BANGOR, Maine — Candidates for school committee and City Council have until Sept. 4 to return qualifying paperwork to get their names on the November city ballot.
With three council seats open, two candidates already have qualified and another five have picked up qualifying paperwork. But with two school committee seats open, interest appears to be significantly less.
According to City Clerk Lisa Goodwin, current school committee members Marc Eastman and Sarah Smiley have picked up paperwork to seek re-election, and former City Councilor Charles Longo has picked up paperwork to qualify for the school committee race.
As of Wednesday afternoon, though, none had returned paperwork to officially qualify as a school committee candidate. To qualify, candidates must return their paperwork along with 100 signatures from registered Bangor voters no later than 4:30 p.m. Sept. 4.
Longo said Wednesday he only drew paperwork because he thought Sarah Smiley was not seeking re-election. When Smiley drew her own paperwork, he tentatively decided not to seek a school committee seat.
“The two incumbents are doing a great job,” he said.
While Longo says this year is not the best time for him to seek a school committee seat, he adds he will move forward with the bid if needed to prevent a seat from remaining vacant or keep a candidate who is not serious about the job from taking it without a challenger.
Eastman and Smiley were not available Wednesday afternoon to comment on their re-election plans.
Meanwhile, in the City Council race, Goodwin confirmed Wednesday that current Councilor David Nealley and William Osmer have qualified as candidates.
Nealley, a longtime businessman and publisher of Maine Seniors magazine, has served three nonconsecutive terms on the council since 2001 and running on a platform that touts his political experience.
Osmer ran unsuccessfully as a Republican in the race for the District 18 seat in the Maine House of Representatives. Incumbent Rep. James Parker, R-Veazie, took the Republican nomination in that race and went on to lose the seat to Rep. Aaron Frey, D-Bangor.
Others who had taken qualifying paperwork but have not yet returned the completed documents to the clerk’s office include Michael Alpert, Gary Capehart, Justin Freeman, Paul LeClair and Sarah Nichols.
Alpert served on the school committee in the 1980s and serves as president of the Bangor Area NAACP. Capehart ran last year as a Republican in the race for the District 25 seat in the Maine House of Representatives, losing to Rep. Victoria Kornfield, D-Bangor.
Freeman, an accountant, ran unsuccessfully for City Council in 2014 on a platform aimed largely at stemming further tax increases in the city.
LaClair is an outspoken opponent of many recent council decisions, having addressed the council at most of its meetings. In recent months, he has criticized the city’s school budget and a proposal from Councilor Joe Baldacci to increase the local minimum wage.
Nichols is coordinator of development for St. Joseph’s Healthcare and is running on a platform that includes investments in education, growing tourism and working creatively to ignite economic growth and support good paying jobs, according to a statement she released Aug. 5.
Council seats up for re-election this year include Nealley’s, as well as Councilor Patricia Blanchette’s and Councilor Pauline Civiello’s.
Blanchette is not eligible for re-election, and Civiello — who has not yet taken out qualifying papers — remained undecided as of Wednesday.
“I’ve had a lot of people pushing me to do it, and I’m still dragging my heals,” she said.
Follow Evan Belanger on Twitter at @evanbelanger.