ROCKLAND – Four candidates on the Nov. 8  ballot seeking a seat on the Rockland City Council include Larry Pritchett, Brian Harden, Ed Glaser and Steve Carroll. They all met at City Hall for a well-attended candidates Forum Oct 19. 

The 90-minute forum was moderated by Stephen Betts, from the Bangor Daily News. The candidates answered questions for the public and were quick to point out when they agreed with statements made by other candidates, or when a candidate was right in their assessment of a question.

Betts did an excellent job as moderator keeping the debate on track and on time. Names were drawn before the forum to determine the order in which the candidates would speak.

One candidate, Larry Pritchett, already sits on the council and is trying for reelection to what would be his third term in office.

Question highlights: (Responses may be paraphrased)

If elected to council would you submit orders that there would be no more meeting behind closed doors here at city council?

Glaser: I don't know how other towns do it, but I think there are some issues, personnel issues, that have to be done in executive session. I think we should be more specific in explaining why council is going into executive session, what they are going in there for.

Carroll: I agree with Ed. I believe there are certain circumstances where you are required to have an executive session. I think the question was more directed to openness, more of a transparency between the council and the public which is one of the platforms I stand on.

Pritchett: One of my first meetings as a councilor I came to the meeting with the rules for executive session and tried to get council to be more clear about what's legitimate executive session and what's not.

Harden: The state law is very clear. It gives exact circumstances under which you can have an executive session. It has o meet one of those A,B,C,D requirements or we wouldn't have an executive session. We need to err against executive session and not for them.

Can the city really develop a rational harbor management plan? How do you protect this great natural wealth generator?

Carroll: We have one of the biggest harbors in the coast and I think that we have plenty of room for all the people that want to come there.

Pritchett: I think it's important that the city maintain its waterfront commercial zoning to make sure that parts of the waterfront remain focused on water dependant uses, such as commercial fishing and it's important to maintain the commercial fish pier. Harbor management plans are more about allocating space for all.

Harden: We have a mixed use harbor that is really valuable to us. It's the best harbor north of Baltimore. We have to balance the mixed use, we have plenty of room, but we have to regulate what gets dumped into the harbor both by separation of storm and sewer, but also how we regulate what comes into the harbor. The large cruise ships if not regulated properly can help to pollute our harbor as much as they can bring people into your community. A harbor management plan is around, but needs to be updated to balance those issues.

Glaser: The harbor management plan we have needs to be updated. This is one of those things where a good community development director is important and a good grant writer. There is grant money to hire consultants to work with the harbor management commission and citizens to come up with a new harbor management plan. The one we have still talks about Sea Pro and that has been gone for a long time. We have a healthy harbor. Sandy Beach is tested on a regular basis, so it's safe for swimming. It's a healthy harbor and we need to keep it that way.

In their closing arguments the candidates tried to focus on what would make them right for the job and deserving of the voters support.

Pritchett: I certainly think the city, and I've always been someone who thinks a city or any organization is someone who needs to learn where things aren't working. More importantly I'm someone who believes that you need to focus on strengths and learn from that. From my perspective if I was elected to another term I would be looking at things that work. I certainly agree with many of the comments made tonight about transparency and community engagement. I really think that has been a place where it has been problematic from my tenure on council. I've often advocated for special work sessions, community work sessions in particular areas and that takes a majority of council to agree to.

Harden: Three real reasons why I would like to serve on the Rockland City Council again. There are three words about community that make me want to serve. Community as you realize comes from the words common and unity. The community has to see its governing body work for the common good. That's what we are straying away from.

I am a product of this community. I was born on Limerock Street, I grew up here, went away to school, lived in a couple of cities and came back out of choice. I love Rockland. I study its history, I write about it and I want to help it have a productive, prosperous future, but with a government that knows what's its policy and what its operation is. I'm a participant in the community.

I worked seven years on comprehensive planning and Old County Road, that I've heard come up several times tonight, started a s a plan that I worked on in the 1990's. And Tom Hall tired to get the state to chip in way back then. I've worked downtown for almost 40 years and I've spent a lot of time on various committees. I'm also a proponent of the community. Rockland has always been a very important part of my life. I do not have children and I no longer work at a business and I have studied this community all of my life, so I want to help guide and govern it into the future, so please vote for me on November 8, and help put Rockland back on track.

Carroll: Rockland is a very special place. I've spent most of my life right here and I've seen Rockland go through an awful lot of changes. I think that the changes that are coming now are good and I think that the changes that will occur will make Rockland a place that people will really want to come to, but I think that the danger is that we have to make sure Rockland is a place that everyone can live in. It's not going to be a community for the rich and famous. It's going to be a community where people that are working class people can live affordably, as well as, people who want to move here and retire here. It has always been a commercial or an industrial place and even our symbol, "reward to industry," says that Rockland is an interesting mix of different people from different backgrounds. We have to make Rockland a place for all of those people. That's what I would work for if you elect me to city council. One of the big platforms I stand on is openness, transparency and understanding what the citizens want.

Glaser: Now that you've heard all of us I think it's sort of telling that we all turn to each other and I said that Brian said something that I said was right and Larry said something that Steve said was right. We all sort of agree on some of the big issues.

The question is who is really going to get that done? And that's up to you kids to decide. And I don't have the answer to that. I have the disadvantage of not being born in Rockland. I had to move here, I'm a Rocklander by choice. I don't know if that makes me better at seeing Rockland then anybody else, or if it just means that I was fortunate to discover Rockland at some point.

There are a lot if issues on the table right now and some future ones that we don't even have a clue what's coming down the road. One of here is going to be on the council for three years and we have no idea what's going to happen.

There are all kinds of new issues that will come up in every term and that's something to look forward to. We have a wonderful opportunity and a wonderful city with great talent in its citizens. I have friends who have moved here and the reason they said they moved here was because of the creativity of the people who live here. I think that's a wonderful tribute to the people who live in town, but we need to find ways to work together to make it better for everybody. I personally think that after years of working in the harbor to try and get people to get along, and doing a relatively good job at it, I have the knowledge and the temperament and experience in knowing how the city works to bring that forward and I look forward to getting your vote.