I have never been so ashamed to be a resident of Biddeford, Maine as I am tonight.
What I witnessed during this evening’s city council meeting was a complete and utter failure of leadership, morality and principles.
Tonight, the city council and Mayor Marty Grohman found a way to screw over a local businessman who, ironically, was just trying to help the city help our unhoused neighbors.
Tonight, the city sent a signal to every resident, business owner and potential resident: Welcome to Biddeford! We don’t pay our bills!
Gotta hand it to our courageous leaders. They finally found a way to save taxpayers some money. We just won’t pay our bills.
Sure, Biddeford was recently featured in Good Housekeeping magazine for its Christmas “vibe.” Even a Boston news station plugged the city as a top destination.
Well laddi, laddi da! Isn’t that precious?
Sip your fucking cocoa, marvel at the white lights strung along Main Street, and poop unicorn dust in the Lincoln lobby, but never forget that this is also a city being run by an incompetent, self-absorbed moron.
Why am I pissed?
If you don’t know him, Jim Godbout is the owner of Godbout Plumbing and Heating, one of the most respected local companies in southern Maine.
Godbout is always ready to help the community, and he is damn good at rallying other business leaders to pitch in and make seemingly impossible dreams possible.
For example, Godbout led the effort to save and restore Waterhouse Field. As a recognition for his civic leadership there is a street named in his honor next to the field.
Jim has also been leading the renovations at the former St. Andre Church into a community teen center. He is involved in working with students at the Biddeford Regional Center of Technology.
And recently, he again agreed to help the city by providing bare-bones pricing for necessary renovation work at the Seeds of Hope Neighborhood Resource Center.
That renovation project was spearheaded and rushed through by Mayor Marty Grohman and City Manager Jim Bennett.
After all, the city needed some good PR after demolishing a homeless encampment on Water Street near Mechanic’s Park earlier this year.
The city manager assured the council earlier this year that the cost of upgrading the Seeds of Hope Building would be covered by Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds. Yippee! Free money from the federal government, Bennett assured us. Taxpayers will not feel a pinch.
Oopsie! Something went wrong.
Get Ry Cooder to sing my eulogy
Apparently, the renovation work at Seeds of Hope proved to be more intense than what the city thought it would be. There were problems with the roof and even bigger problems with windows that were literally falling out of the building.
No worries, the city and its contractors pushed forward. They did a truly awesome job. The Seeds of Hope is now able to serve more people although the demand for their service is exploding.
Once the work was finished, Godbout, following an agreed upon budget cost, sent an invoice for his crew’s work, a total of about $655,000.
But the city found out that they could not use CDBG funds for the project.
And then there was silence.
A few days ago, on Nov. 4, Godbout sent a note and a copy of his invoice to Vassie Fowler, executive director of the Seeds of Hope.
“Vassie, please forward [this invoice] to the city as they had promised the funding for this project and have not come through with anything. I am carrying a lot for them making them look good having a warming center open in time for bad weather. Thanks, Jim.”
Godbout was unavailable for comment at press time, but here’s another glimpse at what kind of man Godbout is.
Godbout told the city that he would settle for $400,000 and go out to the community and run a fundraising campaign to cover the remaining $255,000 balance.
Let me say that again slowly. Godbout – a man who is getting screwed by the city – said he will settle for about 60 percent what was owed to him and would raise the remaining balance by coordinating a community fundraising drive.
So, taxpayers have to come up with $400,000 and then likely be called upon to donate to a fundraising campaign for the project.
Kids, you can’t make this shit up.
And the council bought it. Hook. Line and Sinker.
Although Council President Liam LaFountain made a motion to pay Godbout the full amount, only Councilor Marc Lessard voted in favor of paying Godbout every penny of what he is owed.
In the end, the council voted unanimously for the less painful option, even knowing that Godbout is paying interest on a loan he used to finance the work.
Godbout will get $400,000. He will have to raise the rest from the community.
Imagine when you get your next tax bill. Just tell the city to fuck off. Tell ‘em you’ll pay 60 percent of their debt and have Mayor Grohman open a lemonade stand to make up the difference.
If you don’t pay your taxes, the city will take your property. But if the city owes you money . . . sorry, Charlie.
What kind of message does this send to the larger world? What contractor will ever want to do work for Biddeford? Will this impact our bond rating?
Sure, come to Biddeford, visit the glorious Lincoln Hotel and fart hot cocoa from your ass. But when it gets right down to it. When our backs are against the wall. When there are no more shell games to play, this is a city that doesn’t pay its bills.
I have been covering Biddeford City Hall for nearly 30 years. This is an all-time low.
Lessard summed up his frustration with yet another of his famous pithy quotes. “I expected the city manager to be driving the car on this issue. Apparently, that car doesn’t have a steering wheel.”
And where was our illustrious lame-duck city manager? Reportedly he was home, still recovering from shoulder surgery.
I am ashamed to be from Biddeford tonight.
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The Biddeford Gazette learned Tuesday that the city of Biddeford is losing yet another Finance Department director.
According to Mayor Marty Grohman, Sasha Pavlak submitted her resignation letter yesterday. Pavlak provided the city with ample notice. Her resignation will be effective Dec. 31, 2024 Pavlak, hired just a few months ago, was the city’s sixth finance director in just the last five years.
Grohman said Pavlak decided that the job was “not a good fit.” The mayor also said, Pavlak was able to accomplish “many good things for the city.”
Pavlak’s resignation follows on the heels of some chaos in City Hall, including delayed tax and sewer bills and “cash flow” issues. In October, Biddeford City Manager James Bennett announced his own resignation, effective April 26, 2025, roughly 16 months before his contract was set to expire.
Grohman said he is optimistic that city can find a well-qualified persons for both positions. Grohman said the city has issued an RFP (Request for Proposal) in order to hire a national search firm. So far, nine national firms have responded.
On December 10, the Biddeford City Council will host a public workshop to solicit public input about what they want in a new city manager. Grohman said two members of the public will be invited to join selected city councilors in the interview process.
“I think we’re going to land in a good space,” Grohman said, “I’m optimistic. I think we’ll be okay.”
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What’s going on with the University of New England and its plan to build a new pier on the Saco River?
Why is the university worried about a small time, mediocre reporter and the stories he writes about the proposed pier?
I don’t know how to answer those two questions.
But here’s what I do know: I’m not going away. I’m not giving up. In fact, I’m about to turn up the heat on this particular story.
