Name: Fred O. Sanborn

Age: 64

Address: 143 Mill St.

Occupation: Retired

Phone number/e-mail address: 783-2136, [email protected]

Education: Bangor Seminary, University of Maine at Orono

Political experience: School Committee

Community organizations: Deacon, High Street Congregational Church

Why are you seeking the mayor’s seat?

To bring common sense government to Auburn.

What is the mayor’s role in Auburn?

The mayor’s role in Auburn is to be a facilitator, a leader, one who can draw different opinions together and come up with a positive response, a bully pulpit, to go and seek help from the state and this type of thing. And try to carry the message of the citizens into the city council.

Last year, councilors adopted a 3 percent spending cap and stayed under it. Is it enough to keep spending from increasing? If not, what should the city do? What would you cut?

I don’t really have an answer over what to cut. I’m going to start in the mayor’s office and not take any salary as mayor. I’ll take a dollar a year, and that’s it. We need to look at each department. I don’t think city government is running efficiently at this time.

Do you favor consolidation? How far should Auburn go and how quickly?

I don’t favor an entire consolidation. It makes a totally unmanageable city in terms of size and land mass. I do encourage consolidation of departments if there is savings. If we can save money, yes. If we can’t, no. And I am definitely not in favor of one city manager for both cities. I think that’s the worst thing that could ever happen.

In your mind, what is the biggest issue that councilors, the mayor, or city staffers have not talked about over the last two years? What’s the biggest looming issue that the city is not facing?

This city is not facing the fact that there is something wrong with the revaluation. I’m hearing horror stories everywhere I go. Either the assessment is too low or the assessment is too high and people are not going in and complaining. And it’s affecting the elderly terribly. It’s forcing them out of their homes.