Paris is holding a special election Dec. 2 to fill two seats vacated when former selectmen Matthew Brackett and Michael Bailey resigned earlier this fall.

Six candidates have tossed their hats in the ring.

The special election to fill out the five-member panel will be held at Paris Town Office, 4-8 p.m.

The Advertiser Democrat posed a handful of questions to the candidates for voters’ consideration:

1. Why are you running for the select board?
2. What are the two most pressing current issues facing the town of Paris and what solutions do you propose? 
3. Do you favor or oppose adopting climate resilience programs and using grants to improve Paris’ infrastructure and mitigate energy costs? 
4. How can Paris balance rising school budgets and cost of town services with property tax burdens? 
5. Do you see the 2025-26 fiscal year cuts to town departments as the solution or a stopgap measure? 
6. What is your professional and personal background? 

The candidates’ responses are below, in their own words.

FIRST SEAT

Ronald Ramsey III, Christopher Buffington and Michael Lance are running to fill a term that expires in six months.

Ronald Ramsey III

I’m running because I feel Paris has room to grow, and I’d like to be at the forefront of that growth.

I think the two most pressing issues are moral within town departments, and the open highway director position. The select board should work to ensure the current budget reductions will still sustain necessary employees and services and mitigate town employees being fearful of their positions being eliminated.  Finding a suitable candidate for the highway director position, that’s willing to join the towns leadership ranks, could pose challenges with the recent turmoil. With winter weather looming, it must be a top priority.

I support any initiative, climate or otherwise, that promotes infrastructure improvements that benefit the town, its residents, and businesses.  Doing so through grants is the best option to minimize or eliminate those costs at a local level.

The Paris select board should work diligently to coordinate with select boards from all eight towns as well as the school district to ensure rising costs are purely educational and necessary, that unfunded (from the state’s EPS) programs are limited at best, or funded from other sources rather than local share. At the town level, cost of services is not likely to go down. As a town, we need growth in residential and commercial real estate to increase the overall tax base, thus reducing the MIL rate for everyone.

The 2025-26 fiscal year cuts are a stopgap.

I grew up in Otisfield, OHCHS honors graduate class of 2005. I went to work full time right out of high school. I purchased my first home in Oxford at age 20. I moved to Paris with my wife in 2011. In December ’05 I entered the heavy equipment repair field. I started working for Hartford’s Forklift in Auburn as a field service technician in late 2009, where I worked up to Operations Manager, and eventually purchased the business in January 2020. Now operating in Paris, we have grown to employ eight full time employees with an annual revenue over $3 million.

Christopher Scott Buffington

I want to be able to afford the town I live in. I want to be part of the process and give balanced input on how we implement and spend our hard earned tax dollars.

Paris is getting back on its feet. At the annual town meeting, voters spoke up about their sharply increasing tax bills and changes were made. For many households, they are at the breaking point. Change is never easy. As a result, employee turnover is up. Everyone needs to be supportive during this phase. Paris needs to work on capital improvement accounts; this currently is not being done, so we take it all on the chin with large purchases.

The first question I would ask (on climate resilience) is, “How does this benefit the tax payer in Paris?” On the surface, I would support climate resilience programs covered by grant money. But the details matter. Grant money isn’t always free and isn’t always stable. Administrative fees to monitor the project can be costly. So, how would this project benefit the community as a whole? How would the tax payer in Paris benefit from this? I would use that as my basis.

The SAD 17 budget is on a runaway train. We need to get money out of the administration line and back into the classroom where it’s needed. SAD 17 has one of the highest administrations budgets in the state. But as a town, we have little to say about that. It would take a collective effort with other communities to address this. So until that happens, we just have to pay the bill they send us. 

Municipal budgets are approved at annual town meetings. Voters do have a say on how much we spend in each department. My personal approach is to look at each department and line items. Is that department operating efficiently? Are they staffed appropriately? Are they getting the job done for the benefit of the taxpayer? Is the tax payer getting the most bang for their buck?