On the day after last week’s election, I was feeling a bit glum and somewhat overwhelmed, so I decided to take a break and watch one of my favorite films, All the President’s Men.
For those of you who don’t know, the 1976 film was about two intrepid reporters from the Washington Post – Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward — who ultimately forced the resignation of President Richard Nixon at the height of the Watergate scandal.
Watching the film again, reminded me of just how hard and frustrating it is to be a reporter, whether you’re working for the Washington Post or the Biddeford Gazette.
Throughout history, governments, large corporations and powerful individuals have all sought to control the press; to push their own narrative and maintain secrecy. Sometimes stonewalling a reporter works.
Sometimes it doesn’t.
John Mitchell, President Nixon’s attorney general, threatened Katherine Graham, publisher of the Washington Post, during the Watergate scandal in 1972.
Mitchell warned the reporters, the editor and even the publisher of the Washington Post: “Katie Graham’s gonna get her tit caught in a big fat wringer if that’s published,” Mitchell said.
The Washington Post did not back down, even though many other newspapers were nervous or reluctant to dig deeper into the scandal at that point in time.
Let’s pause here for a moment.
I am not Carl Bernstein. Saco Bay News is not The Washington Post. And my stories are much, much less than microscopic when compared to historic stories such as Watergate or The Pentagon Papers.
I am just a semi-retired, overweight, underachieving, middle-aged, bald man with very few of his original teeth left and no college degree. (In fairness, Carl Bernstein also never earned a college degree).
So, if you stop and think about it, why should anyone at the University of New England give a rat’s ass about anything I write? What are they afraid of?
You better, you better, you bet
Earlier this year, I learned about the University of New England’s plan to construct a new pier on the Saco River.
Just a few weeks later, Biddeford City Manager James Bennett quashed both the city’s harbor master and the assistant harbor master from the regulatory review process.
When I contacted Bennett about his move, he told me it was done in order to prevent “bias.”
I got to work on myfirst story about the proposed pier, which was published by Saco Bay News on May 25th.
As the story continued to unfold, I wrote follow-up stories about the controversy. You can find all three of those stories by clicking on this link.
Just days after my third story was published, a representative from the university reportedly contacted the publisher of Saco Bay News and told her that “it would be best if Randy Seaver no longer wrote stories about the university.”
The University of New England (UNE) won. They got me bounced from the story . . . or did they?
Although you’re not going to see any more stories written by me in Saco Bay News about UNE’s pier, I am actually just beginning my effort to bring public awareness and transparency to this issue.
UNE’s attempt to silence the media has backfired. They can now expect an amplification of coverage on this issue.
You can’t handle the truth!
Reporters are trained to ignore rhetoric and focus on facts. If you read any of my prior reporting about UNE’s proposal, you will see that each article is balanced, fair and focused on facts.
That is the same approach I am taking here. I decided that once and for all, I wanted to see and explore some facts for myself.
A few weeks ago, I was invited to take a boat tour of the Saco River near the proposed location of the university’s pier.
I was not the only one invited to take this tour. Every member of the Biddeford City Council was given the very same opportunity. Every member of the media in southern Maine was also given the same invitation.
So far, I am the only journalist or Biddeford city official who has ventured onto the river to discover for myself what the hard data shows about adequate water depths.
It was an eye-opening experience, to put it mildly.
Below is a short video of what I learned during my tour near the base of the Saco River. I have also created a separate page on this blog siteto gather and publicly share information about this topic.
My advice to the university and the city of Biddeford is this: Brace yourselves. I will not go gently into that good night. I want facts and transparency. This is not the end of my reporting.
It is just the beginning.
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A reporter recently asked me why I put so much effort into a campaign to oust Biddeford City Manager James Bennett from City Hall.
I thought about my answer carefully.
As I said during that interview and elsewhere over the last few days, Jim Bennett was well-qualified to be Biddeford’s city manager. During his nine-year tenure, he accomplished several good things for the city.
Biddeford City Manager James Bennett (right) addresses the City Council and members of the public regarding his planned resignation.
But along with his skills and qualifications, Bennett brought something else to the city: a storied reputation for ruffling feathers in other communities that hired him; a reputation of a quick temper and a dismissive personality.
Unlike the three previous city managers in Biddeford – and unlike all of the other city managers that I have observed over the last three decades as a reporter – Bennett had a brash personality and an ego that was both easily bruised and always on full display.
During an interview earlier this year, I asked Jim if he wanted to “walk back” or provide context for comments he made during a public meeting about the neighboring city of Saco.
He bristled and said, “I am a guy that says what he means, and means what he says.”
There was no sign of contrition. No attempt to smooth over and repair the anger his comments created on the other side of the river.
It was not the first time that Bennett lost his temper in public. As I began to dig deeper, a clear pattern began to emerge. It was not just city employees who complained about Bennett’s temper and demanding management style.
I heard the same stories from people in other communities; from business people trying to accomplish projects in the city, even from non-profit civic groups. The stories were varied, but the theme was constant.
Bennett presented himself as an iron-fisted arrogant bully.
On Tuesday evening, I sat in the back row of the council chambers, listening as Bennett announced that he would resign his position in April. He described it as a “phased retirement.”
Until the very end, Bennett was trying to massage reality and morph it into something that fit his narcissistic personality.
Let’s be real. Bennett made his announcement Tuesday for just three reasons: 1.) He is smart. 2.) He saw the writing on the wall; and 3.) He really had no other choice.
Bennett had worked out a deal that would allow him to leave Biddeford gracefully, without another black mark on his resume.
You don’t “retire” halfway through your contract. You don’t walk away from a planned $15,0000 retention bonus that would have been paid in 2026.
Much like Richard Nixon’s “concession” speech after losing the 1962 California gubernatorial race, Bennett was bitter and somewhat defiant with his remarks to the council and viewing audience.
A defeated Nixon lashed out at members of the press in 1962.
“But as I leave you, I want you to know—just think how much you’re going to be missing. You don’t have Nixon to kick around anymore. Because, gentlemen, this is my last press conference.”
A distorted view
True to form, Bennett distorted reality and painted a picture of a victim with a long-suffering wife who had been subjected to frequent moves across the state as Bennett’s career meandered from town to town since 1986.
But it was Bennett who made the choice to pick up stakes and move eight times over the last 40 years. No one forced him to move or to accept any position.
Other parts of his farewell notice were simply galling and might work for someone who had only recently moved to Biddeford. But for those of us who were here long before Bennett arrived (and will likely be here long after he is gone) some of his comments were just laughable.
