Address:  956 Head Tide Hill Rd, Alna, ME 04535 (street), P.O. Box 34, Alna ME 04535 (mailing)

Occupation:  Retired scientist/engineer/program manager

Education: B.S., Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering (University of California, Berkeley), M.S., Physics (San Jose State University)

Political History (Board, Committees, other): More than 20 years’ service in municipal government, including two previous terms serving on Alna’s Select Board, and representing Alna on the board of the Lincoln County Regional Planning Commission since 2019.

Clubs/Organizations: Created the Fund to Support Historic Alna (Historic Alna), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in 2022 in order to help fund the maintenance, preservation, and restoration of Alna’s historic buildings, and to qualify for grant funding that is only available to nonprofits.

Considering the office you are running for, what do you feel are the three most pressing issues (350 words or less):  

I worked hard during my previous terms to improve how our municipal government operates, bolster our infrastructure, preserve our historic buildings, and help build community. I’m particularly proud of the nearly $1.7 million in grant funding that I helped to secure for Alna – funding that’s going to improve our roads, allow the town office to operate during power failures, and save Alna taxpayers $4,000 a year on electricity.  

Securing four separate grants for the bridge on Egypt Road was a lot of work, but that project isn’t finished. Now we have to coordinate multiple players and funding sources to get the bridge built as cost-effectively as possible. I hope to use my knowledge of the project details and my experience managing large projects to produce the best possible result for Alna. 

Second, because it’s far less expensive to maintain roads that are in good health than to repave or rebuild roads that have been poorly maintained or neglected, I want to continue to work closely with our Road Committee and Road Commissioner to implement the Road Management Plan that we’ve just rolled out so we can get our roads back in shape and maintain them so that Alna’s taxpayers can get the best value from their investment.

And now that construction is complete on CMP’s transmission line corridor project, I also want to make sure that CMP pays its fair share of taxes in 2025 and into the future.  Every year, CMP provides a “statement of declared value” to communities along its transmission corridor. I’ve already taken steps to ensure that Alna obtains an independent assessment of value from a qualified third-party assessor; a step that has yielded substantial savings for Alna’s taxpayers in the past.

Any other thoughts on why you are running or what you can bring to the office? 150 words or less: 

I’m proud of what I’ve helped Alna achieve, both as a member of Alna’s Select Board, and through personal initiatives as a volunteer in the community. That said, each achievement begins with an idea. If elected, I will continue to listen carefully to all of Alna’s residents on matters that affect the town because none of us has a monopoly on good ideas.

Our ability to successfully deal with the issues that we’ll be facing over the next two years will have important consequences for Alna’s residents and taxpayers, and it will take all of us working together to ensure that Alna is the best it can be. I hope that I’ve proven myself to be a hard-working, competent, and effective champion for Alna, and that Alna’s voters will return me to the Select Board so that I can do even more for the community.