I was a leading voice at the annual town meeting proposing some of these reductions. But let’s be clear about what they were. These were reductions to the proposed budget, not cuts to the operating budget. For the most part, the overall operating budget for the town stayed the same. The police department budget even increased over $150k from the previous year. As I expressed at the town meeting. Paris can be a very hard town to do business in. There are fundamental things that have to change. Treating residents respectfully when they come into the town office to conduct business should be a priority. From start to finish. This was addressed at town meeting and changes have been made. So in that sense, it was a solution and not a stop gap.

I was born and raised in South Paris. My wife is April. It took us almost half a lifetime to connect with each other, but like a fine wine or aged scotch, it couldn’t be better. You can often find us hanging with the grandchildren. I am self employed and operate an automotive repair shop, Willies Repair and Auto Glass on High Street. This business was started by my father in 1978. 

Michael Lance

I am running with a desire to serve. As a current member of the Maine House, I have the opportunity to serve my home town and three others. Being a selectman gives the opportunity to chart a course. I recently retired from the town fire department because I wanted to explore this option and run for reelection in my district seat.

First issue, drug crime: we need to fund our police department to the best of our ability and give them the resources they need. Taxes/school budget burden: I believe there can be additional cuts made to that budget although that will be difficult. And a third: It may be optimistic but we need town planning that is proactive, tax breaks for small businesses that help reinforce small town life.

I oppose (climate resilience), small towns don’t have the resources or funding, expertise or complete knowledge for the kinds of assessments that need to take place. Townsfolk do not see the urgency in such things when they are trying to buy groceries and heat their house.

Tax relief, somehow, on two levels: state and local. We in the legislature have got to raise funding to small towns. Difficult cuts must be made to the school and administrative budgets. The Homestead exemption helps. It has to be a combination of 3-4 tax-relief items. Revenue sharing also an option.

This year’s budget cuts was a stop-gap because it will continue to be a problem until we solve the bigger problems of funding on the state and local level. People call that, “kicking the can down the road.”

I am a navy brat. Our last move was made to Maine in ’78. We lived in Greene. I finished school at Leavitt, did a Post Grad year at M.C.I. and my undergrad at Plymouth State. I was a public educator and taught many sciences and coached many sports, mostly football, 35 years all together. Most recently, I was a motorcycle detailer, a volunteer firefighter for the town, and now I am the State Rep. for District 79.

SECOND SEAT

Robert Federico Sr., Matthew Gary and Troy Ripley are running to fill an 18-month term.

Robert Federico Sr.

For many years I devoted my time to the Town of Norway through my job as Chief of Police. Since leaving my position three years ago, I have talked with a lot of Paris citizens to bring myself up to speed with my hometown affairs. I believe my training and work experience qualify me to join a team of devoted people in making Paris a better place to live and work.

Fiscal and organizational stability, and decision making that is based on input from more than a relatively small portion of Paris residents. I think we need to take a hard look at what we can do to increase our revenue and scrutinize our expenses. We recently lost a significant number of town employees due to job insecurity. We could do a better job as a community of supporting our employees and promoting a work atmosphere where employees feel valued. We should encourage public input by providing a respectful and safe venue to hear concerns and  suggestions.

We should be preparing ourselves for challenges to our infrastructure by partnering with local organizations and local residents with the expertise to make recommendations to minimize damages and costs to repair damage caused by severe weather. We should explore funding opportunities and grants that focus on energy conservation for both private and public buildings.

Rising school budgets are a major problem in many towns in Maine. We can’t continue cutting our local municipal budget to meet the financial needs of school and county budgets. Paris residents expect and deserve a certain level of municipal services. We need to join other towns that are facing the same struggles and have serious conversations with our elected state officials to make sweeping changes in the funding formulas for both schools and counties.

