves on the zoning sub-committee, Marijuana Task Force, Budget Committee and Solid Waste Committee.
Tuttle, a former state senator and representative, was elected to a one-year council term in November 2015 when Sanford was shifting to staggered terms under a new city charter. He was re-elected to a three-year term in November 2016. Tuttle serves on the airport advisory and public safety committees, Dams Coalition, Solid Waste Committee and Marijuana Task Force.
Smith was elected in 2012 and 2015 to serve 3-year terms on the City Council, but did not run for re-election in 2018.
Connolly has served on the Sanford Planning Board since January 2015. She was appointed to the City Council in 2014 for 6 months to fill a vacancy. She ran unsuccessfully for a council seat the following year.
Residents will also vote to fill two open seats for 3-year terms on the Sanford School Committee. John Roux, the current chairman, is seeking another term. Jonathan Mapes previously served on the School Committee.
Other candidates on the ballot include Roger Durant, Kevin Michael Eaton and Nathaniel Hitchcock, who are each running for 3-year terms as Sanford Water District trustees. Somnang Laurendeau is running to fill a vacancy as a water district trustee through 2022.
Sanford voters will also decide three referendum questions that would result in major road and street repairs, put a roof on one school, complete renovation projects at the converted Sanford middle and elementary schools, and secure land for a future fire station.
The roads bond, which would pay for repairs to a number of roads and streets is $6.2 million; school referendum, $10 million; and future fire station land, $1 million.
If all the bonds pass, and the City Council continues its commitment to ramping up the roads capital improvement program from $1.4 million a year to $4 million annually, and moves forward with major repairs to the city’s playgrounds and recreation facilities, the tax rate would increase.
Today’s tax rate is $20.70 per $1,000 worth of property, or $4,140 a year for a home assessed at $200,000. If other spending and revenue trends continue as expected, City Manager Steve Buck sees the rate increasing to a high of $21.39 in 2022 and then decreasing over time to $19.30 in 2036.
A full copy of the bond presentation with figures and tables of which roads would be repaired is at www.sanfordmaine.org/notices.
Roads to be upgraded are in both residential areas and downtown.
The $10 million school bond would go toward projects at the converted middle and elementary schools that were removed after bids for the projects came in well over the $43 million in state funding allocated for the project. School officials had planned to complete the renovations without seeking local funds, but there were few bids, and higher construction costs meant some items had to be removed.
Part of the $10 million is in the form of a $1.4 million state school revolving loan, which would pay the costs associated with additional asbestos removal at the former high school. Under that no-interest program, the state would pay two-thirds of the loan, and the school department, one-third.
The bond would include, among other items, roof replacement, natural gas boilers, playground equipment, intrusion detection, other safety and security measures and technology upgrades at the converted elementary school (the current junior high school).
At the converted middle school (the former high school), it would include LED lights throughout, new HVAC controls, new windows, technology upgrades, school-wide painting, removal of lockers and tile, new playground equipment, bleachers and new exterior doors.
A new roof for Carl K. Lamb School, though not part of the state-funded renovation project, is included in the school bond package, as are new pneumatic HVAC controls.
The $1 million bond for land acquisition for a future fire station would accomplish just what it says – provide up to $1 million as the city moves from a three-fire station model toward a two-station model. Both the Springvale and Central stations are cramped and inadequate, fire officials say, and the South station has not been staffed for the last several years.
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