Lewiston charter commission candidates
David ChittimFavors consolidating both cities
Eugene Geiger
Favors consolidating both cities
Lucien Gosselin
Favors consolidating both cities
Richard GrandmaisonFavors consolidating both cities
Chantel Pettengill
Favors consolidating both cities
Charles Soule
Does NOT favor consolidating both cities
Charter commission forum
Complete coverage of the charter commission at SunJournal.com/twincites
LEWISTON — Only one Lewiston candidate for a new charter commission thinks that consolidation with Auburn is a bad idea, according to his Sun Journal profile.
Voters will go to the polls June 10 to pick three candidates from each city to sit on the Lewison-Auburn Charter Commission. Those six will begin drafting a plan to make one larger city out of two medium-sized ones.
The commission will write a new charter as well as a plan for all the other details, like what it will be called, where its offices will be, how it will be divided up politically. Most importantly, they’ll decide how city assets and services should be parsed up and how city debt will be paid off.
The commission has no deadline, no budget and no real authority beyond drafting the document according to the state statute governing consolidating cities and towns.
A majority in both cities must approve the charter independently before it becomes official. If either city says no, the matter ends for now.
If voters in both cities agree, the existing cities have two years to work out their differences.
Twelve candidates qualified for spots on the ballot, six from each city. The Sun Journal asked all of them to answer questions about themselves and about combining the cities.
The Auburn candidates’ responses were published Monday.
Excerpts of the Lewiston candidates’ responses published today are from Chantel Pettengill, Charles A. Soule, David Chittim, Eugene Geiger, Lucien B. Gosselin and Richard Grandmaison.
Candidate Soule was the only one to say the current consolidation plan is happening too late and should have been considered before 2009. He said he would have preferred that voters would have been asked if they even want consolidation before voting to create a charter commission.
The remaining five candidates all agreed that consolidation could have some merits for Lewiston under certain circumstances.
The full profiles for all 12 candidates are available at www.sunjournal.com/twincities. The Sun Journal has also combined the profiles, plus polling place information in a PDF e-book — which is available there.
The candidates have also been invited to a May 27 forum to discuss their opinions about consolidating Lewiston and Auburn, their vision for how new city could work and what they expect to be included in the discussion.
The forum is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. in Callahan Hall in the Lewiston Public Library.
The Sun Journal is hoping to collect as many questions as possible for the candidates beforehand. Email them to staylor@ sunjournal.com before May 26 to have them included.
2014 Guide to the Twin Cities Charter Commission ballot
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