Ward 4, municipal airport area

Address: 64 Jennifer Drive

Personal: Married, one daughter

Occupation: Financial management, Bilodeau Appraising and Consulting

Education: B.S., University of Maine; M.S. in financial management, Rutgers University

Political experience: On term on City Council

Community Groups: Central Maine Health Care, Lewiston Maineiacs Development Council, Maineiacs Education Foundation

Bilodeau thinks city can do better

AUBURN – The city is holding its own, according to Ward 4 Councilor Marcel Bilodeau.

It’s moving forward, making things better. That doesn’t mean there is no room for improvement.

“Communications, that’s where we fall down,” Bilodeau said. “There’s too much of a gap between the city and the schools, between the city and the departments, between the council and the voters.”

The city can change that, he said, and he wants to help.

“There is a perspective, primarily on finances, that I bring to the council that I think is appreciated,” he said. That can help him help guide fellow councilors and explain the city to voters.

One of the biggest misconceptions for Bilodeau is downtown spending, renovating Auburn Hall and building new garages. The city needs that investment now to keep Auburn growing economically, and that will help everyone.

“The primary misconception I hear is that the city is using that money but not meeting its obligations to its employees. That’s not true. We have done nothing to impair the operation of any of our departments.”

The city’s meeting structure is partly to blame, he said. Councilors normally meet for two hours in a workshop before each regular meeting to discuss that night’s agenda. Most of the information relevant to their decisions comes out at those workshops.

“But none of the people that attend the regular meetings come to those workshops,” Bilodeau said. He favors doing away with the workshop entirely.

“We need to do something to get the public more involved in the issues,” he said. “I think that means more public discussions at the regular meetings, even if we end up running those meetings until 10, 10:30 at night.”

If faced with a 1 percent property tax cap, Bilodeau said he’d try to salvage public safety as much as possible, cutting City Hall staff and recreation.

“I think people would rather wait in line to register their cars for an extra 10 minutes than worry about not having enough police on the roads,” he said.

Bilodeau said he’d also like to see Auburn create a finance committee to approve smaller decisions and recommend a course of action to councilors on bigger items.

Some city financial decisions frustrate him. The city does not have a financial surplus, relying on razor-thin budget margins and borrowing to pay for operations.

“We have tremendous exposure if something catastrophic should happen,” he said. “If we had a major disaster, it could ruin us. If we had just two patrol cars totalled in an accident or a something happens to a firetruck, we have no way to reserves to deal with those issues.”