News

Candidate profiles:
Audrey Burns and Denise Duda are running for the one 1-year Gray Town Council seat.

The Monument posed three questions to all the candidates:

1. Please name the top three issues you see as facing your Board.
2. Tell The Monument Readers how you will approach solving the one most
pressing of the above-mentioned issues.
3. Please share your favorite quote.

Audrey Burns:

Candidate for Gray Town Council, Audrey T. Burns, for the one-year position
The three most pressing issues:

A. Water quality, town drinking water, lakes, streams, aquifers, etc.
B. Open space
C. Solid Waste
Suggestion to solve the top most pressing issue:

2. As this town grows solid waste looms as a larger and larger problem. We are surely blessed with Randy and his super crew, but we must do more to help them. The solid waste committee is dong a wonderful job, they need our help too. Hopefully the council can do more to encourage the public to recycle and to make sure that only Gray residents use the transfer station.

Favorite quote:

When the great recorder comes to write against your name, he writes not that you won or lost but how you played the game.

The Monument asked Audrey a separate question from the others:

As a Director on the Board of the Gray News, do you see your role as news maker on the Council conflicting with your duties as news gatherer at the newspaper? And if not, why not?

4. No. The board of directors meets twice a year to oversee the running of the paper. We have nothing to do with the gathering of the news.

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Denise Duda
According to most people the three biggest problems in town are traffic, taxes and politics. The traffic issue will probably continue until the bypass is finished. The council can continue to apply pressure where they can to get that done but the traffic will likely remain with us for the time being. As for the other two, they both are part of what I see as the most pressing concern for Gray's next Town Council: accountability.

The next council needs to demonstrate accountability to the voters and to the town as a whole. One of the ways this can be done is in exercising fiscal responsibility. A challenge facing this Council will be to resist continually rising budgets.

As a councilor, I would look to balance the needs of the town with its pocketbook. As the needs of the town change, we ought to reevaluate how the town spends its money. For example, let's say the people of Gray wanted to purchase a strip of land on Libby Hill in order to guarantee the town's access to the recreational trails etc. It may be necessary then for the town to sell some unused land elsewhere in order to make that possible without increasing taxes.

I don't think that it serves the people of Gray to let assets simply sit unused. Voters were told that the old Post Office property was definitely needed to expand the town hall and make it ADA compliant. Based on that information the townspeople voted to spend the money to buy it-only to see it sit idle for several years. The next Council needs to make a decision about that property and probably others. When considering what to do in the future we as a council should try to limit the tax impact on our business and property owners in town.

Accountability also involves listening to citizens. Over the last year, at the urging of myself and several others, the council has made some progress along these lines. If elected I would continue to strive to foster an environment of respect and communication at council meetings. Some progress can be made on tough issues even if there is disagreement, but at the end of the day people need to know that they have been heard.

Favorite quote:

My favorite quote relating to politics and government: "Sunshine is the best disinfectant."

The Monument asked Denise a separate question from the others:

You have been active in the Town Re-Zone discussions. Is your candidacy a one-issue candidacy or are there other, less specific issues that you have concerns with?

In answer to your specific question for me: By the time I realized what was happening during the first round of zoning, my own property rights and those of my neighbors were very nearly obliterated. I realized that it was time to get involved. I've spoken up for reasonable zoning, but that is not my only interest.

Over the last two years I've attended most of the Gray Town Council meetings and workshops, becoming an educated citizen. Along the way, I've argued for greater implementation of Maine's Right to Know laws-so that Gray people can stay informed about what is going on in their town government. I've supported a smaller town budget and argued that we can get by with less. Finally, I think that it's important for people who serve in public office to do so with integrity. That will be my aim.