Council candidates weigh in
on proposed Community Center
By Kathy McCarty
Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE — The four candidates running for two seats on the Presque Isle City Council met for a forum at City Hall on Oct. 24, answering a variety of pre-selected questions, before moving on to a question-and-answer period with citizens.
Taking part in the two-hour event, hosted by the Central Aroostook Chamber of Commerce, were incumbent Dick Engels and challengers Donald Gardner, Jacqueline Goodine and Craig Green. Shawn Cunningham served as moderator.
Panelists were asked a number of questions, including whether or not they’d support construction of a new community center.
Green was the first to respond, noting “I absolutely do” support construction of a new recreation center.
“It’s important to have here. Really the question is what can we do with private donations and grants. I’m very interested to see what people say on the ballot,” said Green. “I hope they allow us to pursue it to see if we can come up with the money to offset” the cost to taxpayers.
Goodine was next, saying she’d support the project as well, noting in her daily walks by the William Haskell Building (the Recreation Department’s Main Street facility) she sees the roof repairs needed.
“The building needs to be replaced. We need a new pool. But the (proposed) building is too big, too much, there are rooms that aren’t needed now. We need to start small. We can always build on,” said Goodine. “If you start small and put what we need now — we don’t need a big track, don’t need all these things now. We need a good gym, an outdoor pool. Let’s start there.”
Gardner followed, reminding those in attendance that when SAD 1 had turned over Cunningham Middle School to the city, some members of City Council — of which he was one — were in favor of using the facility for Parks and Rec purposes.
“The building had a beautiful gym, rooms upstairs for Parks and Rec, space for a new City Hall, baseball diamonds. We had an area we could have used but other councilors said ‘it’s not good enough for us,’” said Gardner. “We do need a new Rec and Parks Department. I’m glad the budget (for the proposed building) went down by nearly half. The outdoor pool is a tradition, part of Presque Isle. We can’t get rid of it. We lost Cunningham, the Training School; we’re losing our history. If we have a new center, terrific, as long as it’s under budget — but don’t sacrifice our history.”
Engels rounded out the candidates responding to the Community Center question.
“I agree we need it but the question is ‘Can we afford it?’ The issue is what happens if we don’t build. The best estimate is it will take at least a half million dollars to make (the Haskell Building) usable the next few years. City Council hasn’t put enough money in reserve to maintain infrastructure. We have to decide how much we want to spend, either to construct new or keep the Haskell Building. Can the city raise $3.5 million in private donations? That’s a good question,” said Engels. “We’re probably looking at an increase of $50 per property per year to fund the taxpayer portion. The question is if taxpayers want to fund it.”
Candidates answered about a dozen other questions, including those posed by citizens, with topics including: what motivated them to run for City Council; their qualifications for being a councilor; financial management experience; why the city’s tax rate was higher than other communities; were there areas of the city’s budget they felt needed attention; their plans to find funding to make up for any shortfall caused by cuts to revenue sharing with the state; how they’d increase revenue in the city to maintain services; ideas for increasing efficiency; their views on downtown traffic and ways to improve it; the bypass and how it will affect development in the city and truck traffic; and how to improve the economy and should councilors support new businesses. Citizen questions included: how can we better utilize interaction between the college/university and the city; were there any ballot questions that might adversely affect Presque Isle citizens; and will any money from the bond issues be destined for Presque Isle.
For those who missed the meeting, the event was taped. For more information, contact the CACC at 764-6561.
