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Election 2007: The former councilor and legislator emphasizes investment in schools.

By SETH HARKNESS Staff Writer November 7, 2007

BIDDEFORD — Former City Councilor and state legislator JoAnne Twomey defeated two members of the council Tuesday to become the next mayor of Biddeford.

Twomey received 1,742 votes in the three-way race. Council President Ken Farley got 1,573 votes and Councilor John McCurry got 1,052.

Mayor Wallace Nutting did not seek re-election after two terms in office.

All three candidates identified the need to control spending as a high priority. Otherwise, they offered different assessments of the most important issues facing the city.

Twomey, who served three terms on the council in the 1990s before representing District 35 in the Legislature for four terms, emphasized the need for Biddeford to invest in its aging schools. She said she supports a complete overhaul of Biddeford High School,, which she said is in such poor shape that it risks losing accreditation.

Twomey also said she would work to create a local property tax relief program for low-income residents, similar to the state's circuit-breaker program. In addition, she campaigned on the concept of having the city create an overall plan for its future development rather than making the choices on a case-by-case basis. Too often, she said, the city has allowed commercial development to threaten vital aspects of the quality of life in Biddeford.

Farley, who has been president of the City Council since 2005, said one of his top priorities would be to promote the "White Paper" recommendations to reconsider statewide policy on trash disposal and facilitate the departure of Maine Energy from downtown Biddeford.

Farley said he would promote redevelopment of the downtown mill district, which would ease property taxes citywide. He said he would also try to ensure that the state provides its share of education aid to the city and work to renovate Biddeford High School.

McCurry promised to "look at every possible penny" to try to control the city budget. He said combining the financial departments of the city and schools might be one way to save. He said he thought there are also savings to be found by examining the city's use of its vehicles.

McCurry said that, too often in the past year, the City Council failed to follow up on issues raised by residents. He promised to try to prevent that from happening in the future.

Staff Writer Seth Harkness can be contacted at 282-8225 or at:

sharkness@pressherald.com