{"id":13938,"date":"2026-10-06T20:35:29","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T20:35:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/preprod.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/?post_type=candidate&p=13938"},"modified":"2026-10-06T20:35:30","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T20:35:30","slug":"zachary-charles-schmesser","status":"publish","type":"candidate","link":"https:\/\/preprod.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/candidates\/zachary-charles-schmesser\/","title":{"rendered":"Zachary Charles Schmesser"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Previous Offices Held<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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No previous run for elected office<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Top Three Priorities<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Economic Development: Steward tax dollars with discipline and transparency while growing a resilient local economy that helps keep Belfast affordable.
Public Process: Communicate clearly and early, and involve residents in setting priorities and shaping decisions that affect our community.
Collaboration: Build strong partnerships to solve shared problems, working with the County, RSU, and state and federal governments. Our challenges aren\u2019t unique, but our solutions can be.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Why are you running?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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I\u2019m running because I believe Belfast residents want and deserve a local government that listens, communicates openly, and brings people together to solve problems. I care deeply about our community and creating opportunities for the next generation. I want to strengthen communication between City Hall and residents, involve people more in decisions that affect their lives now, and take a thoughtful, short- and long-term approach to managing our resources.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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What is the biggest challenge facing your town\/county? The biggest opportunity?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Belfast\u2019s biggest challenge is rising costs, especially property taxes and housing, which threaten our community’s diversity. We need to make sure longtime residents and those who want to live and work here can continue to do so. Our biggest opportunity is proactive economic development: attracting businesses and housing that fit Belfast, supporting sustainable growth, and slowing the rise of property taxes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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If you could change one thing about how the town\/county functions, what would it be and why?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Ensuring City Hall is more open, accessible, and responsive to the people who live here. Residents should clearly understand what decisions are coming up, where the city\u2019s money is going, and how they can have a say in the process. That information should be easy to find and easy to understand. I believe residents should have a voice before decisions are made, not after. When people feel heard and have a real opportunity to contribute, it builds trust and creates stronger support.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Do you support more development \u2013 i.e. more housing construction and business building in your town\/county? Why or why not?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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My goal is to sustain a Belfast that our kids want to and can live in when they\u2019re older. We need \u201csmart growth\u201d that protects Belfast\u2019s distinct character. Economic development can help control taxes by supporting existing businesses, creating fair, predictable development rules, and ensuring neighbors\u2019 voices are part of the process. Smart growth means thoughtful, measured development, not unchecked growth.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":13939,"template":"","meta":{"voter_guide_candidate_first_name":"Zachary","voter_guide_candidate_middle_name":"","voter_guide_candidate_last_name":"Schmesser","voter_guide_candidate_suffix":"","voter_guide_candidate_race_id":13936,"voter_guide_candidate_age":45,"voter_guide_candidate_hometown":"","voter_guide_candidate_occupation":"Congressional Staffer","voter_guide_candidate_bio":"","voter_guide_candidate_education":"","voter_guide_candidate_years_in_state":0,"voter_guide_candidate_years_in_municipality":8,"voter_guide_candidate_time_in_area":"","voter_guide_candidate_website":"","voter_guide_candidate_headshot_url":"","voter_guide_candidate_date_filed":"","voter_guide_candidate_incumbent_years":"","voter_guide_candidate_is_clean_elections":false,"footnotes":""},"vg_party":[],"vg_residence_municipality":[346],"class_list":["post-13938","candidate","type-candidate","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","vg_residence_municipality-belfast"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/preprod.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates\/13938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/preprod.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/preprod.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/candidate"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/preprod.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates\/13938\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/preprod.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/preprod.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"vg_party","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/preprod.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vg_party?post=13938"},{"taxonomy":"vg_residence_municipality","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/preprod.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vg_residence_municipality?post=13938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}