Bennett told a tale of a city that was in chaos when he was hired in 2015.
What he didn’t mention was that chaos was driven by external forces outside of City Hall; by citizens upset regarding allegations of sexual abuse by a former police officer.
That chaos had nothing to do with then City Manager John Bubier or anyone else at City Hall. However, the more recent chaos that has consumed City Hall was generated by internal management miscalculations and hubris.
Bennett also said the city’s financial standing “is as strong as it’s ever been.” I almost choked and literally had to leave the room to regain my composure.
In recent weeks, there have been multiple stories about vendors and creditors not being paid on time. There have been reports that city-issued credit cards were declined; checks had been returned. The audit was nearly two years overdue; general assistance reimbursements had not been filed for months.
The city had to spend up to $300,000 earlier this year to hire an outside accounting firm to conduct a forensic analysis of the many problems in the finance department. In fact, the city is now on its sixth finance director in the last five years.
Does that sound like financial stability to you? Are you freakin’ kidding me?
During his rambling, sometimes incoherent remarks, Bennett also told a tale of how he guided the revitalization of the city’s reputation and its downtown area.
“ . . .while there was momentum towards making change, there was no centralized plan to a theme to achieve that,” Bennett said.
I immediately thought of people like Doug Sanford, former mayor Wallace Nutting, residents such as Renee O’Neil and businesspeople such as David Flood. I thought of all the people who labored for years to rid downtown of a trash incinerator.
I thought about all the work done by so many people to chart a new course for Biddeford’s downtown. All those efforts – all those accomplishments – all that hard work — was underway years before Prince Bennett arrived on his white steed to save us from ourselves with magic fairy dust and the promise of a brighter tomorrow.
As former city councilor Richard Rhames told me during a recent interview: The revitalization of downtown Biddeford was inevitable. Market pressure and changing consumer trends is what fueled Biddeford’s revitalization.
Jim Bennett deserves very little credit for that transformation.
When things get tough, when his back is against the wall, Bennett plays the victim card.
“If I’m equally responsible for everything that’s wrong with the community, I’m equally responsible for everything that’s gone well,” Bennett said.
As I told the reporter who interviewed me, Jim Bennett has done some good things, but it’s now time for him to leave.
The bully finally got what was coming to him.
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I think Stephen King would probably agree with me when I say that the very best horror stories are the ones that are based on a true story.
Despite my childhood proclivity for lying, the story you are about to read is, unfortunately, true.
It happened on a very hot day in the summer of 1976, almost 50 years ago. I was 12 years old, and I told a whopper of a lie that ended up on the front page of the daily newspaper.
Let’s pause here for a moment. Please allow me to explain why I am publicly sharing this story for the first time.
Two guys having a hissy fit
Ed Pierce, now the managing editor of the weekly Windham Eagle, got upset with me about something I posted on Facebook regarding Biddeford City Manager James Bennett a few days ago.
Pierce publicly questioned my “journalistic ethics” in posting the story about Bennett. I replied that I am no longer a “professional journalist,” despite the fact that I occasionally write puff pieces for Saco Bay News as a freelancer. My days of covering Biddeford City Hall are behind me.
To make a long story a bit shorter, Ed Pierce and I began trading barbs on social media. We were each very snarky with our slings and arrows.
Fun stuff — two, white middle-aged newspaper guys who both live in Biddeford – going at it like a couple of high school girls arguing about who gets to be prom queen.
Pierce got especially pissed when I brought up an unfortunate incident that happened in 2018 while he was the editor of the now closed Journal Tribune in Biddeford.
Maine media critic Al Diamon — who writes a column in several publications throughout Maine – had a field day with Pierce, who was duped into writing a news story about something that never happened. [Read Diamon’s blistering column here.]
Pierce was getting angrier by the second until he somehow found an equally damming story about me.
Here’s the difference: While I was going after Pierce for a silly mistake he made as a newspaper editor, he decided to come back at me with an embarrassing story from my childhood, when I was 12 years old.
What’s the frequency, Kenneth?
As I said, it was a hot day in July 1976. I was getting ready to head out on my paper route. Ironically, I delivered the Journal Tribune in my neighborhood in Saco, near the armory on Franklin Street.
I got into an argument with my younger sister. Our fracas woke our father from a mid-day nap. He was enraged. He came flying out of the house and almost literally beat the shit out of me.
I was both angry and hurt, I took off running and stayed away for a few hours. I made it as far as the Five Points Shopping Center in Biddeford before getting hungry and tired.
I started to walk home, but I was still angry. Only a few hundred yards away from my home, I threw away my wristwatch and my belt near Don’s Variety, a small corner store that was located at the corner of Maple and Bradley streets in Saco.
Don’t ask me why I threw away my watch and belt. It’s been almost 50 years. Who knows what I was thinking?
My parents had called the Saco Police Department and reported me missing. It was now evening as I began my way back up Franklin Street to return home. A patrol officer spotted me only a few yards away from my home.
My face and shirt were covered with dried blood. My parents came running over to the now parked police cruiser. The officer asked me what happened. I glanced at my parents and then back at the officer.
I then did something I would regret for many years to come. I lied.
I told the officer that I was attacked by a big, fat bald man wearing a red tee-shirt and blue jeans.
You can probably guess what happened next.
The city of Saco basically went into lockdown. The story swept across the city like a wildfire. A child molester was on the loose in Saco.
At the officer’s advice, my parents brought me to the Webber Hospital in Biddeford. The ER doctor was concerned about damage to my right eye. I was transferred by ambulance and admitted for overnight observation at Maine Medical Center in Portland.
My lie had worked, but not for long.
Extra! Extra! Read all about it!
The next day, the Journal Tribune ran a front-page story about the attack. I was the victim, so they used my name, despite the fact that I was 12.
Then my lie began to unravel.
A friend of my parents told police that she had seen me at Five Points and was concerned because I had blood on my face and clothes.
Now the Biddeford Police Department got involved. Detective Gagne questioned me. I offered up a new story. I said that I was beaten by a group of teenagers near Mayfield Park.
Gagne wasn’t buying what I was selling. My tissue of lies disintegrated.
Finally, after being threatened with juvenile detention, I told the “truth.” I said I “fell down” in my backyard.
Of course, I was once again lying but everybody bought it. Hook, line and sinker. The police, my parents and even the local newspaper.
The very next day, the Journal Tribune ran a front-page story above the fold: “Youth Admits Lie.”
They had to do the story to quell panicked and concerned citizens. They were just doing their job. But again, my name was included in the story. I went from victim to outcast in less than 48 hours.
