Six candidates are running for three open seats on the Belfast City Council in next month’s election, with an incumbent and a challenger facing off in three different wards.
Five of the six candidates discussed their views during a Sept. 30 forum hosted by Belfast Community Radio, touching on issues including housing, taxation, climate change and the controversial proposed fish farm in the city. The sixth candidate, Johanna Peterson, did not attend the event.
In-person voting for the election will be held Nov. 5 at Tarratine Tribe #13 IORM, 153 Main St., for voters in wards 1 to 4 and at United Methodist Church, 23 Mill Lane, for voters in Ward 5.
Here are the candidates, listed alphabetically by ward:
Ward 1
Christopher Hyk
Hyk, a longtime resident of Belfast who works as a conservationist, is challenging incumbent Mary Mortier for this seat. He has served on the Regional School Unit 71 school board and is a current member of the Friends of the Harriet Hartley Conservation Area.
During the forum, Hyk said he ran because of his frustration with the stalled-out efforts of Nordic Aquafarms to build a land-based salmon farm in Belfast, and that he thinks the city needs to try to move on from the project.
“If I’m elected, I will try and make sure that the Nordic Aquafarm problem is settled as rapidly as possible so that we can save some money and put it towards schools and hopefully better administration,” Hyk said, citing “poor legal advice.”
Hyk argued that the city should try to encourage a more diversified economy. He also suggested it should scrutinize short-term rentals more closely, and on the subject of tax fairness, he noted that it can be hard for lower-income residents to pay the same tax rate as those who are wealthy.
Mary Mortier
Mortier, a long-time incumbent, is now wrapping up her sixth term on the council after first being elected in 2012. She works as a real estate agent and has lived in Belfast for almost 30 years.
Describing herself as a “budget hawk,” Mortier said she first decided to run for council to help keep the tax rate in check. She said she pays close attention to details and has spent much time on committees for the hiring of municipal staff and the construction of a new public works facility.
Mortier also said she is well-versed on other long-standing local issues, including the city’s efforts to make it easier to develop housing.
“Affordable housing, housing in general, are not just an issue in Belfast. This is an all-encompassing issue across the state of Maine, and across the country,” Mortier said. “There have been a number of changes that have been made since 2014 in particular to the ability through planning and codes to expand uses within the community.”
Ward 2
Neal Harkness
Harkness, an incumbent who has lived in Belfast for 19 years, is trying to keep his seat after first getting elected to the council a decade ago. He currently works as a driver for Mid-Coast Public Transportation, was a co-founder of Belfast Community Radio, and has been involved with various other area organizations.
During his time on council, Harkness said that he has worked to improve the city’s General Assistance Program and address housing unaffordability. He also expressed pride in helping create a fund that originally helped businesses through the COVID lockdown and is now the Keep the Faith Fund.
“We were able to help a lot of people get through that, and we used the same fund that was left over to help the people at [the Penobscot McCrum potato plant destroyed by fire in 2022] when they left their jobs and the businesses that were hurt by these big storms last winter,” Harkness said.
Johanna Peterson
Peterson did not attend the recent forum and wasn’t immediately able to answer questions from the BDN.
Ward 5
David August
August, a Belfast resident for the past 14 years, is challenging Paul Dean for this council seat. He’s an independent HVAC and carpentry contractor who currently serves on the board of directors for the Springbrook Hill condominiums.
August said he’s running for council to help address issues surrounding housing, zoning, and tax fairness — an issue that residents have recently been debating after a property revaluation caused some tax increases. He specifically advocated for the city’s economic development office to focus more on housing.
“I’d like to put that towards housing, helping smaller developers navigate the process that we’ve created, the zoning process,” August said. “It’s [done through] top-down planning, and I think that it’s wrong. I think planning should start from citizen-led groups; it should not start from employees for the city. I think we need to start at the committee-level.”
Paul Dean
Dean, an incumbent councilor and a native of Belfast, is currently in his third term. He has also previously served as the chair of the city’s comprehensive plan committee.
While Dean has been on the council, he said that nearly 100 units of housing have been created in the city, but that the property tax rate has stayed in check.
“We’re very careful with how we spend your money, and I feel that there are some things we can do with our assessing of properties, to help make it a more fair and equitable way of doing it,” Dean said during opening remarks at the forum. “I don’t like paying taxes any more than the next person, but I’d like it to be fair-spread between all of us, so we all pay our fair share. That’s the main thing.”