Meet the 8 candidates running for a spot on Bangor City Council
The eight candidates vying for three seats on the Bangor City Council in next month’s election have the prevalence of homelessness, substance use, and the need for more housing and economic developments at the forefront of their campaigns.
The candidates’ campaigns echo those of council candidates from recent elections, revealing long-term challenges Bangor has faced over the past several years. But while the candidates have similar focuses, some have very different ideas for how they’d tackle the issues if elected.
The eight candidates are looking to take three of the nine seats on the Bangor City Council currently held by councilors Clare Davitt, Jonathan Sprague and Joseph Leonard, who is running for reelection.
In-person voting will be held at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 7. Absentee voters can request a ballot until Thursday, Nov. 2.
Council candidates are listed below in the order they appear on the ballot.
Philip Henry
Originally from New Brunswick, Philip Henry moved to Bangor for work in 2006 and became an American citizen earlier this year. He said he chose Bangor because the homes were affordable, the school systems were strong and the city was a safe place to raise his family.
After having a career in account management and sales in engineering for 15 years, he quit his job in 2017 to run his own real estate company that owns and manages commercial and residential units and rehabilitates older homes in Bangor.
Henry said he decided to run for city council with the goal of decreasing the number of people who are homeless and addicted to substances. Doing this, he said, will make Bangor as safe as it was when he first moved here.
“That’s an issue across North America, but we’re at the heart of that issue based on the number of homeless and drug addicted people that are coming to this region for support,” Henry said.
If elected, Henry said he’d pursue initiatives aimed at reducing homelessness and substance use that have data that prove they’re effective. That will take coordination between first responders and the city manager who can help measure whether a plan is effective.
Aside from homelessness and substance use, Henry said he’d like to support economic development in Bangor by attracting and supporting housing developers and small businesses.
Henry also sees an immediate need for housing geared toward first-time homebuyers in Bangor, and suggested tax incentives for developers may help bring more housing to the city.
“Based on my background in engineering and real estate, I understand the bipartisan challenges that we’re facing,” he said. “I don’t care about political parties, I’m looking to fix issues to provide a better Bangor for my kids and the new families moving here.”
Harold “Hal” Wheeler
After moving to Bangor in 1946, Harold “Hal” Wheeler held jobs in broadcasting, advertising and education, and served as an Anglican priest.
Wheeler served two terms on the Bangor City Council from 1983 to 1986 and again from 2007 to 2010. He decided to run for a third time after watching the current council fail to address increasing homelessness, drug use and crime rates, which he sees as Bangor’s biggest challenges.
To improve homelessness, Wheeler said he wants to give police the ability to arrest people who commit crimes, as he feels city government is restricting police from doing so now. This could also lead to a decrease in crime in Bangor, he said.
“There needs to be criminalization of break-ins, panhandling and a prohibition on camping on public lands,” Wheeler said. “We need to take the handcuffs off our great police department so they can enforce the laws.”
To lower the prevalence of substance use, Wheeler said he wants to stop local nonprofits from distributing harm reduction materials such as sterile needles, as that “enables drug users.” This doesn’t include Narcan, he said, as that helps prevent fatal overdoses.
“I know that sounds harsh, but if you encourage it, it’s not going to stop it,” he said. “People make choices and choices have consequences.”
Wheeler also sees a need for more housing for low income and older adults who live on social security, and for new economic development policies that would tamper regulations and restrictions for business owners. This would improve the city’s tax base and bring new employment opportunities and residents to Bangor.
Carolyn Fish
Carolyn Fish moved to Bangor with her family when she was 13. She has been working in the local real estate industry since getting her real estate license when she was 28.
To tackle homelessness and substance use in Bangor, Fish said she’s interested in looking at what other communities have done to improve their communities because “what we’ve been doing doesn’t seem to work.”
If elected, Fish said she’d be interested in creating a task force with council members, city leaders, first responders and outreach workers that identified where people who are homeless in Bangor are coming from. This could lead to a program, she said, that unites unhoused people with their communities and support systems.
Fish also sees a need to bolster economic development and bring more affordable housing to Bangor while helping those with mental health and substance use disorders. But, Fish said she wouldn’t be in favor of bringing more methadone clinics to Bangor.
“I think people that fall out of those programs end up on our streets and that attracts drug dealers,” Fish said. “Twenty years ago we didn’t have gangs, but now we have gangs and cartels.”
Fish said reigniting the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) Program in schools could help staunch substance use in younger generations.
“I think Bangor has a big heart, but we can’t keep bringing people in and giving them services while leaving behind a future for our children, the elderly and veterans that need services,” Fish said.
Aside from housing and substance use initiatives, Fish said she’d be interested in seeing if the city can impose small fees on local nonprofits for the city services they use to help decrease the tax burden on Bangor residents.
“I have four grandchildren in the area and I want Bangor to provide them with the same opportunities I had,” Fish said. “I’ve always loved Bangor and there are still a lot of great things about it, but if we don’t get a handle on things, I’m worried about the future of Bangor.”
Joseph Leonard
Joseph Leonard. Credit: Linda Coan O’Kresik / BDN
Joseph Leonard, the only Bangor city councilor who is running for reelection, was unable to answer questions due to a family emergency.
He became a United States Army officer in 2012 and served in the Arizona National Guard from 2013 to 2014, then moved to the Maine National Guard from 2014 to 2019, according to his biography on the city website.
He is the manager of Evenrood’s Restaurant in downtown Bangor and is a member of the Maine Rail Group fighting to expand passenger rail service in Maine.