The owner of Don’s Variety was understandably pissed. He kicked me out of the store a few days later.
The first few weeks of seventh-grade sort of sucked.
All in all, I had told three lies. The first about a fat, bald man. The second, about a gang of kids on May Street, but it was the last one that everyone seemed to believe for nearly five decades. I fell down. Okay. Sure. Whatever.
That last lie held up right until Ed Pierce decided to use that story as leverage in order to publicly embarrass and hurt me.
Near the end of our Facebook exchange, Mr. Pierce made a not-so-subtle reference to wristwatches that could be found at the long-since closed Don’s Variety.
When confronted by me and some others, he quickly deleted his comments.
What Ed Pierce probably doesn’t know is that he actually did me a huge favor. I’ve been carrying that shame around for almost 50 years. It was a relief to finally let go. To finally tell the truth; to finally reconcile something that should have never happened.
The angels wanna wear my red shoes
My father passed away a little more than four years ago. They say you should never speak ill of the dead, and that’s probably good advice.
One of the earliest photos of me and my dad; Circa 1964.
Did my father act like a monster? Yup. Did he physically and emotionally abuse me and my younger sister? Yup. For many years, he routinely referred to me as “queer boy.” My sister struggled with her weight, beginning around age 9. He routinely referred to her as “baby elephant.”
It would be easy and quite convenient to simply label my father as a monster, but to do so would be telling a much bigger lie.
Yes, he was abusive . . . to me, my sister and my mother, but here’s the hard part: He was also a loving and generous father. He sometimes worked three jobs so that my sister and I would want for nothing.
My father worked his ass off to make us middle-class. Clarinet lessons and Boy Scouts for me. Ballet and tap lessons for my sister. Every Christmas was magical. In many ways, we were spoiled kids.
We went on vacations every summer, and Dad helped us with our homework. That was him. Singing and playing guitar in the church choir while my sister and I were altar servers at Most Holy Trinity. He was a talented musician, well-known for his charm and sense of humor.
My father’s professional career was spent teaching students who were in those days mostly ignored.
He was a teacher at the Cerebral Palsy Center in Portland. He had to help some of his students use the bathroom. He patiently helped them eat their lunch. Day in and day out, he was gentle and kind to those kids. But it took a toll.
It seemed like one of his students died almost every month. It gutted him. He cared so much about them. He was a walking, talking, breathing contradiction of terms.
Dad always had a soft spot for the outcasts and the troubled kids. He was a friend, a dedicated mentor with tons of patience.
Two years after I “fell down,” my mother finally filed for divorce. That was not pretty.
My father was a demon, and he was an angel, and that’s about as fair as I can be.
Life is complicated.
I have forgiven my old man; something that became a lot easier to do once I was confronted with how hard it is to be a father.
This is a sad story, but it is true. If you think I’m exaggerating, you can check the police records or the Journal Tribune archives on microfiche at the McArthur Library in Biddeford.
The next time you a hear a child say that he or she got hurt by “falling down,” please remember that they are likely feeding you a load of baloney.
Thank you, Ed Pierce. It feels good to finally have the truth out there. Now how about some fresh sushi and French Fries?
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Over the just the past few days, two journalists have reached out to me in order to criticize some things I’ve said on social media.
Ted Cohen, a former and respected reporter from the Portland Press Herald, and Ed Pierce, now the editor of the weekly Windham Eagle, both think I need some guidance.
Cohen was sincere and well-meaning with his criticism. We’ve known each other for more than 25 years. He raised some valuable points for me to consider. Pierce, however, was much less than cordial. He really, really does not like me.
In fact, during our back-and-forth exchange – while we were both hurling insults and snarky comments at each other on Facebook — Pierce decided to bring out the big guns and tried to publicly shame me about something I did when I was 12 years old, an incident that was on the front page of the Journal Tribune in 1976. (You can read about that incident here).
Cohen just thinks I am wasting my time and frittering away my resources as an old-school reporter. He thinks I should just “shut-the-fuck up” on social media and go back to being a full-time journalist covering the city of Biddeford. He does not like my blog posts about my struggles with mental illness, a topic he says “nobody really cares about.”
During a camping trip last weekend, I gave a lot of thought to the criticisms raised by both Cohen and Pierce. Again, I admire and respect Cohen. Pierce? Not so much. But I realized both men provided a glimpse into the viewpoints of many other people, especially in the Biddeford-Saco area.
Although I generally get a lot of positive feedback from readers, there are, apparently, a lot of people who are annoyed by what I write. Several people think I suck at journalism. Many others are bent out of shape and hate the fact that I am an administrator of the Biddeford-Saco Community Facebook page.
If you think my ego is hyper-inflated, and if you think that I have too much influence in the city of Biddeford and elsewhere, don’t blame me.
Put the blame where the blame belongs.
Blame David Flood. It’s all his fault.
It was David Flood who set this unfortunate series of events into motion. He created the monster that some of you despise.
David Flood Press Herald photo
Let’s pause and back up a bit for context.
A bad seed is planted
It was October 1998. I was sitting in my parked car (a 1987 rusting Subaru) on Washington Street in Biddeford, not far from the former Wonderbar Restaurant.
My stomach was in knots, and I was just starting my second pack of cigarettes that day. I really wanted this job. I really needed this job.
My life at that time was a giant, hot mess. I was basically broke, living in a studio apartment in Westbrook and had a credit score somewhere near the 300 mark.
I was 34 years old and considered myself a complete failure. No close family connections. Few friends, and not even a bank account.
I was working for another weekly newspaper when I interviewed for the job at the Biddeford-Saco-OOB Courier, a weekly publication that was then owned by David and Carolyn Flood.
The job appealed to me to me for two reasons. First, it seemed more interesting than the job I had covering the towns of Windham and Standish. I had grown up in the Biddeford-Saco area. My family had deep roots in both communities.
Secondly, the Courier position would pay roughly 50 cents an hour more than my current gig. That’s a difference of about $20 per week. When you’re flat broke, an extra $20 per week sounds really good.
I think David was impressed by my enthusiasm and the fact that I had experience. But I think what clinched the deal was that he recognized the value of hiring a reporter who had a basic understanding of the community he would be covering.
We shook hands, and I was set to start in two weeks so that I could give my current employer notice.
That was it. That was the moment when my entire life changed.
If not for David’s decision to hire me, I would not have met Laura who had decided several years ago to run for a seat on the Old Orchard Beach School Board. I would not have had the opportunity to help raise my kids, Tim and Matt.
