There are three open Rockport Select Board seats up for election June 9 at annual Town Meeting. Four candidates are seeking election to two of the seats that carry three-year terms. Those candidates are incumbents Kimberlee Graffam and Michael Thompson, as well as Samantha Appleton and Darren Robbins.
The one-year seat will fill out the remaining three-year term vacated by Select Board member Michelle Hannan, who resigned from the Rockport Select Board last winter. For that one-year seat, there are three candidates: Linda Greenlaw, Craig Mitchell and Geoffrey Parker.
Penobscot Bay Pilot has posed questions to each candidate, providing the opportunity for the public to better understand their positions on issues. Here, candidate Samantha Appleton responds:
Please provide a brief biography of yourself, explain why you decided to seek a seat on the Select Board, and what you are hoping to accomplish.
I grew up in Camden and have lived in Rockport since 2018. I am a parent of a middle-schooler and a professional photographer who frequently travels for work, as do many parents. I started my career covering conflicts in the Middle East and later worked in the White House for President Obama. My work now concentrates on American history, inspired by my work in war and politics. I worked in my Dad’s restaurant, The Waterfront, from the age of 14 and still moonlight as a manager there. Working with, and serving, all walks of life in our area is a fundamental reason I am running for the Rockport Select Board.
On any given day, most Rockport residents drive and spend money in 2-3 towns. Every decision we make and our neighbors make affects us all. Combining forces is critical.
What are Rockport’s greatest strengths, and how do you hope to support them?
It is important to look at our community as a whole: taxes affect housing, housing affects business, business affects quality of life. My property taxes, like many of yours, have doubled since I purchased my home in 2018. I recognize the great luck in owning an appreciating asset, but my income has remained stagnant (like many) and this increase puts me at risk of being priced out of my own home and my daughter from her own school.
While issues like this are national, many local decisions have created distrust between voters and elected officials: there has not been enough emphasis on reining in our budget in recent years. (Most painful increase: 29% in 2025). Greater discipline and proactive communication are essential going forward.
The new EMS service is a huge driver of the budget increases. It is an annual expenditure of $1.3 million, quadrupling the previous contract with North East Mobile Health ambulance service. Voters approved the budget, but many thought it was a one-time increase for the infrastructure. It was not. It is a permanent increase.
The good news is that with better relationships between towns and regionalization, Rockport can recoup the annual cost on this, without diminishing our safety and comfort. Other American communities do this, because it makes sense. We do it with our school system because it makes sense. I will work to mend relationships and build new ones with our neighbors so that our whole region can be more improved at a lower cost. Starting with Rockport.
It is important to have parents of school-age children on the select board. We hope they will grow here and perhaps even live here. The decisions we make must benefit them primarily, for the longevity of the community. I hope to challenge some of the big-ticket decisions past, present, and future, and to stop the budget-creep (and recent budget explosions) of the past five years.
What are Rockport’s greatest issues to address?
Budget, Property Taxes, and Affordable Housing.
I am thrilled with the hard work of the Budget Committee this year and the resulting cost savings. The budget must answer for its increases (like a 50% increase in staff positions, a slew of brand new, expensive trucks and cars, and a lack of collaboration with Camden on EMS).
Affordable housing must start with middle-income homes and seasonal work housing. New projects in the works are promising. Also significant: safe and enjoyable pathways for pedestrians and cyclists. These improvements do not just enhance our quality of life. They increase tourist dollars, protect citizens, and get cars off the road.
Rockport has several land use ordinance and subdivision ordinance amendments on the June 9 Annual Town Meeting warrant, including adjustments to the zoning map. Have you read through the proposed amendments and do you approve the changes?
I support the many changes in these ordinances that clean up gray areas that can be points of contention, and changes that make the process more efficient. My greatest pushback with all things related to zoning, is when one person’s special interest is pushed through quickly and takes the community by surprise. The Rock Road dispute along Union Street is a perfect example of this. I believe in robust transparency and opportunity for discussion. I am appreciative of community voices who ask questions and the media for highlighting issues that can otherwise be swept under the rug.
The current Select Board has discussed establishing a Regionalization Task Force (April 13 SB meeting, conversations starts at 1:55:34). What is your perception of what that means, and do you have ideas of how Rockport could collaborate with other municipalities to improve on best practices, collaborations, and/or reduce the annual financial load on taxpayers for town operations?
I am in full support of regionalization. A task force is a wonderful start, and I have no doubt that the work that comes out of it will create great opportunities for savings for our community.
As a Select Board member, how will you help ensure all villages (Rockville, Glen Cove, Simonton Corner, West Rockport and Rockport Village) all receive equal attention and investment by the town?
Respect for opinions and recognition of all voices is always a work in progress. Thinking of our different villages as part of a larger regional community is a better way of thinking about it. Camden residents pick blueberries on Beech Hill and Hope kids play hockey on Simonton Quarry. I would start by thinking of the importance of each village to the greater region; each a unique asset to be cultivated as a pride of Rockport.
The town has received a 90/10 grant from the Maine Dept. of Transportation to design (not build) a pathway from the intersection of routes 1 and 90 to the high school, as outlined in the 2024 Sewall Transportation Infrastructure Study for Rockport. Do you support investing in the design and build of a Route 90 pathway?
I absolutely support this. I find it absurd that kids cannot safely ride bikes to school. Getting into the habit of commuting by bike can be a lifelong lifestyle change and would alleviate traffic and parking issues for those who actually need to drive.
What is your opinion of the Rockport budget process, the working relationship between the Select Board and the Budget Committee?
A strong, experienced, Budget Committee is essential to a strong Select Board. The Budget Committee has often been understaffed. New members have found impressive savings and asked tough questions. Electing the right people with a background in data and numbers is essential to the budget committee being able to present the select board with a budget that is best for all of us.
I have no amendments to offer at this time, but I am running to be a rigorous board member and advocate for changes the community requests.
Rockport and Camden signed a five-year wastewater agreement in May 2025, which terminated lawsuits between the two towns, and “emphasized their mutual commitment to cooperation and shared goals,” said a two-town press release last year. Do you think Rockport should, for the long term (four years from now), continue sending its wastewater to Camden (and Rockland) or focus on building its own wastewater facility, as it proposed to voters in 2024? That measure failed at the polls but the idea is not forgotten.
I was relieved that this failed in 2024, although it only kicked the can down the road. The antagonistic relationship that led to this measure got in the way of practical, long-term solutions. If our kids can go to school together, then we can save costs by coming up with solutions like wastewater together. Everyone in Rockport frequents businesses in Camden and vice versa. Collaboration between the towns should be paramount and building an entire new wastewater facility for only Rockport is a glaring example of a large-ticket item that will explode our budget.
How do you see Rockport fitting into the greater regional economy and culture?
Rockport is inextricable from the entire Midcoast region. Our strength is in collaboration with other communities while doing our best to make Rockport a place worth visiting and living.
What is the importance of local government, and how do you see yourself, as a Select Board member, in it?
Local government is where national reconciliation begins. We will not all agree, but I hope to represent as many people as possible and to be both a voice and an ear for all.
What municipal committee(s) would you like to be a liaison to, and why?
Budget Committee for its significant impact
Pathways Committee for its regional collaboration and health impact
Zoning Board of Appeals for its impact on housing issues
