By Connie Garber
The five candidates who are running for two seats on the City Council had an opportunity to share their views on October 8: incumbents Robert Stackpole and Peter Tranchemontagne (both running to remain on the City Council) and new candidates Gerald Gay, Logan Laughlin and Charlene Plante.
Shawn Sullivan, from the York County Coast Star, and Kendra Williams, with the Sanford Springvale News, asked each of the candidates 10 questions covering a range of issues facing the City Council. To watch the entire event, click here.
In addition, each candidate was asked to submit a brief statement to the Sanford Springvale News to respond to the question: Why should the voters in Sanford and Springvale elect me? Their responses are listed in alphabetical order: No statement was received from Logan Laughlin.
My name is Gerry Gay. I am a retired lieutenant with 40 years serving the Sanford Fire Department. Over the last several years, we have all witnessed the decline in our downtown, and it reflects a poor image of our city – vacant businesses, needles, homeless encampments in our streets, parks and sleeping in front of businesses. Needles and the homeless have even affected school sports programs. Poor leadership and policy decisions by the current city councilors created this problem. Now taxpayers are left cleaning this mess up. We are in competition with other towns and cities to make our city a better place to live. This time next year, we will owe $150 million in loan debt because spending is out of control. This is unsustainable to every taxpayer. We need a better direction and changes. We need someone willing to ask the tough questions. We will be facing another property reassessment, creating another large hit to property taxes. The question before taxpayers on November 4, if you’re not content with the direction, start by holding those accountable by voting them out. I ask for your vote on November 4 – together we can move this city in a much better direction.
Charlene Plante: The citizens of Sanford should vote for me because I am just like them. I’m a homeowner, I’m self-employed, and I’m fed up with the way things are going. We pay a lot of money in taxes to live here. It should be clean, we should feel safe, and we should be proud to call this home. I want to make it easier for new businesses to survive here, figure out a solution to the homeless problem, support our emergency response services, and protect the rights of the people. I want to see what this city is spending its money on and vote “no” on things that are not essential and do not make sense. If we are going to spend $40 million on our fire stations, there should be three up-to-date stations for that price.
Hello, I am Bob Stackpole and I am running for my fourth term on the Sanford/Springvale City Council.
I have been involved in Sanford/Springvale politics since the early 1990s. You elected me to fifteen years on your School Board. I have participated or chaired two Charter Commissions and served on several Budget Committees. You have elected and reelected me to three consecutive terms as your representative to your City Council.
Positive things are taking shape in our community. As our city continues to update its infrastructure, businesses now want to invest here and bring good jobs here.
I’m not shying away from the uptick in drug use and related crime. We are all frustrated by this. In response, the City Council recently created a new planned approach to this problem. With the support and input of our emergency services, police, fire, etc., we will solve this. Our city is resilient.
If re-elected, I will continue to bring honesty and integrity to your City Council. I like what I do. As such, I ask once again for your continued support and your vote on November 4th.
Sanford Springvale City Councilor Peter Tranchemontagne has been a resident of Sanford for over 50 years and is proud of his family’s deep roots and contributions to the city. He is a small business owner and values integrity, hard work and service, aiming to apply these principles as a City Councilor. Tranchemontagne highlights recent City initiatives such as selling the mill to a developer for 500 new apartments, expanding supervised housing, and improving neighborhoods through city action. He emphasizes economic development, job growth, infrastructure upgrades, and commercial opportunities at the airport, as well as support for law enforcement, parks, and community events. Tranchemontagne expresses gratitude for his family and previous term, and requests support for another council term to continue serving Sanford- Springvale citizens.
Sue Cote, City Clerk for Sanford said: “The most asked question from people who come to pick up an absentee ballot or vote in person is why do we not list the political party affiliation for the candidates, especially if it is for someone that has not been in Sanford/Springvale for long. Of course, our Charter states that our elections will be non-partisan but because I always get the question, what I have done is post the Candidate Registration forms on the website. These forms have a space for political party, so I direct people there if they believe it will help them make a better choice knowing the party enrollment of the candidates.
It is on the Municipal Candidates and Committees page, scroll down to bottom of the page and see a dark gray box ‘November 2025 Completed Municipal Candidate Registration & Campaign Finance Reports.” FMI: https://www.sanfordmaine.org/departments/election___voter_information/municipal_candidates.php#outer-2471
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