If not for that job as a reporter covering Biddeford and Saco, it is quite likely that you would have never heard my name. More than 99 percent of the people I interact with on social media only know me because David Flood hired me as a reporter.
If not for David Flood’s decision, I would have never been hired a few years later by Barton & Gingold, one of Maine’s most respected political and public relations consulting firms. I would have never bought a house in Biddeford.
Had David Flood not hired me, it is more than likely that you and I would not know each other. So, if you find me insufferable or just plain annoying, blame David Flood. It’s all his fault.
Jumping in feet first
Just a few days before Halloween 1998, I hit the streets as the newest reporter covering Biddeford and Saco. Other than a couple of family members, I basically knew no one in the area.
The few friends I had at that time all lived near Portland. I grabbed a reporter’s notebook, a pen and an old camera on my quest to find a news story. I walked less than 20-feet when I bumped into a man wearing the costume of a deranged chef. He was holding a rubber chicken and a meat cleaver.
It was a Friday afternoon, and downtown merchants were participating in a Halloween trick-or-treat event. I asked the man with the rubber chicken if I could take his picture for the newspaper.
That man’s name was Brian Keely, the son of Vincent Keely who owned the Wonderbar Restaurant on the other side of Washington Street. Five years later, Brian Keely was the best man at my wedding.
Brian’s father sort of adopted me. Vincent always had a sly grin and had a mannerism that was both charming and subdued. Because the Wonderbar was near City Hall, it was a popular place for city councilors and other politicians to hang out after long, tedious meetings.
I spent a lot of time at the Wonderbar. Vincent Keely pointed me to some great stories. He knew almost everyone. He seemed to like me. Brian and I became good friends.
Back then, there was always a lot of drama at City Hall. The stories were easy to come by, but the competition was stiff. Every meeting was also attended by a reporter from both the Portland Press Herald and the Journal Tribune.
I was trying to establish myself and pushing to make the weekly Courier the paper of record in Biddeford and Saco.
I worked my ass off. We gave the Journal and Press Herald a run for their money. A few months later, David gave me the first of several pay raises. It was February 1999, and I received a notice from Northern Utilities that my heat was going to be turned off.
Without me asking them, David and Carolyn paid my overdue heating bill. They never asked for repayment. You never forget things like that. I was battling with some severe depression back then. David and Carolyn basically saved my life.
It was there and then that I decided I would treat the Courier as if I were its owner. I didn’t work 40 hours a week. I worked, 60, 80 hours a week. Sometimes more. It didn’t matter. The Courier was not my job.
The Courier was my life.
The beginning of the end
Eventually, I became the Courier’s editor. David and Carolyn were kept busy as their company grew by leaps and bounds. They soon added the South Portland Sentry and the Kennebunk Post to their existing publications, which included the Courier and the Scarborough Leader.
It was at about this time that I approached David and asked permission to begin a weekly opinion column, which would focus on statewide politics. He agreed. The name of that column was called All Along The Watchtower.
To this very day, people routinely tell me how much they loved that column, which had morphed into a catch-all of snarky local political commentary.
Doug Sanford offered me an apartment on the third floor above the Happy Dragon restaurant on Main Street in Biddeford. I now lived and worked on Main Street. I was immersed into Biddeford’s culture.
I became a fixture at City Hall and regularly annoyed local politicians including former mayor and city councilor Jim Grattelo, who repeatedly asked David to fire me.
Brian Keely and I started a live call-in television program on the public access channel. The name of the show, of course, was called Along the Watchtower, and it was a live, no-holds barred hour-long program about local politics.
I could keep going and going, but that’s basically it. That’s how it started. The staff at the Journal Tribune didn’t much care for me. Their days were numbered, and they knew it. Reporters at the Press Herald’s Biddeford bureau respected my work ethic but kept their distance.
David promoted me to become managing editor of all his publications.
I left the newspaper business in 2006 to pursue a career in political consulting. A few years later, in 2011, former Biddeford city councilor Alan Casavant asked me to be his campaign manager. He wanted to oust incumbent mayor Joanne Twomey.
We won that campaign by a margin of more than 65 percent. I repeated my role in Casavant’s re-election in 2013; and I helped with his next four campaigns.
Serving as master of ceremonies at Alan Casavant’s inauguration in 2011
In 2001, a woman named Laura Kidman Hayes sent me a curt e-mail, pointing out that I screwed up in my coverage of the pending election in Old Orchard Beach. I responded with a pithy and sarcastic retort.
She lost that election, and we were married less than two years later. The next year, we bought our home in Biddeford. A few years later, she won a seat as an at-large representative on the Biddeford City Council. She easily won reelection for a second term.
I missed writing about Biddeford politics and started this blog. A couple of years ago, I agreed to do some freelance writing for Saco Bay News. I had to step away from writing about Biddeford news a few months ago, however, because of a conflict of interest. I also can no longer write about Saco politics because my stepsister is now that city’s mayor.
So today, I continue to run my own, very small consulting business and write this blog and occasionally write puff pieces and feature stories for Saco Bay News.
A moment of clarity
Let’s get something straight right now. I no longer consider myself to be a professional journalist. I share personal opinions and observations on social media. I am basically a semi-retired consultant. That’s it.
I do enjoy public feedback — the good, the bad and the ugly. You can find samples of that criticism on this site. Maybe your criticisms can someday make that list.
To Mr. Cohen, I say, thanks, but no thanks. I’d rather be a free-wheeling blogger than a full-time journalist.
To Mr. Pierce, I would say . . . dude, you have a serious anger management problem, and you should really get some professional help.
To Jim Grattelo, I would say: remember what Obi-Wan Kenobi said to Darth Vader, if you strike me down, I will only become more powerful.
To the rest of you, thank you so much for taking the time to read my stuff. It means the world to me. To think that you give up even a few minutes of your day to engage with me is almost beyond my comprehension.
Finally, to David and Carolyn Flood, you guys not only saved my life, but you gave it meaning. I know I that I often drove you guys nuts, but please never doubt how grateful I will always be.
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“It’s time we stop Hey, what’s that sound? Everybody look, what’s going down?” — Buffalo Springfield
About a dozen Primadona college-age kids descended on downtown Biddeford today to exploit people who are living in one of the city’s most visible homeless encampments on Water Street.
These self-righteous “protestors” who are upset about events in Gaza mostly arrived on scene driving late-model SUVs and followed instructions issued from organizers to wear a mask.
