In their own words: what the candidates have said
Quotes from all 12 City Council candidates at the League of Women Voters forum, in the Bangor Daily News video interviews and at 2026 City Council meetings, each linked to the moment it was said.
Word for word from each video's captions, with filler words (uh, um) and false starts taken out. [Brackets] mark our corrections of caption errors and ... marks words left out. Every candidate gets the same picks: from the Oct. 7 forum, an opening or closing statement and the answers on downtown policing and on property taxes; from the BDN video interviews, the answers on homelessness, syringes and city spending; and up to four remarks from 2026 City Council meeting videos (public comment, or remarks from the council table for a sitting councilor). Tap the time to hear it yourself. Joe Leonard is the only sitting councilor running, so his council quotes are from the council table; other candidates' are from public comment, when they spoke. Candidates are in ballot order.
Joe Leonard No. 1 on the ballot
I really think Bangor needs to move toward a mayor system and a ward system, and regardless of who gets elected, that's what I want to work toward.
We do need to broaden the tax base. That's really the only way to actually solve the issue at the end of the day... We are currently living in a recession right now and it's only going to get worse.
The first thing that we need to acknowledge is that police work is not social work... I want to actually take that program [Street Plus], turn it into a city-owned asset, and to create Bangor's own ambassador program so that we have our own city-owned social services.
We need more syringe disposal systems throughout the city. I mean, that's literally the number one thing that we can do to help with the syringe disposal.
I am not comfortable cutting anything in the city budget at this point in time unless we have a robust discussion about what those services are that we are cutting.
In order for us to do better as a city, we have to reduce the amount of 911 calls that go out to these individuals. And really, the only way to actually do that is we have to invest more into housing.
I personally am not at all an advocate, nor do I believe in short-term rentals as a viable option. We are in the middle of a housing crisis right now... So, I'm going to vote no on this ordinance.
This war that we have illegally entered into with Iran is not only illegal, it's going to be a complete and utter disaster... It's because of a delusional [president] that we have. This [president] is only good at two things. Bombing little girls and raping little girls.
Someone at the council table asked that the statement be stopped, and Councilor Carolyn Fish said she was offended and that this was not the place for it.
ICE is an organization right now that has a written memorandum of understanding where the now previous director told his ICE officers, you can just ignore the Fourth Amendment. That's unacceptable to me... This is a criminal organization, but I don't expect our rapist, pedophile, fascist president to take any consideration to this whatsoever. So, I will proudly vote in favor of this ordinance.
Please, before you use words like that, make sure you are able to educate people on the mathematics as to why that is a scam, because this is very much a sound policy for voting... I really want to encourage caution when people accuse our election system as a scam. It just causes a lot of unnecessary division.
Michael Furrow No. 2 on the ballot
We got to cut taxes... We just gave a 75% tax cut for 30 years for an operation that's going to happen in [Bangor]. Yellen Pines. We just got to stop that... They talk about broadening the tax base. I'm looking at nonprofits and start taxing them.
We cannot have two sets of laws, one for the homeless and one for the taxpayer. Law enforcement must enforce [the] law and ordinances, no exceptions... Treatment first is the only thing that works. Not housing first, but treatment first.
Number one problem facing [Bangor is] drugs. We have two sets of rules, one for the homeless, one for us. We do not have a lack of housing. We have a lack of high-paying jobs.
I would say stop all those programs. Shut them down because it's just doing nothing but costing us money and it's not working. Harm reduction kits, we call them suicide kits.
The first thing, we got to eliminate the drug problem. Drug problem is the number one issue we need to resolve.
The senior citizens have made good decisions their whole lives. You know, the drug addicts and stuff like that have not made good decisions... We need to take care of our aging senior citizen population.
I want to talk about the city of Bangor being overrun with nonprofits... Is there a nonprofit that has helped to reduce any of these previously mentioned problems?
I would like to talk about compassion. Is compassion giving drug needles to drug addicts, telling the police not to arrest anyone who is homeless, doing drugs in the open...?
I want to talk about the 30 efficiency apartments, Yellen Pines, that I'm totally against... They want to take 30 of the hardest to house individuals, i.e. criminals with hundreds of convictions and long-term homeless, to be housed first. Basically, individuals who have no hope of recovery.
Andrei Yermakov No. 3 on the ballot
I support a housing first approach with wraparound services. 60% of Bangor are renters... I'd like to see a mandatory rental registry, some sort of rent control.
