Discussions ranging from improving education in the state to addressing housing needs were had by four candidates for state office during the second of five forums co-hosted by The Lincoln County News and the Boothbay Register on Monday, Sept. 30.

Nearly 50 community members attended the forum held at Pownalborough Hall in Dresden, which included candidates from Senate District 24 and House District 53.

Suzanne Andresen, I-West Bath, Jeffrey Pierce, R-Dresden, and Denise Tepler, D-Topsham, are the candidates for Senate District 24, which represents Dresden and all of Sagadahoc County. Incumbent Sen. Eloise Vitelli, D-Arrowsic, is serving her fourth and final term in the seat.

State Rep. Michael Lemelin, R-Chelsea, and Judith “Judy” Tunkle, D-Dresden, are the candidates for House District 53, which consists of Chelsea, Dresden, Pittston, and Randolph. Due to scheduling conflicts, Lemelin attended the Sept. 26 forum at the Wiscasset municipal building, while Tunkle attended the Sept. 30 forum.

Lincoln County News Publisher John Roberts moderated the Sept. 30 forum, posing a total of six questions to the candidates over the course of 90 minutes.

Following their introductions to the audience, each candidate shared concerns constituents have brought to them throughout their campaign, which included rising costs, the state of the education system, and affordable housing.

One of the biggest issues Mainers are facing is the cost of living, which includes increased property taxes, education budgets, and utility bills, according to the candidates.

Pierce suggested “bringing back” L.D. 1, “An Act to Increase the State Share of Education Costs, Reduce Property Taxes and Reduce Government Spending at All Levels.” The bill was signed into law in 2005 by former Gov. John Baldacci, with the purpose of lowering Maine’s state and local tax burden. It became obsolete when L.D. 1202, "An Act to Support Municipalities by Repealing the Law Limiting the Municipal Property Tax Levy," was passed in April.

Enticing businesses to move to the area would also help with the tax burden, said Pierce.

“We don’t encourage businesses and companies to come here, the tax burden is going to fall on all of you, and that’s not fair,” Pierce said.

Andresen posed a rhetorical question to audience members, asking what will happen when Mainers no longer have the capacity to pay their bills.

“When you look at all the costs of taxes, and trying to make ends meet, people are struggling,” she said. “Every time we turn the corner, there’s another fee for something, whether it’s insurance, whether it’s utilities, whether our school’s going up. The rate of spending is going to outspend all of us, and we can’t keep up with this.”

Tepler said three things are needed to move Maine’s economy forward: affordable and workforce housing, child care, and good wages.

“People are desperately worried about the cost of living, and what I have to say about that is I can’t do anything specifically about the exorbitant grocery prices that people are facing as a legislator, but what I can do is focus on building our economy,” she said.

When asked how the public education system could be improved, both Andresen and Pierce advocated for additional vocational training opportunities.

Andresen said the state’s focus seems to be on supporting students who will seek college degrees, but that it also needs to pay attention to students who do not want to go in that direction.

“We are helping to support associate college degrees, and paying for that, and I think we should take that a step down and help our juniors and seniors in high school,” she said. “There’s a shortage of the tech schools … I think we need to find a way to expand that program, because not all of them want to go off to college and get an associate’s degree, and we should capture their interests while they have the ability and interest to do that while they’re in high school.”

Pierce said trades people are few and far between, and that providing more opportunities for students to pursue vocational training will benefit communities, as more people will join the workforce at a faster rate.

“We need trades people,” he said. “We have got to get technical schools, vocational training back into our schools. That’s a cost we need to work on.”

While Tunkle agreed with Andresen and Pierce, she also noted that a good college preparation curriculum is “essential.”

“Not only do we need plumbers in this state, we also need doctors,” she said.

Tepler said while the “state formula,” or Maine’s Essential Programs and Services formula, works well, it does not address special education costs the way she believes it should. The formula identifies the types and amounts of resources needed in all schools and calculates the cost, according to legislature.maine.gov.

“Special education eats a very large share of our school budgets … I think that the state could be doing a much better job analyzing and figuring out the formula that it pays for schools around the state to create more equity and to help to deal with the cost of special education,” she said.

While Andresen said she understands the purpose of L.D. 2003 – a bill that allows the development of additional accessory dwelling units on properties – she believes a timeframe should have been provided, as it “opens the floor” to the development of “extra vacation homes.”

“You shouldn’t put out an ordinance and leave it open ended. That really doesn’t close the gap to create housing,” she said.

As a builder, Pierce said municipalities and the state as a whole needs to “lose some red tape.”