A lame excuse for a protest on a warm summer day. Randy Seaver photo
Fortunately, there was no media attention given to these nitwits as they tried desperately to link the city’s homeless population to the atrocities now taking place in Gaza.
The pro-Hamas kiddos sent out a fancy press release about their demonstration. They wanted attention, that’s it. I didn’t see a single person in their ranks who has been involved in volunteering or actually trying to help our homeless neighbors over the past few months.
Believe it or not, I was young once. I understand their self-righteous outrage. When I was in my early 20s, I spent summers working for the Maine Peoples Alliance; I joined Monument Square protests in Portland for nightly candlelight vigils to protest the U.S. Arms race. I was a member of PAUSICA (Portlanders Against U.S. Involvement in Central America). Remember the Sandinistas and the Contras in Nicaragua?
These brave young folks who were forced to sip their lattes under a scorching sun this afternoon really believe in their cause, which is sort of interesting because they don’t rally around the genocide now taking place in Uganda. They apparently are not concerned about the plight of Ukraine.
Instead, these impressionable young people are rallying in support of an expanded Palestinian state where theocracy is in vogue and democracy is dismissed; where homosexuality is not tolerated and where women can be arrested or even killed for not dressing properly.
But my biggest beef with these clowns is the misinformation they are trying to spread about my hometown. The city has committed more than $1 million for a pilot program to actually assist our unhoused neighbors. We are expanding and coordinating more resources to actually help people.
I haven’t seen any of these punks at any of the countless meetings or participating in any discussions about how to move forward.
My community is actually doing something positive to restore dignity for those on the bottom rungs of the economic ladder.
These kids? They just want their 15 minutes of fame. Disgusting! Exploitation 101.
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Biddeford Mayor Marty Grohman said this week that the city may not be included in the review process of a new pier that the University of New England wants to build on the Saco River.
According to city ordinances, such a project generally must first be approved and facilitated by the city’s harbormaster before any other regulatory agency can conduct its own review of the proposal, including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Saco River Corridor Commission.
However, because of actions by the city’s harbormaster and the chair of the Biddeford Harbor Commission, Grohman said the only way for a “fair review of the application” might now include the city withdrawing itself from the review process entirely.
“At this point, they [UNE] are holding all the cards,” Grohman said. “I don’t know how we can get them back to the table.”
On Friday, John Schafer abruptly resigned his position as chair of the Biddeford Harbor Commission.
Schafer told Saco Bay News that he felt “shackled” in his attempt to provide “clarity and transparency” to the discussions surrounding the university’s proposal.
Schafer admits that he should not have played an advocacy role in the review process, but says he was angered by the university’s threat of litigation against the city if their new pier and its specific location is not approved.
According to documents obtained by Saco Bay News, the university began raising threats of litigation months before their pier proposal was formally submitted to the city in June.
“Talk about putting the cart before the horse,” Schafer said. “You had UNE bullying the city with threats of litigation even before they submitted their proposal.”
Several months before the university formally submitted its proposal, Ron Schneider, the university’s general counsel and vice president of legal affairs, sent a letter to the city’s attorney, arguing that the proposed location for the pier was already a “settled issue.”
“It is our position that the planned location of the GMSC Pier is a settled issue,” Schneider wrote. “Mr. Lariviere, and by extension the city, is estopped from reversing course at this time and mandating a different location for the pier.”
In his letter, Schneider says that both Lariviere and former harbormaster Marshall Alexander “specifically told university representatives” in 2015 that the proposed pier should not be built in the location that Lariviere is now suggesting as a more appropriate location.
Lariviere denied Schneider’s assertions about the location of the pier. “That is a complete fabrication,” he said. The harbormaster also says the city’s ongoing actions in removing him and the assistant harbormaster from the approval process violates several state laws.
Grohman says the situation has become a “real mess for the city,” and is causing “unfortunate delays” for the university.
“I’m not sure how we can proceed from this point,” the mayor said during a telephone interview on Sunday.
“There’s really nothing in our ordinances about how to proceed in this situation,” Grohman said. “We have been put into a difficult position.”
Although City Manager James Bennett has previously declined to say whether the university has threatened the city with possible litigation, two letters from Schneider to City Attorney Harry Center make clear that the university is prepared to use litigation if the city does not approve their proposed location for the new pier.
In his Feb. 13 letter, Schneider wrote that Lariviere’s “continued inappropriate obstruction would result in delay that would adversely affect Biddeford, would cause project delay, and would significantly increase expense to the university.”
“It is our sincere hope that UNE is not forced to resort to litigation to avoid the delay and expense that will result if Mr. Lariviere were to insist on obstructing the building of the pier,” Schneider wrote.
Schneider said the university “cherishes its relationship with the city and its people and only wishes to continue being a valuable member of the community.”
Grohman said the University of New England is one of the top-ten academic institutions in the world in field of marine research.
“What they are hoping to do with their pier will result in a lot of positive outcomes,” the mayor said.
As part of his resignation letter to the mayor and all members of the city council, Schafer included a brief video he produced that affirms what the city’s harbormaster, assistant harbormaster and others have been saying about the river depth where the university wants to build its pier.
In the video, depth measurement equipment clearly shows that the river is, in fact, deeper closer to the shore than in the location proposed by the university.
Lack of adequate mooring depth has been one pf the primary concerns raised by Biddeford’s harbormaster in connection to the university’s proposal.
UNE representatives, however, say the water depth is better in their proposed location, citing research from engineering firms they hired to study the issue.
Grohman said he has a high opinion of Schafer and his abilities. “I am sorry to see him step down, but I do think it was the appropriate thing to do,” he said.
“The best and fairest way to move forward may be to have the city withdraw from the approval process and see what other agencies have to say about the project,” Grohman said. “One way or another, we have got to get this thing figured out.”
Although the University of New England earlier this month formally submitted its plan to build a new pier on the Saco River, that plan still remains mired in controversy.
Both the university (UNE) and Biddeford’s harbormaster seem to have their heels dug in regarding how the pier should be built.
Before the pier can be built, the plan must first be approved by the city of Biddeford’s harbormaster. The plan will then also require review and approval by several other agencies, including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and the Saco River Corridor Commission.
As of press time, it remains unclear how the city will be able to review the proposal because City Manager James Bennett removed both the city’s harbormaster and assistant harbormaster from the review process in May.
Bennett said he removed the harbormasters because he felt they were biased and would not be able to objectively review the application.
