AUBURN — After 23 years as a uniformed employee of Androscoggin County — patrolling the roads, training other officers and transporting jail inmates — Michael Shostak wants to help run the county.

The 56-year-old Democrat from Minot is challenging incumbent Beth Bell to represent Auburn, Minot, Poland and Mechanic Falls on the County Commission.

If elected, he would be forced to resign from the Sheriff’s Department.

To him, it would merely be another job of public service, he said.

“In one respect or another, I have been in public service pretty much my entire adult life,” he said. Before joining the Sheriff’s Department, he worked as a Mechanic Falls police officer. He also served in the Army Reserve and, right out of high school, joined the U.S. Marines.

He has never held elected office. His candidacy was inspired by his years of working within the county.

The current three-member commission is “completely dysfunctional,” he said.

The years it has taken to settle on a plan for emergency dispatching is one example, he said.

“How long has it taken?” he asked.

He also criticized the commission for what he considers to be neglect of the county courthouse in downtown Auburn.

“It hasn’t been maintained properly for decades,” he said. “That’s why we’re having the problems now. They should have the courage to say, ‘I’m sorry, but this needs to be repaired.'”

Morale among county workers is even worse, he said.

As he has entered the election, he has toured offices and talked with workers.

“The general consensus is they are treated like they are no better than indentured servants,” he said. “They don’t feel they get the respect and support that they deserve from the county commissioners. I want to put a stop to that. I want to turn that around.”

Despite serving as a county employee, Shostak said he would not be a “rubber stamp” for employees, either.

That would likely be tested right away.

Commissioners plan to kick off talks with the Sheriff’s Department unions following the election. The current contract, which includes county deputies, dispatchers and jail guards, is set to expire at the end of 2012. And that agreement took years to negotiate.

“I will fight for the benefits that I think the union should have, but I can’t guarantee that I will fight for everything they ask for,” Shostak said.

He said he is supporting the current charter proposal that would reshape county government, expanding the commission to seven members and requiring the appointment of a professional county administrator.

“We definitely need a professional administrator in there,” he said. “No ifs, ands or buts.”

dhartill@sunjournal.com

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