By Nate Jones

Staff Writer 

On Nov. 4, Cape Elizabeth residents will go to the polls for the fourth time this year, not to approve or deny a proposed school budget but rather to cast their votes for candidates in national, state and local elections. Town Clerk Ruth Noble said four residents have filed for candidacy to fill two seats on the town council this year, which she said showed “quite a bit of interest” in local politics compared to years past. 

Current Town Councilor and State Representative Cynthia Dill (D – Cape Elizabeth) said she was forced to choose between campaigning for her town council seat again or for a seat in the legislature, where she ultimately decided she could “better serve the people.” 

“A lot of the meetings overlap and I can’t be in two places at once,” Dill said. 

Councilor Anne Swift-Kayatta said she “still felt [she] could make a contribution” to the town by running for council for the fourth time. 

“There’s no single issue beckoning me, I’m committed to Cape Elizabeth as a whole,” she said. 

There is a particular subject that inspired resident and past president of the Maine Dental Association Mark Zajkowski to run for council; he said “frustration” spurred by the recent bout of referendums concerning the adoption of the school budget. With two children in the school system, Zajkowski said the town council has “become a little too one-sided with the school budget.”

“There aren’t enough people on the council with the kids,” he said. 

Six-year planning board veteran David Sherman is also running for town council this year and said he also believes “parents don’t have much of a voice” when it comes to the annual debate over school funding. 

“Every year it’s a heated debate,” he said. “We’re just not doing enough for our schools.”

Sherman said he was “ready to move forward” by finding new ways to help the municipal and school budget – through “win-win” situations like the proposed pay-per-bag program – while at the same time maintaining the small town characteristics that many residents want to protect. 

“We want to preserve what we have, but funding is so tight a willingness to change is important,” he said. “Things are going to have to change, we can’t keep things exactly the same.”

Resident Evan Livada said he’s seen Cape Elizabeth develop during the 45 years he’s lived in town, and he too believes further change – specifically increasing the commercial tax base – is necessary but needs to be incremental. 

“People forget this was a farming and fishing community for hundreds of years,” he said. “We can’t forget our past or our heritage.”

Livada said he decided to run after several friends encouraged him to, although he had pondered campaigning for town council “for years.”

“I love my town more than anything,” he said.