LEWISTON – Norm Rousseau figures he and his outgoing City Council colleagues will be equally praised and condemned for the decisions they’ve made over the past six years.

“That’s what happens when you make things happen,” Rousseau said. “You get controversy.”

And a lot has happened since Rousseau, Mark Paradis and Lillian O’Brien began their City Council terms in January 2002. They joined incumbents Renee Bernier, Ron Jean and Paul Samson that year, and were joined by Stavros Mendros in 2004. That group has been in charge of Lewiston politics for six years.

Now they’re out. Seven new councilors take their oaths of office at the Lewiston Middle School auditorium tonight. The ceremony is scheduled to begin at 6:30.

During their tenure, outgoing councilors hired a new administrator, began three programs aimed at revitalizing the downtown and took control of the old Central Maine Civic Center, now the Androscoggin Bank Colisee and home to the Lewiston Maineiacs, a junior hockey league team.

But not everything worked. They withdrew one of their development efforts, the Heritage Initiative, after downtown neighbors objected to a proposed boulevard that would have resulted in tearing down some affordable housing units. Councilors backed down again last year after a plan to privatize the city’s landfill ignited a huge public outcry.

And one decision, to implement a fee based on storm water run-off, was never properly understood, they say.

“People are still mad about that, to this day,” Paul Samson said Friday. “I’m not sure most everyone understood the idea behind that.”

The lesson from the rain fee, according to Samson, is that councilors ought to explain themselves.

“You’ve got to do a better job of explaining what you’re doing, why you’re doing it,” he said. “That’s the only way people know what’s happening.”

Rousseau said he has seen a change in the way Lewiston residents view their city and each other.

“Ten years ago, we used to sit around and talk, ‘Hey, did you hear someone’s building a new gas station in town?'” Rousseau said. “That was the level of new development in our community. But now, we can’t keep up the pace of new projects being announced.”

Wal-Mart

It began in January 2001 with Wal-Mart distribution facility, according to Mark Paradis. The agreement was signed on Dec. 28 by the previous City Council.

“But this council, we really did the nuts and bolts of work on that,” Paradis said.

Councilors worked River Road neighbors to limit the impact the center would have on their homes and negotiated with the company – first to change the development plan layout and later, the schedule.

“I remember having constituents crying at my kitchen table, worried about what would happen,” Paradis said. “We really went to bat for those residents.”

For Rousseau, the biggest decision was hiring a new city administrator. Councilors settled on Jim Bennett in March 2002, hiring him away from Westbrook.

“He really brought this community together, and we got so much done because of it,” Rousseau said. Bennett negotiated with Platz Associates to take over the Bates Mill Enterprise Complex, reduced city staff and helped keep property taxes level.

Bennett worked with councilors take over the Colisee and to draw up plans to have Casella Solid Waste manage the city’s landfill.

“But nothing he did, he did on his own,” Rousseau said. “He has always been acting under our guidance, and I don’t care if that’s the trash issue or anything else.”

Overall, Rousseau is pleased with the progress he and his council colleagues made.

“When I originally ran for the City Council, I did it because there was no unity there or anywhere in the city,” he said. “The biggest problem we faced was perception. You can’t move forward when everyone looks down on you.”

New pride and a more polished image culminated with Lewiston being named an All-America City last year.

“We’ve been able to get everybody back on track now,” Rousseau said. “Now it’s up the new council to keep it going.”

The group finished work Dec. 19, with a presentation of the traditional council gift: specially made chairs engraved to mark the time councilors spent in their official seats.