AUBURN – Bethel Shields believes the waste is there.

A member of both the City Council and the School Committee for the past four years, Shields says she has watched the numbers of city workers drop to “meager proportions” while the group of administrators in Auburn schools have remained. Maybe the city’s schools would run better if they were combined with Lewiston, says Shields.

“There’s got to be a lot of waste in education,” she said. Numbers such as Edward Little High School’s four vice principals, one for each grade, frustrate her.

“We ought to be thinking of the taxpayer,” Shields said.

It’s that responsibility that has Shields seeking her third term as a city councilor, she said.

“I feel a very strong need to serve the community,” said Shields. Perhaps people in her Ward 1 neighborhoods have come to see her as their advocate, she said.

“My phone rings all the time,” she said. She hopes that her service to constituents and her record will be enough to carry her to the council again. Except for some Election Day greetings at the polls, she isn’t campaigning.

“I’m basically a shy person,” Shields said. That’s fine for serving on the council. “I don’t think it’s a place where an individual shines.”

Lately, there have been few shining moments.

“The last two years have been contentious,” said Shields, who says the public has misunderstood the more controversial issues.

For instance, the city’s $8.7 million redevelopment of Auburn Hall is being paid for with a 20-year bond, meaning the city must only come up with each year’s debt payment, Shields said.

She has grown frustrated by some people’s complaints about city spending and the municipal administration, which has taken much criticism.

“The public gets a skewed version,” she said. “They work long and they work hard. On the whole, I think they do a fabulous job.”

Shields believes the changes in the downtown – including Auburn Hall, the new parking garage and the Hilton Hotel – have already added vitality to the city’s center.

She hopes the new vitality will translate into greater interest in the area and an expanded tax base.

“That’s what we need,” she said.

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