In May, Bennett said he would appoint a harbormaster “Pro-Tem,” specifically for reviewing the university’s plan. Last week, Bennett told Saco Bay News he has not yet been able to find a temporary harbormaster to review UNE’s proposal.
“It is taking a bit longer than I anticipated, but we are going to continue our search in order to ensure that the university’s proposal is handled fairly and objectively,” Bennett said. “There are not a lot of people with that kind of experience. So, we need to go back to the drawing board.”
According to documents obtained by Saco Bay News, Bennett reached out to and was then rebuffed by the Maine Harbormasters’ Association when he asked that agency for guidance and suggestions about someone who could review the university’s proposal.
In a June 4 email response to Bennett’s inquiry, Daryen Granata of the Maine Harbormasters’ Association, said Bennett’s desire to appoint a temporary harbormaster was “unprecedented” and would likely be a violation of state law.
“Our board is unaware of any precedent for such a position,” Granata wrote. “Review of the relevant state law contains no provision regarding such a position. To do so would be inconsistent with the explicit state law.”
“The Maine Harbormasters Association discourages you from pursuing a ‘protem’ harbormaster as it is inconsistent with the prevailing law. Instead, we recommend that you work within the review hierarchy laid out in your harbor ordinance.”
Bennett said both he and city attorney Harry Center disagree with the legal opinion given by the association.
Bennett would not say whether he contacted Saco’s harbormaster to help review the application.
Dan Chadbourne, Saco’s harbormaster, said he was told that he should not comment on the controversy surrounding UNE’s proposed pier.
“All I can say is that channel is a joint jurisdiction between the cities of Biddeford and Saco,” Chadbourne said. “At some point, the city of Saco will be involved.”
Why the controversy?
UNE wants to build a pier jutting away from the shore in a perpendicular design and into the channel with a T-shaped configuration. The new pier will be used to dock the university’s marine research vessel in close proximity to their Marine Sciences building on the Biddeford campus.
Biddeford Harbormaster Paul Lariviere said the university’s plan would have a significant impact on existing moorings, navigation and public access. Last year, he shared an alternative proposal with UNE officials.
Lariviere’s alternate design runs parallel to the shore, without jutting into the channel. The university has dismissed the alternate plan, raising concerns about water depth during low tide.
But Lariviere says water depth at low tide is actually deeper closer to the shore in that specific location.
Lariviere says he has nothing personal against the University of New England, and is not attempting to block their attempts to build a new pier for their research vessel.
“They [UNE] have been talking publicly about their plan to construct a new pier for a few years now,” Lariviere said. “My concern has always been about following existing laws, regulations and city ordinances. I took the time to do some research in order to offer them a plan that would better meet their needs and have fewer impacts on public access, navigation, existing moorings and water depth.”
While university representatives maintain that their design is the only one that will give them adequate water depth for docking their research vessel, Lariviere and others say that’s simply not true, pointing to recent data they collected.
“The way the river runs, they (UNE) would be much better off with the alternative I provided them,” Lariviere said. “At mean low tide, there is actually better depth closer to the shoreline than further out in the channel.
“Frankly I don’t understand their adamant objection to the alternative plan we developed,” Lariviere said. “It would probably cost them less money to build, meet all of their stated needs and offer better depth for their vessel. The alternative plan I showed them would have no impacts on existing moorings and would remove concerns about public access and navigation.”
Lariviere said that over the past several months, many people have asked him his thoughts about the university’s plans for a new pier.
“I have just been answering questions people asked me,” Lariviere said. “Of course, I told people that their plan – as presented – would never fly. It’s simply because their plan does not meet existing standards and regulations. It’s not bias. It’s common sense.”
What UNE Says
According to Sarah Delage, a spokesperson for the university, the university’s proposal was rigorously reviewed and designed by engineering and environmental consultants.
Delage said the location of the proposed pier was chosen after expert marine engineers looked at nine potential locations and considered potential impacts to mooring, navigation and environmental concerns.
In their application, the university altered the harbormaster’s proposal. Their design adopts a starting point at a shore location almost identical to what the harbormaster suggested. But the university presented a T-shaped perpendicular design that juts out from that starting point on shore well more than 150 feet into the river, at odds with the harbormaster’s recommendation.
Delage said the alteration was designed to point out the necessary depth that would be required for docking their research vessel.
Although Delage said “there is no physical map or design to represent” the harbormaster’s alternative, the university’s application does include a reconfigured drawing of the harbormaster’s alternative.
Delage says the university was first made aware of the harbormaster’s alternative during an informal meeting at City Hall in October 2023.
That meeting was attended by City Manager James Bennett, Harbormaster Paul Lariviere, UNE President James Hebert and John Schafer, chair of the Biddeford Harbor Commission.
“This was a verbal conversation,” Delage said. “The harbormaster never provided us with a physical alternative design.”
Based on the verbal feedback, Delage says the university then created a diagram of a pier in the location suggested by the Harbormaster to show what a pier would look like if it were designed to reach sufficiently deep water.
“With the assistance of the marine engineers, UNE understood that a pier hugging the shoreline would not reach deep enough water,” Delage said.
Lariviere disputes the claim regarding low tide depth, pointing out that he and several others conducted rigorous depth surveys in that location.
Furthermore, If the university were to adopt the harbormaster’s alternative, Delage said such a pier would have “to be about twice the size” of the alternate design that Schafer shared with the media.
Delage said the alternative plan would be more disruptive to the harbor and unable to accommodate both the university’s research vessel and the city’s fireboat.
“The bathymetric survey information relied on by the engineers to establish water depths comes from work done by Statewide Surveys in 2015,” Delage said.
Delage added that the shoreline elevations are further “corroborated by low-tide aerial imagery available from Maine Office of GIS and an additional imagery service used by GEI (Nearmap), which depict an intertidal zone along the shore, and the low-water location in close agreement with the location identified by on-the-ground land survey.”
Delage said the university’s research was summarily rejected by the harbormaster during another informal meeting at City Hall in January. She said that UNE’s design team and other staff, the city manager, City Councilor William Emhiser and Lariviere and Schafer all attended that meeting.
The cart before the horse?
Even before the regulatory review process has started, the university sought and received commitments of federal funding to help pay for the construction costs.
The university and city manager say that both Lariviere and Schaeffer should not have been making public comments about the proposed pier before the plan was even formally submitted.
Delage said there was a joint meeting of the Harbor Commission and the Shellfish Conservation Commission in February that was not publicly noticed.
“There was no agenda published, and no minutes are obtainable from the city’s website,” Delage said.
