LEWISTON — During his first three years in office, Larry Gilbert did what he could to expand the role of mayor — and he hopes to push the envelope even more in his next two years.

Gilbert said he’d like to a see a charter review during his next term. Lewiston currently has a weak-mayor form of government, and the mayor only votes when the council is tied.

“I think we can tweak that a little bit, balance the power in city government a bit better,” Gilbert said. He envisions a mayoral veto, requiring a five-vote council majority to override it.

“We need something to give us power over the cliques, the little majorities that seem to be able to get their way,” Gilbert said. “It seems that we have all of these votes passing by 4-3. It would be nice to be able to change that.”

Opponent Mark Paradis wants to dial back the mayor’s role. He thinks the mayor should be part of a team.

“We need to work together, make it less about everyone’s personal agendas and more about just doing good work for the city,” Paradis said. His goal over the next two years is to help encourage councilors to put aside their personal agendas.

“All those years I was on the council, we got a lot done,” Paradis said. “We did it by not making things personal. That doesn’t mean we didn’t disagree, because we did. But we disagreed without the tantrum, without slamming chairs and without throwing pencils.”

Paradis served as the city’s Ward 6 representative from 2001 to 2007, stepping down after serving his last year with Gilbert as mayor. He thinks Lewiston’s economic development successes during that time grew partly out of City Council leadership.

“They could look and see a council working together, and I’m not sure how much that’s happening any more,” Paradis said. “If you’re thinking about moving to a community, or expanding there, you don’t want to see your elected leaders arguing over every little point.”

Paradis said he would continue to work as a service manager for Longchamps and Sons Inc. of Lisbon.

“I’m not going to be jetting around, taking trips, getting my pictures taken in Paris and Toronto,” Paradis said.

Gilbert said that would be a mistake. He treats the role as a full-time job, making appearances, speaking to groups and attending meetings.

“A mayor needs to be available, at all times,” Gilbert said. “It is a full-time job. Yes, you are acting as the ceremonial head of the city and you need to be available. I don’t see how a person could do this job justice while working someplace else.”

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