I would love to promise, you know, taxes will go down, but we have a lot of services in here. I'd hate to see services be cut just to have taxes go down.
The police department in Bangor is exceptional... They're not social workers, and right now the police department's being tasked with doing types of intervention that really would belong to social work.
There's a misconception that the city is giving people drugs. We're not giving anyone drugs. We're giving them needles. We're giving them clean needles.
I support the Yellen Pines project... It's not a perfect project... but it's a good start. It'll get 30 people off the streets.
60% of Bangor are renters. So, that's something I would like to see, some kind of a rent freeze going on... I would like to see some kind of property tax freeze going on.
Anthony Cote No. 4 on the ballot
I want to just listen to the citizens, and really just focus on law and order, bringing law and order back to Bangor.
The easy solution is increase the tax base. We need businesses in Bangor. We need to be business friendly... We can't have our tax base only residents and homeowners paying.
Enforcing the laws and ordinances is the biggest thing. I think if we were to enforce the laws and ordinances of Bangor, the same with everybody, that it would solve 90% of our problems.
I think that it's crazy that there's different rules for different people based on housing situations... As far as syringe litter, I think it's completely unacceptable.
I would try and encourage them to get help if they're addicted. I don't think that I would promote enabling them to stay addicted.
If we have to raise taxes to do it, it should be unacceptable, because we should be more concerned with the elderly being taxed out of their houses than we should be with other pet projects.
Tonight, I want to talk about the double standard people see or perceive when laws and ordinances are not enforced in Bangor.
James Gallagher No. 5 on the ballot
I believe the best is yet to come, but we're never going to get there if we stay in our own corners pointing pitchforks at each other.
We need to increase the tax base through events and development. I think that can help keep taxes where they are, and I would love to see even lowering them if we can bring in more revenue.
I didn't know downtown needed to be recovered. I open for business every day... It would be nice if business owners... had a direct line to BCAT ourselves, because we don't need to call the police and dispatch every time.
Homelessness and drug use that we see are a result of the broken system. So, we need to fix the broken system. And the broken system is us. All of us.
For starters, I would declare a state of emergency for the homelessness in Bangor.
As a business owner, we cut cost every day. And what I learned years ago is fail fast, fail cheap. And I feel like the city doesn't do a good job of failing fast or cheap.
I'm again asking this council to declare a state of emergency surrounding homelessness in Bangor... People are dying, and I'm tired of watching money pour into this crisis while people continue to suffer.
Hey Bangor, we have a problem. And I'm not talking about just one department, nonprofit, neighborhood, or one group of people. I'm talking about the broken system.
Terry Dinkins No. 6 on the ballot
Maybe more of a serious audit, line by line audit... I'd really want to at least stop the taxes from going up. That would be my goal as a councilor.
I have a lot of compassion. I've been working with the homeless for over 15 years, but I'm at the point now that you have to keep them accountable. And I think that the police do need to enforce the laws, and it should be the same for all of us as citizens.
We need to clean that up. We need to stop passing out crack pipes and meth pipes and needles, and we need to stop the prolonged suffering of these folks on our streets.
I would say that one dirty needle for one clean needle, where it was before 2020... I think I'd cut that back to one... I think anybody openly doing drugs should be accountable for that.
I would think that we need to look into the severe mentally ill on our streets to help them to get off the streets and to get the care that they need.
I would do whatever I could to at least stop the taxes from going up and then even maybe cutting taxes.
Joseph Pratt No. 7 on the ballot
We will do so with compassion, but we must accept the idea that our well-intended policies have made Bangor a very attractive destination for these individuals... Let's admit that the current city council policies are not working. We need change.
In the short term, we might want to think about some other options. For example, a property tax freeze or an elimination once you hit a certain age. We'd have to run the numbers.
The mandate for the Bangor Police Department comes from the Bangor City Council... So, the council needs to change the policy, and only then will the Bangor Police Department enforce the law.
I think that there needs to be more accountability tied to those needle exchanges than what exists currently.
I don't expect that the Bangor city council is going to solve homelessness... But I think if we reach out to some of those communities that apparently have done an effective job... we may have some improvement here.
Are there local sales taxes that we could impose that would broaden that tax burden so that it's not borne so heavily on the property taxpayers?