“There’s towns I won’t build houses in, Brunswick is one of them. Dealing with their planning, their code officer, and their zoning, it’s terrible,” he said. “It wastes a lot of time and adds about $35,000 to the cost of a home. So, if you want to build 10 homes, that’s $350,000. That’s not acceptable, that gets passed onto the consumer.

“When we talk about affordable housing, we’re passing all this red tape onto the consumer,” he said.

Tepler disagreed with Pierce, and said it’s not the role of the state to “step on” communities and repeal their “red tape.”

“While there are aspects of a building code that the state should look at very carefully … There are others that belong to the towns,” she said. “I believe the role of the state is to incentivize building.”

If she were elected, Tunkle said she would encourage “innovative” thinking in regard to the development of affordable housing. She would also suggest the development of a local industry for modular, multi-family housing developments.

“Each town has the right to figure out their own zoning and how they want to do it, but finding some ways to think outside of the box and come up with some creative, new ways of doing things could be helpful and valuable,” she said.

The state of emergency services in Maine was also discussed by candidates, including a proposed emergency response rule from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. According to Lincoln County fire department officials, the proposed regulations would increase financial burdens on emergency services by requiring the implementation of additional safety measures, which could possibly result in reduced manpower and limited resources.

Pierce said if the proposed rule is implemented, it is “going to crush every small fire department” in the state.

“There’s no way they can afford to replace this gear. It’s about $3,000 to set up a firefighter with gear,” he said.

If possible, Pierce said the Legislature needs to “tell the government, ‘No, thank you.’”

While Tepler said she agreed with Pierce in many ways on the issue, it is likely not possible to simply say no to the proposed rule.

“For all of us, emergency services and fire services are absolutely critical for our communities,” she said. “The problem with the OSHA rules and the extreme costs that our small departments will face is one we have to grapple with.”

Affordable health care is also an issue plaguing many Mainers, according to the candidates.

Tepler said she would simply like to see Mainers be able to see a doctor when they need to.

In 2023, Medicare began to negotiate directly with drug manufacturers to bring down the price of prescription drugs. Tepler said she would like to see that program expand.

“I don’t see why, in Maine, we couldn’t request that we be able to match that pricing for our affordable care system,” she said.

Additionally, Tepler would like to see transparency in regard to hospital care costs.

“We know that we do basically have two supposedly nonprofit health care systems in the state … But we don’t have a very clear idea of what the actual cost of being in any one of those hospitals for any particular procedure is, so we can’t really evaluate whether or not what they’re asking is fair,” she said.

Andresen said she thinks negotiations should begin with insurance companies and companies need to find a way to provide good group policies for small businesses in Maine.

“It should not cost me $1,000 a month for health care, with a $6,750 deductible, before I actually received one penny back in insurance. That was a lot of money for us to pay for one year of coverage, and it’s unacceptable,” she said.

Each candidate delivered a concluding statement at the end of the forum, thanking audience members for attending and reiterating their desire to serve and help Mainers.

Tunkle took the opportunity to discuss her passion for increasing access to fiber broadband internet in Lincoln County. She has served as the chair of the Dresden Communication, Broadband, and Digital Equity Committee since 2021.

Additionally, she played a role in the securing of a $6 million grant to Lincoln County from the Maine Connectivity Authority for the construction of fiber broadband internet, a project expected to bring internet service to residents across the county.

“I think that once that’s going in Lincoln County, we will be able to make a model that the rest of the state, as they are slowly getting their little bits of internet fastened to them, that we’ll be able to see some improvement in a lot of areas,” she said.

The third forum was at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 3, at the Charles E. Sherman Jr. American Legion Post 36 in Boothbay. The forum included candidates for Senate District 13, which includes all of Lincoln County except Dresden, as well as Washington and Windsor, and House District 48, which consists of Boothbay, Boothbay Harbor, Edgecomb, South Bristol, Southport, and Westport Island.

The fourth forum was at 6 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 7, at the Waldoboro municipal building. Panelists included candidates for House District 45, which consists of Bremen, Louds Island, Waldoboro, Friendship, and Washington, and House District 62, which includes Hibberts Gore and Somerville, as well as China, Palermo, and Windsor.

The final forum is at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 10, in the Great Salt Bay Community School cafeteria in Damariscotta. Candidates for Senate District 13 and House District 46, which consists of Bristol, Damariscotta, Monhegan, Newcastle, and Nobleboro, will participate.

Each forum is livestreamed on The Lincoln County News Facebook page.

For more information or to suggest a topic of conversation for candidates to discuss at a future forum, email editor@lcnme.com.

The general election is Tuesday, Nov. 5.