Eight months ago I found myself headed to Augusta as part of Lewiston-Auburn’s delegation to the State House. My race had been very close and was decided by just a handful of votes after a recount. I felt fortunate for the opportunity to serve and promised to keep my focus on local issues and support compromise whenever I could.

There are a lot of stories out there about Republicans and Democrats fighting, but I want to tell a different story about cooperation, not just on one state budget vote, but also in our day-to-day work.

I serve on the Transportation Committee, one of the least partisan committees in the entire Legislature. Not only did we cooperate with each other on most issues, but we also maintained a professional, working relationship with the Department of Transportation. Many of our votes were unanimous, including the Highway Fund budget, which the governor signed into law. And we continue to have positive discussions about a bond package that will pay much-needed attention to Maine’s roads and bridges.

We also managed to address regional transportation issues. It turns out that I am the only member of the committee from Androscoggin County, and I made an effort to make sure we took on problems that matter for our part of Maine.

One problem the entire Lewiston-Auburn delegation has been very passionate about is toll equalization on the Maine Turnpike. It’s not fair that people from the L-A area have to pay more to go to work than everyone else in Maine, and we made it very clear to the director of the Turnpike Authority that he needs to fix this problem soon. I am grateful that the Transportation Committee supports our delegation’s position and am hopeful we will see some changes in the Turnpike’s toll structure soon. We plan to keep up the pressure until we get results.

Another transportation issue we addressed this year is a new law directing the Maine DOT to seek grant funding to develop a viable plan for rail service north of Portland. The economies of both Lewiston and Auburn could benefit a great deal if a plan for safe, high-quality rail service one day became reality, so hopefully we will soon have a blueprint for how to get this done the right way. We have an excellent intermodal freight facility in Auburn, and we should be building on its success.

Outside of my committee work, I spent a lot of time thinking about school safety. Earlier in the year I submitted a bill encouraging public schools to install carbon monoxide detectors.

Carbon monoxide is an extremely dangerous, odorless gas that can leak if a boiler or furnace malfunctions. As a longtime firefighter and paramedic, I’ve seen the damage it can cause. CO detectors are cheap and available at any hardware store. I look forward to working more with the Department of Education to help more schools install these life-saving devices, whether we do it through legislation or simple public awareness.

Finally, on some of the largest issues in the Legislature, I’m proud that I voted for reasonable compromise. I supported an omnibus energy bill that takes an all-of-the-above approach to Maine’s energy future and will lower costs down the road. I also voted for the bipartisan state budget, even though I knew it was far from perfect. We blunted a major property tax hike and prevented a state shutdown, but I still wish we had done even more to protect local services and the wallets of property taxpayers.

All of us, Democrats and Republicans alike, had to be the adults in the room this year and get the people’s business done. I’m proud of our citizen Legislature and I look forward to hearing the public’s feedback so that we can act on it when the next session starts in January.

Rep. Wayne Werts is serving his first term in the Legislature and represents part of Auburn and part of Lewiston.

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