With an incumbent not seeking re-election to the Rockland City Council this November, three candidates are vying for a single seat.
Dale Hayward, 72, Brandy Perkins, 38, and Benjamin Dorr, 34, are hoping to be the newest voice on the five-member council. Councilor Adam Ackor, who was elected in 2016, is not seeking re-election.
This race is a political first for Perkins and Dorr, who have not previously run for public office. Hayward ran for Rockland City Council in 2009 and 2012, though he did not win these races.
All three have strong ties to Rockland or Greater Knox County. Hayward, who is retired, has lived in the city for 38 years. He has previously worked as a state auditor, owned an office supply store and drove tour buses across the United States. Hayward said these experiences would be a benefit if he were elected.
Hayward said he is running because he doesn’t “like the way things are going” in the city. If elected, he would focus on “actual facts and research, not just emotion and personal agendas.”
Perkins was born in Rockland and has lived the majority of her life in the city. A retail wireless consultant at U.S. Cellular, she previously considered running for city council but lacked the time to make the commitment. With a more flexible schedule, Perkins said she was motivated to run so she “could be a part of the solutions in Rockland’s future.”
Perkins is a member of the Maine Lobster Festival Committee, has served on Rockland’s Coast Guard City Committee and has been a volunteer for Rockland Main Street for many years, she said.
Dorr, a graduate of Camden Hills Regional High School, previously lived on Vinalhaven but now calls Rockland home. He and his partner, Emily Seymour, opened Curator, a contemporary and vintage clothing store, on Main Street in 2016.
With Rockland in a “really transitional moment,” Dorr said he wants to be a part of the conversation as the city charts its path forward. He feels his energetic personality and ability to connect with people would help him be productive if elected.
“I think the voice of a 34-year-old small business owner, and my voice specifically, but that voice really deserves a voting seat on the council,” Dorr said. “Someone who is interested in the long view, someone who wants to look 30 years down the road.”
During the past year, the debate over large cruise ships visiting Rockland Harbor has taken center stage in the city of about 7,000 people. In August, the city council set temporary limits on the number of large cruise ships that can come into the harbor, and when these stops can be made. The limit was put in place while the city works to update the current harbor management plan. Cruise ship visitation is being studied and reviewed as a part of that process.
All three candidates say that the city needs to look further at the actual impact that large cruise ship visitation has on Rockland’s economy and quality of life.
Perkins worries that if the city says it will no longer allow large cruise ships to use city infrastructure to tender in passengers, there is nothing stopping a private entity from allowing cruise ships to use its docks.
Dorr said the number of cruise ships visiting Rockland is great and supports business on Main Street in the shoulder seasons, but future harbor revitalization shouldn’t be built around the industry.
“I would much rather see that energy focused on fisheries and having the harbor be more pedestrian and small boater friendly,” he said.
Hayward said he has heard a lot of emotion-based arguments surrounding the cruise ships, but that he would need more information to determine if there should be growth or limits put in place surrounding the cruise ships.
The only local referendums going before Rockland voters this year pertain to adult-use and medical marijuana stores and whether they should be allowed in the downtown district or the city as a whole.
Hayward said emotion needs to be separated from the business part of the marijuana debate, but he would like to do more research on state and federal laws.
Perkins said she supports medical marijuana “absolutely.” She said there are a “lot of unknowns” surrounding the recreational use system, but businesses shouldn’t be restricted “unless there is cause for it, not just because there are fears or thoughts of something happening.”
Dorr said medical and adult-use recreational stores should be supported, and “as a community who is concerned about revenue, we should be willing to accept new businesses that want to come in and start here.”
Looking toward Rockland’s future, Dorr said new businesses should be welcomed in the city, whether it be light manufacturing like Bixby Co. or smaller tech or web-based businesses.
“That’s how we’re going to successfully reduce the burden on our taxpayers,” he said.
Perkins said in order for Rockland to grow, “we need to focus on getting people in and around the community involved.”
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