In addition to the lack of public notice, Delage says the university did not receive any notice of this meeting, despite the fact that their pier proposal would be discussed.
“Again, UNE has never received a drawing of any kind from the harbormaster specifying his preferred design and location,” Delage said.
Delage says that Schafer, chair of the city’s Harbor Commission, sent email messages to multiple people, including city councilors, indicating that he agreed with the harbor master.
Those actions are the basis of why Lariviere was removed from the review process, according to City Manager James Bennett and City Attorney Harry Center.
The Harbor Commission is the body to whom an applicant must appeal any adverse decision by the harbormaster, Center explained. “You simply cannot present yourself as able to review an application if you have already publicly stated an opinion about that application,” Center added.
“It is my professional opinion that the city would be unable to defend itself in a court hearing if the applicant decides to appeal a decision that was pre-determined before the application was submitted,” Center said.
Schafer said all meetings of the Harbor Commission are open to the public. He also said he rigorously prepares meeting agendas before each meeting and also provides minutes of every meeting to a long list of people at City Hall, including City Clerk Robin Patterson, the designated staff liaison for the Harbor Commission.
Schafer provided Saco Bay News with copies of emails he distributed before and after the joint Feb. 21 meeting with the Shellfish Commission.
“I specifically sent the detailed minutes of that meeting to a whole bunch of people,” Schafer said. “I am a strong supporter of open and transparent government. When I heard that UNE might be considering litigation against the city, I made it my mission to relay what our commission heard from the harbormaster at the Feb. 21 meeting.”
Schafer said every monthly meeting of the Biddeford Harbor Commission includes a standing agenda item entitled “Harbormaster Summary.”
“I had no idea what Paul [Lariviere] was going to say ahead of time,” Schafer said. “But I sure as heck made sure that everyone knew what he said during that meeting. We have never had a meeting without an agenda or detailed minutes.”
According to the meeting minutes that Schafer shared with Mayor Marty Grohman, all members of the city council, Police Chief JoAnn Fisk and the city clerk, Lariviere said he would not be able to approve UNE’s proposal simply because it did not conform to existing regulations.
“Yes, people have asked me questions and my opinion about the university’s plan,” Lariviere said. “There has been a lot of talk about this pier dating back to 2008. People have questions. I have been consistent with my response.”
During a prior interview with Saco Bay News, Alan Thibault, vice president of operations at UNE, said the university’s pier design was included in a master plan that was approved by the Biddeford Planning Board several years ago.
Delage says the university is only asking to have its proposal reviewed fairly and objectively, like any other applicant that goes to the city for an approval.
“No member of the community should have to be concerned that their applications would be rejected in advance,” Delage said.
If the harbor commission has already stated a position, any appeals by the university could be considered futile acts, Delage said.
“In my opinion, a lot of errors have been made,” Schafer said. “But I think it is absolutely critical to remind everyone that no one – – no one – has said that UNE cannot or should not have a new pier. This entire conversation is about where that new pier should be located. That’s it.”
The wait is over. Biddeford Mayor Marty Grohman is expected today to formally announce his nomination to fill one of the two vacant seats on the city council.
According to multiple sources, Grohman has selected Neva Gross to take over the Ward Five council seat that was vacated by the resignation of former Councilor Julian Schlaver last month.
Neva Gross/Facebook
Schlaver, who ran unopposed for the seat in the Nov. 2023 municipal election, announced in April that he would be stepping down for “personal reasons.’
On Tuesday, May 7, the council voted unanimously to officially accept Schlaver’s resignation.
Ward Five includes the city’s downtown area, including the sprawling complex of renovated mill buildings and densely packed neighborhoods near the city’s core.
Gross, 49, said she is excited to serve on the council. She has lived in Biddeford for roughly 18 months and resides at the Lincoln Lofts. She graduated last year from the University of New England’s School of Pharmacy and holds a doctorate’s degree in pharmacology.
Grohman said he was pleased that several people expressed interest in serving on the council.
Others who expressed interest in the Ward Five post include Syed Zafar, a member of the Zoning Board of Appeals, Assessment Review Board and the city’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Committee; and Dominic Deschambault, a former School Committee member who now serves on the board of directors for the Biddeford Housing Authority.
According to the city’s charter, the city council must vote to confirm the mayor’s nominee. The council is expected to vote on that nomination this evening during a special council meeting.
The appointment of Gross to the city council will still leave one vacancy on the council, however.
On April 9, former Ward 4 councilor Bobby Mills resigned his seat roughly 48 hours after he was arrested and charged with operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol.
The timing of Mills resignation triggered the need for a special election.
According to the city’s charter, if a member of the council resigns within 180 days of the last election, a special election must be held to fill that vacancy. That election will take place on June 11, the date when voters will also decide whether to approve the school budget.
Schlaver’s resignation, however, was not formally accepted until this week, giving the mayor the power to appoint a replacement councilor.
Although Mills told Saco Bay News in April that he was interested in running to capture the seat that he resigned, only one resident actually turned in nomination papers with the required number of signatures to be on the ballot.
Dylan Doughty/Contributed photo
Dylan Doughty, who was appointed earlier this year as an alternate member of the Biddeford Planning Board, said he is “looking forward” to serving on the city council.
Doughty, 32, is a native of Arkansas who relocated to Maine three years ago for his job. He said he “loves the city of Biddeford” and is “excited about the opportunity to represent his neighbors.”
Doughty is employed as a senior buyer at General Dynamics in Saco. He has an MBA degree from Western Colorado University.
During a brief interview on Wednesday evening, Gross said she has “fallen in love” with the city.
“I came here during a blizzard to interview at the university, and I just felt instantly connected,” she said.
Over the past few months, Gross says she has been working to connect with her new hometown, including volunteer work with the Seeds of Hope Neighborhood Resource Center.
“I don’t have any political bias,” she said. “I like to be transparent and fair-minded. I know I’m stepping into a process that is already moving forward, but I do have the energy to jump in and see how I can help.”
Grohman said that he and Council President Liam LaFountain have personally interviewed each person who expressed interest in the Ward Five seat over the last two weeks.
“It’s gratifying to see the level of interest in community service,” Grohman said. “I look forward to working with [Gross] over the remainder of the term,” Mayor Grohman said. “Her unique experiences, like her work in the field of unhoused services, managing a popular restaurant here in Biddeford, and her service in the US Army, will bring a new and valuable perspective to our city council.”
LESSONS IN MEDIOCRITY 