Leonard sits on the city council’s Government Operations Committee, Finance Committee, Infrastructure Committee and Airport Committee and has focused on advocating for social and economic justice causes in Maine.
Morgan Urquhart
Morgan Urquhart grew up in Washington County and settled in Bangor about 20 years ago after graduating from the University of Maine. She now works as a policy and communications consultant.
Urquart decided to run for Bangor City Council for the first time after the council decided not to approve the Bangor firefighters union’s request for pandemic relief funding — a move she disagreed with.
“That was the straw that broke the camel’s back, but there are a lot of things I think the city needs to be doing better,” she said.
If elected, Urquart said her focuses would include expanding affordable housing, offering evidence-based harm reduction supplies to those struggling with substance use, and ensuring public employees are paid a fair wage.
“We’ve seen a staggering loss of life due to overdose in the last few years and it demands urgent action,” she said. “I believe in evidence-based harm reduction because it allows people to lead healthier, safer lives on their own terms. It’s about prioritizing human life over political optics.”
If elected, Urquart would encourage the city to look to other cities that have successfully increased housing and reduced homelessness to see what, if any, ideas Bangor can try. For example, Bangor could offer incentives for developers to build new affordable housing, which could also reduce taxes for existing residents.
Kimberly Boucher
Kim Boucher. Credit: Natalie Williams / BDN
Kimberly Boucher settled in Bangor in the summer of 2018 after living in Massachusetts, where she grew up. She now works as a health care fundraiser for the state’s Northern Light hospitals and has served on Bangor’s Parks, Recreation and Harbor Committee for four years.
After running for Bangor City Council unsuccessfully in 2020, Boucher decided to run again because she wants to ensure the city is providing services for residents, especially the city’s most vulnerable populations.
If elected, Boucher said she’d prioritize bringing more housing of all kinds, especially affordable and workforce housing, to the city, as a lack of housing is connected to many of the city’s other challenges.
Boucher would also be interested in bringing permanent supportive housing to Bangor, as it would give people who are homeless a safe place to live and easy access to resources for substance use and mental health treatment.
“If you’re able to provide someone with a place of their own that has a door with a lock where they can secure their belongings when they leave, I feel like you give people a good foundation to get better, especially if you have supportive resources at their doorstep,” Boucher said.
Boucher said she also wants to ensure local businesses and residents feel safe and supported while addressing the root causes of homelessness. This could lead to the city creating ordinances that control where people can gather and sleep outside in the city.
Finally, Boucher would like to improve the region’s bus system by expanding its schedule so it’s easier for more people to use the bus to commute. The city could also offer residents bus vouchers to hopefully increase ridership and reduce the stigma associated with public transportation.
“Bangor is an amazing, thriving place and we need to market it as such,” Boucher said. “We have challenges because it’s a great place to live and people want to be here.”
Susan Deane
Susan Deane moved to Bangor with her family when she was in high school. She now works as the practice manager for Northeast Oral Surgery and has served on Bangor’s Board of Appeals for the past two years, which she said has “opened her eyes” to Bangor’s many challenges.
Deane named an increasing number of people who are homeless as Bangor’s most pressing issue, and said the city has reached its limit on how many people it can provide services to. If elected, she would look for ways to stop the influx of people coming to Bangor for help while addressing those who are already here.
“This is difficult because they’re seeking refuge and we don’t want to turn them away,” Deane said. “However, when you can’t support the unsheltered people who are here, there needs to be some sort of limit.”
Deane would like to couple those efforts with encouraging more housing, especially affordable housing, to be added to Bangor’s housing stock. This could come from the building of new developments, or from vacant homes being renovated into viable housing.
Deane said she would also prioritize keeping neighborhoods and parks safe and continuing encouraging more economic growth, especially downtown. Continuing to keep Bangor’s city center vibrant may also help entice young people to stay and live in Bangor after completing their education.
“The city council can’t create more jobs for people, but if we can make the city more attractive with more amenities, our young people may want to stay closer to home rather than move to big cities like Portland,” Deane said.
Michael Beck
Michael Beck moved to Bangor nine years ago with his wife to raise their family after getting a remote job with Apple, he said.
The Michigan native decided to run for city council for the first time after watching the current council struggle to dole out the more than $20 million in pandemic relief funding it received from the federal government.
Beck named homelessness and the lack of housing, especially affordable housing, as one of Bangor’s most pressing issues. This also makes it difficult for new residents, especially younger people, to move to Bangor.
“People do want to come here, they just can’t find an affordable place to live,” he said. “Especially as our community continues to age and retires, we need more people to replace that workforce.”
If elected, Beck said he would like to keep rent prices within a reasonable range for those living and working in Bangor and struggling to make ends meet.
“Most people are already struggling to pay their rents, and rents keep going up — that’s something my wife and I have experienced,” he said. “We understand the struggle that rents keep going up and wages aren’t keeping pace.”
To tackle the city’s other major issue of substance use, Beck said he wants to help the council apply for state and federal funding to bring more recovery resources, such as detox beds, to Bangor. Any new plans need to balance the needs of the homeless community and those of local businesses.
The council should also consult experts and those with lived experience when pursuing initiatives aimed at lowering rates of homelessness and substance use, he said.
“No one on the council is an expert on all things housing, nor should they be,” Beck said. “I’m willing to pick up the phone and find people who can help get us the information we need to make decisions, because without that expertise, we’re just guessing and that’s not going to help anyone.”