Government Spotlight

Candidates for select board

We asked each of the four select board candidates to provide information for voters on their background and perspectives. There are two seats open for three year terms. Profiles that follow are in alphabetical order.
Tammy Donovan
Nick Planson
Brian Shedlarski
Dustin Ward

TAMMY DONOVAN

Tammy Donovan

Occupation: Special Education Teacher

Education: Graduate of Gray- New Gloucester High School, BA-History University of Southern Maine, Minor in Education St. Joseph’s College, Graduate Courses for Community Development and Planning – Muskie

Community organizations/ service: Member of select board, on term, board liaison to various committees , past member of Land Management & Planning Committee, past member of Harraseeket Grange #9 in Freeport, volunteer for GNG-R Little League
Interests/ hobbies: Spending time with family, hunting, fishing, four wheeling, camping, gardening

Family status: Engaged, mother of 11 year old son

What are three goals you want to accomplish during your term?
My 3 goals would be to continue to work on the Upper Village Master Plan and work as a team to make informed decisions on how to proceed forward. I would also take a deeper look at the Comprehensive Master Plan with the board and set priorities and goals to attain in the next few years. My last goal would be to focus on road repair and maintenance when we have all the collectable data at our hands.

What change in town governance would you most like to see in the town charter? Why?
We appointed and elected a committee to come up with what the desires and hopes were for the town. I am at the will of the people and what they determine to be the changes needed for New Gloucester town governance. I will serve and execute the wishes and desires as voted on by the people should the Charter pass.

What is an issue that you think deserves more attention from the select board?Working together as a team is important to the success of the board. We may not always agree but we can always walk away with knowing that we are respectful to each other and all voices are considered in making decisions.

What are your two favorite places to spend time in New Gloucester?
I love my whole town. This is an impossible question but anywhere in the woods hunting or fishing.

NICHOLAS (NICK) PLANSON

Nick Planson

Occupation: Self-employed: The Boat Yard LLC, Shred Electric, and Sea Meadow Marine Foundation

Education: Bachelor of Science, Columbia University, Engineering Management

Community organizations/ service: Committee member: New Gloucester Budget Committee, Land Management Planning Committee, Public Safety Committee; Committee member: Royal River Conservation Trust’s Land Transactions Committee; Mentor with Maine Center for Entrepreneurs; Past Volunteer with Amigos de las Americas, Engineers Without Borders, Manna Energy Foundation, and Empower Generation

Interests/ hobbies: Mountain Biking; Backcountry Skiing & Snowboarding; Collectible and Electric Vehicles; Aquaculture and Clean Energy; Historical Fiction Novels; Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; Trail-Building; Travel and Cross-Cultural Exchanges

Social media: Instagram: @planson_for_selectboard; FaceBook: njplanson; Website: www.nickplanson.com

What are three goals you want to accomplish during your term?
(1) Focus on long-term issues, strategies and policies that are complex and critical to the town; (2) Delegate more day-to-day tasks to the town’s professional staff; (3) Collaborate with residents and volunteers to ensure New Gloucester is a welcoming and appreciative place for all

What change in town governance would you most like to see in the town charter? Why?
(1) Allow votes on warrant at the ballot box instead of Town Meeting to significantly increase resident participation. (2) Allow hybrid board and committee meetings to allow participation by all residents. (3) Strengthen term limits to encourage participation by more residents. (4) Prohibit multiple immediate family members from serving on the same board or committee to encourage fairness and diversity in resident representation in town governance. (5) Allow any New Gloucester resident to serve on a board or committee to ensure no one is excluded based on voter status or citizenship.

What is an issue that you think deserves more attention from the select board?
The select board and committees should truly value written and verbal input from residents and proactively use this input when discussing and deciding matters.

What are your two favorite places to spend time in New Gloucester?
Public and private trails; the Library

BRIAN SHEDLARSKI

Brian Shedlarski

Occupation: Realtor, Niles, Shedlarski & Co.

Education: 1995 Graduate of Gray-New Gloucester High School. Enrolled in Burlington College, VT in 1997 and later transferred to UMaine Orono for Journalism.

Community organizations/ service: Land Management Planning Committee (Chairman), Budget Committee (Chairman), Economic Development Committee (Vice Chairman), Past member of the Town of Gray’s Solid Waste and Recycling Committee

Interests/ hobbies: Spending time with family and friends, skiing, travel, geology, fishing

What are three goals you want to accomplish during your term?

