This year’s Select Board election on June 9 could not be more consequential for our small town. While it inevitably boils down to which candidate you support, the real vote is about the trajectory of the town and what kind of government you want to make decisions on your behalf.

We can disagree on how we feel about the dam removal, paid parking, and the future of the Camden Police Department, but that is not what this is about. When you vote, you will be deciding on whether the Town Manager should have more oversight and strategic guidance from the Select Board. You will be deciding whether the Select Board should be more responsive to the residents. You will be deciding whether you think citizen input is important when the town is making decisions that impact the character of our community and finances of our residents. And you will be sending a message to the Select Board Chair that citizen input during Select Board meetings is something to be valued and not something to be argued or avoided.

There are philosophical issues at play, too. We all know that taxes have been increasing and it has become as unaffordable for our neighbors who live in homes that have been in their families for generations to keep them as it has been for the people who work in our community to afford to live here. I had a friend move away recently when she and her husband — both fully-employed professionals — could not afford to buy a home after several years of trying. We need to stop the spikes in real estate taxes and hold the town accountable for prioritizing spending on things we need — and not things a few people with loud voices want. Public works projects are important, but having a prioritized multi-year plan will help us anticipate those needs and budget accordingly.

Spending in Camden is an unaddressed issue. We all saw Rockport’s Select Board take a well-deserved victory lap when they passed a budget that went down from the previous year. We need the same kind of vigorous prioritization in Camden as we saw in Rockport and just like each of us has to do with our own personal budgets.

The bottom line is that sometimes you just can’t afford to do everything at the same time. We have several positions in town government that are excessive — one department head who is compensated above the regional average, another department head who has a healthy full-time salary and gets a $30,000 bump via a dam agent stipend, and a communications director who appears unable to address the massive communications problems that are at the heart of some many current issues.

We fund things like the Opera House, the Snow Bowl, and the Camden Public Library without any long-term planning on how to make each of these valuable components of our community more self-reliant. 

This prompts a few reasonable questions. For instance, why does the Budget Committee and Town Manager prioritize raising revenue from our residents — and spend less time cutting spending? Why is the dam agent stipend not awarded competitively to someone who is not otherwise employed full-time? 

Our town also has a reputation for being anti-business. That isn’t the perspective of the residents, many of whom turn out every time a new business opens just to show our support and get them started on the right track. But the Select Board has made it hard for people planning new businesses to have reliability so they can manage risk.

In addition to addressing permitting and zoning and other administrative hurdles with town employees, I have watched business owners have to go to the Select Board and ‘kiss the ring’ in order to get the approvals to which they were already entitled.

Instead of enthusiastic support for people trying to invest in the future of Camden, they get questioned and second-guessed with all kinds of things that have no basis being foisted upon them. I have even watched one Select Board member go out of her way to torpedo a new business with false claims, unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles, and inappropriate outreach to state officials.

How about we let the town employees do their jobs before anything gets to the Select Board and then the Select Board can quickly approve them and thank the business owner for taking a risk on Camden? If not, what is the Select Board saying about the competency of town employees?

When asked about citizen input on the public parking issue, The Town Manager’s response was that she had the authority to make the decision on her own. Having the authority and it being right are two different things.

At the end of the April 7 Select Board meeting, one Select Board member said she didn’t need to hear public input on the petition and was prepared to vote against it right then. We saw on April 21 that three members of the Select Board were absolutely not interested in public input — putting the issue late in the meeting so people would leave, debating people making comments, and bemoaning the fact that people wanted to talk about these issues. All of this violates the rules for public comments that are on the town’s own website.

While I don’t condone the vandalism that we saw after the kiosks were installed last year, it is obvious that it was a reaction from a population of people who felt like their input was not only unwelcome but treated as an imposition.

We have now seen the same type of reaction to two petitions that were put forward related to the dam removal and, this year, two valid petitions that were put forward about paid parking and the Camden Police Department. All four of these petitions were in compliance with section 1.03 of the Camden Town Charter and none of them were allowed by the Select Board to go forward as submitted. Just imagine what kind of progress our town could make if the Select Board and Town Manager were rowing in the same direction as the residents.

Public service is among the highest callings in our society. You are volunteering to serve your community, your nation, and others, all without personal benefit. It is not a “thankless task,” as the Select Board chair characterized it, if you understand why you are doing it. And if you feel it is, then make way for someone with more selfless intentions.

When you vote in June, please remember that the vote is not as simple as voting for the person whose name you know or who you like personally. It is about much bigger issues.

I am voting to re-elect Chris Nolan and to elect Bobbi Oxton Blake. I have spoken with both of them about the issues I’m raising here and feel confident that, once elected, we will see our Select Board shift back in the correct direction. Bobbi, for one, is running on transparency and accountability — two things that summarize a lot of what I think is at stake and two things that are sorely needed. Please vote on June 9 and please think hard about what kind of future you are voting to support. 

Eric Lebson lives in Camden

Eric Lebson lives in Camden