During the public comment portion of the planning board meeting, no one spoke to support this change. Every speaker rose to oppose it.
Adam Baker No. 8 on the ballot
Housing is a human right, and I want housing first as a model to address the root cause, a lack of affordable housing. You can't recover without a roof over your head.
I also agree that we need to broaden our tax base. That's either renegotiating our contracts, like for example our Cross Insurance Center or other city-owned business or assets.
I strongly believe that our police force is key to keeping our city safe. I would like to see their staff capacity be at least raised up 20%.
I believe housing is a human right. So that's my basis of all my goals.
My ultimate be-all solution for helping these people, to help clean up the streets with needle waste or whatnot, is ultimately getting these people housed and then off the street.
I believe we need rent control here in Bangor. I believe the first step is we have a rental registry... and then also either doing a rent freeze or rent control.
I believe the city of Bangor should be strongly against these data centers... I would ask the council to reject any and all future data centers for AI.
I am here with a lot of people to just call that you condemn what happened today in Biddeford with ICE. It is completely unacceptable and it's just racism.
Winter is coming, and I think the first step to that is a sanctioned encampment. It's not the end-all answer. I think it's the first step to get these people in a place where we can give them resources.
I support this housing initiative... Nobody can get their life back on track if they don't have a roof over their head.
Dawson Nevells No. 9 on the ballot
Bangor doesn't need a city council divided into factions. We don't need an echo chamber and we don't need another battlefield. We need people who are willing to ask difficult questions, disagree respectfully, and sit down together to get things done.
In the short term, we do need to start looking at a tax-freeze ordinance for our seniors... It's not a permanent freeze for that home. It's just a permanent freeze for that homeowner.
We need to be enforcing ordinances already on the books, and where there are gaps, we need to be creating those ordinances that bring back some form of [law and order] to Bangor.
We need to be focusing on Bangor first, but homelessness is a regional issue. It's going to take all of us coming together to solve that problem.
I think getting back to a one-on-one exchange, as we talked about, might be the right solution. And I know we also talked about the moratorium on needles that I would support.
I would definitely be interested in looking at areas where we can cut taxes. I do think that residents also have to realize... that we can't get things done for free.
Katherine Devine No. 10 on the ballot
Did not take part in the League of Women Voters forum on Oct. 7, 2026. Quotes and clips are from the Bangor Daily News video interviews and City Council meetings. LWV forum, Oct. 7
I would pursue a policy that allows people to go into a mental health care facility and get the help that they need in order to stand up on their feet.
I think that changing minds to see that there's a better way to show love to people that isn't just handouts.
I would again put more of the opioid settlement funds into the mental health care facilities, specifically [Dorothea Dix] in the area. Open up some more beds or get staffing to be able to use the beds that we already have.
The money that we're dumping into programs that aren't working could see another higher rise in property taxes once it becomes the burden of the taxpayer to support those programs.
Jennifer McGinley Maskala No. 11 on the ballot
People across Bangor are being asked to do more with less. City Hall should be expected to do the same... Spend less, do more, and show residents the results.
Find a way to put a senior home tax freeze on residents that are 65 years or older that have lived in their house for five consecutive years.
I think enforcing clear standards against theft, assault, drug dealing is definitely needed. Hardship doesn't excuse harming other people.
We have to be compassionate and try to understand what their needs are and see what we can do to support them.
It might be actually a good policy to implement... them printing something on the needles to say who is giving the needles out, so that we can hopefully be assured to get them back and not have them be dropped in our parks.
Be fiscally responsible, effectively use our taxpayers' money wisely, because I think it's kind of come to a point where people aren't going to be able to afford to live here anymore.
John King No. 12 on the ballot
The challenges facing our unhoused and underhoused neighbors, our businesses, our neighborhoods aren't a left or right issue. They are [a] Bangor issue.
Starting with the redundancies in our budget and finding out if we're paying for the same thing in two different locations... We can take that savings and reinvest it to our senior citizens.
Let them know that they have the choice of enforcing the law and ordinances or giving that resource paper. You need to let them have that choice... You are the professional.
I would focus on the institutions that are actually doing the work with results, requiring their yearly results reported to cities so that we can evaluate and award the money.
I would say enforce the laws. And I would say have accountability for the needle exchange.
I would like to find all the duplications in the city's budget, be able to take that money and focus it more on the actual needs... and give it back to the residents with tax incentives.