I would like to continue working toward the select board’s goal of addressing paving of town roads. As part of that process Town Manager Landes has secured grant money and an intern to survey town roads to assess their condition. I look forward to using that data to identify the roads that have current needs and take action to address them. In addition, New Gloucester needs to plan for future projects and needs to fund them in a manner that is more successful than past efforts. I would like to revisit our waste management and recycling programs as well as transfer station operations. Are tax dollars being used efficiently? If there is a way to manage our waste in a more cost effective manner I would like to implement changes as soon as possible. Lastly, as we emerge from the pandemic and enter into a shifting economy I hope to be part of a select board that continues to stay the course of fiscal responsibility and local control.

What change in town governance would you most like to see in the town charter? Why?
After reviewing the Charter Commission’s public survey it is clear that the majority of respondents favor our current system of government. I support a select board and town manager with an annual town meeting to vote on ordinances and the budget. My role as a selectman is to work for the citizens of New Gloucester. To do so I will continue to support this type of government.

One area of policy I would like to see strengthened by the charter is the expectations regarding member participation on boards and committees. Currently there is almost no standard for participation, members stop participating because they don’t like a topic or because they lose interest in a committee. There should be clear standards of service set fourth prior to appointment of committee members outlining the expectations of them while serving on boards and committees.

What is an issue that you think deserves more attention from the select board?
A big source of concern for me is waste management at the transfer station. As noted above we may not be managing our waste in the most cost effective manner. For example, everything we throw in the hopper (household trash) costs $41/ton for disposal. Currently the plastic recycling, mixed paper recycling and glass are all being disposed of with this waste. Is there a better outlet that costs less than $41/ton for this? Is there an outlet that would pay us for these commodities? The roll offs (big green dumpsters numbered 1 and 2) currently cost $89.01/ton for disposal. Are there cheaper alternatives for any of this waste? By finding other outlets such as alternative disposal methods or additional recycling options and more efficiently structuring the transfer station operations we could significantly reduce our operating expenses saving taxpayer dollars.

What are your two favorite places to spend time in New Gloucester?
Sabbathday Lake and anywhere my beautiful wife is.

DUSTIN WARD

Dustin Ward

Occupation: Racial equity and conciliation advocate

Education: B.S. Political Science – University of Southern Maine (2010) & Master of Divinity – Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary (2019)

Community organizations/ service: New Gloucester Select Board Member, Implicit Bias Educator for Mindbridge, Board Member for Atlantic Black Box, & Board Member

Interests/ hobbies: Love basketball and golf. Interested in politics, racial equity, and love learning about areas that are big mysteries such as astrology and quantum physics.

Family status: Married, two children

Social media: @vote_forward – Instagram voteforward.me – Website

What are three goals you want to accomplish during your term?
1) To move the Upper Village Plan closer to realization using the previous work by New Gloucester residents, and key staff that invested considerable time in the first plan, and putting strategic goals for the next 1-5 years that the Board can begin to take action on. 2) Preparing to add an additional staff this year; 1 member for the Library allowing us to be comparable to other peer libraries in the area, while assisting the Director with rolling out a more enhanced inter-library loan program, and 1 member for the Town Hall to assist the Town Manager. 3) Using the Comp Plan as a guide for further decision making efforts, one such focus being affordable housing and senior housing and the impact this will have given the current housing crisis. We need to hone in on where affordable and senior housing should be placed and how our current zoning will be barriers to such shifts. We also will need to consider property tax and valuations that come with this, along with if we need to assess short term rental issues given the new law (LD2003).

What change in town governance would you most like to see in the town charter? Why?
As our town grows, it is important that we offer more individuals the ability to participate in town governance including Boards and Committees. The Town Charter should NOT create more limits to participation, but allow greater accessibility, and should not make being a registered voter a pre-requisite for serving our town. The Town Charter should also expand our Board from 5 to 7 members so that more voices can be representative of the town to make decisions, and to spread efforts in serving on committees that we as Board members are called to do.

What is an issue that you think deserves more attention from the select board?We need to do a better job of using our budget as a means of setting a vision and tone for where we want our town to go. In order to do this, we need to better allow our Town Manager the flexibility to create a budget they feel fits the town’s needs, in conjunction with department heads. The Board should think more big picture about where the town is moving, instead of getting buried in details and line items. This also means the Board needs to begin using our staff more to carry the work of overall governance, and the Board being a visionary and guide in streamlining the Town towards greater things.

What are your two favorite places to spend time in New Gloucester?
Pineland Farms and the Village Store/Intervale Pizza and Village Market.