Are you experienced?

Biddeford Mayor Alan Casavant is expected March 6 to announce his nomination for the Ward Seven city council seat that was vacated last week by Councilor David Flood’s resignation.

Because of a serious flaw in the city’s charter, the voters do not get a say, even though Flood served fewer than 90 days of his term. That needs to be fixed.

I live in Ward Seven, and have spent the better part of the day talking with city councilors and the mayor about the candidate whom I think should replace Flood.

According to the city clerk’s office, 893 voters in Ward Seven cast ballots in the November 2011 election. Of those 893 voters, Flood received 390 votes (roughly 40 percent of the votes cast).

Bill Sexton finished second in the three-way race, earning 270 votes. Sixty six voters left their ballot blank when it came time to choose a Ward Seven councilor; there were four write-ins and Patricia Whitehurst received 160 votes.

For disclosure, I voted for Flood.

When Casavant ran for mayor, he campaigned on a promise to be “positive and professional.” He campaigned on the idea of restoring civility; of rejecting political cronyism; of engaging the entire community, not just those who agreed with him.”

Those were the reasons why I and so many others worked so hard to help get him elected.

We wanted a change.

But did we get change?

Word on the street is that Casavant is planning to nominate former city councilor Mike Ready.

I like Mike Ready. Mike served this city well, both as a city councilor and long-time member of the School Committee. Mike is principled, smart and hardworking.

In short, Mike Ready is a outsanding nominee, but he’s not the right nominee.

If Mike Ready had run for the seat last year, it’s quite possible that I would have supported him over David Flood.

But Mike did not campaign. He did not get signatures to be on the ballot. He did not knock on doors. He did not put up campaign signs or participate in debates.

Bill Sexton did. Bill Sexton wanted the job then, and he wants the job now.

Casavant, however, says he needs experience on the city council, pointing out that three of the eight remaining councilors are serving their first terms on the council.

Sexton supported a proposed racino. Casavant may also see Sexton as someone who may have supported Twomey for re-election during the mayoral campaign.

But those items never came up during a break at today’s Democratic Caucus, when Casavant told me that the council has too many inexperienced members. “We’ve got a tough budget ahead of us,” he explained. “We have a lot of complex issues facing us during the next few months. I need people who can hit the ground running, people with experience.”

That rationale may sound good on paper, but it doesn’t pass the straight-face test.

Maine Senate candidate, former city councilor and current school committee member Jim Emerson served as treasurer on Casavan’t campaign team.

Emerson launched his political career with zero experience after being nominated by Mayor Wallace Nutting to fill a vacancy created by the resignation of Phil Dumont in 2006.

Emerson served with distinction and honor. The city did not fall apart. Emerson later campaigned for and won the seat on his own merits.

Mayor Donna Dion appointed Roger Hurtubise to replace Roch Angers on the city council in 2003. Hurtubise figured things out pretty quickly.

It is clearly Casavant’s prerogative to nominate anyone he chooses. More importantly, it’s the council’s prerogative whether to accept or reject that nomination.

Casavant chose last year to run his campaign without a slate of like-minded city councilors. I respected and admired that decision, even though it seems politically naive.

But there’s no reason why Casavant should attempt to stack the council deck after the fact.

The right thing for Casavant; more importantly the right thing for the city, is to try to respect the will and intent of the voters.

By appointing Sexton, Casavant would be sending a strong signal that his campaign themes were at least a bit more than slogans.