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Michael Capeci is the chair of the Bangor Republican Committee.
On Dec. 4, the Bangor Daily News published an informative article showing that nearly half of Bangor’s neighborhoods did not have a city councilor residing in their boundaries. In fact, the majority of Bangor City Council members live in the Fairmount or Little City neighborhoods. This has led to questions about how councilors are elected, and whether the current system represents the needs of Bangor residents or whether reform would better serve the needs and interest of Bangor residents.
Currently, the city of Bangor elects all of its council on an at-large basis. This means that they are elected by the entire city rather than a specific neighborhood. Because the elections are citywide, anyone who lives within city limits can run for council. There are no requirements that would ensure that each neighborhood would have representation. Proponents of this current system believe it simplifies city elections and guarantees that there would be a full council. However, as pointed out in the BDN article, the drawbacks of the current system may be more significant than the benefits.
As stated earlier, most councilors live in two neighborhoods. While there are a few exceptions to this rule, it doesn’t change the fact that almost half of our neighborhoods don’t have a councilor living among them. This makes it harder for people to feel represented. Some current members on the council have admitted that it is hard to really keep track of the needs and interests of each neighborhood. This isn’t their fault, of course, because the current system is structured so that each councilor represents more than 30,000 people.
A new system could be created to localize our elections. That is what the Bangor GOP is proposing and requesting feedback on meaningful reforms in order to do just that.
The Bangor Republican Committee believes that in order to better represent all residents of Bangor, we must return to a ward system in our council elections. In a ward system, City Council candidates would be elected by neighborhood or groups of neighborhoods rather than citywide. By doing so, we can assure that everyone on the Bangor City Council is from a different area of the city. This plan would also make it easier for councilors to connect with their constituents and better represent their neighborhoods in addition to citywide issues.
A newer system of local election districts should be designed so that no ward would overlap any of the four state legislative districts. It might be feasible to include one or more citywide districts along with the neighborhood districts.
By reforming how we elect our city councilors, we could provide a better voice to many who feel they are often ignored or neglected. We intend to work on such a design for public review and comment. Your feedback is invited and can be directed to me at capecim@husson.edu.
Establishing a ward system is a very attainable and realistic goal. All it would take is a city ordinance change. The Bangor Republican Committee wholeheartedly supports this idea and would be happy to hold a series of public hearings so that Bangor residents can make their voices heard. We believe every neighborhood matters and will advocate for all to be represented. Let’s build a city where everyone is represented.