Four candidates are vying to fill two open seats on the Ellsworth City Council this fall, just months after a recall campaign failed to oust five of seven sitting councilors.
Incumbent Nancy Smith, former councilor Casey Hanson and newcomers Tiffany Dilda-Gaspar and Robert Grant Sr. will each be on the November ballot. Council chair Patrick Lyons is not seeking re-election. Nomination papers for the election were due midday Friday.
The November election comes on the heels of a springtime recall petition aimed at removing five city councilors who voted to censure Councilor Steven O’Halloran following an investigation that suggested O’Halloran, whose term expires in 2027, had allegedly bullied city employees. The city spent more than $19,000 on its probe into O’Halloran’s conduct.
The recall campaign failed to collect the number of signatures needed to hold a citywide recall vote.
John Linnehan, a longtime area businessman and repeat council candidate, took out nomination papers but ultimately opted to not to run because of his support for Gaspar and Grant. Linnehan, who supported the recall effort, has run for city council every year for the past five years and, in prior election cycles, has run for Maine Legislature, but has never held elected public office.
“I encourage everyone who voted for me last year to support and vote for these two fiscally responsible people,” Linnehan told the Bangor Daily News on Friday. “Only these two will try their best to reduce the current Ellsworth city council’s unaffordable and unnecessary property tax burden and spending.”
The four residents pushing to fill two council vacancies are no strangers to council proceedings.
Smith, who was named on the unsuccessful recall, is running for re-election.
“It would be easier not to run for re-election, given the online death threats we’ve received, but I believe this is my time and place to protect democracy, right here in Ellsworth,” Smith previously told the Bangor Daily News.
Hanson, a family physician who served one term on the council beginning in 2021, is campaigning for a second stint on the board. During her previous bid for city council, Hanson called for more comprehensive mental health and addiction services and affordable housing. She has also stressed the need to help small businesses flourish in Ellsworth.
Hanson chaired the city’s human resources search committee in 2024 when it selected City Manager Charles Pearce for Ellsworth’s top administrative role.
Smith and Hanson did not respond to inquiries Friday from the BDN.
Gaspar, who spearheaded the recall movement, has been a vocal critic of council spending. Gaspar, owner of a consulting group and bar catering service, was elected in 2024 as the treasurer of the Maine Republican Party. She is running for her first term on the council.
Gaspar’s biggest concern is Ellsworth’s “dire financial situation,” brought on by what she said is the council’s overspending and lack of transparency, adding “I believe we can be business, resident and visitor friendly without it being at the cost of our taxpayers.”
“Residents [and] taxpayers should have more say,” Gaspar said. “We are a small community of around 8,500 people who mostly are blue collar. We need to tighten the purse strings and spend the next 3-4 years with a tighter budget, operating under what we can afford. I’ve done an immense amount of research and the way we are going now, we are out of money, and loans aren’t the answer.”
Gaspar has also repeatedly suggested there were several errors throughout the city’s 2027 budgeting process.
“Transparency is key, and I feel that when talking to a vast variety of both residents and taxpayers, there is a distrust with local government,” Gaspar said. “We spend way too much money on things that should be lower on the list for right now.”
Grant, a self-employed contractor, advocated on behalf of O’Halloran at several of the spring council meetings addressing the councilor’s censure. Like Gaspar, Grant has been an outspoken detractor of the council’s fiscal decision-making.
Grant, who is the only candidate so far with campaign signs distributed across the city, declined to provide an immediate comment Friday afternoon.