Paris is exceptionally hard hit because we host both the county buildings and most SAD 17 school buildings which are all tax exempt, resulting in a huge loss of tax revenue. I believe the burden of lost tax revenue should be shared with the other seven towns in the school district and in the case of the county, shared with all of the towns, townships and unorganized territories.

The recent cuts to the municipal budget did little to ease the tax burden, in fact there is still an approximate twenty percent increase in the mill rate. The cuts kept the increase down, but clearly will not be sustainable year after year.

I started a career in municipal government when I was hired as a code enforcement officer for the town of Harrison in the late 1980s. We moved to Paris in 1990 where I was hired as Paris Alternate Plumbing Inspector and then Inspector a few years later, until 2005. In 1995 I was sponsored by the Paris Police Department to attend Reserve Officer Training at the Maine Criminal Justice Academy. Shortly after completing my training I was hired by Paris PD and Norway PD as a Reserve Officer.

I became a full time police officer position when an opening became available. I rose through the ranks of Patrolman, Sergeant, Detective, and Chief of Police in Norway, where I served until retirement after 27 years with the town. This journey offered me a unique opportunity to get a close look at municipal government. I have experience with budgeting practices, employer laws, union activities, hiring and training, media relations, conflict resolution, and a variety of other skills.

Matthew Gary

I am running to have positive input in local politics, to add a new view to much of what I have seen going on as a taxpayer and active citizen in our community.

Our pressing issues are the school budget and maintaining a healthy environment for our employees, by proper training and adequate support, both emotional and financial to what we put in front of them for reasonable expectations.

I favor reasonable climate resilience programs. As long as they are not an undue burden on taxpayers, grants are a good option to help defer from local costs. There are many options for infrastructure and mitigating energy costs. Forcing taxpayers to subsidize private entities does not sit well with me.

Rising school costs are in my view tough to control in the town office and selectmen positions. With soaring education costs, even with responsible municipal budgeting, the rising school budgets severely increase taxes.  

The department cuts are a short term solution to a long term need for services in our community. We need to be more responsive to our department heads, be involved with our department heads as selectmen and provide reasonable expectations and goals to provide the utmost safety to taxpayers and employees.

I am a self employed contractor, landlord and local farmer. I have volunteered in rec departments, snowmobile clubs, at veterans organizations and much more and would like the opportunity to use my experiences in another community role.

Troy Ripley

I believe by working with other Board members I can make a positive difference.

One issue is balancing the cost of necessary municipal services (Law Enforcement, Fire Protection, Highway, and Administration), Public Education, and the County with the ability of taxpayers to fund them. I would work with Board members and the Town Manager to develop a three-year rolling budget. This would help manage the tax increases each year so citizens could plan accordingly.

The second issue is affordable housing. I want to develop residential incentives such as TIF zones that encourage growth by offsetting the cost of development, and work with Paris Utility District (PUD) to partner municipal efforts with theirs to expand and maintain infrastructures.

As a rule, I’m in favor of environmentally sound practices. As many government programs come with strings attached, I would want to know details prior to signing our municipality up
for one.

Public education is extremely costly. Being on the School Board I have come to understand the larger issue is the way it is funded by the State. That being said, I would encourage our Board to work with neighboring select boards to address funding formulas in Augusta. If the eight boards in our district were to join forces, I believe they could make a difference at the state level.

These have been stop gap. I don’t believe we can cut our way to affordability. Doing things more efficiently and cost consciously is my preferred approach. As proof, all municipal services (registrations, tax payments, licensing; building permits and such) provided before the cuts, are still available to the citizens. It seems the stream-lined plan the town manager presented to the board is working.

I was born and raised in Oxford Hills. After graduating from Oxford Hills High School, I joined the Army and returned home upon retirement. I have been married to my wife Jeri (Brown) for 44 years and together we raised three children: Nicholas, Megan, and Andy. Nicholas is my partner in our rental properties and construction businesses. Jeri and I have three grandchildren who also live here in Paris. I have served on the school board for three terms; currently I am the Chair.