PORTLAND, Maine — City Councilor David Brenerman will not seek re-election in November and is instead endorsing Kimberly Cook to represent District 5 in city government.
Brenerman, 66, said the decision not to pursue a second term in his most recent stint on the city council was driven by a desire to spend more time with his family — something, he said, that the officially part-time and modestly compensated council position has made difficult.
“City Council has become, for me, virtually a full-time job,” Brenerman said. “I needed to spend more time with my family and my business.”
Although another term is not right for him, Brenerman said he believes part-time city council positions will continue to serve Portland as it develops. He did not, however, say the same for the post of Mayor Ethan Strimling. The mayor has recently clashed with the other council members over their move to cut the job of his aide and is seeking a citizen task force to review the powers of his office.
“We probably don’t need a full-time mayor, either,” Brenerman said. “But the voters have decided that.”
Notwithstanding ongoing tensions between the mayor and other council members, Brenerman said he believes his recent legacy on the council is that of a consensus builder. He noted with pride heading the committee that developed the city’s new Office of Economic Opportunity, which is designed to help immigrants and disadvantaged Mainers find work in the state’s economic hub.
As the city gears up for the November election, Brenerman said he will be throwing his support behind Cook, who shares his desire to support business and housing development that will broaden Portland’s taxbase.
A lawyer and mother of three who lives with her husband in the Deering Center neighborhood, Cook, 45, said that now that the sitting councilor has bowed out she intends to file the initial papers making her intent to run official in the coming days. Official nomination papers are not available until July 3.
“I’m honored and have been thrilled to have David’s encouragement,” Cook said.
The Portland City Clerk’s office said Quinn Gormley has already filed a candidate registration form to run in District 5. Gormley works for the Health Equity Alliance and is the President of the Maine Transgender Network. She could not be immediately reached for comment.
Along with the municipal elections, a major local issue that will appear on the November ballot is a referendum on bonding money to renovate city elementary schools.
Voters will be given a choice between supporting a $64 million bond to renovate the Reiche Longfellow, Presumpscot and Lyseth schools; a $32 million for renovations at the latter two schools; both proposals or neither.
A bond needs a majority of votes to be passed, and if both proposals get more than 50 percent, the one with more votes will be approved.
Longfellow and Lyseth are in District 5, and Brenerman said he intends to campaign in support of voters approving the larger bond over the rest of his time in office.
Cook, whose three children all attend Longfellow, likewise said she supports the $64 million bond.