{"id":12402,"date":"2026-09-25T19:07:49","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T19:07:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/candidates\/michael-morris\/"},"modified":"2026-09-28T17:13:28","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T17:13:28","slug":"michael-morris","status":"publish","type":"candidate","link":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/candidates\/michael-morris\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Morris"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Previous Offices Held<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Three-term city councilor and current mayor, winning three councilor elections and one mayoral election (no elections lost). City Councilor for Ward 1 (2019, 2021) and Ward 5 (2022); Mayor of Waterville (elected 2023). Total of 7 years in municipal office (4 as Councilor, 3 as Mayor).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Top Three Priorities<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Budget: Advocate to the council for responsible fiscal accountability to ensure city revenues aren't outpaced by spending.\nHousing stability: Use my mayoral role to champion responsible housing growth, supporting needed development while ensuring tax incentives and service demands make financial sense for Waterville taxpayers.\nIncreasing sustainable revenues: Demand solid return on investment on city investments, championing sustainable revenue that aligns directly with city staff's capacity to deliver services.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Why are you running?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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I\u2019m running to continue the vital work we started together. Our community and partners invested deeply in creating our Comprehensive and Downtown Vision Plans. With a city manager now in place to help execute that vision, and groups like the Impact Task Force, the Recreation Advisory Committee, and the Fire Committee driving real solutions with our staff, the momentum is here. We have the team, we have the plan, and I have the commitment to see it through for Waterville.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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What is the biggest challenge facing your town\/county? The biggest opportunity?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Our biggest challenge is affordability: housing, taxes and the cost of daily life, combined with aging roads and tight city budgets. That pressure falls hardest on seniors and working families. Conversely, we stand at a significant opportunity, given the surge in downtown investment and collaborations with Colby College and local businesses. If we navigate this well, we can foster job creation, promote the arts and ensure year-round activity.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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If you could change one thing about how the town\/county functions, what would it be and why?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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I would love to expand our municipal cost-sharing with neighboring communities. Local government functions best when it doesn't operate in isolated vacuums. By sharing resources and aligning long-term initiatives, we can eliminate duplicate efforts, stretch taxpayer dollars further and deliver services equitably at a reasonable cost.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Do you support more development \u2013 i.e. more housing construction and business building in your town\/county? Why or why not?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Yes, I support housing and business growth, but development must be thoughtful, well-planned and always in Waterville\u2019s best interest. We need affordable, workforce homes near jobs and local businesses that keep dollars in town. However, growth cannot outpace our city services. Every project must fit neighborhood character, protect taxpayers and match our road, water and sewer capacity. Progress only works when it strengthens our community for the long term.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":12993,"template":"","meta":{"voter_guide_candidate_first_name":"Michael","voter_guide_candidate_middle_name":"James","voter_guide_candidate_last_name":"Morris","voter_guide_candidate_suffix":"","voter_guide_candidate_race_id":12371,"voter_guide_candidate_age":53,"voter_guide_candidate_hometown":"","voter_guide_candidate_occupation":"Logistics and resource planning analyst for Bank of America","voter_guide_candidate_bio":"Proud Waterville dad (3 WSHS kids) bringing 32 years of private-sector experience to municipal service. Football Boosters president and active volunteer across city boards and community organizations.","voter_guide_candidate_education":"High school, some college","voter_guide_candidate_years_in_municipality":"","voter_guide_candidate_headshot_url":"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/open?id=14CjFHTc5Lc3HyF2oEbhGGAPSnAzD4AcO","voter_guide_candidate_date_filed":"","footnotes":""},"vg_party":[1073],"vg_residence_municipality":[],"class_list":["post-12402","candidate","type-candidate","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","vg_party-democratic"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates\/12402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/candidate"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates\/12402\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12994,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates\/12402\/revisions\/12994"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"vg_party","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vg_party?post=12402"},{"taxonomy":"vg_residence_municipality","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vg_residence_municipality?post=12402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}