Only Owen Casas would imagine poop-powered buses as a solution to a variety of Knox County problems.

“I spent a lot of time thinking about this,” Casas told members of the Pen Bay Chamber of Commerce Friday, March 24. Casas, along with Pinny Beebe-Center, D-Rockland, Rep. John Spear, D-South Thomaston, and District 12 Sen. Dave Miramant, of Camden, fielded questions from local business owners in regards to referendums and potential bills.

“Small microorganisms are naturally gas-powered,” he said. “You’d fuel them up at the Rockland Waste Water Facility. I’d start by trying to get more waste water to the Waste Water Treatment plant in Rockland. Try to get organic waste there. Put an anaerobic digester in.

“The collective municipalities start to pool their waste. Waste breaks down, turns into gas. Compress that gas down, and put into your microbuses. If you can imagine yourself riding around in a bus that was fueled by your own poop, I think that would be a great place to be.”

Along with the public transportation inquiry that prompted Casas’ ingenuity, the lawmakers’ morning discussion included tax revenue sharing, tip wage increases, clean elections, automobile annual inspections, grassroots alternatives, and ways to draw a workforce to the area.

In regard to drawing and maintaining a future workforce, at a time when Knox County census is slightly decreased since 2015, yet Lincoln and Waldo counties have crept up, lawmakers suggested various responses. Those responses were diverse enough to fit into what Casas referred to as the government’s need for more flexibility.

Spear offered the idea of removing the small checkbox on applications that asks ‘Have you ever been convicted of a crime?’

He said the felony checkbox may be excluding highly potential employees who may have served their punishment 40 years ago.

Spear also said that the era of employee-based healthcare is gone, and that health insurance ought to be acquired in ways that avoid the stifling effect to a non-institutionalized workforce.

Beebe-Center stated a desire for single-care healthcare.

She also spoke of the local millennials who responded passionately to Rockland’s Resolve on Inclusiveness. In that respect, Beebe-Center suggested education, mentoring, inclusiveness, and addiction support as solutions.

“I believe that Knox County is a destination place, and I believe the quality of life we could offer, that we could have an amazing workforce,” she said. “And we could even set an example of how a small community could actually get on top of the withering workforces throughout Maine.”

The morning’s discussion also included general issues of scare tactics (restaurant bosses and owners who scare servers with predictions of reductions in hours, or decreased tips if tip wages are restored), poorly-worded referendums (the marijuana bill), and the fact that last year 2,000 bills were proposed at the state level.

“There are at least two sides to every story,” Spear said. “And usually there are three or more [sides].”

In the end, when asked what they wish their constituents to know, Miramant said, “When you say you are representing the people, that’s really hard to wrap your arms around, because the people have lots of opinions, and it’s not unified.”

Reach Sarah Thompson at news@penbaypilot.com