The BDN will profile every candidate who qualifies for the Bangor City Council ballot in the coming months. If there are questions you want us to ask the candidates, contact arupertus@bangordailynews.com.
Buzz is building early around Bangor’s City Council election this November.
Terry Dinkins, one potential candidate, already put up yard signs for his run three months before Election Day, and he recently released a campaign video with professionally shot drone footage — a rarity for a local race in a small city like Bangor.
And since the nomination period opened last week, the number of potential candidates has already reached the double digits.
The heightened interest in running for the Bangor City Council comes after a tumultuous year as frustration has mounted around the council’s performance, and after the nine-person body experienced one of the most competitive races in recent history last year.
Already, 12 Bangor residents have taken out nomination papers to run for one of three open seats since the window opened last Monday. Residents won’t know for sure who will be on the ballot until after the petition period closes on Aug. 25.
Dinkins had been thinking about running for a seat on the council for about a year before he decided this spring that he would enter the race.
One day in late April, he took to the steps of Bangor’s City Hall and went on Facebook live to announce his run — about three months before the petition period opened. He’s one of several people who’s been posting about their council runs on social media since the spring.
“I think you need to start early,” he said, noting he wanted to get his name out beyond his own circles.
Dinkins, a pastor at the Mansion Church on Center Street, has already named his treasurer, put up yard signs and started collecting donations, he said. This weekend, he plans to start knocking on doors.
The pastor is keeping his signs just to private property for now, he said. Maine law says temporary signs can only be placed in the public right of way for six weeks at a time.
In his view, you just need to watch a City Council meeting to understand why so many people have gotten going early this year.
“There needs to be a change. And I think that’s what people are seeing,” Dinkins said. From the conversations he’s had so far with residents, he’s seen the most frustration around drug use and needle waste in the city, and at least for him, he sees it as a key issue in this year’s election.
Residents from across the political spectrum have packed council meetings in recent weeks, largely to criticize the city for inaction and to debate how it should address homelessness, drug use and needle waste. Meanwhile, the current councilors have made little progress on their stated priorities of reducing homelessness and building more housing.
Richard Sanders has been posting about a planned council run on social media since May, although he hasn’t officially taken out papers yet, according to a list provided by the city clerk’s office. He also noted that he feels many residents are disappointed with the council’s work.
“I’m tired of the policies that were put in place that have brought the city to where we are today,” he said, adding that he and his wife each work two full-time jobs because their taxes and cost of living have gone up. He also noted new information that’s come to light about existing councilors, including that City Councilor Susan Hawes avoided paying $17,000 in fees to the city by not registering her vacant home as required by an ordinance she voted for.
Sanders decided to run after realizing he needed to do more than complain on Facebook.
“The only way to make a difference to me was to get involved and hopefully get elected,” he said.
The council has been mired in ethics investigations over the last year, and one councilor, Wayne Mallar, has been found guilty of unethical conduct twice by the city’s ethics board.
Councilors have publicly clashed, most notably in June when Carolyn Fish walked out mid-meeting in protest of a fiery speech her colleague Joe Leonard made criticizing federal immigration authorities and President Donald Trump.
The incident was so worrisome, the council seemingly decided, that it passed a resolve the following month apologizing for the “disruption to public business” and promising to enforce proper procedures and standards of debate.
Both of those councilors’ terms are expiring this year, as is Susan Deane’s. Neither Deane nor Fish have announced a re-election bid.
“She can complain about me all she wants,” Leonard said at the time of Fish. “I’ll look forward to running against her in November.” He declined to comment for this story, saying he didn’t want to inadvertently influence the election’s petition period.
Aspiring candidates need to collect 100 signatures from registered Bangor voters in order to qualify for the ballot. Wednesday was the first day candidates could turn in completed petitions, but they still have nearly three weeks before the deadline.
Others who have taken out nomination papers, as of noon Wednesday, are Adam Baker, Dawson Nevells, Joseph Pratt, Katherine Parker, Michael Furrow, Kenneth Ruby, Andrei Yermakov, Paul Madore, John King and Amber Webb, according to the city clerk’s office.
Nine candidates qualified for last year’s City Council race, an unusually high number. The field included a known local neo-Nazi, among others. Homelessness was a top issue in the race, and three progressives endorsed by the labor-affiliated nonprofit Food and Medicine swept the election.
“I feel it’s going to be a competitive field,” Sanders said of this year’s race, “and I think that’s probably what’s best for Bangor to get different viewpoints in there.”