Relieving traffic congestion and attracting businesses to Gorham are among the top concerns for candidates for Town Council.

Running for three open seats in the Nov. 2 election are Philip T. Gagnon Jr., Charles E. Haws, John A. Pressey, Councilor Mathew J. Robinson and Ronald H. Smith.

Robinson, 43, says he is seeking re-election to continue the council’s work to keep taxes low and expand the town’s infrastructure. A nine-year council veteran, he was a strong supporter of efforts to build the Great Falls Elementary School, which is expected to open in the fall of 2011.

Robinson has voted in favor of two $3 million bonds for road maintenance and supported spending $500,000 on a new firetruck. He said he wants to continue efforts to solve the town’s traffic issues and work to bring new businesses to Gorham. Robinson noted that 26 percent of the town’s tax revenue comes from businesses.

“I’m pro-business,” he said. “We have to figure out a way to attract new businesses and find out how to make existing businesses more profitable.”

Gagnon says he may have a way to do that. As a member of the town’s Economic Development Corporation, Gagnon, 33, said the zoning of the Gorham Industrial Park is deterring businesses such as Idexx Laboratories and Artel in Westbrook from moving to town.

Idexx is a manufacturer of veterinary products. Artel is a biopharmaceutical company that makes precision measuring instruments. Zoning in the industrial park permits mineral extraction and open container storage businesses.

“If we change our zoning to exclude those types of uses going forward, then other businesses would be more enticed to relocate to the industrial park,” he said. “If you have good zoning in an industrial area, then like businesses will come.”

Haws, 53, says town officials should negotiate and split costs for companies that are interested in moving to Gorham.

“If we make concessions to businesses, it will have a favorable impact on the tax rate for residents,” he said.

Haws said he decided to run for the council because he was concerned that cuts in state and federal funding would affect services in Gorham. Haws said he would be a good fit for the council.

“I exercise the same kind of conservative and logical judgment that I see our councilors exercise,” he said. “They don’t spend money they don’t have, and they are compassionate.”

Smith, 49, couldn’t disagree more. He says town officials have increased spending over the past few years to pay for needless projects and items like the $500,000 firetruck.

Smith said there are bigger issues, like addressing overcrowding at Gorham High School and improving the village area to make it more “pedestrian friendly.”

If elected, Smith said, he would bring a common sense approach to the council.

“We are building new roads, but borrowing money to repair old roads,” he said. “It doesn’t make sense to me.”

Pressey, 41, a political newcomer, offered some alternative solutions to the town’s traffic problems. He says traffic would flow more efficiently if Gorham’s new bypass were extended to Interstate 295, or if the town developed a rail system similar to Greater Boston’s subway system.

“They are talking about putting in some type of turnpike spur, which would require people to pay a toll,” Pressey said. “We are still going to have people like me, contributing to the traffic congestion.”

Staff Writer Melanie Creamer can be contacted at 791-6361 or at: mcreamer@pressherald.com