BATH

Fiscal matters are paramount in the minds of the city council candidates whose names will appear on the Nov. 6 ballot. No surprise there.

How best to deal with those issues might distinguish one from the other. Two of the city council seats, in wards 3 and 4, are contested, while Vice Chairman Sean Paulhus is unopposed in Ward 2.

Polls at Bath Middle School will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Ward 2

Paulhus filled an unexpired term, then ran unopposed in 2009. He is sergeant-at-arms in the state Senate.

“I want to continue doing the hard work I’ve done for my ward and the city of Bath,” he said.

Ward 2 consists of an area near Pine Street to Leeman Highway.

Ward 3

Kyle Rogers, running for a third term, faces a challenge from Carolyn Lockwood.

Rogers, a Realtor, says he sees good things coming for Bath. “It’s the job of the city council,” he said, “to ensure constituents’ tax money is spent wisely. Sometimes I’m a voice of opposition on spending matters.” What to do with the closed Huse Memorial School is an important issue to him.

Lockwood, who works for the state Department of Labor, agrees finances are important.

“But things must move ahead,” she said. “We need to look at efficiencies beyond the line-item budget.”

The council, Lockwood said, needs to be more “collaborative,” and not as divisive as she has seen at times.

Lockwood added that the city council might, in the future, want more oversight regarding Regional School Unit 1 finances. She also wants to look into the possibility of hooking residences up to the natural gas pipeline that serves Bath Iron Works.

Ward 3 runs from near Leeman Highway to Centre and Winter streets.

Ward 4

Bernard Wyman, serving on the council for the 18th year, is opposed by Fran Simmler.

Wyman, a retired BIW worker, said he wants to keep taxes down, but that’s difficult when school and county costs make up the majority of the city budget, and people want services. It’s nice, he said, to have a community betterment organization such as Main Street Bath around.

“I think we’re doing real good at making Bath a destination point,” Wyman said. “Main Street Bath has done a really good job for the city of Bath.”

Wyman said he enjoys working with the city council and hopes to continue doing so.

Simmler said federal funding cuts pose a challenge for municipalities.

“I’m a fiscal conservative,” said Simmler, an engineer for Burgess Computer and Networks of Bath and a warrant officer for the Maine National Guard. “I believe government should do as little as it needs to do and still fulfill its charter. The problem is, we get used to government providing certain things.”

Regarding state government cuts, the costs don’t necessarily have to fall on the municipalities, Simmler said.

“If things aren’t mandated,” he said, “local spending should be on the table.”

Simmler also said the future of Huse School is an important issue.

Ward 4 runs from near Centre and Winter streets to Bedford and North streets.