LEWISTON — Lewiston native Mike Lachance is running for the Ward 7 City Council seat.

Lachance collected 50 signatures on his nomination petition and returned it to the City Clerk’s Office, guaranteeing himself a spot on the Nov. 5 ballot.

“I’ve met some amazing people in the various neighborhoods of Ward 7,” Lachance said in a written statement. “To be invited into so many living rooms and kitchens for 5-, 15- and even 45-minute discussions has made the ballot petition process very energizing.”

Incumbent Ward 7 City Councilor Richard Desjardins is passing nomination petitions to secure a spot on the ballot.

In his statement, Lachance said he is running for the seat because the city needs to focus on its new fiscal realities.

“We can’t continue to operate as if we still have mills and malls everywhere,” he wrote. “The money is harder to find today. A dwindling number of our residents pay increasingly higher property taxes which go toward footing the bill for those less fortunate who must utilize public assistance, more so today than ever before.”

Lachance is married and a father of two. He works at Neokraft Signs in Lewiston and also runs a home-based photo restoration business, Central Maine Photo Services.

For more information, visit Mike’s website at www.mikelachance2013.com.

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